<sarcasm>

Agile methodology is the best choice for my project. I am a project manager/senior architect/architect on a project and I have to finish the project in a short time so I will use agile methodology.

Agile in this case doesn't mean pair programming. I can't afford to have two developers working on the same piece of functionality. Agile in this case doesn't mean frequent testing. My developers can't afford to waste time writing test cases. Agile in this case doesn't mean automated testing. We neither have time nor skills to plan, design and create an automated testing framework. Agile in this case doesn't mean frequent interaction with the client/customer/end user/stakeholder. Instead, we have put barriers so that customers don't bother us in our work. After all, we need to accomplish a lot in a short time!

Agile on this project means no documentation will be done. We have a tight budget, we can simply ask questions when we have to. Did we have barriers in communicating with the client? Oh no. It's okay to ask questions. Just make sure they don't interrupt your work. We can't afford to waste time in coaching them. Agile on this project means no upfront architecture and planning will be done. Design? That will certainly not be done. You guys are all experienced developers. You should not have to be told what to do. Coding standards, documentation standards, naming standards? Forget all that. We are going to be measured on whether we can deliver the product not how well the code is documented. Agile on this project means iterations are not important even though we have them. We will simply not define any milestones. We will not try to release incomplete yet working piece of software at the end of the iteration. Iterations are simply dates on the project plan.

The project isn't meeting dates. We are not moving any faster with agile. There are still some unknowns and we haven't delivered a thing. The developers are confused and requirements are changing. Why are we using agile again? Shhhshshsh… we are running behind because you are not working hard enough. Stop talking and keep coding.

</sarcasm>

One of the most commonly used version control system is CVS and one of the most commonly used IDE is eclipse (Rational Application Developer - RAD, in my case). Surprisingly, Google isn't much of a help when you do searches like "rad cvs," "rad setting up cvs," "ibm rational application developer setting up cvs" etc. so I thought I would document the process I follow:

In most cases cvs repository resides on a server. To use cvs from within Rational Application Developer (or eclipse IDE), you first need to setup the repository and then share your project(s) using that repository. Let's review the process step by step:

Yesterday I ranted about the adamant db2 uncatalog. Today my ranting continues with 'ibmdirctl' - a command used to stop/start IBM Tivoli Directory Server. This is more of a gotcha than a rant though. I was testing my server script to automatically shutdown the directory server when the machine shuts down and bring the directory server back up when the machine is booted.

DB2 cataloging gave me a surprise yesterday. I was under the impression that you don't need to reboot a Unix machine in most cases, certainly not after any installation or configuration change. DB2 catalog (actually uncatalog) command made a dent to that impression.

To make my rant effective, let me quickly discuss what is cataloging.

What makes IT challenging and interesting? Its unpredictability and inconsistency. Any one who has ever written code, knows that sometime the application stops working all of a sudden - without any warning or apparent reason!

I went through a similar experience a couple of days ago. I went to my website, http://chintanrajyaguru.com and I was welcomed by a blank page. Initially, I thought my site was down, then I thought the index.php page had some errors. I am not a PHP expert so I couldn't find anything wrong with the page but it 'looked' okay.

"It's alright!" I thought in my mind, "I was considering moving to a different CMS anyway (look for another blog entry on this shortly)." But how do I migrate content from mambo to my new CMS? I didn't know how mambo stored the content in mysql database, nor did I have time or intention to find out. So, I decided to copy and paste the content.

1. FreeMind at http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
2. EverNote at http://www.evernote.com to take notes when I don't (can't) have
3. Microsoft one note at http://office.microsoft.com/onenote
4. Sometimes Listpro and eWallet (PC versions) at http://www.iliumsoft.com
5. Post it lite http://pmb001.3m.com/pub/psnotes/pn31lous.exe (the free version is not easy to find anymore so download and backup the installation file)
6. Of course Microsoft outlook at www.microsoft.com/outlook