Imagining A Better World

And this brings me to my third post of the day. The past two weeks have been a blur. Too many things going on in my life, and I even missed an interview. Heh, speak of less than adequate time management skills. But then again, the tough gets going every time, not just when the going gets tough. This is something that I must bear in mind.

Anyway, the topic of now is my fantastic final project experience up to today. In a few hours, we will be submitting our entry for the Imagine Cup. Interestingly, we have come a long way ever since we realized we needed clarity, and that we needed to identify the real problems in rural villages. Even more interestingly, we realize that we're just at the beginning of a journey, a journey that can impact the lives of millions of people disconnected from the modern world. A journey that will challenge our assumptions and beliefs so ingrained in everyone of us. I came into this class hoping to build a great team, execute a great idea and build a great business. But seriously, I think conquering the world is not such a big deal. People are doing it everyday. Saving the world is the bigger deal here. :P

Yet again, this motivation to save the world is constrained by many limitations. For instance, how do you execute an idea in a village you have never been to before? And will you sustain it? Will you go all out to ensure that it really benefits the people you want to help? Some people doubt my intentions. Do you really want to save the world and do something meaningful? To this, my answer has always been - We all need a start somewhere. This is a great place to start and we can at least do something that is of use to people. These benefits may not materialize today, but we can definitely hope that they will somehow be of great use and benefit to the people we want to impact - sometime in the near future.

Indeed, it's the future we are talking about, and it's the future that we live for.

To this end, I must say that the class has been fiercely supportive of our endeavour. The Googlewave by Joshua got everyone chipping in two cents' worth and ideas to achieve the millennium development goals using technology. Personally, CS3216 classmates have been very forthcoming in sharing ideas, and offering to link us up with NGOs. This supportive culture is what differentiates CS3216 from other classes in NUS. This is the spirit that we have come to embrace, and this is the reason why people will succeed.

And finally, I will like to talk a little about my team. This is the dream team. We are a bunch of diverse people who have come together with vastly different backgrounds. I am really impressed and honoured to be working with such motivated people who can see the big picture, but yet can also point out the minutest details.

Indeed, there is a reason why we are in this together. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and how well we cope with this as a team, will determine how far we go in our endeavour. And I have great faith that we will make something out of this idea in the end, and bring the world to the countless people living in the rural villages without Internet - impacting minds and mindsets, and bring about great change where it matters.

Scrum Musings

Just read up on Scrum recently and am quite impressed with how it supposedly brings about far greater productivity in a team. While I haven't experienced how good Scrum could be myself, I have decided to blog about some of the stuff that I have learnt in theory. Perhaps, we could all try to implement a few sprints for the Final Project and see if it works. 

What I think Scrum is? 

Scrum provides a basic framework for organization of a Product Backlog - which includes functionalities, features, technologies, enhancements and bug fixes for a software development team. 

Scrum Team is self-organizing, and is most effective when its team members are reliable, and take initiative to discuss what goes into the Product Backlog at the First Sprint Meeting Overview. Thereafter, the team conducts several sprints (iterations), to achieve and design the final product. 

Daily Scrum Meetings are held to facilitate discussions among team members, and get everyone updated on what everyone else is doing or have done. This lasts just 15 mins. Only the pigs (i.e. people who are core team members, committed to the project) can talk. People who are just there as extra help (i.e. chickens, who are just involved), should not be allowed to interfere with Scrum Meetings. This reduces potential distractions, and helps the Scrum Team focus on its main purpose and objective. It also helps the team iron out problems, and help out team members who may be facing problems with Sprint assignments. Teamwork is the key here. 

A Scrum Review Meeting is held after every Sprint, to assess the effectiveness of the Sprint, and how best to plan for the next sprint. 

Why I think Scrum Works - Even for Small Teams 

Scrum is useful in that it enables a team to understand its integral strengths and weaknesses. It provides a platform for team members to help out one another in weaker areas, and enable stronger team members to focus on what they do best. Teams are self-organizing and help out in everywhere they can - as a result, work gets done much faster and productivity increases. 

Scrum gives people a chance to cut through the noise. Basically, it gives team members to chance to focus on what is important, and eliminate what may seem cool - but is actually unimportant to the progress of the team. 

Scrum gives team members a chance to talk at every Scrum Meeting, highlight impediments to be overcome, and provide updates. From my numerous experiences working with different people, I realize that communication is of utmost importance. Sometimes, people can just clam up and refuse to highlight problems and choose to stay silent. Scrum certainly provides an open and receptive environment to overcome this issue. 

How I think Scrum can be used in CS3216

The usual sprint lasts 30 days. This is unfeasible in 3216 due to the much shorter time duration given between assignments. I think it is better to start with 3 day sprints? This will enable team members who have never used Scrum before to adapt to Scrum gradually, and keep changing and adapting to requirements, update Product Backlog, come up with better Sprint Goals and Sprint Backlog - basically adapting to the situation as the situation calls for change. 

Use of Google Docs to post all Scrum Backlogs, Project Timelines, Agenda - team members can just update Google Docs and work anywhere and anytime. 

The best Scrum Teams work in familiar environments. Ken Schwaber advocates Daily Scrum Meetings to be held at same place, same time. This may not be feasible due to different timetables lack of designated Scrum Rooms. Still, this is a problem that can be easily overcome. 

Scrum is fluid in nature. Don't let anything be cast in stone and be prepared for change as it comes. 

P.S. am really new to this. Let me know of suggestions and how we can implement Scrum better. I will post again after we have tried it in practice. 

Millenium Development Goals

These days, I have been thinking how to use infocomm technology to solve the world's problems, achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, and in the process, bring us a step closer to saving the world.

It seems like a lot have been done already, there're numerous websites on raising awareness on poverty, initiatives to link people from all over the world together. However, what else can we do to solve practical problems? How do we raise the standard of living of people living on less than US$2 a day using technology? This baffles me. The point is, we take for granted what is in our world. The Internet, Google, use of mobile technology have made our lives easier, and we forget how fortunate we are.

Yet, these technologies are not available to the poor people in less developed countries. For instance, I went on a youth expedition project a year back to a village in South East Asia. Life there was peaceful and laid back. Every morning we had coffee and bread for breakfast, carried on our work painting and building a kindergarten for the villagers, and learnt much about life in the village. The village had stuff like water pumps, but still relied on wells. They had no gas stoves, and used basic methods to cook their food. There were no computers, very few television sets, and the villagers used scooters and bicycles to get around.

There's a huge gap between what the MDGs want to achieve and how our technologies can help to achieve the MDGs in a practical way (not just awareness, fundraising etc.)

Any ideas, anyone?

Mafia Wars!

What a coincidence that I'm blogging on Mafia Wars! I actually think the game is pretty addictive and it appeals to me as a user despite its rather ugly design and meaningless clicking just to increase the amount of Cash that you have, fight, buy properties or increase inventory. As Ji Wei puts it during the presentation, this is a really simple application with not much animation, graphics and is relatively simple to program, but still, more than 6.3 million people play it everyday!

To summarize, what made Mafia Wars so popular?

if you've read "Rich Dad Poor Dad" before, you realize that Robert Kiyosaki always has his mantra of "best-selling author" vs. "best-writing author". A well-written book may not sell as well as a book that was well-marketed (or rather, a book that appeals to readers, a book that people will need and want to read). I think this is true for FB apps (and for that matter, other web developments) as well. What will get FB users addicted to a game is not a darn difficult to program app full of graphics/animations/functions. What's needed to make an app sell and reach out to tons of people is a basic/easy interface that people can understand within 2 mins.

Another point that I felt was noteworthy for Facebook application developers was how optimization plays a big role in getting tons of people to use the app in the shortest possible time. For instance, players have to invite a certain number of friends to join their Mafia before they can unlock a higher level. This is a fantastic marketing strategy and is akin to online word-of-mouth, just that it is way more effective. A user who desperately wants to unlock that higher level will try to invite all his friends to join Mafia Wars, and may even do so repetitively.

And lastly, what makes Mafia Wars so addictive?
1. buy more weapons, inventory, armour, loot other players, chance to fight with other players/friends
2. buy more properties to increase cashflow, increase payout and current take
3. reach higher Levels in Mafia Wars - unlock different property, inventory, weapons - maybe want to see what's in store for me?
4. Earn Godfather points to get exotic weapons, inventory

the most important point out of the four is the chance to reach higher and higher levels of gameplay. I think this introduces a competitive element in Mafia Wars, and people are naturally keen to keep going back to the game as long as they think there's more they can do in Mafia Wars.

Hmm, food for thought regarding gaming apps:
1. keep the concept simple and straightforward. know who your users are. People probably aren't very interested in reading a tutorial on how to play your game. they just want to figure it out by themselves and if they manage to, they'll keep playing. if they don't, you just lost a customer and all his friends.
2. Spam. i hate to write this, but this works!
3. give people a reason to re-use the app over and over again.

Voyages of Discovery

Seeing that we are close to the submission of our first assignment, I think its apt to post some stories of inspiration here.
From the 15th century onwards, the Portugese (rapidly followed by everyone else, they were the trailblazers here) started sending out ships to explore the known and the unknown world. This was made possible by vast improvements in ship design, the capability to navigate better, travel far away from the coastline, and into the wind. It was also enabled by other technological inventions during the Middle Ages, such as the compass and firearms, which gave the Portugese a superiority over any other civilizations they encountered.

Subsequently, the discovery of many new worlds, acquisition of great wealth and slavery were made possible, and empires were constructed. All these were due to the great vision of the Portuguese, led by Prince Henry the Navigator (1394 - 1460).

From these early voyages, Europe discovered the entire coastline of Africa, the Americas, and then a route to all of India and Asia - all within a few decades of Portugal's discoveries.


What was to come
1487 -  Bartolomeo Diaz navigated to the southernmost point of Africa, which he named the Cape of Good Hope.

1492 - Christopher Columbus landed in America by accident.

1497 - Vasco da Gama navigated around the Cape of Good Hope, and sailed all along East Africa.

1498 - Vasco da Gama reached West of India, and opened up the spice trade.

And as we know today, whoever controlled the spice trade at that time became immensely

wealthy.

Lessons Learnt 

1. We need trailblazers. We need them to create value and change the world that we live in.

2. Columbus did not set out to "find" America. He wanted to find a new route to India. America was a "by the way" discovery he made. Sometimes, we may just find better

stuff along the way. You never know what's in store for you! All it takes, is some guts

and persistence.

 3. It seems easier to succeed by following the path that is tried and tested? Not sure if

everyone will agree here. But Vasco da Gama makes it sound like a good bet. :)

All the best!

key technologies shaping our world

Having had Mr. Simone Brunozzi give us a lecture on cloud computing services provided by AWS, I feel compelled to read up more about this service that everyone seems to be talking about these days. At the same time, I feel even more privileged to be in this class where everyone seems to be ahead of most other people where technology is concerned. It's good to be close to the forefront of cloud computing, and good to see how it'll all work out. 


Cloud computing providers enable common business applications ranging from enterprise level to SME level, to be delivered via a web browser, while data and software are still stored on servers. Having read from here, cloud computing enables new key technologies to be easily scalable, and eliminates the costs usually associated with testing out a new applications (correct me if i'm wrong). Hmm, does this mean we're on to an era where new applications and software will be so much easier to test, and thus commercialize? Imagine the possibilities. 


While I do not know yet how cloud computing can eventually be implemented on a large scale across all levels of businesses, i think The Big Switch is something that we may look forward to in perhaps the next five to ten years? As of now, the benefits to businesses in how it can potentially reduce costs, yet increase reliability at the same time are definitely reasons why MNCs will want to adopt cloud very quickly. 


Another point to note is that only the big players are providing cloud computing services (Google App Engine, AWS, Microsoft Azure). There's Morph Labs from the Philippines though. Heh, wonder if we can start providing cloud to small businesses and SMEs. 

The Early Stages

And before we know it, we have reached our second deadline. The past few days have been one of the most exciting days of my life. Sure, there have been periods in my life when I have experienced similar excitement, and similar passion and energy (as mentioned previously) in working on a project.

Somehow, I have unwittingly developed a strange attachment to SoC's Level Two. Heh, it's really weird spending more time at SoC than at Business. Another thing that I particularly like is how I always see different CS3216 teams working on their applications in the basement, and at Level Two. We see each other, say hi, exchange ideas and talk about the progress of our applications. It feels like I'm in a hotpot full of ideas and full of excellent people living out their dreams at least for a semester, and possibly living out their dreams for the rest of their lives. :)

Hmm, let me attempt to chronicle the past one week:
14 Jan - we formed and confirmed our teams
15 Jan, 10am - we sat down together at Level 2 SoC and talked about several ideas. In particular, we talked about an application for textbook selling among NUS/NTU/SMU students (Lin Myat), education for kids, a real-time buyer-seller application enabling B2B, B2C and C2C interaction. And so the team went into the technical aspects of the application.
16 Jan - Workshop and we had a brief discussion - well, meeting times and such.
18 - 21 Jan - As Justin puts it, one of the most hiong periods ever. But nonetheless fun. Heh, although I didn't really understand the technical jargon and the long lines of code - it's been great to sit around listening, sometimes try to give ideas, learn photoshop while everyone else is coding, and yea.. bring food and coffee. Oh, in the midst of it all (haha, to make myself sound slightly more useful), contacting several companies for which we could potentially work with.

And I think Google Wave is full of potential if we can make it work for corporations. My concern is, are we way too ahead of time on this before everyone else catches on?

Good Luck Everyone! BOOMZ! :)

Voila!

The past few days have been a blur. Never have the first week of school been as hectic, and it's been a long time since I last felt such passion and energy. It's so unlike previous semesters when I have to drag myself to school to attend lectures. These days, I look forward to school, look forward to meeting new people, look forward to broadening my network and possibly meeting people with great ideas and passion.

I think this is what it means to have a vision, and to be around talking to people with ideas and drive . I guess this kind of energy has always been in everyone of us, it's just that we are too jaded, too jaded by the monotony of our lives.

And I'm glad to say that because of this new-found energy, I've had many great ideas of late! I believe they can succeed, and this is all thanks to CS3216 here at NUS. These days, I am constantly looking out for and talking to different people everywhere, hoping to assemble the dream team to start a business, and to act on an idea. This is fantastic. This module has empowered us all.

The Week of 11 - 17 Jan 

We started the week with CS3216. Tonight, we end the week with a Facebook Seminar meeting later. Hmm, wish I could say I expected this, and then I would be able to add this quote "beginning with the end in mind". I certainly believe this quote will be something that we cling on to and look to for wisdom and courage in the coming few months.

I must say I was quite intimidated by the coursework at first, and I thought I would not be able to even find group mates. I had loads of pre-conceived notions, that perhaps, I would not be able to find programmers/designers who may want to work with me? Perhaps, it's just like in business school, where some people would only choose project mates based on CAP (since I have no programming experience and am still finding ways to contribute at this stage). Ha! That was my biggest misconception, at least till now. :)

And to end this blog post, I have resolved to learn PHP and do design by the end of this course. This will be motivation. :)

Who Are Our Facebook Users?

Heh.. I thought I would post something just for laughs. Many times, when we build a product or business, or have an idea that we think would work, we usually miss out on one important thing - that is:

WHO IS THE END USER?

Well, I certainly hope the following images serve to give us a clue on who exactly are our targeted Facebook audiences. Enjoy :)

1. Hi! I need a boyfriend.


2. Wassup?




3. The Cam WHORE.




4. Gimme a BREAK!



5. Excited Young Parents Club


Before we start building that great application, let us just remember something that Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba once mentioned:

"Where there's a need, there's a market"

On a side note, I thoroughly enjoyed today's workshop. But hey, the main thing that worked for me today was the chance to really interact with people and talk to people with great ideas and personalities. Hope I didn't miss the point today :P

What's Failure?

Hmm, so I've been snooping around CS3216 blogs, dialogue with successful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Start-Up@Singapore, and classes back at my beloved business school lately. 

Heh, I'm glad to say that while this is potentially my toughest semester yet, this is probably gonna be my most interesting semester to date. Almost every module that I'm taking seems to finally have a practical significance to life and business in general. (One bad thing however - after CS3216 class, Biz class seems really boring... ) 

So recently, there seems to have been much talk about what success is, how would you define success? Heh, my personal take on this is.. why bother? Who else can best define your own success apart from yourself? 

So perhaps, having read what has been said.. I'll like to ask "What's Failure?" And well, just my 2 cents' worth - the greatest failure in life is not participating. the next greatest, is not participating enough. 


heh, go figure. 

10,000 Hours & What It Takes to Make an Idea Work.

And so today, I walked into CS3216 with still that bit of apprehension. I think in the next 3 months of my life, I will be living on the edge, and possibly building a global business brand soon enough.

As I mentioned today during "Show & Tell", I was different from most people in the class. I don't have a programming background, nor am I very good at design. All I can say is, I did computing for first 3 months in junior college, and I know basic Photoshop. However, this is not where my talent lies, and I am not born to write code. Yet, I still hope to be at the forefront of technology, the forefront of ideas, and I hope to be where the action is.

You see, this world is so beautiful because we have so many different people. People who are skilled at different things, and because of this, we have survived two milleniums. Because of this, we have built great organizations, governments and companies. Because of diversity, globalisation today is possible.

So, what I am trying to say here is that I am good at setting up business, and I believe I can complement programmers and designers.

Virtual Business Challenge (VBC) in 2004

Diversity was the crux when three friends set out to sell a game called VBC in Hwa Chong. VBC was basically a game whereby students signed up at a website to run virtual petrol kiosks, and compete with other teams to run the next virtual ExxonMobil, and in the process learn vital business skills.

And who were in the VBC team? Three people.

1. A Programmer - my friend was very good at programming in PHP and MYSQL, and he programmed the VBC game.

2. A Designer- he was good with user interfaces, photoshop and dreamweaver.

3. Me. Marketer, Salesperson, Accountant, Administrator etc. - brought the team together, came up with the concept of VBC, and how to make the game more appealing to students in Singapore, how to make it more relevant? brought in the perspective of a user, the perspective of someone who would play and use VBC. Subsequently, marketed it to 6 other schools in Singapore.

Our Success

In 2004, VBC spread to 6 schools in Singapore from merely Hwa Chong, and had 500 participants. It was a success, and it proved that a team of diverse people could work together to achieve stunning results.

So I had a great team to work with in JC, and we did many other things as well. For instance, we took part in Start-Up@Singapore at that time, and got to the semi-finals, where we met tons of people - entrepreneurs, VCs, judges, mentors, investors who gave us guidance and critiqued our business plan, which was really important because it broadened our network.

And seriously, I think we got this far because we had complementary skills, we could understand and communicate with each other, had common visions and single-minded ambition. You see, when you have got people who are really good at what they are doing in a team, synergy creates the maximum impact. In short, you free up time for people to focus on what they like and what they do best. It's a lot easier, because when people do what they like and what they do best, they are happier as well.

10,000 Hours 

And so it's been 5 years since my time in JC. During this time, I served my country, worked a variety of jobs, got started with investing and looking at great companies, participated in an overseas community involvement project in Vietnam, and last but not least, I'm back at Start-Up@Singapore as Sponsorship Director. In this period of time, I substantially broadened my network of contacts, honed my business skills in business law, online marketing and retail entrepreneurship, accounting for businesses, finance and how to raise equity and funds for start ups.

And to end off, I'm in CS3216 because I will like to recreate a winning team. And I believe I'm at the right place at the right time.

Please comment! and please let me know what you guys think!

The Day Before School Officially Starts

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
- Mark Twain 

As I type this post, I am filled with apprehension about tomorrow. I guess its always the case before school starts, and it really does not matter how old you are. Somehow, I just don't seem to grow out of this weakness.

This holidays have given me ample time to recharge and take stock of my priorities. I have become closer to my family by virtue of a family trip back to visit my grandmother in Malaysia. The renewing of familial bonds with my cousins and extended family helped me to realize the importance of kinship. Not that I have not realized it before, just that, I have re-realized it. The hustle and bustle of daily life really saps the energy out of a person, and being the workaholic that I am, it inevitably sucks time away from being with family and friends. And hence, no matter how busy this semester gets (and I foresee it to be my busiest semester), I have resolved to take time out for my family every week.

The holidays saw me grappling with several choices, and I am glad I am finally making gradual advances in certain goals that I have set for myself.

Having read the readings/videos assigned for CS3216, I am glad to be living my life by the motto as stated at the beginning of this post. And I ask myself, how do you catch a tiger, if you're afraid to go into its lair? Jack Ma of Alibaba did that, and he caught Yahoo! (ya hu). And hence, I take another risk, and plunge head on into what could be a most difficult semester. Apart from getting acquainted with programming languages and design, what I really hope to achieve (as in my previous post), is to meet passionate and driven people. People who can complement me in terms of skill sets, in terms of perspectives, opinions, dreams and ideals. People who can challenge me, and close that comfort zone so that I do not again go back in there.

And hence, although I had ideas coming into this module, I will choose to listen, for I believe I will be very much inspired by fellow visionaries in this class.

Personally, I do not believe in reading too much into success stories (disclaimer: i try to be really humble at all times). I think it is inspiring, but I am tired of all that. I am tired of talking to successful people just to "learn" how they did it. I don't see the point. So what if Bill Gates and Warren Buffett were really successful at the things they did? So what if they were lucky, and so what if they found their real passion from a young age? Man, if I were successful one day too, I could say all that to a crowd wanting to have that once-in-a-lifetime interview with me too. Still, I fully agree that both men were visionaries, had very strong value systems, and persevered in the things that they did. And I fully respect that.

My point is, today's world is different. Although Warren Buffett's investing tenets would last more than a lifetime and would still be relevant many years down the road, the circumstances are different. The key to success today lies in being able to adapt to these changes, and being able to be flexible and not simply trying to follow/copy other people (this is a frustration I face many times in working with people). The same applies to Bill Gates.

Instead of watching all those Ted videos and getting inspired, let us build our own success story. We may not ultimately build the next Microsoft or Apple, bt we may just end up building the next Dell. Likewise, we may not become "one of the greatest value investors" of our time, but at least we would enjoy investing and picking out good companies and businesses. And maybe, just maybe, make a lot of money in the process?

And now, I am back to fretting over "Show and Tell" tomorrow.

Cya guys! 

CS3216 funnn :)

hi!

first post written for CS3216, and i am looking forward to a semester of learning from passionate and like-minded people, friendship, and most of all, FUN!

Personally, CS3216 is an experiment that i have undertaken at NUS, putting at risk tangibles like CAP to undertake something new and completely different from my "boring" major back at NUS Business School, Asia's Global Business School - . wow. let's hope it all turns out well.

Let's go straight to the point from now on.

I hope to meet and learn from fellow coursemates who may be passionate in certain fields of study, whatever that may be. As i believe passion and drive to be important character attributes in successful people, i have no doubt the people that i meet in this class will be able to give me new perspectives, and new outlooks regarding contemporary issues in today's world.

i also hope to be at the forefront of exciting and immense technological changes that are radically altering the way we live our lives. Just look at Gmail, I remember distinctly receiving an invite in 2004. Today, it is perhaps the most used email application in the world. And just look at how the mobile phone has evolved. 7 years ago, my mum provided me with my first mobile phone (i was a bit late), and i used it just to call or send sms. Today, we've got tons of iPhone applications and even a superphone that Google just released. Can we bring forth the next wave of mega changes in the lives of people? Or are we just going to ride on it, and watch how it changes our lives instead?