The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

I got a book, a small book for a run-down price during the MPH sales near my house. I think I have got more than what I have bargained for. For a few reasons, reason no. 1 is that it is small enough for me to finish reading within the appropriate time frame. I found that this days, I do not have the endurance to finish a book. It happened when I try to read the last thick book, that is, one of the Lord of the Ring book. Even when I tried to read the Harry Porter book, I couldn't finish one. So having bought and completed Randy's book is one of my personal achievement, that yes, I am still able to find the concentration to finish a book.

OK, moving forward, like to share with you what I have learned from the book, I figured that there will be a couple of people who is like me, who will always try to look for synopsis of the book rather than going through the whole book. The story begin frankly with our Professor Randy Pausch who has been diagnosed with cancer. The story goes on to tell us how he thinks life is all about, how he navigated it through and how he summarizes it for the benefit of his students and also his family in his last lecture in Carnegie Mellon University.

A few of the things that strikes out in the book or lesson learned are

1. Life meaning is about fulfilling your childhood dream (well, yes, that is what Randy has achieved)

2. He throws in a couple of adventure and the lessons that he had learned throughout life. I remember especially the one on head-fake.

3. It is also one of his happiness to be able to enable other people's dream, which is what a lecturer's life is all about. Training the students for the coming future in his field of expertise, that is the virtual reality.

4. His second last section is on how to life your life, that is, to Randy how he had live his life or his life lesson thus far. He is telling us his way that he thinks best of living it. No argument there with our professor.

5. His final remark is a bit touching. It is mainly for his wife and his kids, which he may not be able to see very much of in the time of his writing of this book. Nevertheless, he has given much thought and communication with his wife. The think about him is that he views communication, jovial and his choosing not to succumb in sadness or depression really sticks out strongly for him.

The book contains some photos which shows that the professor in his 40s still look very boyish and handsome and has been able to exude a strong sense of friendliness and influence in the place he works and people around him. The way his think and a piece of his thought throughout the book gives us a fresh insight of a dying man with a strong and firm battling spirit for the betterment of his family is really an inspiration to me. Not only that I am not facing such issues, but I am living my life so much less 'treasured' compared to him. Well if one thing Randy did in this book is to tell me to live my life to the fullest and in every moment of it. Live my life to the very minute of it, with the people that I treasure most.

Go get the book, the author is already dead now, that is, somewhere July/August 2008 this year. However he will always be remembered, at least by me. Go 'google' this famous name out or get a hand on his book. Have a nice day :)

Quality in delivery...

I was about to comment that quality exist everywhere, and even the quality of the administration of the country is sometimes being judged by its people.
I guess once the administration is in power for too long, they tend to forget that who the 'customer' is. For so long, the customer has been brainwashed and also being 'advertised' with a lot of wrong information, instilled fear into them and also being purposefully misinformed. The customer after so many years become scared and fearful.
Fortunately the tide of change has happened. Customer realized their rights and exercised it. The evil supplier/distributor/service provider instantly become the subject of boycott. Good to see something changed. Whether the new service provider is up to mark or not, it is more then meets the eye...

Attributes you need to be successful in Quality Assurance

By the time I am writing this article, I already have about 4 years of experience in quality assurance for DVD products such as DVD player and DVD recorder. My expertise or specialization is in the area of new product evaluation where I need to oversee the quality aspect of the product right from the design specification and prototyping up to the introduction to mass production. One thing I learn in Sony is that quality does not improve overnight. Therefore if an organization wants to produce good quality product or want to be affiliated as a company that offers good quality services, they need to have the following:

Good working culture that stress on quality (from top level onwards)
Emphasis on quality rather than quantity
Well planned company procedure
Company's mission and objective must encompass quality
Strong QA Department
In addition, contrary to most people's believe, they think that Quality Assurance Department are merely people who checks for other people's mistake, people who only knows how to complain or some would even say that we are people who does not know anything more than to slow down processes, be it in design process or even production process. This should not be the case in a company that emphasize on quality. Quality centered organization would see that Quality Assurance Department attempts to 'help' the organization improve in the area of product, services and even the development of a good company culture. The department actually transcend and bring out another competitive advantage for the organization, that is getting more important in our society today: quality.

The main discussion this time is what kind of people would be ideal in the QA area. Who can spearhead the organization's product/services quality improvement. The following are some of the attributes I have identified from my own experience:

Curiosity
Able to stand up for his/her own beliefs
Detailed
Good presentation skills
Analytical
Non-confrontational but are able to do so

So much has been said about Quality Assurance, and I think that anyone reading this must have been freaked out by what I have wrote. But do you know what are the qualities or attributes that a good QA person needs to have? CURIOSITY. Suspicious. This is the first trade of a good QA person. They must be curious enough to notice things, eagerness to find out if something does not feel right. There has been lots of cases that could have been prevented if QA engineers or technicians could have been more eager to smell out problems. Indeed sometimes QA engineers may run through some detail test script and may not find any problems, however someone who curiously explore the function of the products may stumble upon defects in a matter of minutes.