Step by Step guide to installing Robot Framework

Robot framework has been a little tricky for most folks though now provides an installer for windows, but still it is best to know the detailed steps if you do not wish to use the Installer.

So let's get started -

Installing Robot framework - requires Python installation first as a pre-requisite.

All steps below for Windows OS (32/64 bit)

Step 1. Install Python version 2.7.8 
(supported Python version for Robot Framework version greater than 2.7)

https://www.python.org/downloads/
Installer Files:  python-2.7.8 - for 32 bit / python-2.7.8.amd64 - for 64 bit

Ex. Installed at c:\python27\

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Top 5 Agile project Myths – Smashed !

Catching a glimpse of a snake charmer on a busy Indian metropolis, is a big myth that many foreigners visiting India still cherish (wishful thinking you might say!). But the reality is that snake charming is illegal in India (India Wildlife Act) and has been for a number of years, although snake charmers do still exist and are now an ‘elusive’ sight. But the myth still exists and something similar is the case with the agile projects and the myths surrounding them.

If you take a look at the the annual state of agile surveys for last few years, they have been throwing similar results wrt 'Concerns' about Agile (read as Myths – see below Reference1), reflecting the dismal failure of the agile enthusiasts to be unable to bust the folk tales surrounding the agile projects delivery. This post hopes to therefore Smash the Top 5 agile project myths (popular faolke tales), with a pinch of sugar/salt (take your pick) for added flavour.

Source: Reference 1

Myth1– Agile projects do No Planning

The traditional projects have a Big plan upfront, and planning is highly visible, with a complete plethora of activities, draining the energy for a couple of weeks\months, and resulting in a sometimes scary GANTT chart.

But Agile projects instead focus on Continuous planning, and planning is therefore invisible!

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Mr. Product Manager: Are you ready for the brave new Agile world ?

This was an interesting question, which got me thinking to rant out on the state of product managers in the Scrum India meetup in 2011.

The fact is that after couple of years later, I still see that the product management is not ready and not ready to embrace the new world. So here's my wake up call again for them (from my archives) and possibly make atleast some of them embrace the new agile world now. You can hear my rant (pecha kucha style) in the video below. Feel free to drop me a note on your experiences.

Agile Balanced Scorecard - Does it exist ?

It is indeed a difficult question to answer!  The "Agile" Balanced Scorecard may or may not exist today (the literature published is pretty scant on this), but if you are looking for developing this scorecard or modifying your existing Balanced Scorecard for your organization, then you may want to watch my video below in the Agile India Kerala 2013 conference titled - Balanced Scorecard for the Agile Enterprise
Watch the Video here