This is common in many organizations. But, it’s unethical and has a very slim chance of working. Do not lose hope, keep performing and adding value, and always remember to showcase your achievements. Do not stop enhancing and upgrading your knowledge and skills. It will come in handy during the next discussion. Remember; do not hound your boss with constant reminders. It would be good idea to track your performance thorough objective performance management. Setting goals and tracking achievements will give you the benefit. It is not said without reason, tough times never last, tough people do!

Your colleague who is not as hardworking as you, recently lands a juicy promotion, while you have been constantly overlooked. You feel cheated and demoralized. What’s the way out?
Favoritism in the workplace is certainly very common and an inevitable fact of working life. Sometimes the boss may not be aware of the preferential treatment meted out to someone. It could be due to the fact that the ‘perceived’ value the person adds is considered higher than what your value addition is. the best way to tackle such a situation is,
- Compare the performance of the ‘favorite employee’ to that of your performance and check if you stand out in terms of performance.
- Peak to colleagues, check if they too feel the same way.
- If there is adequate/substantial proof that the promotion is not due to work and performance related factors, involve the HR. Get valid, relevant performance data and collectively present the case. Post appraisals, there is a window period during which you can highlight your grievance to HR, use the forum to highlight your concerns.

An effective project leader is often described as having a vision of where to go and the ability to articulate it. Visionaries thrive on change and being able to draw new boundaries. It was once said that a leader is someone who “lifts us up, gives us a reason for being and gives the vision and spirit to change.” Visionary leaders enable people to feel they have a real stake in the project. They empower people to experience the vision on their own. According to Bennis “They offer people opportunities to create their own vision, to explore what the vision will mean to their jobs and lives, and to envision their future as part of the vision for the organisation.” (Bennis, 1997)

Good Communicator

The ability to communicate with people at all levels is almost always named as the second most important skill by project managers and team members. Project leadership calls for clear communication about goals, responsibility, performance, expectations and feedback.

There is a great deal of value placed on openness and directness. The project leader is also the team’s link to the larger organisation. The leader must have the ability to effectively negotiate and use persuasion when necessary to ensure the success of the team and project. Through effective communication, project leaders support individual and team achievements by creating explicit guidelines for accomplishing results and for the career advancement of team members.

Integrity

One of the most important things a project leader must remember is that his or her actions, and not words, set the modus operandi for the team. Good leadership demands commitment to, and demonstration of, ethical practices. Creating standards for ethical behaviour for oneself and living by these standards, as well as rewarding those who exemplify these practices, are responsibilities of project leaders. Leadership motivated by self-interest does not serve the well being of the team. Leadership based on integrity represents nothing less than a set of values others share, behaviour consistent with values and dedication to honesty with self and team members. In other words the leader “walks the talk” and in the process earns trust.

Enthusiasm

Plain and simple, we don’t like leaders who are negative – they bring us down. We want leaders with enthusiasm, with a bounce in their step, with a can-do attitude. We want to believe that we are part of an invigorating journey – we want to feel alive. We tend to follow people with a can-do attitude, not those who give us 200 reasons why something can’t be done. Enthusiastic leaders are committed to their goals and express this commitment through optimism. Leadership emerges as someone expresses such confident commitment to a project that others want to share his or her optimistic expectations. Enthusiasm is contagious and effective leaders know it.

Empathy

What is the difference between empathy and sympathy? Although the words are similar, they are, in fact, mutually exclusive. According to Norman Paul, in sympathy the subject is principally absorbed in his or her own feelings as they are projected into the object and has little concern for the reality and validity of the object’s special experience. Empathy, on the other hand, presupposes the existence of the object as a separate individual, entitled to his or her own feelings, ideas and emotional history (Paul, 1970). As one student so eloquently put it, “It’s nice when a project leader acknowledges that we all have a life outside of work.”

Competence

Simply put, to enlist in another’s cause, we must believe that that person knows what he or she is doing. Leadership competence does not however necessarily refer to the project leader’s technical abilities in the core technology of the business. As project management continues to be recognised as a field in and of itself, project leaders will be chosen based on their ability to successfully lead others rather than on technical expertise, as in the past. Having a winning track record is the surest way to be considered competent. Expertise in leadership skills is another dimension in competence. The ability to challenge, inspire, enable, model and encourage must be demonstrated if leaders are to be seen as capable and competent.

Ability to Delegate Tasks

Trust is an essential element in the relationship of a project leader and his or her team. You demonstrate your trust in others through your actions – how much you check and control their work, how much you delegate and how much you allow people to participate. Individuals who are unable to trust other people often fail as leaders and forever remain little more that micro-managers, or end up doing all of the work themselves. As one project management student put it, “A good leader is a little lazy.” An interesting perspective!

Cool Under Pressure

In a perfect world, projects would be delivered on time, under budget and with no major problems or obstacles to overcome. But we don’t live in a perfect world – projects have problems. A leader with a hardy attitude will take these problems in stride. When leaders encounter a stressful event, they consider it interesting, they feel they can influence the outcome and they see it as an opportunity. “Out of the uncertainty and chaos of change, leaders rise up and articulate a new image of the future that pulls the project together.” (Bennis 1997) And remember – never let them see you sweat.

Team-Building Skills

A team builder can best be defined as a strong person who provides the substance that holds the team together in common purpose toward the right objective. In order for a team to progress from a group of strangers to a single cohesive unit, the leader must understand the process and dynamics required for this transformation. He or she must also know the appropriate leadership style to use during each stage of team development. The leader must also have an understanding of the different team players styles and how to capitalise on each at the proper time, for the problem at hand.

Problem Solving Skills

Although an effective leader is said to share problem-solving responsibilities with the team, we expect our project leaders to have excellent problem-solving skills themselves. They have a “fresh, creative response to here-and-now opportunities,” and not much concern with how others have performed them. (Kouzes 1987)

But, I have got a very big question to ask, “are these framework making the life of Developer really easy?”

With the increase in the speed and number of the javascript framework, its getting difficult for the developers to decide which framework is to be used where.

Here, http://mootools.net/slickspeed/, you can test the speed/validity selector test for some of the major frameworks available.

You can get comparison matrix for most of the Javascript framework here,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_JavaScript_frameworks

The following guidelines might help you to decide which framework you should go for,

What are your project requirements?

The first and most important question you need to ask yourself is what are your project requirements? Is this a Web site or application that requires AJAX, robust support for handling events, or how about a library of effects? How much functionality do you need out-of-the-box, and what level of experience will be required by other programmers and designers to support this framework? If you have few requirements, you could find success with an extremely lightweight, modular library. Also you need check if your project requires effects, AJAX, graphics, tools etc

Does the framework supports all the browsers?

Once you know your audience, and your project requirements, you need to consider whether or not your JavaScript framework supports all the needed browsers. Most frameworks do, but there are often some exceptions in the fine print — typically with Safari on the Mac. If you are building an internal Web application for an Intranet, you might only be required to support a limited set of browsers.

How mature is the framework?

More than anything, the maturity of a framework demonstrates a commitment to longevity, as well as a solid foundation. A mature framework will no longer be in beta, and will have been through a full release cycle. There should be a growing, if not thriving community, and depending on the open-source license, a mature framework might also support a Subversion or CVS version repository. Any bug fixes can be rolled into a build without a public release, which is a huge plus.

How often are updates publicly released?

If you find that the community questions or complains about the release cycle, then that could be a warning sign. Long delays and bloated releases are also a sure sign that you will not enjoy supporting the framework on future projects. Alternatively, too many public releases could indicate instability, or a lack of focus.

How friendly is the documentation?

A major differentiators between JavaScript frameworks today is documentation. This not only includes official documentation for the API, but also includes books, tutorials, and blogs. The worst documentation is the sort that is only focused on syntax. Look for a framework that includes examples with each method and property, and that is updated to meet the needs of the community. Documentation is simple to research, and it can be a lifesaver when dealing with tight deadlines.

Is there an active community?

An active community does not guarantee a quality framework, but it does help a framework evolve. The character of the community is also an excellent gage of the type of help you might receive in the future when caught in a bind. Are there forums, or a Google Group? Are experienced users willing and able to lend a helping hand, or will they send you elsewhere for assistance? Are developers creating extensions, or contributing to the core framework? All of these are important questions.

Are benchmark tests performed regularly?

Benchmark tests are often questionable when determining the quality of workmanship put into a framework, but they do demonstrate a developer’s willingness to adopt some quality assurance best practices. Even a modest gain in speed, or a decrease in download size during a release cycle can be seen as a positive improvement.

How extensible is the framework?

Extensibility is typically a requirement of experienced programmers, and is rarely a request of designers. Plugin support is definitely a plus for any JavaScript framework, but developers usually just want to know — how difficult will it be to troubleshoot the core library? Layers of functionality provided by an active community do give a framework uniqueness, but this is a beneficial byproduct, and not often a necessity.

Do you like the API style?

This is an important, but complicated question that is answered for most developers only after using several JavaScript frameworks on numerous projects. Complaints about frameworks like Yahoo! UI are generally in regards to the style with which the API has been designed. Terseness, as well as chainability, are two very important features that should not be overlooked. Remember, you can grow irritated quickly because of cumbersome implementation details.

This task is named “Rabbit, Archer or Wall”

- In this there are two teams.

- Each team has to choose the character they want to be they can either be Rabbit or Archer or Wall

- All the team members have to be same character, so the character has to be told to everyone in the team. The team here decides what they want to be.

- Both teams are given 30 seconds to decide who they are.

- After 30 seconds both team face each other and do the respective action.

- For Rabbit action is “Hands on ear”, for Archer the action is “Archer releasing arrow”, and for Wall the action is both Hands with the palm facing the other team.

- When Rabbit comes in front of Archer – Archer wins (Archer kills Rabbit)

- When Rabbit comes in front of Wall – Rabbit wins (Rabbit jumps over Wall)

- When Wall comes in front of Archer – Wall wins (Wall falls on Archer)

In this you can have 5 iterations which yields you the result.

Things team learn in this task,

- Communicating the character (action) to all the members.

- Improved co-ordination among team members as all the members are told to do the same action.

- Improved understanding among team members.

- Chance for team members to place their opinion, get togerther and discuss what action to perform.

- Improves teamwork and team comes together to achieve success and win.

I’ll post the other two exercises that we had very soon. Keep checking.

Njoy

During testing times like these, companies are forced to enhance their performance levels and seek equality from its employees and if you are an excellent multi-tasker, you definitely have an edge over the rest, point out experts.

Some tips to encourage multi-tasking at workplace:

- Identify additional responsibilities that employees can shoulder
- Ensure these are broadly aligned to their area of work; don’t give them something that they cannot find value in or identify with.
- Train them to take on more responsibilities and equip them to bridge gaps in knowledge and/or skill.
- Motivate them to stretch the boundries of their capabilities.

When you manage salaried knowledge workers, you should almost never have rigid clock-in/clock-out times unless there is a coverage issue in relation to serving customers (e.g., maintaining adequate help desk coverage during call hours). Instead, set clear goals that you know should take your employees about 40 hours/week to accomplish. Require that they show up on time for important meetings and are available during the team’s general working hours. Provide them with the tools to access their work remotely, when needed. Then let them manage their own time. This sends the message that you trust your employees. If you’ve got people you don’t trust, that’s another issue. Manage them up until you do trust them or manage them out to their next opportunity.

#2: Align people with the stuff they are good at

Make sure you have the right people in the right seats. This is especially true if you take over the management of a team that is already in place. Take stock of all the talents you have on the team and reshuffle the deck if it means that your team has a better chance of success. Don’t keep someone in a job role just because they’ve been doing it for long time if you truly think their talents are better suited and could make a bigger contribution in another role. Employees might be reluctant to move in a case like this, so you may need to work hard to convince them that the change is in their best interest, as well as the best interest of the company.

#3: Align people with the projects they are passionate about

Another part of getting people in the right seats is finding what your employees are genuinely passionate about and seeing if they are ways to align them with job roles that let them channel some of that passion. Occasionally, that can mean putting someone in an area where they don’t have much experience. But if their previous work history makes you think they can succeed in that role, it’s usually worth it because their passion will fuel a strong desire to learn and grow. Once they’re up to speed, that passion can become a strong driver of innovation and growth.

#4: Put your best performers on your biggest opportunities

When you have a big opportunity that could propel your organization forward, you need to step back and think about who is the best person to lead the charge. In addition to finding someone who has the talent for the work involved or who has a passion for the subject matter, you need to look at who has a track record of success. Big opportunities come around only once in a while, and they can be lost. So even if it means taking someone off something important, you should always put your best performers on your biggest opportunities.

#5: Find the balance between aggressive and realistic goals

Create a culture of performance by setting aggressive goals and holding your employees accountable for regularly reporting on their progress. However, the goals can’t be so aggressive that your employees quickly fall behind and feel like they can never realistically achieve them. Otherwise, they will quit stretching to reach the goals. That means that you have to regularly re-evaluate the goals (at least on a quarterly basis) to decide whether they need to be scaled down or scaled up.

#6: Trust your people — and let them know it

Knowledge workers typically have jobs that require creative solutions and decision-making. They need to stay sharp mentally to achieve top performance. The onus is on management to create an atmosphere that fosters and encourages that kind of creativity. One of the best things you can do is to let your employees know that you trust them and that you have faith in their ability to do the job, solve the problem, and/or meet the deadline. If you don’t trust them, again, you need to manage them up or manage them out.

#7: Avoid blame (a.k.a. throwing people under the bus)

In any business (or organizational enterprise), there are going to be times when you fail, and there will be things that simply don’t pan out the way you had hoped. Do a post-mortem (even if it’s informal) to figure out what went wrong and learn from it. If there were egregious errors made by individuals, deal with them privately. If necessary, let the person know your expectations for how this should be handled in the future. Don’t publicly blame individuals — either directly or indirectly — in meetings or team e-mails. If you do, you risk creating an atmosphere in which people are so afraid to make mistakes that they don’t spend enough time doing the proactive and creative work necessary to avoid future problems — or more important, to drive new innovations.

#8: Foster innovation by killing projects the right way

Another important part of fostering innovation is knowing how to kill projects effectively and gracefully. There are times when failed initiatives will expose the weaknesses of certain employees, but there are plenty of times when you have good employees working on projects that simply don’t pan out. Figuring out the difference between those two scenarios is part of becoming a good manager. If it’s a good person on a bad project, the person who was running the project isn’t any less talented because the project didn’t materialize. So make sure you use the project as a learning experience and reassign the person to something new without excessive hand-wringing. Otherwise, you will make your employees overly risk-averse, and they will be reluctant to jump into the next big project or to make bold moves when managing the project. That type of atmosphere can quickly stifle progress.

#9: Don’t provide all the answers — make your employees think

You are the manager. You are the leader. That does not mean that you have a monopoly on all of the good ideas. If your employees are hesitant to make decisions without asking your opinion first, you haven’t properly empowered them. If your employees aren’t making enough of their own decisions, you should change your tactics. When they present you with information and ask what to do about a situation, push the ball back into their court and ask them, “What do you think?” They might be surprised at first, but after you do that several times, they’ll start thinking it through before they come to you so that they’re fully prepared to discuss the matter and make a recommendation. That’s a good thing, because they’re usually closer to the customer and more familiar with the details of the work. You need their opinions. And you need them to make some of their own decisions.

#10: Build consensus by letting people know “why”

One of your key responsibilities in management is communicating about new initiatives and strategy changes. The worst thing you can do is surprise your staff members with a fully formed idea about a new way to do something that will drastically alter their day-to-day work. When you spring it on them, people will naturally be defensive and skeptical. Whenever possible, give people an informal heads-up that a change is coming and let them know some of the reasoning involved. They will be glad you kept them in the loop. If they don’t agree with the reasoning, they can express their dissent. They might even bring up a caveat or a gotcha that should be considered before the final plan is solidified. An even better course of action is to have a brainstorming session with your team when you are still formulating a new idea or strategy change, so you can gather their ideas and feedback. You may sometimes have to spring something on your team, but make sure that you limit those occasions. Even then, take the time to let them know the reasoning behind the decision.

Resource: Techrepublic.com

Many of you must be bugged off with the security alerts in Vista, You can however disable that feature to annoy you.
Here are the steps to be performed to disable UAC on Vista,

1. Click the round blue Windows Start button. Now click Control Panel
2. From the Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety
(or User Accounts if your in classic view)
3. Click the option to Turn User Account Control on or off
4. Uncheck the box next to Use User Account Control (UAC) to help
protect your computer and click OK
5. Restart when prompted

Turn off user Account Control(UAC)

Turn off user Account Control(UAC)

There are various ways you can compress your Javascript. You can have a plugin installed, you can find HTTPHandlers and HTTPModules which will do the work for you.

Just in case you are still not able to compress your Javascript files, here is the site that will do that for you, http://javascriptcompressor.com/ just paste your javascript file and the site will compress that for you.

Similarly, you need to compress your CSS as well to improve your site performance. Here is the link for  CSS compressor, http://www.cssoptimiser.com/

Hope this helps

If you have touched something, accept total responsibility for that piece of work. If you accept responsibility, you are in a position to do something about it.

Here are some common excuses for failures:

- It was a terrible brief.

- I need a better partner.

- There wasn’t enough money to do it properly.

- The director didn’t listen to me.

- I was too busy on other projects.

- I wasn’t given enough time.

- The client took out the best ideas.

Most of these grievances are everyday on every job. That won’t change.

The point is that, whatever other people are failings might be, you are the one to shoulder the responsibility.

The comedian John Cleese puts it rather more eloquently, ‘High creativity is responding to situations without critical thought’.

If you are in deadlock here are a couple of tricks you might try.

- Do the opposite of what the solution requires.

Look out of the window and whatever catches your eye, a bird, a television aerial, an old man on crutches or whatever, make that the solution to your problem.