Minutes Software

Finally I thought I would do some justice to my IT engineering degree and blog about the software I am working on for 2-months, at SELCO. When I entered SELCO, I was given a range of IS related projects that I should be working on. My first day as an intern was obviously shocking as I enter the organization and found out that I need to work on so many projects (and all related to IT !!Oh No!!). It is indeed horrifying for an engineering graduate who never got inspired to do any coding in her college days. Well, it's unfair to say that I didn't enjoy coding at all. I did enjoy few lab sessions, working on few programs/projects in Java and Android. Coming to SELCO, seeing the list of projects was like watching a horror movie. But then slowly as you start working, you know which project is doable and which projects take time and hence not feasible as a project for your internship. Slowly our work flow shifted towards the project 'Minutes Software'. The initial confusion we had was what language to use. First we tried out Macros. But few functionalities were not feasible using macros and found out it is a cumbersome language to work on. Then we started working on Android, but then realized it's not feasible for a 'Minutes Software'. We were back to square one, still figuring out what language to work on. Let me tell you all these things took one month. 

                                 Finally an engineering student from this college, who has finished his diploma and had some work experience came to our rescue. He told us that VB.NET would be the best language to work on for  this project. He also had some modules with the initial design framework which suited our project requirements. So, this finally channelized our efforts in the right direction because we knew we where developing the software with the right language. 

Now our project is done and ready for delivery !! Well Minutes Software is a productivity tool that SELCO can use to record their weekly meetings. SELCO currently uses word file to record the meetings . There is no problem with the existing system but a lot of time is wasted in preparing the document for the next meeting. It's a waste of time for Anand sir to edit the document every week for the meeting. So here comes 'Minutes Software' to the rescue. The software gives the format for every meeting. It will also hold the database which will store the discussions of every meeting. It also sends notifications of the action plan to all the employees through email and SMS. 

                               The best learning happened during the process of  development of the software. We were the system analysts. I sat down as a minutes recorder for every meeting. I understood that though editing the document is a job that seems simple, it does take away your time and energy. Attending the meeting not only made me feel the difficulties of a recorder, but also helped me in getting a better understanding of all the projects that SELCO is working on. I also understood where I lack my skills as an IT engineer. Though I could add on various functionalities for the project, I needed someone's help in getting the design started. The initial designing phase is what I am not good at and I need to work on. I enjoyed working on the 'Minutes Software' and what makes me happy is the fact that this software will make the work life of people at SELCO much easier !!!

The Art Of Motivating People !!!

Selco Labs, Ujire is in 4th floor of SDMIT college. Though I am not a student of this college, I am literally living a college life here; interacting with students, having fun attending their hostel day, DJ night etc etc. It's full on masti. But it's not just fun here with the college students. Recently I had gone to Mrs Divya Mahendran, the one in-charge of placement activities and expressed my desire to give a presentation on Jagriti Yatra to the students of the college to give them some exposure on the event and motivate them to go on the Yatra and to also to enlighten them on few exceptional personalities who are doing few exceptional things in their life. According to the plan I was to do the presentation in each class everyday with her. But somehow it didn't work out and one fine evening I was in Selco Labs and I was suddenly called for the presentation. I went with my laptop to give the talk to a crowd of 100 students. Well this was my first talk on Jagriti Yatra and Twenty19; and an intended motivational talk. As I started my presentation with enthusiasm, there was pin drop silence and students were keenly listening to me from start to the end. I could make out that they enjoyed my presentation from their reaction. I was appreciated by students and madam for a half an hour talk which did motivate few students who came up to me and registered for Jagriti Yatra. I was happy with myself as I was able to give back to Jagriti Yatra and Twenty19 in which ever way that was possible for me.

                                                I am interning under Mr. Anand Narayan in Selco Labs, who was kind enough to put me in contact with a professor at SDM arts college to help me give the same talk to arts students. I went with the same enthusiasm to motivate as many as possible. I was treated like a Chief Guest at the college. I was humbled by their respect and love. I was suppose to address the NSS students of the college. Nearly 60 students had gathered and I started the presentation with a hitch as the computer had virus and it was giving me problems with the presentation. There was a chaos in the crowd. Few were talking and that really got me irritated. I asked those who are not interested to leave. I did maintain my calm and gained back the momentum to continue with the talk. But as I was talking few were dozing right in front of me, few were pretending to listen and few were indeed listening. As I went through the presentation I realized that there is something missing. Why am I not able to connect with them - Is it the fact that I was not conversing in kannada that didn't allow me to connect with them, or is it that the students had exams and they were not interested in my talk??? As I head back to Selco Labs,  I keep pondering what is it that didn't let me connect to them - was it the mere circumstances of that particular day or was it the way I was handling it. But I did learn few things from the talk - how to keep your clam even when people seem uninterested while you make your best efforts to make it as interesting as possible and that every crowd will need a different approach for their motivation. Oh wait - This what I learnt in my 7th semester 'Management - Principles and Practices' ? It's just that it was in theory and now I did the practicals !!!