Swarup Ghosh

Okay. Could you help me understand more about your background by giving a quick introduction? Okay. So currently, I'm associated with Pacific Computers Data Processing Private Limited, And I am working there as a senior consultant. And, uh, my roles and responsibilities are, I'm looking after their 2 clients, uh, into and developing a system that is integrated exam management system? Uh, so both are their university clients, And, uh, it is a complete process of how they take exams in their universities. It involves more than 55 colleges And, uh, students of almost, uh, 50, uh, 50,000 Students appearing for exams. There is, uh, 6 semesters, and the semesters are mostly overlapping with one another in a year? So, uh, it it is more or less a SaaS based project. It involves various stakeholders. Uh, these are exam principles, uh, principals of the colleges, than university senior authorized persons, uh, who undertake, uh, the exam process? So so, uh, it's it's, like, right from examination to collection and, uh, of the answer saved scripts, distribution of the answer scripts reviewed, uh, by the examiners, uh, then, uh, approved by the head examiners and then finally, uh, results calculation in the results and then publish of the results? So it's the whole process, uh, that I lead, uh, in both the universities. And, uh, we have successfully implemented the system, and it is running successfully for the last 2 years. Before this role, I was, uh, with Avantir Digital Private Limited, and there I worked as a project manager. And, uh, I looked in one of their US based client that is Trade Research. And, uh, we were a part of the team in which we are developing various modules, uh, of the system. Uh, so it is also, Uh, it is a health care project, and, uh, there there are various, uh, clients or nonprofitable organizations who are clients of that, uh, organization. And, uh, they it is a multi tenancy based, system in which various research organizations, uh, onboard on their system and they I collect various feedback from various parts of the users, uh, about their health issues, uh, any symptoms, any, any diseases so that they can trial uh their uh-uh what you say they can uh they can do the trial on the various vaccines or various drugs? Uh, they actually do the thing. So, uh, I I I have the experience of leading right from, uh, concept conceptualization of the project to the final delivery of the project. And, uh, this I actually, uh, uh, led from the front, and I lead, uh, I have technical experience also. So I utilize that also uh

So what metrics, uh, did you use to track the progress and health of an agile project? Okay. So in agile project, uh, we need to monitor, uh, the deliverables every time. We we need to create, Uh, sprint planning, we need to do, uh, daily stand ups. We need to review a particular sprint, Uh, after the completion of the sprint, then we do the retrospective. Uh, so, uh, we need to understand, uh, we need to, Uh, see how many we have planned story points, uh, what is the backlog status, uh, how much, uh, we have, uh, planned, uh, story points, Uh, in a sprint, uh, how much we are delivering, uh, in the sprint. Uh, so what what what is actually the status? What is actually, uh, the status, uh, of the project at any point of time through the burn down chart. Uh, what is the status, uh, from the actual plan and the actual, uh, from the planned, uh, story points we have, uh, planned actually and how much we have delivered. Uh, so, uh, this we can monitor Every time, uh, through the, uh, team burn down chart, uh, so, uh, we understand we we first plan the capacity of the team, And then we, uh, get through the we we we study the velocity of the team, uh, and then we, uh, understand the deliverable. So anything left that is, uh, moved on to the next sprint, uh, as a spillover. So in this way, uh, uh, we actually, uh, understand what is the status, uh, of the sprint or the agile project at any point of time. Uh, whether, uh, uh, we are falling, uh, we actually, Uh, whether we are, uh, falling short, uh, of the estimated time or or or we are running, uh, behind the schedule or proposed time. So we actually monitor with these uh

Okay. So describe an experience where you had to facilitate a sprint retrospective. What was the outcome? Okay. So at the end of the sprint, we do a sprint retrospective where we understand, uh, what we have done well and, uh, uh, where there is a chance of improvement. So we understand we try to understand that, uh, where we are lagging. Uh, so, uh, we we study the process. Uh, we try to understand the approaches uh, by the team, uh, whether any, uh, any best possible approach that is, uh, that could be taken by the team, uh, instead of following the previous process. Uh, we, uh, try to understand the action the action items which we have, uh, decided to implement in the sprint whether they are, uh, got implemented. So any any new process that also needs to be, uh, improved or any new process, uh, that, uh, or any new plan, uh, for process improvement whether we can implement, uh, in the upcoming sprint. So, uh, we we actually, uh, in our, uh, project in one of our project, That is a BOPA project. Uh, we actually, uh, gone through this retrospective, and we understand and that, Uh, there are various areas where we need improvement. Uh, so whether be the UI, whether the there is infrastructure, Uh, whether there is automation there is issue with the automation, uh, whether, uh, we need to do a better quality QA testing, uh, after the uh, development because there are times when, uh, uh, there are lots of errors or bugs are being caught, uh, in the QA section, uh, in the QA testing after, uh, the development has been released in the staging environment. So when the QA does their testing, they found a lot of bugs, and then again, uh, it is moved on to the developer area. So we understand this, uh, that this can be, uh, further improved. Uh, so we thought, uh, of, uh, like doing a unit testing, uh, in the developer area or or the in the development environment itself by the developers so that it can be a better, uh, approach, uh, in our next sprint.

Describe a 0 to 1 project you managed. What are the key challenges, and how did you overcome them? Okay. So, uh, there are there are, uh, a project, uh, in that, Health care domain, uh, what, uh, which I have previously briefed off. Uh, so in that project, uh, we see that There is a conflict in the team, and, uh, what we see that, uh, there are various team members working on the team, and, uh, um, the issue is with their approaches. So different team members want different approaches, uh, to the same problem, uh, but then, uh, there is conflict because, uh, the team members are not agreeing on any particular approach. And, uh, though both though after analyzing, uh, their approaches, uh, I find that both the approaches are correct, uh, but then, uh, we have to agree on a particular team member's approach only, uh, because in that way, it will be a teamwork. Otherwise, Uh, we not able to deliver, uh, the project in time. So that way, uh, that's why there is a conflict, uh, based on that, uh, in one of the feature. Uh, so, uh, what we did, uh, we had a 1 to 1 discussion, uh, with both the team members. Uh, then, finally, um, we have, um, agreed on a win win situation, uh, for all up, uh, with with with comprising on certain of, uh, the area. And we have included, uh, one of the team members approach, uh, because, Um, that that team member's approach was one of the best. So, uh, in that way, we resolved that Ping. And finally, uh, we go ahead, uh, with the project, uh, with the deliverable.

Okay. Discuss an approach for dealing with team conflicts that could jeopardize an agile project success. Okay. So just to before, uh, only, uh, what I have, uh, indicated are, uh, the point is that there are a a number of conflicts, uh, in the team. Uh, in that case, uh, we, uh, we need to collaborate, uh, with the team members. Uh, it can be it can be 1 to 1, and, uh, it can be in a group. Uh, it it can be in the stand up meetings also and need to understand the approaches uh, they want to, uh, decide or they want to go ahead with and whether their approaches are satisfying the sprint goal or the project goal, uh, or the deliverables and whether, uh, whether, uh, the product owner, uh, wants the same, uh, value in the deliverable, or it is aligned with the project owner's objective, uh, or the, uh, business requirement. So in that cases, uh, we, uh, like, uh, do a 1 to 1 meeting with the team, and then, Uh, we we decide on the best approach that can be implemented, uh, in the project. Again, uh, there is, uh, sometimes there is an attitude problem. Uh, so, um, there is, uh, I mean, team members not aren't accepting, uh, or doesn't like to work on the team, uh, or, like, somehow feel that there is a skill gap, uh, skill gap that needs to be improved. So for that, uh, skill gap that needs to be improved. So we check on that whether whether the team, uh, whether the team member's attitude can be aligned, uh, with the project, uh, objective or the projector scrum, uh, is sprint objective. Uh, but in that case, uh, if that is not possible, then we, uh, we, like, shift that team member to another team, uh, so that he can adjust in that particular team. Or, uh, sometimes happen sometimes happen, uh, that, Uh, we do a 1 to 1 discussion. Uh, maybe, uh, sometimes happen that he is not able to concentrate on the project. In that cases, we need to understand his personal problems as well. Uh, if that is doing some, then in in that cases, that can be The team members can be, uh, given a a leave, uh, for some time, and then he can, uh, again join the team. In that case, uh, we can do a replacement, uh, with some of the other team members for that particular split. So in that cases, uh, we need to, Uh, in some in such cases, like, uh, we need to understand and whether, uh, there are any critical tasks that is that the team member is doing or not. Uh, and if his, uh, if the task he's doing can be replaceable, then, uh, we do accordingly. And, like, uh, and, like, we can move forward, uh, with the project. Thank

How do you balance the need for speed in delivery with the necessity of building for scale. Okay. So, uh, when we are developing, uh, any, uh, project or when we are developing any, Uh, feature, uh, of the project. And, uh, we see whether we are following, uh, the project in a constant pace. Uh, we are not we are not speeding up the things, uh, but then at the same time, we are following a constant pace. And, uh, we also, uh, following the best practices, um, that has been, Uh, that has already been created in the project. Other, uh, like, we are creating microservices, uh, in the architecture. Uh, then we are, uh, we are following, uh, that it whether it can be, um, uh, all the, uh, all the features or all the, Development should be, uh, in that, uh, feature and that, uh, it can be accessible through API. Services can be accessible through API. And then, uh, scalable means, uh, whether the, uh, architecture we are, Uh, assuming or whether the architecture we have implemented, uh, is, uh, has the provisions of, uh, auto scaling. As the provisions of auto scaling means when there is a peak, uh, the system needs to be auto scaled. So we need to we need to check whether, uh, uh, following the functional requirement, whether we are also following the nonfunctional, requirement as well, uh, along with the functional requirements. Uh, means the system system should be in such that, uh, at times of need, It can be scalable, maintainable, available. Uh, so whether, uh, all the parameters, uh, offer perfect on our today's modern system, are following the standard, uh, principles, uh, in developing the system. So in that case, uh, along with, uh, building the system, Uh, at a constant pace, we are also testing, uh, the system. We are also following the principles or the guidelines, Uh, of a proper secured system along with the scalability, availability, and maintainable maintainability of the code or the of the system we are developing.

How you lead a daily stand up and ensure the effectiveness? Okay. So in daily stand up, we do a regular daily stand up in which, uh, we are very, uh, specific of the uh, point, uh, of discussion, uh, like, uh, what actually we have done yesterday, uh, which is, uh, in, uh, in sync with the Sprint goal and, uh, what we are going to do today. So any, any dependency or any bottleneck, uh, in the things or in the, uh, in the in the task, uh, followed by various team members. So, uh, how we are going to uh, resolve those tasks. So, uh, that will be a short discussion, but, uh, that is an effective discussion, uh, in the daily standup, uh, in which we are going to resolve all the issues, all the, uh, impediments, uh, that are, uh, present in, uh, achieving that, uh, particular sprint goal. So, um, that will be a very short in which every team member stand up and, uh, like, provide their, uh, feedback, provide their, um, feedback or provide their, uh, status. Also, not exactly status means, uh, the uh, part of the work they have done yesterday and, uh, what they have chosen to do today and, um, uh, is there any bottleneck? Is there any challenges, is is there any, uh, thing pending from the client side? Any clarity, uh, which the product owner needs to give to the team? So these things, uh, are were has to be discussed in that particular 15 minute stand up. So this has to be very specific, very, uh, uh, short time discussion, and this, uh, has to be very clear from each team member's point of view, and, uh, it has to be very clear from the project point of view, uh, from the sprint goal, uh, whether we are achieving that particular sprint goal, uh, or we are aligned with that, uh, sprint goal, which we are going to achieve, uh, for that particular sprint. Very, uh, it needs to be very specific and comprehensive, uh, discussion. So no extra, no detailed discussion, uh, in this thing, only brief and short and very comprehensive discussion.

What is your approach to managing a project budget within an agile framework? Okay. So, uh, my approach to managing a project budget is like, uh, we calculate the number of hours, Um, the team is working on. And, uh, the number of, uh, what we have planned or what we have estimated, Uh, with the backlog items, uh, and then the number of hours, uh, the team is working on, uh, on the project and the cost of the manpower, uh, per hour. Uh, so we are calculating, uh, that, Uh, we have reached toward that budget, and then, uh, we are, uh, calculating every day, Uh, like, how much work that is supposed to be completed, uh, that is planned planned work and then actual, uh, work done. So we compare those, uh, and we can understand that whether, uh, we are moving within budget or, uh, we have exceeded budget. And any extra or unsurprises, uh, that come in the project, uh, maybe maybe delay, uh, due to, uh, the response from the project team, Maybe delay due to the team member, uh, is sick or not, uh, uh, coming, uh, for the work. Uh, so, uh, arranging another team member or adding more team members, uh, if, uh, the project is in delay. So that that cost also we need to include, uh, in the budget, uh, that needs to be checked with the budget, Uh, means the actual cost, uh, whether they're has exceeded their budget we have planned, Uh, for these, uh, number of backlog items, uh, product backlog items, uh, which need to be, uh, delivered, uh, in a Couple of sprints. So in that way, uh, what we do is, uh, we have to be proactive, like, uh, we can understand, Um, that we can quickly replace, uh, any manpower, uh, or any, uh, material requirement, uh, maybe, uh, that's Um, asset, uh, whatever the asset, like laptops and all, uh, anything like travel requirement, Uh, like, uh, uh, boarding, uh, discussions, meeting, uh, arranging various types of meetings. Uh, so all those, uh, there are fixed maybe fixed variables, uh, of, uh, costing maybe, uh, variable, uh, costings are there. So whether, uh, anything is exceeding as per the, uh, planned budget. Uh, so any actual budget is, um, actual, Uh, cost is getting higher than the planned budget. So whether that unknown factor is there, whether we understand That unknown unknown factor is not getting, uh, more and more and, uh, or giving surprises, uh, to the project budget. So in that case, uh, we are actively monitoring all those, uh, the actual cost, and, Uh, we checking all those. The actual cost is in line with the uh

How do you track and manage dependencies between multiple teams working on a large agile project? Okay. So, uh, in that case, um, there are multiple, uh, I'm giving a reference, uh, from my previous project. That is a health care project. Uh, and, uh, so in that project, uh, there are there are Lots of features that need to be done in parallel. So whether it is customer onboarding, whether it is, uh, vendor onboarding, uh, so, uh, whether whether there are, um, uh, many, uh, data data or data, uh, related, uh, feature. So in that case, there are various teams are working. And, uh, so there is a dependency, uh, since the project, Uh, project is built on a microservices, and and, uh, the, uh, various services can be done by various teams, and it can be independently deployed. But at the same time, when there is integration testings, uh, are done by the QA, So there are, uh, a lot of time where is the, uh, one feature, uh, of 1 team is getting, uh, is pushed on the production server, and there is conflict with the other team pushing their feature on the production server and the whole system. Uh, there are some parts of the system which is not working, uh, as per the required, uh, as per the required scenario. So in that cases, what we do, Uh, is is is every time it is, uh, like, planned that, Uh, in the weekend only, uh, the all the teams will be going to, uh, release their feature, uh, to the production. So before that, there will be, uh, there will be an, uh, off-site off-site testing, uh, by the senior QA team as well as, Uh, there is a on-site testing from the client side from the client side testing, uh, by their team. So before moving all those, uh, thing, the production, and that is that is planned in weekend only so that if any mishaps happen, and that can be corrected on the weekend weekend itself. And, uh, uh, before moving on to the Monday, before moving on to the Monday and working day.

How do you align agile project management practices with the regulatory compliance requirements? Okay. So in agile project management involving, uh, various, uh, teams and, Uh, various stakeholders or various customers, uh, in various parts of the world. So each State or each country has their own regulatory compliance. So in that cases, uh, we need to understand, uh, in which of the uh, global areas this software is going to be deployed. And, uh, based on that, uh, we need to understand and, uh, their requirement. Like, in US, there is a, uh, while deploying this health care project, Uh, they need to be very very very clear on the HIPAA regulatory compliance. Uh, so so far deploying any project to any part of the globe, uh, I mean, their compliance requirement has to be very Clear. And, uh, um, the project needs to be deployed based on satisfying all those compliance requirements of the specific countries or the state globally when it is a global project. Even even even the customers, Um, uh, the software needs to be very clear of the customer sentiments, uh, who are going to use globally uh, uh, in the software, uh, in the system.

Discuss your experience with fast paced agency environments and how it has affected your project management approach. Okay. So so In the various environments, in the various agency environments, what we see is that they are very specific or very fast time to market. Uh, so in that case, uh, we need to understand that how we can automate, uh, most of the tasks in project development so that it can be it can be done with following all the guidelines, all the principles of the modern project development. Uh, at the same time, uh, we can provide a good quality software uh, with a with a lot of features. And and the softwares and the modules can be developed in agile environment so that, Uh, the changes can be implemented quickly, and there are various teams working on the project, uh, in the microservices environment. So each of the microservices can be independently developed and can be deployed on the production server without affecting other microservices. So in that cases, uh, so project management needs to follow these sort of modern guidelines or modern development guidelines Um, and the systems to be developed it has to be robust without any bugs and all. So also the, uh, QA systems or QA team also need to follow the automated testing guidelines, uh, or the automated testing tools, Uh, so that, uh, that system can be developed and it has a great time to market. Uh, so and it will definitely Uh, bring advantage for the customers so that they can be better placed in the competitive environment.