How to start as scrum master or product owner in software?

If you have never been a part of software delivery and want to enter this world as a scrum master or product owner then this blog is just for you. As a newbie SM or PO in software delivery, it might be good for you to take a couple of courses to understand basics of software delivery. The goal of these is not for you to learn coding although it is a very good segway should you be intrigued. These courses are not Nirvana! They will set the path though to help you understand where to look. There are many skills that are interchangeably used between scrum master and product owner. These are courses I found online (Not all of it is free) but there is a lot of material on this on the internet. You can go thru the course content and find free articles/content online. Take your pick.

Scrum master and product owner training

There are several avenues to get certified as a scrum master or product owner. Some of them are as below –

• Scrum.org’s PSM or PSPO – These certifications do not expire and are a little more work than CSM. IN my opinion this makes sense because these principles and techniques are not dependent on technology or industry. It is also cheaper than CSM/CSPO at least in North America.
• ScrumAlliance.org’s CSM or CSPO – The certification is valid for 2 years and has to be renewed. The test is relatively easier.

It is best if you can get your company sponsor these certifications. If your company doesn’t sponsor it or you are unemployed and trying to get in – Go for scrum.org.

Software Development Life Cycles

Although as scrum master or product owner, you would be working on agile methodology, it would be useful to learn more about other methodologies. You can employ techniques of different methodologies based on your situation. Every methodology has its pros and cons.  

1. Waterfall – Traditionally companies used waterfall for software development. What this meant was that it took months or years to release software to production, costing business several million dollars. Companies are now mostly switching over to agile because of faster feedback and better transparency.
2.  Agile – In order to shorten the feedback loops, agile came into existence.

a.       Scrum

b.      Kanban

c.       Pair programming

System Analysis skills

In order to understand your ecosystem of teams (dependencies and stakeholders), some level of system analysis skills is needed. The product owner role requires more of your analytical skills. This is just entry level stuff. In a later post, we will talk in depth about that.

There are several technologies like .Net, Java etc. and even open source ones which are springing up daily. RELAX – You are not expected to learn these technologies. You need to learn the concepts so that you can understand the work to be done. For instance you can write an API in Java as well as .Net. As long as you understand the various components you are covered.                                                                                                                                                                     

• https://www.udemy.com/business-analysis-ba/
• https://www.udemy.com/process-mapping-process-flowcharts/
• Basics of Application Programming Interface (API) -  https://www.udemy.com/course/learn-and-understand-apis-and-restful-apis/
• User Interface (UI) - https://www.udemy.com/design-rules/?couponCode=

Agile management tools

Companies use several tools to manage their backlog. These are very easy to use but very powerful. For many companies these are the popular choices. AS a product owner/scrum master, you will have to be proficient with these tools to enable your teams and improve productivity.

•          Atlassian’s JIRA and confluence - https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence 
•          Asana – https://asana.com/   
•      Trello – https://trello.com/en

All of these have similar features and there are several companies that have free/paid plugins on top of these tools. As you advance, you will try out these plugins. These are easy to learn.

Hope that this helps you get started.

Disclaimer - The links provided in this post are based on personal experience only. Please use at your own discretion.

Home renovation in Halifax

Our 1st year in Canada was quite eventful. We were able to purchase our 1st home in Halifax, Canada. This home was structurally good and we loved the home design but there were few things that needed work. This option was way better than purchasing a new home that would have cost us around $100K more with a design that we didn't like. So we purchased an old home and decided to renovate as necessary.

Rome was NOT built in a day!!

When you buy a home there is a mandatory inspection which will report every big and small finding. Besides based on your needs, you might want to change a few things. So, make a list of the things you want fixed and prioritize it.  These things not only take time and money but also the RIGHT approach and people. 

What type of handymen would you need?

Even for us, it was the 1st time we were doing a renovation and we weren't sure. There are YouTube videos for this too. This is also helpful when you have conversations with them.

• If you want to redo walls, redo your bathrooms, convert an open space into a room - You would need a drywall contractor.
• You might also need an electrician if you are moving the wiring. You will have to coordinate with the drywall contractor and electrician.

Finding the right people to do the work

Most people are not handymen and so you would need a firm or a contractor who would do the job. Extremely important - We recommend that you request reviews or find online reviews of the people/firm you are hiring.  This is because you would not just be spending money but also letting them in your house to do the job.  Besides, some of these jobs if left half-done can be dangerous.  So reliability is very important to ensure that the work is completed with quality.

In our friend circle, no one had done a renovation recently and so no one had any leads on handymen. We looked up a few renovation companies and they gave us quotes. These companies are way too expensive. They gave us a quote for 27000 CAD for upgrading the basement! That actually demoralized us for a few days.

So, we started looking for handymen online and decided to do the coordination ourselves between different handymen. We made the mistake of hiring someone from kijiji to do a small job of applying laminate flooring for a small room.We were too excited to start the job and thought that the guy was good enough for the job. But then he didn't turn up on time and delayed the job by 2 weeks. Although the job was done fine, we absolutely didn't like the work ethic of the person and didn't give him any further work.
LESSON learnt - When in doubt, don't go ahead. It is worthwhile to look further.

The walls of our basement had old panels and we wanted to upgrade it to dry walls and redo our bathroom. That was the biggest piece. We decided to visit home improvement stores like Home Depot, Kent and ask around. Our friends also agreed since the folks working there would definitely have recommendations. And that was the best decision ever!!! - Home Depot has a "PRO referral" program, in which they have a list of local professionals such as drywall men, electricians, plumbers etc. These are people for whom Home Depot has done background checks and also have insurance coverage (should they need it). We were able to hire our Drywall and electrician guys with this program.

Halifax is a small city in that sense and you would get your contacts verbally from people. The electrician guy recommended the plumber, who recommended the shower installer and we were happy with all of them.

Trust that once you find the right person for the job, you would be way happier!

Working with them on the job

If you are coordinating with all the contractors then it is important for you to understand the sequence of things. If not, you might waste days. Home Depot was a blessing because we got the materials such as drywall, boards, flooring etc. on financing (0% interest for the 1st 6 months). This will help with expenses. With multiple contractors, you have to make sure that all the materials are available whenever they need it. Some of the items like drywalls are huge and might not fit in your car. You can rent a truck for the same. Home Depot also offers a truck-renting option for your orders. Planning all this is going to be very important.

I had work from home ability but my husband didn't. So we had to adjust work schedules so that we could be around when these folks worked. If you have to buy shower, toilet, bathroom vanity, electrical appliances like fan and lighting then you should look online and in stores. The contractors will help you with the measurements of these things but ultimately you have to choose the model. So that research aspect won't go away. Find the best deal and schedule their deliveries or bring it yourself (based on the vehicle you have)  accordingly.

What did it ultimately cost?

Remember I got a quote of 27K CAD from a renovation company for renovating our basement? Ultimately, we went with contractors and it cost us about 14K CAD for the same thing! Practically half the cost. But it required lots of coordination. Home Depot had all the materials whatever was needed! Materials overall didn't cost more than 4K CAD. Labor is expensive and so make that you get the right people.

Last words

Renovating is fun. Do your research and work with the right people. Take your time!

One year in Canada on PR!!!

Hiya everyone - It is exactly one year since we landed in Canada! It has been an exciting journey in the past year.

Some of our key highlights 

• International travel has been hassle free. With PR card, travel to other countries has been easy. We were able to travel to US and India without having to worry about immigration. 
• We were able to create this blog and help out a lot of express entry aspirants with their application.
• We survived the winter in Halifax! This was not as bad as it was made out to be. It has milder winters than most parts of Canada.  The city is well connected even in winter. There is infrastructure to clean the snow, ice and sleet during winter. Obviously there are days when it is advisable to not venture outside but we have it better than most cities. We also have a lot of sunlight during winter.
• Public transportation is good. We use it to commute to work. It can save you $$.
• While taxes are high in Nova Scotia (15% sales tax), it forces you to optimize your expenses. If you were used to a lot of spending (whether it is restaurants/shopping etc.), then you would experience a huge impact. You would have to either cut down on spending or experience a decline in savings.
• We noticed that some of the services in Canada even with taxes seemed cheaper than in US. For example, dental services such as root canal or cavity filling were cheaper in Canada than in North Carolina, USA. Even beauty services such as laser treatment were cheaper and better than in US.
• House purchase process is easy but can get expensive soon. So you have to be careful and watch your expenses. It is all about your priorities and you can build your life accordingly.
• Home renovation too is a tedious process and requires research. But you have many resources for the same. More in a later post.
• Financial services websites and apps are little less matured as compared to the US. Some features like portfolio analysis which was automatically provided by US Fidelity Investments are not available on Questrade. But they are definitely catching up. Not a deal breaker!!!
• Nova Scotia is truly blessed with natural beauty. Proximity to the ocean has bought us a lot of peace. Running alongside Halifax harbor is truly relaxing! There are so many places that are not famous but truly worth your money. Several tourists visit Halifax every summer and fall for the same. We will also blog about our travels in future.

Overall, we have been happier and looking forward to sharing the same with you all!

Top 15 Canadian immigration channels

Our Canada Dock YouTube channel has been selected as the top 15 immigration channels on the web by Feedspot. Check out the link below. This definitely came out of the blue for us!

The site is definitely gold for mostly everyone who plans to immigrate to Canada, especially express entry aspirants. When you plan to immigrate every dollar counts. Although Canadian immigration process is relatively easier than other countries, you still face the challenges below -
1. IRCC is not accessible to people outside Canada.  So if you want clarification you have to rely on other sources.
2. Lawyers and immigration consultants are expensive.  Not everyone can afford them. Some of them might just swindle you. For example, we see a lot of consultants who "offer" free ielts certificates without you giving exams. Such people are fraud and you should be weary on who you choose if you want help from a lawyer/immigration consultant. Even if you choose a consultant/lawyer, our suggestion would be to verify the steps/documents with IRCC website and these blog sites.

What is good about the selection of these 15 sites?

1. Great mix of professional legal experience and personal experience.
2. Some channels like Our Canada Dock are geared towards personal experience with express entry, moving and final post-landing experiences.
3. Others are geared for students who are moving to Canada for studies.
4. Some of them are channels owned by law firms and immigration consultants.
5. You get to connect with people who have undergone a similar experience.

What you can gain from these sites?

1. If you are filing the application by yourself, then these sites could advise you on some edge cases i.e. small queries that you may have. This is because mostly everyone doesn't have the perfect documents for experience or education etc. You could get suggestions on the same.
2. You will be surprised to know that many people also face similar problems (whether it is likes or comments on blogs or youtube channel) and will give you confidence on your application.
3. The thing with express entry application is that it is completely online. While this is great, the downside is that if anything is missing from your application depending on the severity IRCC could ask more information from you or even reject your application. That means more delay and stress (You will have to resubmit your application if rejected with new information/documents as needed). A little bit of digging into these channels can go a long way.

Overall, great work by the Feedspot team to compile these for immigration to Canada. Thank you for recognizing our YouTube channel. Good luck to all the aspirants for Canadian immigration!

Useful links -

1. Feedspot blog 
2. Our Canada Dock YouTube channel

Buying a home in Halifax - Process

Buying a new home is a big decision. We were home-owners in the States and we wanted to buy a house if we liked the place in Canada. We are now close to a year in Halifax in 2019, Canada and recently began our hunt. Now, there are a lot of similarities in the process if you bought a house in the States but if you didn't then this is a blog for you!

Learn more about different house types 

Owning a house isn't a one-time deal. You gotta nurture it because should you decide to sell it down the line, all the missteps will haunt you. (Trust me, buyers get that microscopic vision to detect every tiny thing.). The process outlined below will give you an idea of what to expect when selling as well. So think of what you would go thru. Bottom line is that you need to go with the house that you will enjoy and maintain. Go thru the links below for single family and condo homes (will also write about townhomesand semi-detached houses in future) so that you can learn about the pros and cons of different house types.

Find a good realtor/real-estate agent

Couple of reasons why you would want to do this -

1. Tons of paper work when you buy a house. The agent will guide you thru the same.
2. It takes a village to get to the point where you are an actual home owner. A good agent has a network - mortgage company, lawyer, accountant, inspection agents, other agents, handymen and a lot more.
3. S/he educates you in the process. You look at multiple houses before you zero in on one. If you are especially not from the civil engineering type of background, you probably wouldn't notice or even know about structural deficits in the house. For example, the roof of a house has a life span of about 15 years. It is important to know how old the roof is!
4. Since the agents are part of a network, your realtor has better access to listings even before they are online. A really good agent would be privy to such listings.
5. They know the laws and it is useful during negotiations! 

Our advice is to really invest time to find a good agent. Preferably recommended to you by family, friends, co-workers because then you could trust them. Conversely, if you get stuck with a bad agent, you would be stuck and have a bad experience. So, research the agent properly before you go with them. Privately going about this might not be a good idea if you are purchasing a home for the 1st time.

Find out what you can afford

You will save yourself a lot of time, money & perhaps even some heartbreak if you know what you can afford. If you have an agent they would have a mortgage company associate who can guide you here. We recommend that you wait a few months after coming to Canada before you buy a house. Now, we had over a decade in US and so they can request for your US credit report to give you the best rate. Initially even before you begin the process, the agent will ask your source of income (salary/self-employed) and then based on the same determine the price you can afford. They come up with a number and typically also tell you the estimated mortgage payment for that amount. Based on your life goals, your family can decide the maximum price you want to spend on the house. For example, the agent could tell you that you can afford a $500K house but you decide to spend at most $250K because you might want to invest in say mutual funds. That is your personal decision. Make it after factoring in everything.

House hunt

This is the fun and anxiety filled part. Now you have your max limit you want to spend, you can search houses in that range. Sites like viewPoint, remax, thinkHalifax etc. have listings. Your agent will also get also suggest different listings. Typically you would be able to get all the information online about the specifications such as number of rooms, bathrooms, yard, square footage and much more. You would also find information about the area such as schools, neighborhood. This will help you compare and contrast listings in the journey. Enjoy this process but don't compromise. Personally, I get ideas when I see houses and use them in mine.

Place an offer

Once you have zeroed down a home, you place an offer. Based on your assessment, you can decide on the price you are willing to pay and the terms. Your realtor should help with this. You also need to put in the closing date. This is the last day for the sellers and you will own the house from the next day. If you are renting then consider your lease end date before deciding the closing date. Usually it is within 3 months from the time you decide to place the offer. You might have to pay the mortgage as well as the rent for few months if you don't pay attention on this. Having an approval from the mortgage company makes it a strong case. You also send the token amount of about 1000-2000 CAD typically (varies on the price of the house) to signal the seller agent/seller that you are truly interested.

The seller would also have other offers and so they would revert back to you if they are interested. Once they express their interest, both parties sign a document stating that they are ready for the next stage i.e. inspection.

Inspection & Due-diligence process

Once you sign the document the next 10 days constitute the due-diligence period. This is the time when inspection is conducted. In this period you could decide to renegotiate the price or if the inspection bought out serious defects then you could back out. 

Exterior inspection

They review the roof, yard, the walls from the outside, patio (as applicable to your type of house). They look for leakages, cracks, structural deficits. They also inspect the sewer and do a radon test. They would tell you all the big and small findings.

Interior inspection 

Every inch of the house is inspected. All rooms, attics are checked for cracks, infestation and such. The house in the US didn't come with appliances.  But here they do - they inspect the stove (all burners), dishwasher,  washer and dryer. Most important of all they inspect the heating.

They prepare the report listing all the findings and send it to both parties.  You review it with your agent and even some of your experienced friends. You would then decide if you want to keep your offer as is, change it or worst case back out of it. So look thru it carefully. 

Closing

The closing date is the last day when the seller owns the home. You can move in after that AND your mortgage begins typically latest within a month. If you are renting in Canada then look at the lease agreement. You might land up paying mortgage and rent for a month or two depending on your leasing situation.

If you plan on doing some renovation or finishing before you move in, then you might want to make arrangements of your stay (i.e. make sure you have your apartment or arrange an AirBnB until you can move into your home).

Final thoughts

For us, it took less than 2 months to visit about 12-15 houses and visit several online before we zeroed down on our house. We were able to negotiate a date so that we just have a month where we were paying mortgage and rent. We had a similar experience in the US in terms of timeline. A lot depends on your requirements and your flexibility. So estimate accordingly so that you can plan on buying and moving in your home.

Hope the blog gives you various considerations before buying your home. Good luck!!!

Useful links 

• Learn more about Condo
• Learn more about Single family home