transformation by Mary Shelley. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information and to find out how you can volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Transformation by Mary Shelley. Fourth with this frame of mine was wrenched with a woeful agony which forced me to begin my tale and then it set me free since then at an uncertain hour that agony returns until my ghastly tale is told this heart within me burns. I've heard it said that when any strange supernatural and necromanic adventure has occurred to a human being that being however desirous he may be to conceal the same feels at certain periods torn up as it were in an intellectual earthquake and is forced to bear the inner depths of his spirit to another. I am a witness to the truth of this. I have dearly sworn to myself never to reveal to human ears the horrors to which I once in excessive fiendly pride delivered myself over. The holy man who heard my confession and reconciled me to the church is dead. None knows that once why should it not be thus? Why tell a tale of impious tempting of providence and the source of doing humiliation? Why? Answer me ye who are wise in the secrets of human nature. I only know that so it is and in spite of strong resolve of a pride that too much masters me of shame and even of fear so to render myself odious to my species I must speak.  Happy time went to the young heart the narrow bounded universe which leaves by its very limitation free scope to the imagination and chains our physical energies and sole period in our lives innocence and enjoyment are united. Yet who can look back to childhood and not remember its sorrows and its harrowing fears? I was born with the most imperious haughty tameless spirit with which ever mortal was gifted. I quailed before my father only and he generous and noble but capricious and tyrannical at once fostered and checked the wild and petruosity of my character making obedience necessary but inspiring no respect for the motives which guided his commands. To be a man free independent or in better words insolent and domineering was the hope and prayer of my rebel heart. My father had one friend a wealthy Genoese noble who in a political tumult was suddenly sentenced to banishment and his property confiscated. The Marcesse Torella went into exile alone. Like my father he was a widower he had one child the almost infant Juliet who was left under my father's guardianship. I should certainly have been an unkind master to the lovely girl but that I was forced by my position to become her protector. A variety of childish incidents all tended to one point to make Juliet see in me a rock of refuge. I and her one he must perish through the soft sensibility of her nature to really visited but for my guardian care. We grew up together the opening rose in May was not more sweet than this dear girl and a radiation of beauty was spread over her face her form her step her voice my heart weeps even now to think of all of relying gentle loving and pure that was enshrined in that celestial tenement. When I was eleven and Juliet eight years of age a cousin of mine much older than either he seemed to us a man took great notice of my playmate. He called her his bride and asked her to marry him. She refused and he insisted drawing her unwillingly toward him with the countenance and emotions of a maniac I threw myself on him. I strove to draw his sword I clung to his neck with the ferocious resolve to strangle him. He was obliged to call for assistance to disengage himself from me. On that night I led Juliet to the chapel of our house. I made her touch the sacred relics. I harrowed her child's heart and profaned her child's lips with an oath that she would be mine and mine only. Well those days passed away. Tarella returned in a few years and became wealthier and more prosperous than ever. When I was seventeen my father died. He had been magnificent to prodigality. Tarella rejoiced that my minority would afford an opportunity for repairing my fortunes. Juliet and I had been affianced beside my father's deathbed. Tarella was to be a second parent to me. I desired to see the world and I was indulged. I went to Florence, to Rome, to Naples. Thence I passed to Toulon and at length reached what had long been the born of my wishes, Paris. There was wild work in Paris then. The poor king, Charles VI, now sane, now mad, now monarch, now an abject slave, was the very mockery of humanity. The queen, the dolphin, the Duke of Burgundy, alternately friends and foes, now meeting in prodigal feasts, now shedding blood in rivalry, were blind to the miserable state of their country and the dangers that impended over it and gave themselves wholly up to the disillute enjoyment or savage strife. My character still followed me.  I loved display and above all, I threw all control far from me. Who could control me in Paris? My young friends were eager to foster passions which furnished them with pleasures. I was deemed handsome. I was master of every nightly accomplishment. I was discontented with any political party. I grew a favourite with them all. My presumption and arrogance were pardoned in one so young. I became a spoiled child. Who could control me? Not the letters and advice of Torella. Only strong necessity visiting me in the abhorred shape of an empty purse. But there were means to refill this void. Acre after acre, estate after estate, I sold. My dress, my jewels, my horses and their comparisons were almost unrivaled in gorgeous Paris while the lands of my inheritance passed into the possession of others. The Duke of Orleans was waylaid and murdered by the Duke of Burgundy. Fear and terror possessed all Paris.  Every pleasure was suspended. I grew weary of this state of things and my heart yearned for my boyhood's haunts. I was nearly a beggar yet still I would go there, claim my bride and rebuild my fortunes. A few happy ventures as a merchant would make me rich again. Nevertheless, I would not return in humble guise. My last act was to dispose of my remaining estate near Alborot for half its worth for ready money. Then I dispatched all kinds of artifices, eras, furniture of real splendor to fit up the last relic of my inheritance, my palace in Genoa. I lingered a little longer yet, ashamed at the part of the prodigal return which I feared I should play. I sent my horses. One matchless Spanish genet, I dispatched to my promised bride, its comparisons flamed with jewels and cloth of gold. In every part I caused to be entwined the initials of Juliet and her guira. My present found favour in hers and in her father's eyes. Still to return a proclaimed spendthrift, the mark of impertinent wonder, perhaps of scorn, and to encounter singly the reproaches or taunts of my fellow citizens was not an alluring prospect. As a shield between me and censure I invited some few of my most reckless comrades to accompany me. Thus I went armed against the world, hiding a rankling feeling, half fear and half penitence, by bravado and an insolent display of satisfied vanity. I arrived in Genoa. I trod the pavement of my ancestral palace. My proud step was no interpreter of my heart, for I deeply felt that, though surrounded by every luxury, I was a beggar. The first step I took in claiming Juliet must widely declare me as such. I read contempt or pity in the looks of all. I fancied, so I apt his conscience to imagine what it deserves, that rich and poor, young and old, all regarded me with derision. Tarella came not near me. No wonder that my second father should expect a son's deference from me in waiting first on him. But galled and stung by a sense of my follies and demerit, I strove to throw the blame on others. We kept nightly orgies in Palazzo Carigio. To sleepless riotous nights followed listless supine mornings. At the Ave Maria we showed our dainty persons in the streets, scoffing at the sober citizens, casting insolent glances at the shrinking women. Juliet was not among them. No, no. If she had been there, shame would have driven me away, if love had not brought me to her feet. I grew tired of this. Suddenly I paid the Marchesa visit. He was at his villa, one among the many in which decked the suburb of San Pietro di Arena. It was the month of May, a month of May in that garden of the world. The blossoms of the fruit trees were fading among thick green foliage. The vines were shooting forth. The ground strewed with the fallen olive blooms. The firefly was in the myrtle hedge. Heaven and earth wore a mantle of surpassing beauty.  Some resemblance to my father, some look and tone of youthful ingenuousness, lurking still in spite of my misdeeds, softened the good old man's heart. He sent for his daughter. He presented me to her as her betrothed. The chamber became hallowed by a holy light as she entered. Hers was that cherub look, those large soft eyes, full dimpled cheeks, and a mouth of infinite sweetness that expresses the rare union of happiness and love. Admiration first possessed me. She's mine was a second proud emotion, and my lips curled with haughty triumph. I had not been in the enfant gâté of the beauties of France not to have learnt the art of pleasing the soft heart of a woman. If towards men I was overbearing, the deference I paid to them was the more in contrast. I commenced my courtship by the display of a thousand gallantries to Juliet, who, vowed to me from infancy, had never admitted the devotion of others, and who, though accustomed to expressions of admiration, was uninitiated in the language of lovers. For a few days all went well. Torella never alluded to my extravagance. He treated me as a favourite son. But the time came as we discussed the preliminaries to my union with his daughter, when this fair face of things should be overcast. A contract had been drawn up in my father's lifetime. I had rendered this, in fact, void by having squandered the whole of the wealth, which was to have been shared by Juliet and myself. Torella, in consequence, chose to consider this bond as cancelled, and proposed another, in which, though the wealth he bestowed was immeasurably increased, there were so many restrictions as to the mode of spending it, that I, who saw independence only in free career being given to my own imperious will, taunted him as taking advantage of my situation, and refused utterly to subscribe to his conditions. The old man mildly strove to recall me to reason. Roused pride became the tyrant of my thought. I listened with indignation and repelled him with disdain. Juliet, thou art mine. Did we not interchange vows in our innocent childhood? Are we not one in the sight of God? And shall thy cold-hearted, cold-blooded father divide us? Be generous, my love. Be just. Take not away a gift. Last treasure of thy guido. Retract not thy vows. Let us defy the world, and setting it north the calculations of age. Find in our mutual affection a refuge from every ill. Fiend I must have been with such sophistry to endeavour to poison that sanctuary of holy thought and tender love. Juliet shrank from me affrighted. Her father was the best and kindest of men, and she strove to show me how, in obeying him, every good would follow. He would receive my tidy submission with warm affection, and generous pardon would follow my repentance. Prophetless words for a young and gentle daughter to use to a man accustomed to make his will, law, and to feel in his own heart a despot so terrible and stern that he could yield obedience to naught save his own imperious desires. My resentment grew with my resistance. My wild companions were ready to add fuel to the flame. We later planned to carry off Juliet. At first it appeared to be crowned with success. Midway, on our return, we were overtaken by the agonised father and his attendants. A conflict ensued. Before the city guard came to decide the victory in favour of our antagonists, two of Torella's savages were dangerously wounded. This portion of my history weighs most heavily with me. Changed man as I am, I abhor myself in the recollection. May none who hear this tale ever felt as I.  A fiend possessed my soul, irritating it to madness. I felt the voice of conscience within me, but if I yielded to it for a brief interval, it was only to be a moment after torn, as by a whirlwind away, born along on the stream of desperate rage, the plaything of the storms engendered by pride. I was imprisoned and, at the instance of Torella, set free. Again I returned to carry off both him and his child to France, which hapless country, then preyed on by freebooters and gangs of lawless soldiery, offered a grateful refuge to a criminal like me. Our plots were discovered. I was sentenced to banishment and, as my debts were already enormous, my remaining property was put in the hands of commissioners for their payment. Torella again offered his mediation, requiring only my promise not to renew my abortive attempts on himself and his daughter. I spurned his offers and fancied that I triumphed when I was thrust out from Genoa, a solitary and penniless exile. My companions were gone. They had been dismissed from the city some weeks before and were already in France. I was alone, friendless, with no sword at my side nor duke out in my purse. I wandered along the seashore, a whirlwind of passion possessing and tearing my soul. It was as if a live coal had been set burning in my breast. At first I mediated on what I should do. I would join a band of freebooters, revenge, the word seemed barmed to me. I hugged it, caressed it, till like a serpent it stung me. Then again I would abjure and despise Genoa, that little corner of the world. I would return to Paris, where so many of my friends warmed, where my services would eagerly be accepted, where I could carve out fortune with my sword and might, through success, make my paltry birthplace and the false Torella rue the day when they drove me, a new Coriolanus from her walls. I would return to Paris, thus on foot, a beggar, and present myself in my poverty to those I had formally entertained sumptuously. There was gall in the mere thought of it. The reality of things began to dawn upon my mind, bringing despair in its train. For several months I had been a prisoner. The evils of my dungeon had whipped my soul to madness, but they had subdued my corporeal frame. I was weak and won. Torella had used a thousand artifices to administer it to my comfort. I detected and scorned them all, and I reaped the harvest of my obduracy. What was to be done? Should I crouch before my foe and sue for forgiveness? Die rather ten thousand deaths. Never should they obtain that victory. Hate! I swore eternal hate. Hate from whom? To whom? From a wandering outcast to a mighty noble? I and my feelings were nothing to them. Already had they forgotten one so unworthy. And Juliet, her angel face and self-like form gleamed among the clouds of my despair with vain beauty. For I had lost her, the glory and flower of the world. Another will call her his. That smile of paradise will bless another. Even now my heart fails within me when I recur to this route of grim-visaged ideas. Now subdued almost to tears, now raving in my agony, still I wandered along the rocky shore, which grew at each step wilder and more desolate. Hanning rocks and hoary precipices overlooked the tideless ocean, black caverns yawned, and forever among the seaworn recesses murmured and dashed the unfruitful waters. Now my way was almost barred by an abrupt promontory, now rendered nearly impracticable by fragments fallen from the cliff. Evening was at hand when seaweed arose as if on the waving of a wizard's wand a murky web of clouds blotting a late azure sky and darkening and disturbing with a till now placid deep. The clouds had strange fantastic shapes and they changed and mingled and seemed to be driven about by a mighty spell. The waves raised their white crests, the thunder first muttered then roared from across the waste of waters, which took a deep purple dye flecked with foam. The spot where I stood looked, on one side, to the widespread ocean. On the other it was barred by a rugged promontory. Round this cape suddenly came, driven by the wind, a vessel. In vain the mariners tried to force a path for her to the open sea. The gale drove her on the rocks. It will perish, all on board will perish, would I were among them. And to my young heart the idea of death came for the first time blended with that of joy. It was an awful sight to behold that vessel struggling with her fate. Hardly could I discern the sailors, but I heard them. It was soon all over, a rock just covered by the tossing waves and so unperceived lay in wait for its prey. The crash of thunder broke over my head and the moment that, with a frightful shock, the skiff dashed upon her unseen enemy. In a brief space of time she went to pieces. There I stood in safety and there were my fellow creatures, battling now hopelessly with annihilation. We thought I saw them struggling. Too truly did I hear their shrieks conquering the barking surges in their shrill agony. The dark breakers through hither and thither the fragments of the wreck. Soon it disappeared. I'd been fascinated to gaze till the end. At last I sank on my knees.  I again looked up. Something was floating on the billows towards the shore. It neared and neared. Was that a human form? It grew more distinct and at last a mighty wave, lifting the whole freight, lodged it upon a rock. A human being bestriding a sea chest. A human being. Yet was it one? Surely never such it existed before. A misshapen dwarf with squinting eyes, distorted features, and body deformed till it became a horror to behold. My blood, lately warming towards a fellow being so snatched from a watery tomb, froze in my heart. The dwarf got off his chest. He tossed his straight, straggling hair from his odious visage. Bison beazle-bub, he exclaimed. I have been well twisted. He looked round and saw me. Oh, by the fiend! Here is another ally of the mighty one. To what saint did you offer prayers, friend, if not to mine? Yet I remember you not on board. I shrank from the monster in his glass for me. Again he questioned me, and I muttered some inaudible reply. He continued, Your voice is drowned by this dissonant roar.  Schoolboys bursting from their prison are not louder than these waves set free to play. They disturbed me. I will know more of their ill-timed brawling. Silence, hoary one. Winds, avant, to your homes. Clouds, fly to the antipodes and leave our heaven clear. As he spoke, he stretched out his two long, lank arms that looked like spider's claws and seemed to embrace with them the expanse before him. Was it a miracle? The clouds became broken and fled. The azure sky first peeped out and then was spread a calm field of blue above us. The stormy gale was exchanged to the softly breathing west. The sea grew calm. The waves dwindled to ripplets.  How much more in the tameless mind of man. It was a well-got-up storm, you must allow, and all of my own making. It was tempting providence to interchange talk with this magician. But power, in all its shapes, is venerable to man. Or curiosity, a clinging fascination, drew me towards him. Come, don't be frightened, friend, said the wretch. I am good-humoured when pleased, and something does please me in your well-proportioned body and handsome face, though you look a little wobagon. You have suffered a land, I a sea-wreck. Perhaps I can allay the tempest of your fortunes as I did my own. Shall we be friends? And he held out his hand. I could not touch it. Well then, companions, that will do as well. And now, while I rest after the buffeting I underwent just now, tell me why, young and gallant as you seem, you wander thus alone and downcast on this wild seashore. The voice of the wretch was screeching and horrid, and his contortions he spoke were frightful to behold. Yet he did gain a kind of influence over me, which I could not master, and I told him my tale. When it was ended, he laughed long and loud.  Hold our cousin of Lucifer, said he, so thou too hast fallen through thy pride, and though bright as the sun of morning, thou art ready to give up thy good looks, thy bride, and thy well-being, rather than submit thee to the tyranny of God. I honour thy choice by my soul, so thou hast fled, and yield the day, and me to starve on these rocks, and to let the birds pick out thy dead eyes, while thy enemy, and thy betrothed, rejoice in thy ruin. Thy pride is strangely akin to humility, me thinks. As he spoke, a thousand fanged thoughts stung me to the heart. What would you that I should do, I cried.  But were I you, I know the deed that should be done? I drew near him, his supernatural powers made him an oracle in my eyes. Yet a strangely unearthly thrill quivered through my frame, as I said. Speak, teach me, what act do you advise? Revenge thy self-man, humble thy enemies, set thy foot on the old man's neck, and possess thyself of his daughter. To the cast and west I turned, cried I, and I see no means. Had I gold, much could I achieve, but poor and single I am powerless. The dwarf had been seated on his chest as he listened to my story. Now he got off, he touched a spring, it flew open. What a mine of gold wealth, of blazing jewels, beaming in pale silver, was displayed therein. A mad desire to possess his treasure was born within me. Doubtless I said, one so powerful as you could do all things. Nay, said the monster humbly, I am less omnipotent than I seem. Some things I possess which you may covet, but I would give them all for a small share, or even for a loan of what is yours. My possessions are at your service, I replied bitterly. My poverty, my exile, my disgrace, I make a free gift of them all. Good, I thank you, add one other thing to your gift, and my treasure is yours. As nothing is my soul inheritance, what besides nothing would you have? Your comely face and well-made limbs. I shivered. Would this all-powerful monster murder me? I had no dagger. I forgot to pray, but I grew pale. I ask for a loan, not a gift, said the frightful thing. Lend me your body for three days. You shall have mine to cage your soul the while, and in payment my chest. What say you to the bargain? Three short days. We are told that it is dangerous to hold unlawful talk, and well do I prove the same. Tainly written down, it may seem incredible that I should lend any ear to this proposition. But in spite of his unnatural ugliness, there was something fascinating in a being whose voice could govern earth, air, and sea. I felt a keen desire to comply, for with that chest I could command the world. My only hesitation resulted from a fear that he would not be true to his bargain. Then I thought I shall soon die here on these lonely sands, and the limbs he covets will be mine no more. It is worth the chance. And besides, I knew that, by all the rules of art magic, there were formula and odes which none of its practices dead break. I hesitated to reply, and he went on, now displaying his wealth, now speaking of the petty price he demanded, till it seemed madness to refuse. Thus it is. Place our bark in the current of the stream, and down, overfall and cataract it is hurried. Give up our conduct to the wild torrent of passion, and we are away, we know not wither. He swore many an oath, and I adjured him with many a sacred name. Till I saw this wonder of power, this ruler of the elements, shiver like an autumn leaf before my words, and as if the spirits spake unwillingly, and perforce within him. At last, he, with broken voice, revealed the spell, whereby he might be obliged, did he wish to play me false, to render up the unlawful spoil. Our warm lifeblood must mingle to make and to mar the charm. Enough of this unholy theme. I was persuaded, the thing was done. The murrow dawned upon me as I lay upon the shingles, and I knew not my own shadow as it fell from me. I felt myself changed to a shape of horror, and cursed my easy faith and blind credulity. The chest was there, there the golden precious stones for which I had sold the frame of flesh which nature had given me. The sight a little stilled my emotions. Three days would soon be gone. They did pass. The dwarf had supplied me with a plentier store of food. At first I could hardly walk, so strange and out of joint were all my limbs, and my voice, it was that of the fiend. But I kept silent, and turned my face to the sun, that I might not see my shadow, and counted the hours, and ruminated on my future conduct. To bring Torella to my feet, to possess my Juliet in spite of him, all this my wealth could easily achieve. During dark night I slept and dreamt of the accomplishment of my desires. Two suns had set, the third dawned. I was agitated, fearful. Oh, expectation, what a frightful thing art thou, when kindled more my fear than hope. How dost thou twist thyself round the heart, torturing its pulsations? How dost thou dart, unknown pangs, all through our feeble mechanism, now seeming to shiver us like broken glass to nothingness? Now giving us a fresh strength, which can do nothing, and so torment us by sensation, such as the strong man must feel who cannot break his fetters, though they bend in his grasp. Slowly paced the bright, bright orb up the eastern sky, long it lingered in the zenith, and still more slowly wandered down the west. It touched the horizon's verge. It was lost. Its glories were on the summits of the cliff. They grew done in gray. The evening star shone bright. He will soon be here. He came not. By the living heavens he came not, and night dragged out its weary length, and, in its decaying age, day began to grizzle its dark hair, and the sun rose again on the most miserable wretch that ever upbraided its light. Three days thus I passed. The jewels and the gold. Oh, how I bored them. Well, well, I will not blacken these pages with demonic ravings. All too terrible were the thoughts, the raging tumult of ideas that filled my soul. At the end of that time I slept. I had not before since the third sunset, and I dreamt that I was at Juliet's feet, and she smiled, and then she shrieked, for she saw my transformation. And again she smiled, for still her beautiful lover knelt before her. But it was not I. It was he, the fiend, a raid in my limbs, speaking with my voice, winning her with my looks of love. I strove to warn her that my tongue refused its office. I strove to tear him from her, but I was routed to the ground. I awoke with agony. There were the solitary hoary precipices. There the plashing sea, the quiet strand, and the blue sky overall. What did it mean? It was my dream but a mirror of the truth. Was he wooing and winning my betrothed? I would on the instant back to Genoa. But I was banished. I laughed. The dwarfs yell burst from my lips. I banished? Oh no. They had not exiled the foul limbs I wore. I might with these enter, without fear of incurring the threatened penalty of death. My own, my native city. I began to walk towards Genoa. I was somewhat accustomed to my distorted limbs. None were ever so ill adapted for a straightforward movement. It was with infinite difficulty that I proceeded. Then too I desired to avoid all the hamlets strewed here and there on the sea-beach, for I was unwilling to make a display of my hideousness. I was not quite sure that, if seen, the mere boys would not stone me to death as I passed for a monster. Some un-gentle salutations I did receive from the few peasants and fishermen I chanced to meet. But it was dark before I approached Genoa. The weather was so balmy and sweet that it struck me that the Marches and his daughter would very probably have quitted the city for their country retreat. It was from the villa Torella that I had attempted to carry off Juliet. I had spent many an hour reconnoitering the spot, and knew every inch of the ground in its vicinity. It was beautifully situated, embouzoned in trees, on the margin of a stream. As I drew near it became evident that my conjecture was right. Nay, moreover, that the hours were being then devoted to feasting and merriment. For the house was lighted up, strains of soft and gay music were wafted towards me by the breeze. My heart sank within me. Such was the generous kindness of Torella's heart that I felt sure that he would not have indulged in public manifestations of rejoicing just after my unfortunate banishment. But for a cause I did not dwell upon. The country people were all alive and flocking about. It became necessary that I should study to conceal myself, and yet I longed to address someone, or to hear others discourse, or in any way to gain intelligence of what was really going on. At length, entering the walks that were in the immediate vicinity of the mansion, I found one dark enough to veil my excessive frightfulness, and yet others as well as I were loitering in its shade. I soon gathered all I wanted to know. All that first made my very heart die with horror and then boil with indignation. Tomorrow, Juliet was to be given to the penicent, reformed, beloved Guido.  I did this, my cursed pride, my demonic violence and wicked self-idolatory had caused this act. For if I had acted as the wretch who had stolen my form had acted, if, with a man at once yielding and dignified, I had presented myself to Torella, saying, I have done wrong, forgive me. I am unworthy of your angel child, but permit me to claim her hereafter, when my altered conduct shall manifest that I abjure my vices, and endeavor to become in some sort worthy of her. I go to serve against the infidels, and when my zeal for religion and my true penitence for the past shall appear to you to cancel my crimes, permit me again to call myself your son. Thus had he spoken, and the penitent was welcomed even as the prodigal son of the scripture. The fatted calf was killed for him, and he, still pursuing the same path, displayed such open-hearted regret for his follies, so humble a concession of all his rights, and so ardent a resolve to reacquire them by a life of contrition and virtue, that he quickly conquered the kind old man, and full pardon, and the gift of his lovely child, followed in swift succession. Oh, had an angel from paradise whispered to me to act with us. But now, what would be the innocent Juliet's fate? Would God permit the foul union, or some prodigy destroying it link the dishonoured name of Carigia with the worst of crimes? Tomorrow at dawn they were to be married. There was but one way to prevent this, to meet my enemy and to enforce the ratification of our agreement. I felt that this could only be done by a mortal struggle. I had no sword, if indeed my distorted arms could wield a soldier's weapon, but I had a dagger, and in that lay my every hope. There was no time for pondering or balancing nicely the question.  The guests departed. The lights began to disappear. It was evident that the inhabitants of the villa were seeking repose. I hid myself amongst the trees. The garden grew desert. The gates were closed. I wandered round and came under a window. Ah, well did I know the same. A soft twilight glimmered in the room. The curtains were half withdrawn. It was the temple of innocence and beauty. Its magnificence was tempered, as it were, by the slight disarrangements occasioned by its being dwelt in. And all the objects scattered around displayed the taste of her who hallowed it by her presence. I saw her enter with a quick light step. I saw her approach the window. She drew back the curtain yet further and looked out into the night. Its breezy freshness played among her ringlets and wafted them from the transparent marble of her brow. She clasped her hands. She raised her eyes to heaven. I heard her voice. Guido, she softly murmured. Mine own Guido. And then, as if overcome by the fullness of her own heart, she sank on her knees. Her upraised eyes, her negligent but graceful attitude, the beaming thankfulness that lighted up her face. All these attain words. Heart of mine, thou imaginest ever, though thou cannot betray the celestial beauty of that child of light and love. I heard a step, a quick firm step, along the shady avenue. Soon I saw a cavalier, richly dressed and young, and, me thought, grateful to look on, advance. I hid myself yet closer. The youth approached. He paused beneath the window. She arose, and again, looking out, she saw him. And she said, I cannot know, at this distant time, I cannot record her terms of soft silver tenderness. To me they were spoken, but they were applied to by him. I will not go, he cried, hear where you have been, hear your memory glides like some heaven-visiting ghost. I will pass the long hours till we meet, never, my Juliet, again, day or night, to part. But do thou, my love, retire. The cold morn and fitful breeze will make thy cheek pale, and fill with languor thy love-lighted eyes. Ah, sweetest, could I press one kiss upon them? I could, me thinks, repose. And then he approached still nearer, and me thought he was about to clamber into her chamber. I had hesitated, not to terrify her. Now I was no longer master of myself. I rushed forward, I threw myself on him. I tore him away. I cried, oh loathsome and foul-shaped wretch. I need not repeat epithets, all tending as it appeared, to rail at a person I at present feel some partiality for. A shriek rose from Juliet's lips. I neither heard nor saw. I felt only my enemy, whose throat I grasped, and my dagger's hilt. He struggled but could not escape. At length, hoarsely, he breathed these words. Do strike home. Destroy this body. You will still live. May your life be long and merry. The descending dagger was arrested at the word, and he, feeling my hold relaxed, extricated himself and drew his sword. While the uproar in the house, and the flying of torches from one room to the other, showed that soon we should be separated, and I, oh, far better die, so that he did not survive, I cared not. In the midst of my frenzy there was much calculation. Full I might, and so that he did not survive. I cared not for the death blow I might deal against myself. While still therefore he thought I paused, and while I saw the villainous resolve to take advantage of my hesitation. In the sudden thrust he made at me, I threw myself on his sword, and at the same moment plunged my dagger with a true desperate aim in his side. We fell together, rolling over each other, and the tide of blood that flowed from the gaping wound of each mingled on the grass. More I know not, I fainted. Again I returned to life. Weak almost to death, I found myself stretched upon a bed. Juliet was kneeling beside it. Strange, my first broken request was for a mirror. I was so worn and ghastly that my poor girl hesitated as she told me afterwards. But, by the mass, I thought myself a right proper youth when I saw the dear reflection of my own well-known features. I confess it is a weakness, but I avow it. I do entertain a considerable affection for the countenance and limbs I behold, whenever I look at a glass, and have more mirrors in my house and consult them oftener than any beauty in Venice. Before you too much condemn me, permit me to say that no one better knows than I the value of his own body. No one, probably, except myself, ever having had it stolen from him. Incoherently I at first talked of the dwarf and his crimes, and reproached Juliet for her too easy admission of his love. She thought me raving, as well she might, and yet it was some time before I could prevail on myself to admit that the Guido whose penitence had won her back for me was myself, and while I cursed bitterly the monstrous dwarf, and blessed the well-directed blow that had deprived him of life, I suddenly checked myself when I heard her say, Our men, knowing that him whom she reviled was my very self.  A little practice enabled me to speak of that frightful night without any very excessive blunder. The wound I had given myself was no mockery of one. It was long before I recovered, and as the benevolent and generous Torella sat beside me, talking such wisdom as might win friends to repentance, and my own dear Juliet hovered near me, administering to my wants and cheering me by her smiles. The work of my bodily cure and mental reform went on together. I have never indeed wholly recovered my strength. My cheek is paler since, my person a little bent. Juliet sometimes ventures to elude bitterly to the malice that caused this change, but I kiss her on the moment and tell her all is for the best. I am a funder and more faithful husband, and true is this, but for that wound never had I called her mine. I did not revisit the seashore, nor seek for the fiend's treasure. Yet, while I ponder on the past, I often think, and my confessor was not backward in favouring the idea, that it might be a good rather than evil spirit sent by my guardian angel to show me the folly and misery of pride. So well at least did I learn this lesson, roughly taught as it was, that I am known now by all my friends and fellow citizens, by the name of Guido Ilcotes. End of Transformation by Mary Shelley Read by Alisha Wonsack in Melbourne, Australia


members statements. The member for Davenport. Thank you Mr. Speaker. On August 7th, the day after the long weekend, nearly 200 people jammed into the New Horizon Senior Center in my riding of Davenport. It was the middle of the summer when many people are out enjoying perhaps dinner on a patio or some time with their kids or some vacation, which I've heard of, but these people came to a community meeting in my riding, and they were there because they are worried about the impact of this government's policies on their families, their neighbors, and their city. They wanted to know why in 2018 their children will be taught a health and physical education curriculum from 20 years ago. They wanted to know why when so many in our community are struggling to get by on ODSP or Ontario Works rates, those rates are being cut, and they wanted to know why the Premier is using the power of his office to interfere in the democratic elections of their city councillors. Most importantly, Mr. Speaker, these residents wanted to know what they could do to help fight back and stand up for the people who will be most affected by the mean spirited agenda we have seen so far. Mr. Speaker, this government may be banking on the fact that summer is time when a lot of people aren't paying attention to this place, but at this town hall, our Davenport community proved once again that they are anything but complacent. I'm proud to bring their voices into this chamber and to stand with them as we work to win back the kind of Ontario we know is possible. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Thunder Bay Attic Hulkin. Thank you, Speaker. In my former career, I had the privilege to represent the officers and civilian staff of Nishnabiyaski Police Service, Anishinaabek Police Service and Treaty 3 Police Service. I work with them over the years to improve their working conditions and make for better community policing. The officers of Nishnabiyaski Police Service serve over 35 very remote First Nations communities and it is the largest and most challenging. There is a film called A Sacred Calling and I urge the members to watch it and increase their understanding of this issue. The work of all police officers is essential and it's challenging but these women and men face exceptional circumstances working often alone being single front line emergency staff on fires, drownings and other critical medical emergencies. The bravery and dedication I observed in all three services still inspires me. Our party during the campaign made a commitment to First Nations policing of $30 million and I urge the present government not to become entangled in jurisdictional arguments and properly support culturally appropriate First Nations policing in the province of Ontario. Services intricately engaged in the fighting of guns and gangs, the opioid crisis and ensuring safe communities. Thank you. Member statements to member for London Fanshawe. Thank you speaker. I am happy to rise today to speak about a wonderful event I attended recently in my riding of London Fanshawe. The Fanshawe Pioneer Village hosted a delightful and educational event called Her Story celebrating women's histories. This was a celebration of her story rather than his story. The event was planned to coincide with the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote federally. Ontario celebrated the 100th anniversary of the right to vote provincially last year. Earning the right to vote was an important step for women's emerging role in public sphere and gaining a public voice. As women in politics I am always humbled to learn about those who have come before me and have helped shaped a country that allows me a voice and to represent others like the famous five. Emily Murphy, Irene Parleby, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Harriet Muir Edwards. The event also looked at women beyond the suffrage movement. There were so many women that inspire us as innovators and leaders and pioneers of their time. Educating men and women of all ages on these important contributions and accomplishments is incredibly important given the current era of reflection on women's issues and gender equity. This event offered a chance to reflect on how far we come but also to think about how much further we have to go. I would like to thank the staff, the volunteers at Fanshawe Pioneer Village for providing us with such an amazing experience and the warrior women of the positive drum circle for their performance. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you, Jane. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was made aware of this rare disease by constituents of mine. Madame Dianne Sauvé was diagnosed with acromigalli in 2012 and je tenais aujourd'hui à sensibiliser cette chambre. Today, I would like to talk to you about this rare sickness called acromigalli that develops when your perturatory gland produces too much growth or monitoring adulthood. Statistics show three in a million people are diagnosed each year with this disease and currently there are just over 2,000 Canadians affected by agrochemagli with more still undiagnosed. Although the signs and symptoms vary from patient to patient, from persistent sedate migraines, sleep apnea and more commonly enlarged hands, feet and facial features, the slow progression of the disease often makes it difficult to diagnose. However, a simple blood test, IGF-1 can quickly identify agromigalli. The patient's family doctor can then do a referral to an endocrinologist for further testing along with a treatment plan which is crucial to ensure improved health of the patient. I am pleased to say that Dianne formed a support group in Ottawa and has Facebook group agrochemagli Ottawa Awareness and Support Network to help raise supports and bring awareness of this disease. Thank you to Ms. Sauvet for her courage, her tenacity for sharing her experience with all of us. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm really pleased to rise today to talk about an event that happened in Fort Erie on the weekend. It was called the Wiener Dog Races. So we had Wiener dogs, 12,000 people attended the Fort Erie racetrack to watch these little Wiener dogs run. Now you couldn't bet on them in Ontario, but they did run. There were six races, 72 Wiener dogs. I think next year I'm going to try and have a race against the Wiener dogs to see if the politicians quicker than the little Wiener dogs, but we'll have to figure that out later. The track was booming and this is what's important here is we try to continue to work to keep the track open. Wagering on the traditional horse races was a way up. Beverett sales were double what they normally are on a Sunday. The track had some more people to watch the Wiener dogs than the Prince of Wells. So I'm suggesting next year we call it the Prince of Wiener Stakes next year. Mr. Speaker, every time this track holds an event, the community comes out and supports it. And it's time this government supported the community by bringing back slots to Fort Erie. When there's an attractor at the Fort Erie racetrack, people come and the track would thrive. We get lots of Americans that come. The community standing behind it. The mayor, everybody standing behind it. So I'll continue to ask this government again reverse the wrong headed decision by past governments and bring the slots back to Fort Erie. And at the end of the day, we're going to create hundreds of good paying jobs as our track thrives. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Member statements, reports by committees.


Do we have that pap on the scooter again? Yes, ma'am. Oh, we do, right? Same guy? Same guy. All right, Greg, what do you got?  Because I didn't see a single one. The only thing I see is a lot of neck strain is they're looking for people. Maybe it's just me. Even when she says, do we have the scooter guy? There's sarcasm in her voice. And then her face registers surprise when they say he's here. Hi, does anybody believe, does this look real to any of you? Is that disappointment I see in their faces? Because there are no paparazzi?


So, my idea here is that you know professor Kalkar is here who is who has been a practicing manager for quite some time, so with due permission from Mr. Kalkar with an assumption that he would be he would not be asking me two difficult questions and let me start. Now what I what I would like to first state is you know how what is the theory say theory says that you will have requirement analysis and then detailed analysis you will do design then you will do development and unit testing then you will do functional testing or integration testing or system testing all of them will integrate together and then you may do this in a waterfall life cycle model that is phase after phase you do the requirements you complete the requirements you do the analysis then you do the design then you do the development or alternatively you do it in iterative fashion you know you do a several phases of elaboration some of you must have been already experienced in RUP in RUP model you do in elaboration then you do second phase of elaboration phase 3 phase 4 etcetera. Now what I am going not going to talk about is what how do you do elaboration or what kind of a MS project tool would help you you know how do you draw a project plan using MS project that is not the intent of the presentation because I think that is theory what I would like to tell you is what happens when you actually do a project ok. Now what happens in reality is the first question that comes up is who is responsible for what I mean there is a lot of people mistake that project management is technology management it is technology management but it is not just technology management it is more people management it is more expectation management it is more of commercial management to be a successful project manager you have to have an extraordinary sense of commercials of how the projects work. So, first question that will be asked is who is responsible for what during the project execution when I say execution I am not limiting myself to either one phase or another phase any other phase who is responsible for what the second question is what is the right technology for the project. Now you normally say that whenever you make a project proposal when you are you respond to an RFP or whenever you have a business problem for which you are implementing a technical solution the natural tendency is at the level of a project winning everybody will commit the move you know we will say that we will use a web-based technology we will use J2EE we will use entire architecture to implement it and then when it actually comes to reality people it will strikes you as to what is the technology that you are going to use if you are you are you going to use for messaging MSQ series or you are going to use tipco or for example if you would you use an application server web sphere or weblogic or iplanet you know the choice of tools is so many and there is no real one solution to this problem. Now the question is that there are three things that are always everybody knows better than you one is finance because everybody in finance everybody the second guy always knows more about you than finance second is medicine also lot of people know medicine more than you you know more than doctors know because you know everybody has a cure for everybody else's disease and the third thing is system architecture so everybody knows better than any other person because it's easy to ask questions and very difficult to give answers if you say that look you know why did you choose Java and not .net you know you can only give one or two answers you know why not C sharp and why Java there is only one or two questions both are block structure languages both are these both are that but after some time the other guy will have one question for which you don't have an answer okay for example in real life banking systems that have distributed data processing and are used in Europe how many places .net has been used so you don't know the answer you know you don't know the answer so then why did you choose .net so they don't have answer to those questions so what is the right technology to be used the third thing is frequent changes to requirements and even architecture during development okay I'll expand on why it happens in architecture as we go along but frequent changes to requirements is something that is given because in a business domain we see that changes happen almost every six months I mean every six months is a minimum that you have to accept changes and large projects have a tendency to get into states where the business itself undergoes a change for example I was working on a investment banking firm in New York on what they call mortgage back securities mortgage back securities is when you when you take a loan on a house from HDFC kind of a bank the loan papers are amortized and issued as a security to people so that people will sell and buy those securities it works in a very different kind of fashion for example if you look at mortgage back securities whenever the interest rates go up people won't sell the homes whenever that means if interest rate goes up your security prices drop because nobody's interest in buying or selling the shares whenever interest rates drop people would like to cancel the current mortgage and go for the renew renewal of the market with the second form so that means there is a lot of tendency for the paper to go down and paper to go up with the result what gauge back securities almost follow reverse trend of what happens in the marketplace now we were working on a project of mass data maintenance and straight through processing system for one of the largest investment banks in the world and the project proposal was 5 million dollars you know about 94 95 5 million dollars was the value of the contract there was one transaction that hit the desks that costed a loss of about 40 million one transaction to the investment banking firm if a 40 million does loss happens to a single transaction because of some trader getting overboard there is no way that they will continue the project so the requirements have dramatically changed in that case because there was no project after one week because there was nobody to effort the project you know and the other thing is staffing does not happen at the right time it is a very different concept because you know what what you normally assume when you start a project is that you have a you are starting on 1st of October this project is going to run for 6 months 25 people 10 people 15 people 8 people 3 people then you have normally a an externally good Gaussian distribution curve of bell curve that going up and down you start with 5 people go to 30 and then gradually draw in reality what happens is it always happens in pulses you are with 2 people for about 2 months then it comes suddenly to 20 people then everybody will get released from the priority will get about 5 people okay now why does it happen it happens because that first of all there are several reasons one is the there is water water everywhere and no water to drink hundreds of people available in the market place but no good guy who can be employed on projects on a serious way the level of competence and skills required in the to execute an architecture to do a decent design you find it absolutely lacking in the current generation of crop of computer science and engineering students that are joining this they want to code one program design one system participate in the design one system be a project coordinator for the third and the fourth they want to become a CEO that is where the problem is you know and that's where we have the problem and the other thing that happens is when you say that you are designing a Java J2E based system so even if you know that you are building this base system that is purely based on Java suddenly you will find that when you get into the details the implementation of Java itself in that particular project has several flavors and people need experts in those flavors for example somebody uses struts when you are using struts if you don't use struts then if you know all about J2E if you have if you haven't programmed on struts before it almost becomes impossible for you to be accepted as that and suddenly the project had demand of 40 to 50 people and then you don't know the lowest level of a detail of a skill required for the project it almost becomes impossible to stop it at the appropriate time other thing is infrastructure I mean infrastructure we assume that it's given but in a large project that has dependencies quite a lot on the customer side they could be because you are accessing the existing systems because they could be because you are interfacing with the existing systems of the customer or because you are carrying out the system testing on the customer side in each of these things the first requirement is the connectivity okay now I don't know how many of you have worked on distributed delivery involved in delivery process that involves repositories and if you used a rational unified repository or if you used any repository that is used across to on a distributed scale where people from say US or Europe and India are all working on the same repository of use cases analysis design and development quite a only few of the repositories commercially available have a have a technology of a have a method of doing a delta update suppose if you have been working for 2 hours here in those days have been working for 4 hours there if you have to sync the repositories in real time the load that is required is very high so your your channel of network communication almost gets blocked because of this repository syncing because 100 people are working here 40 people are working there how well you sync the repositories how frequently do you do syncing of the repositories becomes major issue that's one part of the network communication the second part is the load set now what we are finding I think I will probably explain it to the the next slide a little more in detail is that when you are working on a development project especially on a web web based applications the kind of a load set that is needed on your PC to get the programmer working from Java virtual machine to some DLS from dynamic libraries you know it's almost a a set of checklist of things that have to be loaded on a on a workstation before it becomes a programmable workstation for a programmer and otherwise it's just a PC so you need to have this you need to have that let's you know some amount of Microsoft some amount of for example if you are using something like a documentum as part of your application for workflow or document flow those DLS those dynamic libraries everything has to be part of it so that you can link it and then execute the program so that becomes a huge set and creating this load set ultimately you find that when you created on their load set it cannot communicate with the customer machine because there is a version difference between what you loaded here and what you loaded there so by the time in a large project which is complex before you get the things right on the load set of a workstation or experiences it takes about two to three weeks because people will know everybody assume that nobody everybody has this but everybody in the customer environment has it they are never considered the fact that if you have to give something from Microsoft Windows version xx onwards in the highest load leveling library you have to give an entire set of software that have to be loaded on a workstation to make it productive so that's at times you find that you have actually a hundred programmers working on your project but actually 20 are only productive because other ATR figuring out has to how to configure their PCs to be able to make them productive and the last thing is this is a clear case of what happens in incremental delivery which is no like big bang approach of delivery is no longer considered to be appropriate in large development projects people say we'll deliver once in one month so you accept when you take two months so that everybody thinks that the risks are minimized but it works well it's are minimized if it doesn't work this are actually maximized so we'll go into the details little more now what I am say what what I want to go through in the next two three slides I am not going to read through each one of them software projects fail because not one certainly one of the reasons is not that people are working on it are incompetent okay there may be some amount of incompetence which we can't ignore but I like in any other industry but essentially software products fail in spite of the best efforts I just gave you a list of for everything that you think that I have presented these details I just gave a live list of assumptions that the private manager has put when he signed the fixed price contract with the customer now everybody wants a fixed price contract in this world right so because nobody wants to have a time and material deal when you somebody would like to pay you know you expect the customer to pay for your own inefficiencies so they would like to have a fixed price contract so if you give a fixed price contract you give lot of assumptions to cover your backside as to what you what could go wrong okay you are protecting yourself saying that if this were to go wrong I am not responsible you are responsible you put all these things but still in reality it doesn't happen that just look at some of the requirement require the assumption that the customer the product manager has put here look at the 1 2 3 4th one final deliverables will be approved via written sign off from the appropriate customer product sponsor or designated customer product team member any deviations from an approval deliverable approved deliverable may result in a change request so this guy has completely covered himself saying that you know I'm submitting something you are signing off if you change the sign off look I'll change you say I'll raise a change request and you have to pay for more for that okay another thing that he's saying is any work product or deliverable presented to the customer must be reviewed within five days the customer does not raise inequalities with a five days period the deliverables are deemed to be accepted so we say that look you know you submitted something you accept you know you say that you don't say anything for example you delivered a design document or you delivered a set of logical programs for acceptance for any reason if you have not done anything we consider as accepted okay now it will be a great exercise for you for some of you are in IT course just take a development project and write the assumptions if you are as a product manager what kind of assumptions would you like to write you know say that no it is from requirement definition to implementation you can take it from analysis to implementation you can take to design to implementation you can also assume that the design has been completed you are just responsible for coding and unit testing right so sit back and then try to let list write down the assumptions that would be needed to execute the project it will be one of the greatest exercise of commercial software management that you can do writing the assumptions and deliverables so rest all is detailed in a project first of all you write the assumptions second you write the deliverables what is that you are going to deliver content and what is the what how is that you are going to deliver the format content and format of the deliverables and assumptions is the most important thing in a software product management this is one list of assumptions that he has done on project management on development and testing this is a project where use cases are already done the gentleman says use cases provide provide or complete unambiguous and accurate so in reality you will find that none of them is actually true they are neither complete nor accurate nor unambiguous and the other thing is during integration testing the vendor vendor will have access to test systems and test regions as applicable because a lot of customers who are working in an offshoring mode especially with countries like India have a tendency to assume that the software will be thrown from the window beyond this wall and they get up one day morning on September 11th or 12th depending on the date they will have a working system that they can log on and then work very few people actually estimate the nature of a work that need to be done from the customer side to get this offshore work going in terms of their ability to work late nights their ability to create the test environments production environments multiple database because in India you know we had several experiences where some of my team members regularly used to bring down the CICS and DB2 systems in the production now the thing that customers don't understand is in India we have lot of talent but lot of talent is raw and if you some of you have worked on large mainframe systems and large commercial systems would realize that if you at least it used to happen quite a lot in previous world that if you don't program it appropriately it can bring down the system software components now if by any chance you created only a database image for your test but the DB2 or the database version that database that is running is identical for across your test production development the moment you have a very innovative programmer who doesn't know how to program is going to bring down your production database also because no user will be able to log on and then be able to work these kinds of a thing that happens so during integration testing the vendor will have access to test systems and test regions as applicable so we say that we assume it's a very innocuous statement we think that we are covering ourselves what it means is look at this statement it's the intent of it is sometimes not to say what you need to say directly what this guy saying is if you are the customer is in United States if I am working in my daytime in India if there is any test region problem that is happening I am expecting your systems software programmer to be available in your night time to fix the problem so that the system is not available continues to be available to me that's never said here he says test regions and integration testing the vendor will have access to test systems and test regions as applicable but probably you should have clearly stated that the test regions are test times test systems are assumed to be available to the users to the developers from 8 o'clock in the morning to 7 o'clock in the night Indian standard time which is 10 30 in the night to you know whatever time in the night in the morning in United States and we are expecting a programmer or a system programmer to be available 24 by 7 to solve this problem for us we don't state this because it's a it a sales cycle it's very difficult to state these parameters because you know you're afraid that you'll get disqualified but when it comes to actual implementation all all unreasonable progress in software has been made all probably all the decent progress in software engineering has been made by sales people who are unreasonable because they don't know what they're committing they commit and then you have to deliver okay some of these guys make this statement and then I get away with it because the deal is booked and then the revenue is done bonus obtained so now you are left with the baby and here we are saying all of you know what a UAT stands for some of you anybody who doesn't know what a UAT is user acceptance testing planning and execution will be a responsibility of the customer okay and here again on the deployment of infrastructure again he has given a set of assumptions during acceptance period all dependent applications interface are up and running okay if not the vendor will not have will not be held accountable for the downtime any unnecessary downtime may result in the change request now you can imagine how complex it is in terms of product management what you're saying is your develop you have done your development you've done your testing you've done your integration testing now it has come to the stage of interface testing now this system has interfaces to your financial system your materials management system your production planning system your payroll system whatever those systems are and as part of your integration testing you have to ensure that everything that is expected by the receiving systems is being provided everything that's coming from the sending system is actually in the order and format that you want them this is what you do as part of your integration testing now the thing is at some point of time their payroll system their financial system is out now how are you going to quantify that n number of people or x number of people are actually waiting and doing nothing just because their production system is down so the customer the first question that customer will ask is no no no probably they should have done the next phase of testing probably they should have done user access though usability testing probably they should have done load testing there probably they should have done stress testing now it becomes a huge exercise now the problem that we have is the set of people who are doing integration testing for x module just because the system is down cannot be redeployed to do the stress testing for y module because the competencies are extremely different now you cannot go back and then say but look boss you know what I have is BTEC fresh okay with lot of difficulty they are able to do one testing so how can I just transfer them to load testing you know the you cannot you cannot make this comment so you are stuck with the question of arguing counter arguing arguing counter arguing so these are the issues that you know project management if you have competent programmers with seven years of programming experience in your assembly java j2e and oracular sequel and if all the programmers are competent probably you don't need a project manager if users are competent if programmers are competent product manager duty will only be to collect checks but ideal duty will be very very different when it happens okay and here also a network connection between the customer and vendor will be established in the first month of the project it used to be a major exercise earlier okay it used to take three months four months now it doesn't but the problem is it's not very easy because especially if you work with healthcare firms if you with with financial service institutions the nature of firewalls that they have to be able to do anything decent in them is going to take enormous amount of time because they want to they first of all they would like to say that they would like to create a private land in your department for the first thing that reason only those people who are working on this project should have an access to my network the second thing is while they are accessing the network they should not have any other access because their land should not be connected to the company land now which means that they if they can't access the company land they can't get any messages even from the CEO if there's a fire in the company and their system says that you get down because there's a surgeon and then you can go at 3 o'clock that may say has to be physically communicated to them because they are not on the land and similar issues against on the customer side too so these issues will take a lot of time to resolve now having done all these things still the project can get into problems let's see what kind of a problems I just presented an architecture not that it is a right architecture or wrong architecture but just to give you an impression as to what kind of things are existing in the company in a for example we have an internal user who works on a PC you could be working on a one version of operating system one version of the browser then you have a van you have a HTTP server which is going to the UPS application and then UPS is one of the application that we talked not uninterrupted power supply okay then there is a security server then there is a directory marker server then there is a database and there are some connectivities and API that go to people soft in a typical environment of an architecture when you build something by the time somebody who is here user is accessing somebody some data that is here there are probably about 11 pieces of software that exist between this and this okay you take operating system you take workflow systems you take security servers you take up no transaction process you take messaging services you take application servers and your own layers of how you build the architecture so there is about 11 layers that happen between here and here now the catch is if anything changes your system is in question because just because you use something doesn't mean that doesn't undergo a change for example if web sphere comes with the new version of the software then everything that you have done may or may not really hold good if not in terms of functionality but in terms of efficiency I remember there was one project that we did on a motor financing system for one of the largest one of the large financing companies in the world when we build the system we said that the application integrity will be maintained by committed the database level okay so that was come that was committed and then we said that no database commits will be done for a logical transaction we will do that but during the course of the project it was it was found that we had to get an application server to maintain the performance throughputs of the system which was application server as web sphere and then the architect and the designer found out that it is it is possible to implement a logical committed the application server level and not at the database level it's far far more easier if you do it at a web sphere level as a post oracle level because you are you are in control of the programmer level it's more transparent this entire system was done and it was put into production and the customers architects found out at the time of rolling into the production that you moved the logical commit from a database level to application server level they rejected the application there's nothing wrong virtually in what has been done it is technically correct it is detailed the customer said you didn't take my approval so this this point will be negotiated how to write off X number of change management request amount because ultimately I think all of us should realize that you know a project management is a business proposition you are in that to make maximum money for your company and the customer is in that to get the system with the least expense to him if you don't understand this dynamics then you will see that you know it's only technology project so the first thing that he will say is no but I didn't I didn't do that so no no no but you know that you to change this how logical commit from application server back to the database is going to take X number of effort X number of months odd stage schedules will be delayed you will be penalized for that and all your programs will become totally unreadable because of the fact that you are taking it out boss forgive me I have not taken the permission so what do I do now so right off these 350,000 dollar change management request no otherwise you know system doesn't go into production it's a very simple very tough negotiation that happens in a commercial environment so what is the right technology for the project you know there is no real answer and I think it's like saying you know who is very beautiful they are all very perceptive statements what's the right technology for a project it's available should satisfy the functional requirements satisfy the look and feel scalability stability proven architectures maintenance possibility support of the customer number of installations you can have any number of parameters on which you evaluate and ultimately it will come to cost also because you know somebody has to pay for that how much is going to cost and there are software that come almost almost free and why why is not Linux as popular as Microsoft even though it's a free software because you know people have a tendency to believe that if I have a problem in Linux who's going to fix it for me if I put it into production now I'll tell you one example as to how we judged three kinds of a software one is on a business component and there is on user interface communication and the third was user interface presentation now the parameters on which it was just was functional requirements look and feel how functionality is accessed is it stable how easy to extend the services what kind of a support is available and do we have the source code or not okay and overall how do you rate it so each of these parameters is rated on 1 2 5 about 7 to 8 parameters and we say that it's a full circle it's a perfect fit okay as shown here it's an empty circle it say completely no fit so this is a standard way of four quadrants any consultant would do any assessment to say that so we are saying that you know Winfx is not appropriate in the situation whereas CG framework that was probably appropriately developed by us is the most appropriate for as far as UI communication at less is right but Ajax in logistics is probably not appropriate again if you look at UI presentation we are saying we have to go either with Ajax or smart client or ASP.net okay so this is how you present a because at some point of time there will be a question about why you chose what you chose and if you are an architect for a system it is your responsibility to guarantee that those questions are appropriately answered ahead of time rather than during the course of the project frequent changes requirements architecture and development okay now I long time ago in 1987 or 88 there was a project that was there is an RFP that was issued from a Gulf country and it said that you would like to build a system for Ministry of Finance okay Ministry of Finance needs a system to do account receivable accounts payable and all that kind of stuff so some 10 programmers you know some just come coming from abroad or those who are waiting for projects all those 10 people are bonded together and then asked to make an estimate the best estimate everybody made you know 1988-89 software nobody used to pay and then dollar was about 7.5 Indian rupees so we came up with a estimate of 1 crore it was I think you know Kalkar was also there in those times in that company that I'm talking about okay so Ministry of Finance the proposal was submitted and what we thought when we made the entire proposal was this proposal for finance was a Ministry of Finance in the government so what we realized at the side the because it was a global tender we made a tender and then we made a proposal of about 1 crore or 1 2 crores what they said was Ministry of Finance for the country of that so many finance department for the country wanted to do the entire thing so from a department the scope increase to the country okay and we made a quotation of 1 crore okay and they said you are the least bidder you are awarded the project okay so you can imagine the kind of a conflict that happens you know and naturally you know the tucks have to be put at the highest level to tell them that the bus we made a mistake so we can do still do that but one core is too low it is out of 10 crores 15 crores those kinds of things had to happen the second thing is when you are estimate one of the things that you do is that you know normally any estimate has a simple medium complex and then there is a extremely dangerous thing called very complex okay so you say that simple program will take a weeks medium program will take two weeks complex program will take four weeks use case you call it you know use case you call it program you call it method you call it whatever that case so this 4 weeks you know we will go to 6 weeks or 8 weeks now it comes to very complex it is almost impossible to put more than 16 weeks there because psychologically how can you put anything more than twice than a very complex one but now you realize when you put a estimate of 16 weeks or 8 weeks or 12 weeks for something very complex so very complex will be something like that you know guaranteeing workflow between all the transactions from end to end okay so you do the here there and then talk to one or two people and then say put very complex and put 16 weeks you know that will be a system by itself a very complex can turn out to be 20 complex as opposed to 2 complex so at any point of time if you see an estimate which says very complex 1 and 8 weeks for that are 80 weeks for that the first thing is to reject it because you know there is nothing like very complex very complex means it could be a system or it could be complex place one day okay so those can be extraordinarily judgmental things that can send their entire project profitability down south of course business need change to the customer requirements are not clearly defined elaborated and all of you must have seen that standard diagram as people where a customer wanted a jeweler a swing what seems of getting is a noose around his neck okay and change in management to the customer and change in the lead architect now this is a extremely dangerous thing because there is nothing to do with you or him nothing to with the vendor nothing to the technology large come companies have this mergers and acquisitions a company gets acquired and let us say you are building a sales order processing system for x company and that company gets acquired by another company first of all that because depending on who is the boss you know because in there is no merger people talk mergers and acquisitions there is only acquisition there is no merger because merger means there is equals there is always a unwritten law who is the boss even in a marriage or a acquisition so there is an acquirer and there is an acquired so very clear definition so even you say merger very clearly there is somebody who is getting merged with okay that guy who is getting merged with does not have too much of a choice about what software is being used so if the acquirer has a sales order processing system that is good or bad or ugly the acquirer people have normally a color up tendency so they would like to say no we are not going to change anything for the acquired company so just use this if you are doing work for the acquired company then all your systems all your efforts will go for a toss okay that's an extreme example but the CIOs change CIOs normally have a life cycle a shelf life of about 3 years more than 3 years you are doing something externally wrong because you need to get fired after 3 years you know personal people and CIOs need to get fired every 3 years otherwise you are not keeping pace with technology and this guy is there and the new CIO comes in he may not like you know Microsoft you know for whatever is the reason or he may not like son you may not like IBM because he has not been treated well in the last meeting business meeting or his dinner table was not a dissent to Steve bomber it doesn't have to be anything remotely connected to technical you know so entire thing goes for a change so you got to redefine entire priorities and then go back and then redefine the requirements of course I don't have to elaborate on what is the drawback of the frequent changes okay so how do you do this you know one of the things that people make a mistake is this when you get into business and when you get into software business especially with the western customer you have to have a phenomenal ability to deal with unpleasantness okay so it's a it's a characteristic that you have to build okay because you know let's say that there's a change request you know there's a you raise a change request for 150 days is what you have spent you want money for 150 days multiplied by say 25 dollars an hour 25 multiplied by 200 multiplied by hundred thirty thousand dollars is what you have raised what you want to raise the invoice for now three or four things happen okay one is that you have to ask for money okay whenever you ask for money lot of Indians have the tendency to believe that you are actually asking for a favor I mean if there's a tendency that you are like a beggar five you know why should I ask my money you know what is this my CAO should ask my CEO should ask you know CAO CEOs don't ask for money they have to we have to maintain the relationship if we become the bad boys who will be the good boy yeah I think lot of people don't realize this that you know what is that guy doing in the cabin he should ask for money my my work is technology okay technology is not your work getting money for your work is what your work is thirty thousand dollars so first of all you don't want to ask me second thing is you're extremely worried that if I ask for money and then be tough with him you will screw my happiness as the day goes around pride is not going to end today right it is going to run for six months nine months twelve months this guy is going to make my life miserable okay so why pick up this unpleasantness now let's be nice to him but nice to him means you are going to lose money so there is no there is a we say in business there are three three triangle three sides of a triangle the first corner of a triangle is customer second corner of a triangle is a shareholder third corner of a triangle is an employee you can always make one of them extremely happy if you can make your customers happy by not charging him anything okay your shareholders will be extremely unhappy okay if you charge a lot to a customer okay to deliver something and then keep your shareholders employees happy customer is going to be extremely unhappy okay so the entire management that we do on a day-to-day basis is to balance these three sides of the triangle how do you compromise how do you make it strike a balance between a customer and employee in the shareholder okay dealing with unpleasantness is a trait that all of us have to develop I think you know that am I if I if I learned something over the past few years in a multinational company is the ability to deal with unpleasantness and not give up because you don't and the tendency is you know after a after drags on after issue drags on for few weeks and few months somehow settle it and go on with the life when there is no somehow settlement you know in every settlement there is a winner there is a loser okay and it's your duty to be on the winning side okay you have to struggle as hard as and there is nothing like greed greed is okay it is sometimes good okay so you have to struggle to make that money and the third thing that lot of people make a make an assumption is that status report is sent okay first of all you know when you say that look you know but you said that you know if you do this kind of a change now it's going to cost as 100 days for detail the customer yes I told told him when did you tell him I told him in the conference call conference call there is you know 5 o'clock 6 o'clock in the evening you are taking the conference call who said what who remembered what nobody knows okay first thing is you have to minute it okay and you have to document it if you write if you send a status report normally the number of emails that we receive any executive receives in this in a business world is about 250 if you open a mail I get about 250 males a day if you get it 250 males a day if you look at that if you are not the primary receiver of the mail you normally ignore it that's a golden rule if you mark to 20 different people nobody responds to it okay now if you send a status report to the customer engagement manager or customer representative or customer vice president it is your duty to walk him through that status report and highlight those issues for which you need his attention or her attention if you didn't do that your status report is as good as not written so oral communication absolutely unacceptable status report better but status report that is walk through on a weekly call or a monthly call or a steering committee meeting is the need otherwise you know it's your statement against my statement but you know it's never people will always say I didn't have time okay effort estimate for each chain request should be done and the impact on the product schedule analyzed I think once you have this once you have the mechanism of identifying a change impact of the change cost of the change cost in terms of both money time and schedule you can do all these things but my biggest issue is this okay people tend to tend to be ambiguous because they are afraid of unpleasantness okay so this and I think you know my feeling is each time I have dealt with these kind of situations if you are firm on your ground you tend to get a respect I think you know you don't assume that because you are trying to be very demanding on the money that you need to get customer will not respect you customer in fact will respect you more than another way okay we talked about this okay skills specific to a project are not known you get the people but the product doesn't start on time okay let's say that you started a you want a big deal for one of the largest companies you hide 150 people so by the time the contract gets signed and both side lawyers agree and then dot the dash that is it's Thanksgiving weekend November so November to Christmas nothing happens in United States so you have about 150 people on the bench staring at you you know looking sitting in the library okay and there's only so many library management system that you can develop right because you have every company has about 50 library management systems you know every guy who's on the bench is only developing library management systems you know you get very sick with it and then you did a redeploy them into other projects okay January 1st the pride starts what do you do with these guys you know where are the guys there's nobody there in the project because you know I want you to realize that if you get a the average cost of an employer of a employed person in this industry is about 12 to 15 dollars an hour okay if companies like Infosys you know how much margin they are making said this is a 25% they are making 25% margin when they are charging 25 dollars okay including you know just because the pride doesn't get doesn't come through at the right time you know my salary doesn't get reduced right the CEO's salary will remain the same VP will get the same salary the infrastructure will get the same if you take a space of 200 people that space cannot be leased out for two months and then reclaimed back after two months so on average you find in the software industry that if you are spending 100 rupees as a cost about 60 to 65 goes in the direct people that's a cost of the people which is salary almost 35 to 40 bucks go in infrastructure cost sales and general administration infrastructure network all that kind of stuff now that cost is a sunken cost I mean of the VP doesn't take less salary the PRM department will continue to be the same HR department will be there finance will be there legal will be there that 40 can never be recovered okay so that money is lost now you are your total problem is how do you stop these projects and especially suddenly some guy will say that I want net viewer 150 people I don't know how many of you are called something called net viewer net viewer is a latest software that has come from system integration from SAP that's a that's a hot hot software okay the fact is that if you know Java tremendously well it can be trained on net viewer for two weeks within two weeks you can be a productive programmer but customer sometimes you ask they also know that net viewer is very tough but if you have 100 programmers they at least want 20 to be knowing that we were all hundred cannot be trained now these issues come up regularly most of it is being addressed today by training you know all the companies today if you look at software companies have extraordinarily strong infrastructure and training because we can't you know this technology changes so fast you can't have everybody is killed on everything to be available to you on the time so it will cost you too much I just talked about infrastructure load set and connectivity so most of the time what you do is that you have a net work already available for which you just hook this connectivity for example if you look at cab gym in a today we are connected from Bombay to Singapore Bombay to London Bombay to New York Bombay to Chicago okay now each of these pipes is a unlimited capacity pipe of France telecom okay now if you get a project what you need to do is connect from Chicago to say let's say that we got a project in Atlanta get some Chicago to Atlanta that's only connectivity that you have to establish rest of all goes on to this network so the you are limiting this problem of establishing connectivity because for quite some time if you remember in the some of you may or may not know in this starting of the software industry the most of the communication link was point to point okay if you got a customer you establish a link between Bombay and Phoenix Bombay and Atlanta now we don't know we no longer do that we have a pipe we hook on to the pipe and options are also increased today we have VPN we have internet connection we have a point-to-point communication and then we have this networks another thing that you are you have to be conscious of is it's very easy to order a 30 gigabyte line and not use it it's very easy because but who pays for it so and there again a project management you know when you look at a product management profitability we calculate the profitability based on every cost that goes with it you know we just can't say that look you know you ordered a network means you are done it so this is going to be the key as we go along this is an interesting thing you know iterative development we think it will solve the problem so one of the reasons is every month you are delivering something okay now everybody thinks the incremental delivery is an intermediate delivery that doesn't have to be accepted I know it's okay now normally it is mistaken as your eagerness to prove that you are doing things right to the customer okay rather than a serious delivery so what happens is you know the delivery comes it is told in a directory second delivery comes second directory third delivery third directory when you come to the fourth delivery somebody will start testing and then say no no this is not what we want but you say but no that has already been delivered in delivery one so we didn't accept it now again if you look at this you know it's very easy to say that look you know I accept you I did the delivery on June 1st you didn't accept it's your problem my assumptions if you look at that within 5 days if you don't deliver you are wrong I am right so I am right so get lost he'll say thank you get lost okay the biggest problem this is customer is a guard okay you can't mess with him okay you cannot say that I am right you are wrong so go go go thank you there's infosys there's TCA there's Vipro, Cognizant, Accenture, EDS, IBM he can he just say pick up a phone there are 10 customers waiting saying that how wrong we were how inflexible they were and how flexible they would be okay you can never take the chance in each of these cases the issue is not that the man the people who are involved know how not to how to handle the situation they know but they have to manage the commercial aspect of the relationship there is no way that you can walk out from a fortune thousand customer just because their user acceptance delayed by one week okay and always the sales guy will tell you that there is a there is only a 10 million dollar there is a 1 billion in the pipe you complete this there's a 1 billion coming in the pipe so you always let down the garden passing that is something that's big coming up another thing that we do is that we normally store the test plans, test scripts, test data for that release okay now you say that you haven't accepted this but this system is not supposed to work like that but no you said that's working where is the proof what we normally do is you know provide the test data test plan is what we've tested look we actually tested if you don't believe us look at it once more so regression testing becomes how many of you understand the term regression testing so regression testing is ensuring that the changes that you have made to the system have not messed with the functionality that already exists are the performance which so the regression test seat and test data is always kept and again documentation that all this issue of performance the software process complaint CMMI level 5 or you talk about ISO 9001 compliance becomes very important because as a process you are you are forced to do these things and what is the value addition that you get by following a CMMI level 5 or what are these things the thing that you get is you have no option but to record and store these things if you are a CMMI level 5 company so it's not left to your discretion or you can do something or not do something you got to do that now in any of these things that what we do is this we call we create what we call a racky chart responsible accountable consulted informed verifies and signs off for every activity we create a racky chart in a VS. So, the people whose neck is on the line is the guys who are responsible and accountable consulted informed verifies and signs off I just show you one one activity one racky chart look at logical data model on a logical data model the customer is consulted he verifies he signs off the vendor is responsible and accountable on software architecture document the customer signs off vendor is responsible and accountable. For example, analysis model customer signs off he is responsible and accountable like that on requirement traceability matrix customer is just informed that is this use case is translating into these methods these programs these databases again the vendor is responsible accountable. So, you make this chart and first of all you have to do is agree on this chart you don't agree on this chart it's always a debate who is responsible for what how do you answer this question by creating a racky chart saying that look you know this is the activities this is the responsibility and you agree having this chart doesn't mean it will solve all the problem, but it tested at least the beginning point. Other thing that I wanted to show you is quick demonstration of the issues log. Now, you have several issues in the project normally it can't be a set of emails issues have to have an ID they need to have a description the date it was raised the date it was closed what is the severity of it what is the status whom is it assigned to what is the resolution summary what is the date resolved what is the impact of if you not resolved. So, at a periodic intervals normally what the steering committee will do is go through the issue log look at all issues that are of high severity and which have been raised more than 3 months ago or 1 month ago and are still unclosed that gives a very quick summary of where the project stands. So, management will take a different slicing and dicing techniques even on this issue resolution databases to find out what kind of ages what kind of problems are happening in a project. Now, let me just quickly go back to the starting who is responsible for what we said we will do it with the racky chart what is the right technology for the project we said that we have to do proof of concepts complete evaluation on various 7 to 8 parameters to see what is right. Frequent changes to requirements change control dealing with un-presentness status reports that are discussed staffing having a clarity on the staffing and the nature of skills required the training solutions infrastructure load set and connectivity having a network architecture that is full proof redundant rugged and redeployable and backlog of acceptance and incrementally deliver project. So, some of the examples I have said you know this probably the issue that I have covered and tried to cover in one and half hours or not even 5 percent of the issue that you face in a real life project. My idea was to show you a sample that the practice is very different. Now, I one message that I do not want to you to take is that theory is not important. So, all these becomes all these are important provided you have the technology content if you do not have the technology content you do not even reach this stage that you have to deal with these issues. If you are not a good development shop if you cannot code design test systems properly there is no customer for you. So, if you do assuming that you need to do that you can do all these things right this is a layer of packaging that is needed around it to make you successful. But if you think that the packaging is important and the content is not you have missed the point that is never the intent of my lecture at least. So, I just want to reinforce the RAREP methodology your ability to design good systems, your ability to design methods, your ability to design performance sensitive SQL code, your ability to use Microsoft project or rational tools or load balancing tool sets, clustering of servers, choosing application everything is important. But over and above those are necessary but not sufficient. That is all I had to say I think I have about 10-15 minutes for some questioning before Ganapathy Bappa takes over. So, anything that you want to ask? Sure.