Cricket Vs Software Project

India emerged as a victorious team beating the world champions in their own den in recently concluded CB series.India had achieved this after many long years! What made this India team to achieve such feat? what are the factors which influenced the result?When i thought about it (being a software developer my self)interestingly i found many similarities between the game of cricket and software industry.

A cricket match,rather a cricket series and software project are similar in many respects.Of course the span of a cricket series and span of a particular software project may be different.

Role of a captain/project manger(PM)

In cricket the captain of the team plays a major role in team wins
Similarly the captain of any project is the project manager who decides the fate of the project.

The qualities which make a captain/PM special are:

Resource management
Managing the resources optimally is the key!
For a captain it means

• using the right bowler at right time,

• placing the fielders in right positions,

• keeping right player in right field position

setting the correct batting order etc.

For a PM

• using the right people(those who are with the appropriate skill set)in the project.

• Giving the people responsibilities and make them rise up to the occasion and deliver for the teams win/success.

Planning
plan a strategy to win against any kind of opposition,
plan ur project such that it becomes a success against all the odds.

Role of wicket keeper/tech lead

I feel Wicket keeper in cricket is equivalent to technical lead in a project.

Wicket keeper is the one player who gets the full view of all the players in the team and plays a key role in cheering and inducing confidence in the bowlers and fielders.
He is the one who better understands the wicket than anyone else(being behinds the wickets gets a closer look of the pitch!), his suggestion to the bowlers gets remarkable change in the way they deliver.

Similarly in a project technical lead is the one who really interacts with the team mates and knows each one of his mates capabilities. because he can understand easily the technical difficulties(being techie himself) the developers face , his help to the developers considerably improves the results.

Role of player/team member

Ground work
preparation for match is very important (whether u like the opposition or not )
similarly a developer has to be well prepared (mentally and also technically) for doing a project whether he likes to code in that particular language or not(tough ask!),but once he starts loving what he work on, work become worship.

Constant learning process
For a player improving on his skills day by day(be it a bowler or a batsmen)is very important,similarly for a developer improving on his skill set is pretty important thats what takes him forward in his life and helps in attaining greater positions.
Being stagnant doesn't help anyone:Team and country (for himself) in case of cricket , project and the organization (most importantly personal growth )in case of programmer.

Helpful hands of seniors
Many say this teams success is mainly due to the presence of energetic and dashing youth! may be! but a team has to be balanced with experience and the energy of youth.Don't forget the presence of the mighty little master ,Sehwag and the coaches Venktesh Prasad, Robin Singh .
Having just freshers in a project doesn't take it anywhere, only when u have experienced, talented people in the team ,they can guide the freshers (who are equally talented people, what they need is the polishing which make them gems).

Comitment to the cause is pretty important.
ie the thirst to succeed in each player /developer is the driving factor behind teams/projects success.

Will full people
People who has the drive to achieve in their lives and make their country proud.
people who want to make big in their lives and make name for themselvesand in effect for the organization.

Setting standards
Take the example Ishanth Sharma, Praveen Kumar , Gautam Gambhir , for that matter all the youth, what they have done is they stretched themselves to taste the success, and now they set the standards for themselves.
similarly a developer has to stretch himself to learn and make a mark for himself, and become a key member in the team.