The Avinya Scoop

Before I get into pol sambol sandwiches and epiphanies, you may be wondering - what's my quote for the week?  Here it is....   " No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it. " (H.E. Lucc ock) It's our 1 1/2 month birthday at Team Avinya! As we cross the threshold of yet another milestone, this is the quote that has been circling in my head.  Remember my sprint planning anecdotes from last week?  Well, this Monday as we went through our usual sprint planning exercise, the mammoth weight of everything we needed to get done descended on me. Yet, before I scurried to my introverted rock to crawl under, my orchestra helped me see that... "no one can whistle a symphony." What we have ahead of us is gigantic, extensive, vast and all the other synonyms related to very large things. As cliched as it sounds, what keeps me from that rock is the knowledge that together we are strong - together we can make it through the uphill climbs ahead. This

When I'm old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say, "Wow, that was an adventure," not "Wow, I sure felt safe."  (Tom Preston Werner, GitHub Co-founder) It's only apt that I use a quote this week from the GitHub Co-founder. It's for two reasons.  1) I have used this quote many times to give me the kick I needed whenever I got all settled in my comfort zone. Trust me I really like my comfort zones! 2) I learnt about GitHub! To be fair I learnt about it a few weeks ago. Let me start from the beginning. I mean I haven't lived under a rock all this time. Though being the introvert I am, I do like my rocks and hiding under them from time to time :) Back to my story - when we talk about project management I have used Gantt charts for example in the past and other tools. I've had some great outcomes with all. So what has been so special about GitHub?  Well for starters remember I told you about my resident IT guru and our CTO Samisa? Well, he

"Learn Early. Learn Often." ( Drew Houston, Dropbox Co-founder)  This has resonated with me a lot this week.  You know how you get into things and think I kind of have this figured out? But then a curve ball comes your way and you find yourself rethinking your 'figured out state'? Well that's what this week has been like. Even though we have done many interviews in the past in our previous roles, the first round of interviews that we've done this week for the Foundation Programme Educators has been monumental to say the least. T hese are our pioneer group of educators who will set forth to make a lasting impact on the upper secondary education space in Sri Lanka.  I have to pause thoughts in my head after saying these words out loud because it's so special to us! We've had to look at new ways of doing things, different ways of thinking and pooling ideas together cohesively to ensure our recruitment process suits our needs and encapsulates our vision an

Didn't think I'd start off Avinya's Week 3 Weekly Update with that question, but it's been an eventful and insightful week as well as a week of reflection as we take concrete steps to firm up the (pun intended) foundation of our foundation! What's Ikigai? "Ikigai  (ee-key-guy) is a Japanese concept that combines the terms  iki , meaning “alive” or “life,” and  gai , meaning “benefit” or “worth.” When combined, these terms mean that which gives your life worth, meaning, or purpose." (https://positivepsychology.com/ikigai/) I think personally I am getting close to answering this question as we close in on the three-week mark of our new venture or should I say ad venture that is the Avinya Foundation! The more we do what we do with Avinya, the more I realise this is very much a part of my Ikigai. What about you? Before I digress any further, let me tell you about what has been set in motion this week. The wheels of our Foundation Programme Educator recruitme

"Sometimes we can only find out true direction when we let the wind of change carry us." (Mimi Novic) It's been that kind of a week behind the scenes at team Avinya. You know the weeks when you discover that the days of the week are starting to morph into one :) We've been scurrying around processing the weight of what we are to accomplish, but with a sprint in our step and silent smiles to ourselves as we think about how far we have come. So I guess that's the theme for this week's blog. Stop and smell the winds of change!  As cliched as it sounds - stop and just be in the present. Enjoy the moment of the start up, the newness, the unfamiliarity and the pieces of the jigsaw strewn across the floor. Enjoy the magical feeling of piecing each one together, slowly and steadily. Speaking of pieces coming together, h ere are some highlights from this week: We've been busy going over lots of wonderful applications for our Foundation Programme Educators. We'v