Abhishek Deshpande

Author: Abhishek Deshpande

  • Back to Management Basics – Part 1

    Back to Management Basics – Part 1

    Management Basics as a topic on my blog is little absurd to read on MBA Dropout’s page. I was already leading a Team of 12 people when I started my MBA and carried away with Technology than management sessions. Now, I’ve reached I point where I feel I can’t run behind new tech stacks. Its time for me to revisit all the skills I had or I tried to pursue to make something out of it. While going back to basics, I’m publishing my notes here.

    Terminologies – Question to Ask
    Vision – Where are we going as an Organization?
    Mission – When are we successful?
    Objectives – What must we be moving towards?
    Goals – To reach out objectives, what must we do and by when?
    Strategies – How will we meet each goal?
    Actions – Who will do what and when will they do it?
    Metrics – What do we value that we can measure qualitatively or quantitatively?

    Reference: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/strategic-planning/vmosa/main

  • WP Curtain Raiser 0.2 Released

    WP Curtain Raiser 0.2 Released

    Two years ago, I released a plugin on the WordPress repository which adds Curtain Raiser feature to your website for the Inaugural Ceremony.

    In India, an inaugural ceremony for Official Website is the most common thing for NGO’s and Government. This plugin is for those who need to add curtain raiser feature to the website for such an Inaugural Ceremony.

    What’s New in Version 0.2
    Version 0.2 has Solution for Static Home pages.

    A year ago Arvind, Friend from Mumbai WordPress Community Called me and shared the Issue. Version 0.1 works well with the site with a blog index as a homepage. When you load static page as the homepage, it loads curtains but loads blog index instead of the static page. Samir shared quick snippet to resolve it, and there is 0.2 available for Download.

    I look forward to hearing your feedback on it.

  • Peer certificate CN did not match expected!

    I was Configuring WP Mail SMTP Plugin for WordPress on client site. Default PHP mail function works well, but a couple of users reported mail getting delivered in the SPAM folder. So we decided to route mailing one of the Official ID using SMTP.

    We installed Plugin, Configured credentials. The task was like 10 min work, and the test mail was a failure. We had SMTP connect() failed Error in Debug Log. Found out it was a misconfiguration at the Server based on following Quotes found on Forums.

    “Note that the default value of SSLProxyCheckPeerCN is off in httpd 2.2.x and on in httpd 2.4.x. Note that SSLProxyCheckPeerExpire and SSLProxyCheckPeerName also now default to on in 2.4.”

    And

    check SSL module mod_ssl.so is loaded in httpd.conf

    Everything was just fine in httpd.conf which is auto-generated in Cpanel/WHM. So on searching Cpanel Support Forum Found out, there’s Hardening Setting in WHM > SMTP Restriction. So if you are stuck with it, make sure to disable it. SMTP will work like Charm.

  • How to Start Delivery Kitchen – Part 1

    How to Start Delivery Kitchen – Part 1

    Disclaimer: This is all my kida for learning how things go in this Modern world. Please Consult your CA or CS for your queries.

    Little Back Story
    Every time Kartik (My school mate with 10+ Years of experience in Continental foods) came to India, we discussed starting a food venture. We did some research, discussions and his duty calls him back to Bread butter Business. This time, he’s again for some months, and the past few days we are studying some feasible Business model for our Venture.

    Delivery Kitchen is the one we choose, here’s why
    1. One can Start Delivery Kitchen based on Lean Model principles. So No huge Investment to start.
    2. Delivery Partners like Zomato, Swiggy, Uber Eats and Food Panda are providing a great platform to startup. One has to worry less about Acquiring Customers as on Discussion with these Partner Onboarding Executives, and they help you understand the regional scenario. And Optimize the Menu for Better sell.

    What you need to signup at any Online Food Delivery Platform.
    1. Shop Act registration
    Standard Business Disclosure, One can use Maitri Portal from Maharashtra Govt. costs around Aprx. INR 24 /-
    It won’t take more than a day to get a Gumasta (Shop Act Licence)
    Sign up here – https://maitri.mahaonline.gov.in/

    2. FSSAI Licence
    Food Safety and Standardization licence mandate for every food business in India. For Starters, it costs you around Rs. 2000. You can get it done from the Official website. Which is awful, so we got it done from Authorized vendor who charged double to us.

    Thanks to Digital India, Licence was in our Mailbox on Day 3.
    Try your luck at – https://foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in/index.aspx.

    3. PAN & GST Details
    PAN Card is mandated at any online store. If you are not eligible for GST, you can share a self-declaration for same.

    Where to Signup as Delivery Kitchen
    Zomato – https://www.zomato.com/business
    Uber Eats – https://www.ubereats.com/restaurant/signup
    Swiggy – https://www.swiggy.com/partner-with-us/

    What’s ahead for us?

      • Onboarding with Food Delivery Platforms.
      • Understanding the day/night requirements of delivery areas
      • What to cover in Menu that will work in our planned areas.
      • How to keep our cost low.

    I hope I can write about the experience soon enough. If you like to share your journey Feel free to DM me on Twitter or Facebook.

  • My PHPCS & WPCS Setup Notes

    My PHPCS & WPCS Setup Notes

    Recently I’d SSD upgrade on my mac, the first thing I need to do for Setting Dev Environment was to Install Homebrew, Laravel Valet and PHPCS for Better Code Practices and the Editor. Following items were scattered, just curating them for future reference.

    If you are Mac user, you will need to install Homebrew & Laravel Valet, linking to official Docs.

    PHPCS and WPCS can be installed on any OS. Steps are almost same, Following are steps for Configuring PHPCS and WPCS for Mac and Windows.

    1. Installing PHPCS
    1.a Official Documentation

    1.b Installing via Composer
    composer global require "squizlabs/php_codesniffer=*"

    2. Verify phpcs version
    phpcs --version

    3. Check Installed Coding Standards
    phpcs -i

    4. Installing WordPress Coding Standards
    composer global require "wp-coding-standards/wpcs"

    5. Configure PHPCS to use WPCS
    phpcs --config-set installed_paths ~/.composer/vendor/wp-coding-standards/wpcs

    6. Using PHP CS with WordPress
    6.1 using WPCS on specific file – hello.php
    phpcs --standard=WordPress /path/to/hello.php

    6.2 using WPCS on specific Plugin / Theme
    phpcs --standard=WordPress /path/to/wp-content/themes/theme-name/

    7. PHPCS for Laravel Apps –
    7.1 Refer Official Document

    7.2 Install LaravelCS
    composer global require pragmarx/laravelcs

    8. Configuring PHPCS with Sublime – Official Doc

    8.1 Must have Sublime Package Controller
    https://packagecontrol.io/installation

    8.2 Install SublimeLinter then SublimeLinter-phpcs.

    8.3 Go to Linter Settings, Create User Config. Update your phpcs path in the following My GIST

    8.4 Restart Sublime, Before Testing phpcs code

    If you are on Windows, Point Number 5 becomes
    phpcs --config-set installed_paths C:/Users/abhishek/AppData/Roaming/Composer/vendor/wp-coding-standards/wpcs

    Make sure you update your system username. If you find any issue setting it up, feel free to Tweet me.

  • My New Project: Good Finds

    My New Project: Good Finds

    While people are still posting about Ten Year Challenge Pics, I’m taking baby steps with the trend. For those who know me from my college days, I use to Post Tips and Tricks on my blogspot blog which started of curiosity of sharing good finds.

    In 2009, I took my first job and had a slowdown in blogging career. Finding new stuff, sharing that free and crazy stuff with friends holds rare pleasure. Over the years, I saw many cool tools, blogging about them remained in the draft.

    So In 2019, I’ve created a list on Github of such crazy things for Bloggers, Marketers and Developers. Here’s the link to Good Finds on GitHub.

    If you have any cool tool, feel free to Send Pull Request or share in Comment.

  • Free Resources for your next blog post title

    When it comes to writing down an article or a blog post, Title is the most crucial part of the piece you are writing. Here are some free tools to generate and analyse Post Title.

    SEMrush Title Generator
    Let the Apple fall on Newton’s head for some crazy Ideas. Just hit some of your keywords for the title Ideas. SEMrush title generator is a new addition in SEMrush tool based on their topic research tool. It will surely get some unique titles for you.

    CoSchedule Headline Analyzer
    You know your blog post is the solution for what your audience is looking. So mostly your title will be Solution to their problem, how are you going to standout the title if the same solution is available across the web. You might have to understand the sentiments of your reader. Headline analyser checks for Emotional quotient and powerful words. More the merrier.

    If you use any other free tools, Please do drop in a comment.

    Happy Blogging 🙂

  • WordPress 5.0 Survival Kit

    WordPress 5.0 – Codename Bebo (for Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés) was released a day before yesterday. With many changes in WordPress Core, New Editor – Gutenberg replaced the Old classic TinyMCE Editor, which is an excellent move towards easy editing.

    Yesterday I upgraded my websites and Clients website to WP 5.0. With No Hassle, everything seems working fine to me. But I found little distress in Users about change in Interface, which is widespread resistance to change behaviour. Also saw some developers spreading rumours about Gutenberg is going to break your website. So here’s my Survival Kit for those who feel they can’t upgrade to 5.0.

    Following methods are for your Safely transition to WordPress 5.0

    1. Install a Classic Editor Plugin

    This one brings back the TinyMCE editor to your Latest Version of WordPress.

    2. Update the WordPress Settings to use classic Editor and don’t allow any of your user to switch to Gutenberg. Settings is available in Dashboard Left Menu > Settings Section > Writing.

    3. Install another Plugin: Fatal Error Notify

    This one will Notify you if you have any Errors in your website. So once you update to 5.0, this plugin will keep track of upcoming Errors. Don’t Forget to enter your mail id in this Plugins notification section.

    WordPress Releases are not just about features, and it comes with many security and bug fixes if you are one of those, who are not upgrading to WordPress 5.0 with fear that Gutenberg is going to break your site. You are keeping yourself vulnerable.

    With above three things you can continue your WP Journey without worry. Let your developer think about what mess he has developed that is not compatible with Latest release.

    Happy WordPressing 🙂

  • Card says “Not Valid for payment in foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan.”

    What brought it to my attention:
    Last month I was about to travel to Nepal, for WordCamp Pokhara. I was going through a couple of articles on the web about travel in Nepal. Found out there is conversion charge applicable on cash Withdrawl from ATM in Nepal. The cost was somewhat around 300 – 500 Rs per Card Swipe Transaction.

    In India, we are getting used to with Paying even 100 Rs. By Card for Coffee. So if I have to Buy Coffee and pay by card in Nepal, it would become a 400-600 Bucks coffee. So Paying in cash is the only Open Option. So I checked for Nepali Currency, here’s what happened:

    1. Forex Exchange:
    None of the FOREX Operators in India had Nepali Currency available. All Operators said Indian Currency Works in Nepal.

    2. State Bank of India has Branches in Nepal
    There’s Nepal SBI, Branch of State bank of India, and I do have an SBI Card. But Article has special Note about, Check with your branch if your card is valid in Nepal or not. So I just visited my Home Branch and got with the Scenario titled.

    Note: for those who have no idea about SBI, It is a government-owned Bank in India, where you have to treat SBI staff as Boss to get your things Done. You can google “Why SBI is painful” and learn about how bad things can go at SBI. Luckily My Home Branch has some sensible staff, except one Jerk on Helpdesk. Things go smoothly at SBI for me.

    At SBI, I Went to international banking Section. IB Lady Told me to check the back of Card. Usually, on back of Card where you find CVV Code, in Small fonts, it is mentioned whether your card is valid for the International transaction or not. So I just checked my All Cards, and each of them was having the same line. “Not Valid for payment in foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan.”. so she offered me a Form for Traveller Card – Kind a Prepaid Card, which I need to get activated from Nagpur’s Main SBI Branch on Kingsway.

    While heading to Kingsway, I Tweeted my Lovely Banks, Which reverted me after I reach Nepal, and Vodafone gave me no network so my query must be still pending in their systems.

    At Kingsway Branch, Lady told me to carry cash, as Traveller cards also have the Same line “Not valid in Nepal and Bhutan”.

    So Carrying Cash was the Only Option. But On 8th Nov 2016, Old 500 and 1000 Notes was removed from Indian Market. Thus People in Nepal are cautious about Indian High Denomination currency. So carrying Cash was not a Good Idea, Especially in 100 and Lower denomination as it was Trip by road. As for the last option, I paid things online and took a couple of variants 10,20,50,100,500 in my backpack.

    On Reaching Nepal
    The plan was to Exchange Indian Currency in Nepali Currency on Indian Border. But Co Passenger told me about Standard Conversion rule in Nepal. If you are buying a thing for Nepali Rs 160, then you have to pay INR 100 only. 1:1.6 is the standard Conversion ratio for Indian currency to Nepali Currency. So converting money would be creating two new issues mentioned below, so I skipped it.
    1. The Size of Bundle of Currency would increase as I was carrying high power one.
    2. I’ll be losing my money to pay a conversion fee. As Exchange is a Business, and they charge a percentage for conversion.

    People based near Border accepted New 500 and 2000 notes. But in Interior of Nepal, even in Kathmandu, People refused to take it. In City, I Paid with 10,20,50 denominations, very few stores accepted those, few didn’t. Indian 100 Rupees note is the widely accepted Indian Denomination in Nepal.

    So as I was low on 100 rs notes. I tried one of the Nabil Bank ATM near my hotel, Voila! My International Debit card was accepted, with Highlighted notice, that bank will add Fixed Cost NPR 500, to the transaction. For the first trial attempt, I withdrew NPR 2000, so bank added NPR 500 as Charges, so my card was billed NPR 2500, Indian equivalent was around INR 17XX which is far better than carrying a bundle of notes while travelling or trekking.

    Closure:
    If you are an Indian Traveling to Nepal or Bhutan and you just found your card is not valid for payment in foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan. Don’t Panic. My International Visa Card Worked in Nepal despite having a Not valid line on the back of it. Bank Charges might vary, but it’s not like you won’t get cash in these countries.

    Happy Traveling 🙂

  • November – My month of Travel is here

    From past few years, November has always become Month of travel for me. Most of the times it’s for work or family trips.

    November 2018 has many things and journeys in the bag. I will try my best to share my experiences in a blog post for almost every trip. Here’s My tentative Itinerary for November

    1. Kochi, Kerala – 1st Nov to 5th Nov
    I’ll be visiting Kochi, Kerala for WordCamp Kochi 2018, the Second WordCamp in Southern Part of India. Speaker Lineup is excellent, I’ll be on Happiness bar at WordCamp Kochi. If you have any queries regarding WordPress, Blogging, Websites feel free to drop by.

    2. Nagpur – 6th Nov to 11th Nov
    It’s Diwali time, This year we are celebrating Diwali at Nagpur. You are welcome for Diwali cha Faral 🙂

    3. Amravati – 12th Nov – 14th Nov
    My Cousin is getting married. I’ll be in Amravati City. I can quickly get some time for healthy discussions. If you are around Amravati, Ping me.

    4. Pokhara, Nepal – 20th Nov – 27th Nov
    It will be my first visit to Nepal. I’ll be speaking at WordCamp Pokhara 2018. I haven’t planned any itinerary in Nepal tour yet if you have any adventurous Ideas do let me know.

    5. Ahmedabad – 30th Nov – 3rd Dec
    Another WordCamp trip, WordCamp Ahmedabad is Last WordCamp of 2018 in India. I’ll remember my past two visits, Food in Ahmedabad is mesmerising, recommendations are welcome.

    If you are in any of the cities mentioned above on those dates, feel free to ping me.