Extremeties

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The most beautiful day: Today
The easiest thing: Equivocate
The biggest obstacle: Fear
The gravest error: give up, to despair
The root of all evils: Egoism
The most beautiful occupation: Work
The worst route to follow: Faintheartedness
The best teachers: Children
The first necessity: TO communicate
The greatest happiness: To be useful to others
The greatest mystery: Death
The worst defect: Bad temper
The most dangerous being: The liar'
The most wretched feeling: The grudge
The most beautiful gift: Forgiveness
The most indispensable: home
The quickest way: The correct one
The most comfortable feeling: Interior peace
The most powerful weapon: The smile
The best remedy: Optimism
The greatest satisfaction: The duty done
The most powerful force: Faith
The most needed beings: The parents
The most beautiful of all: Love

– Mother Theresa

Quote: Human Interactions

“To respond is positive, to react is negative”. – Zig Ziglar

Our Choices

“There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles.”

~ Stephen R. Covey

What counts for a successful IT project

Today i was reading this article when I came across a very thought provoking comment from Hemant Kogekar. On the subject of great universal lies, he says, I quote,

17. Project success is being on time, on quality and on budget
“As we all know, a project is successful only when the business gets the promised benefits.”

UNQUOTE

Those of us who have spent time in IT and Projects would know of the number of times success criteria has been defined as above, on time, on quality, on budget.

And yet, business never even blinked when a new release was operationalised in IT. More often it has been shouting when projects ever slightly tweak the user interface / service delivery to adopt the new release - discounting the opportunity / benefits that has been envisaged in the project. 

Isn't it time we all started to define the measurement of a project by business outcome? How will you measure success of a project?

Its 4C: No more no less - company, channel, customer and competitor

In my opinion, we need to address all the four C in conjunction and not one over the other.
Today I read this interesting and "almost" convincing article in Fortune. It made my resolve stronger in the view that we need to look at the overall company strategy from all the four perspectives.
Over emphasis on any one may lead you towards a direction that is too skewed. It takes away the balance. So whether Customer Is King or Competitor is the true measure of Customer Shift is not the only question to be evaluated.
What is the Route to Market strategy with the channel?
And the last but the most important, what is the core values and strategy that the company wants to drive.
I would like to hear from my learned friends on this aspect.

Bill & Dave by Michael S. Malone - Book Review

This is probably the best business log that i have read till date. It made me laugh, cry and inspire all in one go. I could not put the book down before completing it. And in the end, I was enlightened in what could be the famous and cherished HP Way.

I learnt, 

1. Bill overcame Dyslexia by memorising whatever he heard in class. That made a great entrepreneur - one who listens to his customers and employees.

2. Dave Packard developed the management style "Managing By Walking Around". MBWA.

3. The first product was not named product code number 1 but was 200A. The famous calculate HP-35 was named so since it had 35 keys. And interestingly the HP01 as a product was not successful at all - a Digital Watch. And the first product pricing at $54.40 was as a result of the fact that it reminded amusingly of te historic phrase "54'40" or Fight!" that was used in the 1844 camapign to set the US-Canadian border in the Northwest.

4. Friday Dressing, Beer after work on Fridays, Flex timing, telecommuting, Open Door Policy were all pioneered in HP.

5. Strong Financials of HP owe their fundamentals to "Internal Financing of Growth".

6. Trust was the biggest fundamental of HP Way. And Dave Packard learnt it through his apprenticeship at GE in Schenectady. The perceived security crisis of tools and instruments disappearing from workshop at GE was treated with clampdown on security. This criminalised employee dedication to greater productivity by stopping employees from taking the tools and instruments home to keep working on unfinished projects from their jobs.

7. Treatment for Employees - being fair: Employee Evaluations and Termination

The guiding principles were:

• The indivdual affected had had advance warning through written evaluation and has been advised constructively on how he/she should improve.
• Wherever practical assure the employee is given an opportunity for other placement where he/she might make a greater contribution. Employee placement is a functino of supervisors and personnel and not a function of the emplyee to be turned loose to find a his own job someplace in HP.
• If termination is the only alternative, personnel must be fully advised and believe the fase is satisfactorily documented and the decision has the approval of the general manager concerned.
• Before any adverse action is taken, it should be well thought out. We must recongise that each of our people represents an individual with problems, families etc.

8. The Nine Day Fortnight - It is only fair that, during hard times everyone in the company share in the pain and make comparable sacrifices.

9. G Time: Take advantage of slow periods to give back to employees time that wouldnt be used anyways - and let them use their imagination to fill it productively.

and finally ... 

The HP Way - Corporate Objectives:
1. Profit: profit is the best single measure of our contribution to society and te ultimate source of our corporate strength. aimt to achieve maximum possible profit consistent with our other objectives.
2. Customers: to strive for continuous improvement in the quality, usefulness, and value fo the products, and services we offer our customers.
3. Field of Interest: to concentrate our efforts continually seeking new opportunities for growth but limiting our involvement to fields in which we have capability and can make contributions
4. Growth: To emphasize graoth as a measure of strength and a requirement for survival.
5. Employees: To provide employment opportunities for HP people that include the opportunity to share in the company's success which they help make possible. To provide for them job security based in perforamnce and to provide the opportunity for personal satisfaction that comes from a sense of accomplishment in their work.
6. Organisation: To maintain an organisational environment that fosters individual motivation, intiative, creativity, and wide latitude of freedom in working towards established objectives and goals.
7. Citizenship: To meet obligations of good citizenship by making contributions to the community and to the institutions in our society whcih generate the environment in which we operate.

Business Excellence Quote

Today I read a hilarious one that I want to share with all.

"These days cream seldom rises in the business community - but crap still floated!"

What do you think?? 

Work Life Balance

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends, and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”

-Quote Anonymous

Jack Trout Gems

I was just browsing through the new book of Jack Trout "In Search of the Obvious:The Antidote for Today's Marketing Mess". And came across a good summary of his points, worth a read.

1. Common sense is your guide.

2. Marketing's big problem - Wall Street

3. Research can obscure the Obvious.

4. Advertising people can be an Obvious Problem.

5. Advertising is a science ... you should never let art get in the way of selling a message.

6. What works in marketing is the same as what works in the military, the unexpected.

7. In the long run, every market becomes a two horse race.

8. The future is never obvious, A search for the obvious is about today, not tomorrow.

Have fun reading the book.

Our Parents

Nothing new, nothing sensational to reveal.

Today as I usually do, while travelling to office in public transport that takes up to 45 minutes of my time to commute, i was reading this interesting book by Mitch Albom, the five people you meet in Heaven - an extremely unique way of story telling, I came across these verses, which brought tears to my eyes - not something that we dont know of, but seeing it so beautifully expressed in words woke me up.

So here i am quoting, page 133 from the book.

"Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. The moments that used to define them - a mother's approval, a father's nod - are covered bymoments of their own accomplishments. It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.

Wise quote from a Friend

Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits they become character;

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Ethics, Morality or Measurement Metrics

This interesting article from NYTimes caught my attention, though its not the first but it prompted me to opinionate!!

Every one knows that corporations shape employee behaviour through metrics, rewards and punishments. Putting it as lamely as possible.

Then why is it that inspite of so many years of good and bad fortune executive pay are not driven by metrics of good governance, employee welfare and moral code of conduct, but only by quarterly revenue and profit numbers and shareholder value only.

Why does it need to be always an either or situation. Good Governance, Employee Welfare and Moral Code of Conduct will ultimately lead to better profits. Then why its not the metric for executive compensation?

During times of Need, Indeed

God gives us problems. He also gives us brains to solve them.

Some see these as problems, others as issues to be resolved. 

The difference lies in how people approach life - the attitudes. Thats what makes them react differently give the same impetus, the same resources at disposal.

Yeah I believe "Regret is getting insight a day too late!"

Anniversary at Singapore

Well it’s been now more than a year that I am living in Singapore. Although I have been traveling across the world for over a decade now, it’s been a transition for me and my family to a foreign land over the last one year. And a year it has been to shatter some of my old school beliefs, some assumptions which I had taken as a given, but in a global world I am coming to realize them as too narrow to have a meaning for me today. Let me explore some of these.

1. Education System: Our education system has never been able to address global behaviour and ethics. So my learnings have been mostly first hand. Every day that I spend here I am now able to appreciate, not only Singaporean culture, Chinese culture, North and South Asian Cultures, Australian culture but have started to appreciate Indian culture and things that I miss here.
2. Etiquette: When people ask you, “How are you?”, they are very seldom genuinely interested in your story. All they want to hear is everything is hale and hearty and never could be better. No one has time for your sob stories. So standardize your answers as “Brilliant / Never Better / Great / Having Fun / You know last weekend, we went to this fabulous … “ yada yada.
3. Time Management: Between the two extreme ends of the region I operate in, there is a narrow margin of one hour when both ends are in their working hours. To be able to manage a conference to match everyone’s expectations is an acrobatic feat in Microsoft Outlook Calendar Management. And time does mean differently in different parts of the region. The Japanese people with whom I worked like to work till late in the night in their offices and drink till wee hours of the morning. Australians like to keep things short, focused and finish in time for dinner at 6 and beer for later. Singaporeans love their lunch. Indians have Indian Stretchable Timetable all the time. Jakarta reminded me of traffic jams in Chandni Chowk and Ghatkopar – how the hell do people do more than two customer meetings in a day is a mystery to me.
4. Culture: I realized that just like when we generally look at a sardar, we cannot make him out as different from another. I mean facial features are so similar that unless you understand the person well, they may seem similar. On a similar note, I for one never could differentiate between a Chinese, Korean, Japanese and a Singaporean. At least I have learnt some special habits, cultures, practices and diction that differentiate in my mind these set of people. It has been a very revealing experience and an education which continues as I live on. I have learnt to love Japanese food – who says you cannot have uncooked food? I found amazing Khimchi in Korea.
5. Being a Singaporean: I learnt the passion of an average fellow Singaporean that I can learn from includes, their passion for multi culture cuisine, their favourite pass time of shop till you drop attitude (its amazing to see how they can find out the best sale and discounts, the most value for money deals in any market across the globe) and oh the drive to keep up physical fitness (I have actually seen people jogging on the roads at 3 am – when I usually am not awake, but happened to chance on a late night flight that got delayed).
6. Advancing Years: As I grow older, I have been able to appreciate the “loneliness” of older generation. Most amazingly I have been approached at least couple of times by elderly Singaporeans who said Hi and asked if I would like to become friends with them. Indeed, I now realize that after an age of active life, life after is one filled with pain and loneliness. I hope I will have friends, family and foes to keep me busy.
7. Management: There are tremendous learning that we can take from major management events. F1 Grand Prix Night Race which was witnessed by people from all over the world, was immaculately planned and executed. Every office that I go for government services, its planned and thought through. Transportation system so good, that at times I feel that I own the bus in which I am traveling coz I am the only one and yet, the buses run on time and rarely break down. Means their maintenance schedules are very well managed. Even a Zoo and its management is worth looking at. There is so much to learn all around.
   

I will write again as I live life as a seasoned Singaporean this year.

Making History at Olympics

Yesterday while watching the closing ceremony at Beijing Olympics, I felt pride.

Pride about two very important things. That as a Foreigner living in Singapore, I watched with equal passion and trepidation that final between Singapore and China in ping pong game. I cheered every point that Singapore won. And I loved the fact that small TVs in different small shops or large screens in large malls were all showing the golden moments. And I loved the pride in my fellow Singaporeans hearts about this amazing winning feat which they won after 40 plus years of effort. It was a moment in HISTORY.

If Michael Phelps was a country, he would be placed high in the list of countries.

Secondly, I had written a while back about “will 1 be all …” in which I wrote about India and the fact that it takes a lot to get that 1 gold medal and I am not just proud of that moment but many more.

Today while reading on the net, I saw this article by Shekar Gupta which I completely agree with and wanted to capture for this discussion. I am proud of the fact that for once parents are getting out of their stereotyping the career of kids. They are quickly accepting the fact that “sports” can be a “career”! I remember in good old school days in one of the debate competition, we had a topic called “Padoge Likhoge Banoge Nawaab, Kheloge Koodoge Hoge Kharaab”! (means “if you read and write, you will become a “Prince”, if you play and jump, you will become a rot.). I distinctly remember one of our great debaters who happened to go ahead and represent my state “Rajasthan” in Ranji Cricket had come on the stage against the motion and had put across what he saw as the emerging “career” in sports. I did not have the guts then to go against my parents to do the unthinkable, and give a go at the sports that I loved.

And nothing more be said about sports than what Shekhar just pointed out. We are now witnessing the coming of age of that thought / philosophy on “Padoge Likhoge Banoge Nawaab, Kheloge Koodoge Hoge Kharaab”. There is nothing wrong then, and there is nothing wrong now. At those times, India required good quality professionals like Engineers, Doctors, Lawyers, Architects etc. Today we need good sports people to build our nation’s pride and status. Interestingly, Shekhar at the end points to a very interesting “PS” post script about Dingko Singh. You know what I am also absolutely proud about the “salt-of-the-earth” behaviour which is so Indian.

Will 1 be all, the trepidations of being an Indian

One of my friends raised a very interesting query – between Olympics Gold and Bomb Blasts in Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, what are the moments that make me proud to be an Indian.

Before you go on please be aware that “However thin you cut the bread, it will have two sides” … and there is the downside to each of these aspects but what is good is what I am representing here.

Great question, and you know what I am proud of our …

Culture, 

Frankly the best description I have read about how great our culture is comes from a very simple and silly section of the book called “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts. In one of the many trips that Linbaba or Mr Lindsay undertakes in the book, he is traveling to his guide friend’s place somewhere in South India. His description of the rush of people to the “Unreserved Bogie” at Victoria Terminus is both hilarious and significant to my discussion.

At the end of the experience he writes something on the lines of concluding that at the bottom of each Indian lies a set of excellent values that have been created in our culture like no other. On one hand, there are a whole bunch of people who are at each other’s throat trying to kill each other to get that one small piece of space in the bogie to sit, and on the other they touch a persons feet if the overstep in the crowded train later on when the train is running and every one is settled and sitting.

And you know what, I love the values that our system has taught us. It’s amazing how Happy, we Indians seem when compared to any of our global counterparts inspite of so many things that are not working in our lives on a daily basis. It is the basic values and principles that we are taught in our culture.

And you know what I am proud of our Education System.

While my son is today growing up in a totally different education system than mine, I am fully aware of the great things that I got from that Education System. I came across this great initiative in US that speaks of what the western world thinks about it.

And you know what I love our diversity.

Where else can you get the aloo kee tikki, kosha mangshor jhol, the avvial, the Konkani fish curry, the hyderbadi biryani, the ghewar, the chingdee maacher malai curry, the shorshe ilish all together. In fact there are dishes from various places that can keep your appetite whetted for 365 days a year two times a day without ever repeating a menu. And yet we need one common language of ENGLISH (a foreign language) to communicate with our own people. What was yesterday a bane to our society (that English, a foreign language is taking precedence over your own mother tongue) is today our Boon (as those companies who have fuelled India as the Call Center Capital of the world).

More in my next postings.

Dont be Serious!!

"Three-fourths of the miseries and misunderstandings in the world will disappear if we step into the shoes of our adversaries and understand their standpoint."~ Mohandas K. Gandhi

How true are those words. They are the words of wisdom. In our day to day practice, when we look at things from some one else' perspective, it can really change our own point of view.

And then, they say, “Don’t be serious be sincere!”
You can do your bidding with a smile on your face.

Chetan Bhagat in his address to Symbiosis Pune said about four pillars / storms in life that can put your spark to sleep.

Disappointments
Frustration
Un Fairness
Loneliness of Purpose

How to create your own career?

I have been asked by many of my colleagues and juniors on how to build and manage career. As I stand at an interesting crossroad on my career, and I don’t know if I am successful yet in what I am trying to do now, I have been considered successful till now and therefore I believe I have some words of suggestion, that you as a reader may find interesting.

Here are some pointers on how to build your career?

1. Setting GOALS is a very important aspect of life.
   a. GOALS must be S.M.A.R.T (Specific-Measurable-Actionable-Result Oriented-TimeBound)
   b. Life can have many aspects. Decide what are most important aspects for you. Some examples of life aspects for which you can decide goals could be: Job, Finance, Personal, Professional.
2. Roadmap – you need to have a roadmap / a plan, on what you want to do with your life. 
   a. Those who are at the start of their career need to create a roadmap of 25 years / 10 years / 5 years / 2 years timeframe.
   b. Those who are in the middle of their career need to look at the 15/10/5 year timeframe or any chunk that they feel comfortable to manage.
   c. Those in their late years can only plan on a 5 year horizon at most.
3. Network – ability to leverage networks is very important. Build networks that can:
   a. Give you advice on how to shape your career
   b. Provide you with opportunities
   c. Help you have fun 
   

These three are essential the building blocks of your career. They form the strategy. 

Next time on this topic, I will discuss how to operationalise this strategy.

Opening Innings

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I am excited. I want to blog. And all because I attended a cool panel discussion on new media. What I understood to be the new age journalism. Every netizen can be a reporter for the rest of his or her life. And well I too want to be one.

They say bloggers start but never keep up, so I will start by saying that I will not keep up. I will write only when I feel like it and it may only be once in blue moon.

Why did I want to write. Well I was inspired by my fellow country woman, Meenakshi.

So what am I going to write about. My day to day non happenings. I am a very basic person, love to listen to music, and if it is feet tapping I don't mind tapping my feet. I go to office on a regular day, early in the morning catch a bus to my office work for the day, and then I return back home to my loving wife and kid. Its simple, uncomplicated. And yet it gets complicated in seemingly small ways, in actions, in words, in networks, in politics, in games we play, the books we read, the companion we keep, the dinner we eat, the lunch we cook and so on. And I decided that I am going to write about that.