My Words...!

That resembles a human

2010-12-05T15:02:00.002+05:30

I was introduced to the term "Android" 7 years back, when someone talked about humanoids, he watched in some Hollywood flick. I quickly Googled out and found the definition to be, "An automaton that is created from biological materials and resembles a human. Also called humanoid". It was not very interesting at that point of time. It sounded more like fiction.

Sometime back, I attended a brief training on Google's Android Operating System. The training was named "Testing Android Applications". The trainer ended up talking about basics of android application development rather than testing. The reason stated was that one cannot test without the know how of development. That was interestingly funny. Those three days and afterwards, I was intrigued by it and it's likes (iOS, MeeGo etc.) and still remain so.

The platform and it's likes have already proven their immense business capabilities and has certainly given rise to lot of little new things. To list a few, a new kind of economy (Economy oF App Stores), new kind of development model (Micro-application development), new kind of organisational entity (Micro-ISV) and most importantly Micro-buyers (spending not more than $5 on such purchases).

With these little new things, I see my little endeavours taking shape. Those small applications certainly automate the human features.

Challenge the known and embrace the unknown

2007-10-26T17:09:00.000+05:30

Long back someone told me a story which had a moral to be followed (as per the story teller). It goes like this:

There was a guy who used to package cauliflowers. Day-in and day-out he used to do the same job with great zeal and enthusiasm. He spent years doing that. One fine day someone asked him a question. How can you be so happy doing the same thing everyday? He said that the work is same but each and every cauliflower comes in different shape and size and thus packaging each of them pose a new challenge to me.

The moral of the story (as concluded by the storyteller) is that be content with your job.

There was this smart guy (sitting beside me) carefully listening the story. Later on, I found the smart guy narrating the story to a lot of people in the organization and while people were yet to grasp the stuff, he got promotions one after another and today he heads a mid-size center.

It seems our smart guy embraced the thought process of the story teller and propagated that across the organization and may be it was wiser to do so as the story teller was very influential in the organization.

I think it works or fits at times but somehow, I was not convinced by the idea in totality. I started searching for a different story. And yesterday, I read one story which fits and works as well:

In the late 1800s there was a thriving ice industry in the Northeast. Companies would cut blocks of ice from frozen lakes and ponds and sell them around the world. The largest single shipment was 200 tons that was shipped to India. 100 tons got there un-melted, but this was enough to make a profit. These ice harvesters, however, were put out of business by companies that invented mechanical ice makers. It was no longer necessary to cut and ship ice because companies could make it in any city during any season. These ice makers, however, were put out of business by refrigerator companies. If it was convenient to make ice at a manufacturing plant, imagine how much better it was to make ice and create cold storage in everyone’s home.

You would think that the ice harvesters would see the advantages of ice making and adopt this technology. However, all they could think about was the known: better saws, better storage, and better transportation. Then you would think that the ice makers would see the advantages of refrigerators and adopt this technology. The truth is that the ice harvesters couldn’t embrace the unknown and jump their curve to the next curve.

“Challenge the known and embrace the unknown, or you’ll be like the ice harvester and ice makers”.

Note: A part of this post comes from a speech by Guy Kawasaki on his hindsights at the age 0f 40 at Palo Alto High School Baccalaureate Ceremony 6/11/95.

Guiding X and Y

2007-04-05T17:18:00.000+05:30

I cannot stop myself from putting this here (Concepts of Theory X and Theory Y) ...

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

An Unorthodox Address

2007-01-28T12:19:00.000+05:30

This is a rare speech, made by a senior retiring sergeant (havildar) of the Indian army to junior officers (first line managers, at the officer level) in the army. It seems punctuated by boldness and conviction. It rephrases the universal principles of handling human beings in any organisation.

'I feel a tinge of regret that I am not young enough to be sitting out there as one of you. You have so many years of challenges and adventure to look forward to. So many of these years are behind me. Soon you will meet your platoon sergeants, sergeant majors, other officers and above all - troops. What do we expect from you as officers, commanders, leaders?

We expect of you unassailable personal integrity and the highest of morals. We also expect you to maintain the highest state of personal appearance. Above all, we expect you to be fair, to be consistent, to have dignity - but not aloofness, to have compassion and understanding, to treat each soldier as an individual, with individual problems.

And we expect you to have courage - the courage of your convictions - the courage to stand up and be counted - to defend your men when they have followed your orders, even when your orders were in the wrong - to assume the blame when you were wrong.

We expect you to stick out your chin and say, "This man is not qualified and will be promoted over my dead body". Gentlemen, I implore you. Do not promote a man because he is a nice guy, because he has a wife and three kids, because he has money problems, because he has a bar bill. If he is not capable of performing his duties, do not do us, and him, the injustice of advancing him in grade. When he leaves you, he becomes someone else's problem. Above all, he is a problem onto himself.

Do not display recklessness and expose yourself and your men to unnecessary risks that will reduce their normal chances of survival. That will only shake their confidence in your judgement.

Well, you now know what we expect from you. What can you expect from us?

From a few of us, you can expect antagonism, a 'prove yourself' attitude.
From a few of us, who had the oppurtunity to be officers, but didn't quite have the guts and motivation to accept challenge, you can expect resentment.

From a few of us old timers, you can expect tolerance.
But from most of us, you can expect loyalty to your position, devotion to your cause, admiration for your honest efforts - courage to match your courage - guts to match your guts - endurance to match your endurance - motivation to match your motivation - espirit to match your espirit - a desire for achievement to match your desire for achievement.

We won't mind the heat, if you sweat with us. We won't mind the cold, if you shiver with us. And when our cigarettes are gone, we won't mind quit smoking if your cigarettes are also gone.

And, By God, if the mission requires, we will storm the very gates of hell, right alongside you.

Remember one thing. Very few havildars were awarded stripes without showing somebody something, sometimes, somewhere. If your platoon havildar is mediocre, if he is slow to assume responsibility, if he shies away from you, maybe sometime not too long ago someone refused to trust him, someone failed to support his decisions, someone shot him down when he was right. Internal wounds heal slowly; internal scars fade even more slowly.

Your orders appointing you as officers in the army appoint you to command. No orders, no insignia of rank can appoint you as leaders. Leadership is an intangible thing. It is developed within yourself.

You do not wear leadership on your sleeves, on your shoulders, on your caps or on your calling cards. Be you Lieutinants or Generals, we're the guys you've got to convince and we'll meet you more than halfway.

You are leaders in an army in which we have served for so many years. You will help us defend the country we have loved for so many years.

I wish you happiness, luck and the success in the exciting and challenging years that lie ahead.'

***Got this in the leadership notes provided by "Beyond Horizon" facilitator Commander Girish Konkar.

The last slide

2007-01-18T19:04:00.000+05:30

Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2006

I was suppose to attend a sales conference of one of the ISVs starting 8:00 am today.My partner (supposed to pick me) turned up late by 45 minutes. The CEO was going through the last slide of his corporate presentation when we entered the conference hall. I was feeling bitter for missing on the CEO talk as it would have been my first chance to hear a Yale graduate.

The last slide was a trivia (some question related to company's sales records or something like that covered in his presentation). He started collecting the answers verbally from all the attendees. I was sitting last. All the time I was thinking that the time should stand still such that my turn for answer never comes. All of a sudden I found that everyone was staring at me. I realized that it was my turn to answer. I simply said, "I don't know". The CEO replied, "So do most of the people. Give it a try and shoot your wildest guess on a number ranging from 50-150". I uttered 100 instantly.

100 was the exact figure the CEO was looking for. I won the trivia and a $75 American Express gift card.