Name game!!!

Bu hu!!! You are such a gullible fool!!!!! :D

Genda Phool

Saiyaan ched dewe,
Nanad chutki leve,
Sasural genda phool.

Saas gaari deve,
Dewar samjha leve,
Sasural genda phool.

Choda babul ka angana,
Bhaave deraa piya ka ho,
Sasural genda phool.

Saiyaan hai vypaari,
Chale hain pardes,
Sooratiyaan niharu,
jiyara bhaari howe,
Sasural genda phool…

Bushirt pahine,
khayee ke bida paan,
Poore Raipur se alag hai,
Saiyaan ji ki shaan,
Sasural genda phool.

Sweta, an 18 year old village dame, shy, submissive, religious, devout, gullible, rustic charm, elegant. Married to a successful business man, who loves his career more than his wife, but this doesnt seem to bother her. She is madly in love with her life, loves the way in-laws tease her, taunt her and then rescue her. Willing to sacrifice the company of her Saiyaan for the sake of his success. Damn!!! I wish this Sweta was me!!!
While I love my life too, a 25yr old, greedy, self-obsessed, competitive, ambitious, naughty one!! I wish there were a switch, a digital one to switch between these two lives :(

2008... the year that was!!!

2008 has been happy, tragic, predictable, surprising. There have been events which were pretty much expected, some were shockers completely unexpected. At the start of the year we had lots of expectations good and bad, practical and unreal, some of these unreal expectations turned true while some seemingly accurate expectations proved to be deceptive. For national and international news 2008 was just another year.

Happy news - Bindra, Arvind Adiga, spectacular Olympics hosted by China.
Tragic - terror strikes in Mumbai, North-East, Delhi, Jaipur.
Expected/predicatable - Financial meltdown(subprime crisis) leading to recession in developed world. Many of its consequences - increased unemployment, lower demand. Continued occupation of Iraq, increase in shortage of food, unemployment, farmer suicides - farm loan waiver as expected did not reach the targeted community. The planet got less green and more clouded with carbon. And all this will continue in future too!!

Unexpected- Obama winning the democrat nomination and eventually the presidential elections. Worlds biggest fin corps become past. Actually may be we werent aware the people in finance pretty much expected this!

On a personal front this year has been very significant besides the regular ups and downs, making and breaking of relationships, pats on the back and upfront abuses, more love and less love there have been two major events which happened and changed my world for ever. I can never forget the night of August 3rd when Nanna just dint sleep because of the pain after his first heart attack in the evening, and the first thing I saw on waking up on November 8th, Nanna the very source of my life departed from our lives. My world will not be the same!!! November 20th I reached a new milestone professionally, made it to ISB, I was as happy as I was sad because I couldnt share the news with "the most important person".(I know he will not accept this because he always said I loved Mummy more than him. :) ) 2008 for you must have been just another year but for me it has been life-changing!!

Journey @ ISB

Finally the elusive MBA dream comes true :D Here is a list of things I would like to achieve during my stint at ISB.

I have created a record of sorts - schooling, graduation, work and now MBA all in Hyderabad. This sounds so "jeena yahaan marna yahaan"ish :( :( :( Aim 1: post MBA get placed outside Hyderabad :P

The answer to the golden question "why MBA?" has changed over the years. Immediately after graduation my idea of life post-MBA was kind of supermanish, get into a leadership role, a role that takes strategic decisions that make or break a company. Later dreamt of getting into investment banking because of its glamour. Further on felt a business consulting is THE thing for me. Even at this point I am as confused as ever!! A deeper understanding of subjects on fin, strategy, leadership, and the LDP that helps identifying "SMART" (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-based) should help in moulding my raw, crude, unrefined dreams to tangible, pratical, achievable goals. MBA is a journey of discovering what best suits me, discovering a profession that will have me play on my strengths. So my aim 2: attain enlightenment.:P

Talking about the money. 20lakhs loan at 9.25% p.a. to be paid in 5 yrs time(minimum). The interest on top of the principal would be roughly 5lakhs or so. The total cost of ISB would be around 25lakhs. So, ISB's cost would be roughly Rs.7000 PER DAY! (Pankaj sorry for the plagiarism your analysis was too tempting :P ). Moreover, mammoth assignments biting into precious sleeping time. So much at stake!! A real good placement in an industry and position that best suits me only will ensure a decent ROI. This means good acads and proper self discovery. So my aim 3: ensure a decent ROI.

freeze!!

Will get back to this post in April 2010 to evaluate how I have faired on these counts. I suffer from the IT industry syndrome so cant resist the temptation of setting grades:
grade 1: Aim 1 ,2, 3 sound very childish now, and I have achieved way more than this :D :D :D
grade 2: Managed to achieve all these goals I aimed at.
grade 3: Aim 1, 2, 3 are way too optimistic!!

Will grade myself in April 2010. :)

Critical reasoning - a practical approach

Conclusion : This one is a boring post!
Evidence: The title has put you off!
Assumption: All posts with these kinds of titles are thoroughly boring & soporific.

If this reflects your chain of thoughts, you are already a victim of flawed reasoning my dear bondu :P and you MUST read on for some reflective humour :D /*okay! an attempt to reflective humour*/

To begin with one of the most absurd causal flaws in software industry
/*Causal flaw - when you assume a cause-effect relationship is perfect*/
Conclusion: To quicken the process of finding and fixing software bugs, the manager proposes an incentive plan: 20$ for each bug found by the testing team and 20$ for each bug fixed by the developement team.
/*Do you find any absurdity in this? Sounds a perfect startegy? yu hu!! you fell into the trap :) :) :)*/
Evidence(=> why do you make the above conclusion?, this is a fact based on which you make the above conclusion, this is certainly 100% true) : Greed is perfectly humane & all homo sapiens on this god's green planet can do any thing for the green paper.
Assumption(Something hidden in the stream of thought while you make the above conclusion, caveat: this could be and generally is 100% wrong) : Homo sapiens can do anything for the green paper! "Do anything" = nothing with malign intentions, always put the company before self. Developers will not intentionally spring up the no: of bugs even though this could be chance for them to make money, because the same developers who generate bugs, fix them for 20$ each.

Result of this incentive plan, one employee nets 1700$ in the first week.
/*FYI the idea for the above piece of causal flaw has been highly inspired by the works of Scott Adams. */

Reverse causal flaw, this ones common to any MNC that follows variable pay structure.
/*Reverse causal - when you assume 'A' is the cause, while 'B' is the effect, but practically its the other way B causes A*/
Conclusion: The incentives & hikes are proportional to the associates performance, and contribution to the projects he/she works on.
Evidence: Its obvious, as you sow so shall you reap.
The Catch: Actually its the other way, chucky bonuses and inorganic hikes motivate associates to perform better. So managers should take the first step to motivate their employees.
/* THEY NEVER SEEM TO GET THE POINT. Note the caps, hope it loud enough, are you listening boss??!!! */

Next comes analogy flaw, this ones for all who crib comparing themselves with others.
/*Analogy flaw- when you compare apples to oranges*/
Conclusion: I should be getting the same hike & recognition as a peer who has almost identical profile & puts in same similar effort as I do.
Evidence: Perks and hikes are directly proportional to strength of your profile & th eeffort you put in.
Assumption: You & your peer are clones, identical in every way! Performance review depends on various other factors like your EQ(eulogising quotient), marketing skills(its not about what you do its about what you show you do!), sometimes physical appearance, etc.

Finally the statistical flaw,
/*Generalising your conclusion by collecting data from a small group, assuming the group represents the entire population.*/
Conclusion: The annual CEO survey shows the opnion of the employees on various aspects of the company, it can safely be used to chalk the developement needs of the company.
Evidence: The survey is open to all, it is taken by the employees only & the survey results are not tampered with.
Assumption: The people who take the survey are actually the ones from whom the company intends to take feedback :P , the percentage participation is decent.
/*Only people who dont really have important work can afford spending time on things like survey, & basing the strategic plan of the company on these results is ridiculous, aint it?*/

Is change really constant???

Change is the only constant!!
Adaptibility, dynamic strategies opposed to fixed strategies are the mantras echoed by everyone. Decisions are made taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. Ground rule now is not just survival of the fittest, it is survival of the player who sees the next change of this agile world & adapts to it. I can go on, on this but this post is meant to counter this idealogy. Will have to stop advocating this funda here if I have to market my argument better. :)
To begin with, I quote the first few lines of The Brook's song - Alfred Lord Tennyson:
I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorpes, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.

Till last by Philip's farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.

Disclaimer: What I have inferred from these lines is personal, may not coincide with what the English literateurs may infer. :)

Over the years we meet different kinds of people, do different kinds of things, face different kinds of situations, that is to say life's like a long race with many hurdles, many cheers girls, tough competitors, weak peers but in the end the race is only with yourself. People around you, situations around you may make you feel you have changed with time, for instance a slow learner takes time to learn new things but if he practices a similar task over & over again several times he will surely do a better job than a sharper person who is new to this task. This doesnt mean the former is more proficient, he is inherently slow & will remain slow, this may not show up in his routine work which he has excelled, but if given a new task he surely will take time to catch up & thats when its proven that he hasnt CHANGED. Also in a not so competitive environment one may fair decently well & assume he/she has improved, but only when he enters a more competitive environment does he realise that it is not he/she who has changed rather its the situations that are different have made him/her feel the change. Everyone has their own weaknesses, we try to consistantly try to improve ourselves, and most of the times can see & feel marked changes in our selves. But in times of crisis we inadvertantly handle the situation in the same way showing up our weakness, its as if these situations bluntly prove that we are essentially the same & have'nt changed a bit, no improvement whatsoever.

This is true even in case of relationships, you either like a person or you dont, no matter how much time you spend or how much interaction you have, your relationship may seem to deepen or weather away with time, but deep within the relationship doesnt CHANGE it remains the same, you either like the person or dont.

Yet another example to prove this would be the stock market, where the prices of a stock may gyrate in both directions by huge margins, one day it may be the star performer seeming like a highly worthy stock, the very next moment it may volte-face to be in a worthless position. But in long term the worth of the stock is basically constant, doesnt CHANGE. (referring to the worth of the stock & not the price).

So do you still believe change is indeed constant???

My take on the BLACK SWAN Theory

Heard about Nassim Nicholas Taleb's latest book- The black Swan. Dint get to read the book though, but found the whole theory of Black Swans so interesting that I could'nt stop myself from posting this. To quote wiki : "The term black swan comes from the ancient Western conception that all swans were white in color. In that context, a black swan was a metaphor for something that could not exist. The 17th Century discovery of black swans in Australia metamorphosed the term to connote that the perceived impossibility actually came to pass."
So a black swan is now a metaphor for all those ideas which seemed near impossible in the past but are very much existent in the present world. Ya you are write all scientific inventions are black swans & so is technology.
No sane person would have imagined wireless communication to be such a norm today, things like globalisation, liberalisation & to be more specific outsourcing to change the world economic dynamics. Indeed it takes quite some time for the world to recognize the genius in insanity. Now that you got a grip of the black swan funda, let me move to what I wanted to actually talk about in relation to this theory.
The IT industry in India, has evolved so drastically & so quickly in the last decade, that the same generation has been a victim as well as the realiser of the black swan. Confused? (well then I have been successful, it has been my conscious attempt to write something complex :) ) Just a couple of years back, single digits hikes were a norm, employer was in short supply - meaning lesser oppurtunities, employee had to be the best at his job to be retained & expect a decent single digit hike. Mind you I am talking about the scene in the industry after the boon called outsourcing happened to India, so this is not very long back. This was the age when the employer was the typical bossy "BOSS", & the employee was an initimidated little creature, always a victim to the atrocities of the boss. No one would have ever imagined that we were again being cheated into believing in the black swan.
But merely a few years & we see a complete volte-face. There is no chance you can give any of your associates a hike of less than 10%, no matter what his merit is :). It is the employees who are in short supply as opposed to employers :). The employer is no longer bullying the employee, infact it is the other way, the employee has a triumph card now - "You dont make me happy & I quit" :) The employee satisfaction is no less than the customer satisfaction.
At this point I cant help but think what is the possibilty we feel is impossible today but will become an indispensible truth tomorrow. If the exponential hikes continue in the time to come India will surely lose its cost advantage. One thing all economists are predicting is that India will have to move up the in terms of value addition. It will have to rely more on its quality of work than mere cost advantage. Well this is one possibilty, but I have another crazy idea - this could be a cyclic process, i.e. India loses cost advantage, hence loses work to other emerging economies. Indians lose jobs, so they compromise to work at lower salaries & hence India gains back its cost advantage & the cycle continues. What say? Sounds insane? You never know this may well be our fate, dont rule this out, else you could be getting trapped into the black swan warp, beware!!!