Tuesday 30 October 2007

You will not be sacked ... But I dont know what we will do to you

So just a few days after I wrote the blog on the attitude a man usually carries when he is employeed and not having much tasks I actually got to experience the answer that came from a higher authority.... I am not so much convinced with the answer and I would like to say that No wonder people feel its time to get out ...

Here are a few answers I have and I would answer if I am been asked the same question by anyone who is employed with me or work with me:

1. Who Said you dont have tasks? Can you build a tumblr like product for me in the time you are free?

2. Oh Really? Let me fire you then.... I will fire you with the same passion I am running the company with, I will fire you with same zeal that I work with, I will fire you with the same affection I have with you and you have with your work.... Now if you dont have tasks can you replace fire with Ignite please?

3. Honestly I dont have something concrete for you now, we will wait for next few days which will give me time to find something reasonable for you... till then why dont you use this time to mentor the others who are in the same situation?

4. Would you mind sharing a few of my responsibilities? See I am loaded with Seine, Yukon, Patches, Meetings, Business, Blogs , Forums and Appraisals... take over a few from me and that should work for you great...

Now do you want a few more answers? Does that give you enough comfort to keep your mouth shut for a while? .... Well If I was you I would have said NO because the bigger point is missing here....

WHY

I would have told you why you dont have tasks today and .........

1. Why we dont have tasks today?
2. Why we can do something else to cover time?
3. Why there are delays?
4. Why I cant tell you what is going on the business front?
5. What is going on to make sure that you have work?
6. What will I do if I cannot get tasks for you?
7. What will you have to do to make sure that you have tasks?
8. Why I dont want you to think likethis?
9. Why you are important to me....

Do you want to know more?

Sunday 28 October 2007

I will be sacked soon

Just trousing through Yahoo today I somewhere agreed with Jerry Yang's recent statements .... Give me 100 days and I shall have a answer to the competition world... The trousing led me to write this post that says HOW TO KNOW THAT YOU WILL BE SACKED SOON. Now when I read through this page I feel that forgetting what a insecure employee feels it is important for the employers to provide this confidence. Just because someone feels that it is this way should not mean that he should lead his way to a new Job or simply quit....

Now why this post comes here... Mainly because 99 of the 100 times an employer/Manager/Boss is not able to provide the comfort that can give any employee the feeling of security and stability.. thus no wonder the moment a employee see's something fishy he starts looking out... and why not anything that is perishable is going to rott.... and who would like to eat or be Rotten? Just recently when the Ex Indian captain of the highest earning cricket board Rahul Dravid put down his papers as the skipper of the team, it just took a few more days for the selectors to put him down the team... What a message this is.. not only to the cricketers who are fighting for a place in the Indian Team but also to those of us who are employed by someone.... If you dont have tasks you will be Out geez. What a loss it is.. and what loosers are they who do this...

So coming back to the zone where we started it is atmost important that employers make sure that they provide enough visibility as far as employees are considered in terms of stability and security... morever the attitude of people also forces employee to think that they can be sacked if there job is done by someone else or they are left with no job....

Believe me this invites
1. Politics Which definitely is Evil in any form
2. No Mentoring
3. Generation of Toxic leaders who want to get experience not share it
4. Overall performance of the organisation
5. Secrecy behaviours...
6. IDIOT's (I DID IT ON TIME) Attitude with I DID IT ALL Attitude...

I have to rush home now ..... I am turning 29 today and still at office...Let me keep this post running so I get more time to write about this when I continue my page on Idiots....

Sunday 21 October 2007

Outsourcing sucks since there are not many co-located teams

Well Yes Yes..... I still work for a company that works on outsourced projects and that's why my post comes into action.. since when you do more you know more.... The misery of outsourcing always had been the domain knowledge and product understanding... and for the time been lets not use words like product vision or product UVP's... The more of technical teams I have dealt with, the more I realised that with the on-site - offshore model the understanding between the teams work but doest work that great.....

Reasons? in one of the Project kick off meetings earlier Sarah who was our Customer Services Director said that because of one small functionality lapse in the product a major security threat could have occured... and Yes the team sitting offshore could not understand this becuase it was never told on what is the IMPACT of not doing something... moreon sometimes the teams developing the softwares really really do not understand the business or functional use of what they develop...

Now lets get back to the basics.... Why Outsourcing sucks when the teams are not co-located...

A. The whole world talks and implements the distributed global development and enjoys the perks and benefits that come from cost reductions... Now what they dont understand is "DOES THE THING MEAN THE SAME TO YOU AS IT DOES TO THE PERSON SITTING 10,000 MILES AWAY FROM YOU?" geez... sometimes it does most of the times it doesnt.... Remember Project Management is a biggest challenge here .... Managing distributed Teams have their own problems from communication to conversions.

B. One Point of Contact
My previous company believed in ON-SITE - CORDINATOR concept.. one person who knows the team well stays with the Product Owners and co-ordinates with the development teams to realese what is expected..... Geez what a misery it is now I understand how things can be screwed with this approach... I am sure you would want to know WHY? and I am going to write it out sometime .....

C. I was waiting on this...
Recently something of much importance happened with the current developments that I am involved in.... There is a much awaited , Big cost , predominantly important project that needs to be kicked of.... however there are Teams waiting out here to begin... Why? We are waiting for something from the other end? Yes .... this is what you hear when you walk pass the development teams that are doing offshore development with the Business Analysts and Product Owners including the sponsors are sitting out of the location somewhere in the world...

Anyways I dont want the count to reach Z and then I have to put up a new numbering to tell you the issues .... the point of this post is to understand the importance of co-located team...

So when I say co-located teams I really mean that the Dev, QA, Product Owner , Product Manager and sponsors.... all sit in a place where the eyes can meet the eyes.... Now why this is important?

1. Teams can be involved in ad hoc discussions which can change the drive and path of the product and development... And if you think that it can still work by people involving offshores in scheduled meetings you are the one to come out and think out of what you are doing always.... The Idea of bringing the iPod did not come in a shceudled meeting ;) The Yahoo citations were not happening when development was talking to product owners... and so on.... ad hoc discussions happenings across desks bring innovations.... and you have to agree that many a times ideas trigger when you are not at work ;)

2. Teams know who and how .... meaning which customers want what and when and how they will use it and HOW it will affect the world.... in such cases you can trust that you will not build something that was NOT urgent and was just built becuase someone thought it should be like that...morever the bigger part of the story that is visibility in the development activity and the product vision is provided to everyone that is a part of it and not just one few...

3. Catch the responsible and Hold the accountable....
Many a times I have seen that NON Direct access to owners and champions along with sponsors or customers lead to a lot of mediation and hierarchies.... which causes a lot of trouble in the end.... remember he said that we have to do this? Or do you know who can get the answer for me? Or He told me that you should do this? Or I had a word and this is how it should be? Or I am working on it? grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... these make it look sick...

4. Eureka .....
The call is not very common for dislocated (THIS IS A DELIBERATE USE INSTEAD OF DISTRIBUTED)... majorly I havent seen someone saying Eureka ..... "Hey Russ .. see what we can get here" Something I heard a long ago from James our developer who told Russ our Product manager who was sitting opposite his desk to show him that he has developed a very light weight User selection interface....

Now you want me to go Hundred dont you? Well I would want to continue..... but time is the key and so is work.... I could steal this time out specially today because I see when the product manager is not present .... outsourcing sucks...

Friday 19 October 2007

Narayan Murthy says DO NOT WORK LONG Hours I disagree

When Natwar posted an article from the mentor of several thousand professionals all over the world Narayan Murthy... yes the Big Boss and the Chief Mentor of Infosys technologies...that talked about how long working hours are not productive and harms the individual and the organisational goals.... I was believed to Agree and Disagree..... though I do believe in a fact that longer hours in the office can harm... but they cannot always harm.. Yes there are ways to be
Productive in the office even if you have to work long hours and 6-7 days.... eventually somethings are always mis understood... working long hours do not necessarily mean LONG WORK HOURS.... I work long almost everyday and that too for last 9 years.... not a single time I have felt that I could be less productive.... not sure what my bosses talk about it... but anyways... my personal opinion doesn't go very much inline with the Chief Mentor of Infosys.....

However I completely agree with him that you should love your job but not your company.... I have been following this since a long and have always mentioned that "When someone says that he is emotionally attached to a company..... To me he is either lying or he is on a job hunt..." anyways that's just experience.. and I am sure if you meet the variety of such species you will agree ;)

back to working late I would really like to mention why I don't agree with Mr Murthy....

1. Longer hours not necessarily mean work
Yes I agree with you Sir.... however the remaining part of the time that is not work is not definitely a waste..... Not many really waste time playing games . TT , chit-chats and gossips... some of us who like to work long hours also want to read more, write more, share what we have and grab what we don't have.... For the last 8 yrs of my longer working hours I have learnt several things that I could have never learnt all my life working 9 - 6... and if I have to do some additional work in this time I dont blame the company here, because something has to be given for something that is taken.... I always thought that its a give and take relationship isn't it? cut the crap.... back to my experience in the last few years I have always found more energy within after 7:30 PM when most of the office is on the verge to go.... this energy is due to the fact that I work not only to finish what I was supposed to finish in my 8-9 hours but also to finish the task that I am going to live my 40-45 yrs of life..... Yes and that is knowledge....

2. What's with the Balance?
Life is all about balancing... work - life , bank , walk and strive and relationships.... I have seen people mentioning that it is very important to have a work - life balance... and why does someone need to think about it in the first place? I get 2 hrs a day with my kids without any disturbance when I play with them and also try to be a part of their daily schedule... I get distributed hours with my family and kids yet again to handle other things.... A full of Sunday is always used to make sure that I do something helpful for my family... and if I have to cut a few hours of my sleep for that I think that's a bonus not a cut..... Not sure if you guys remember watching James Bond series Tomorrow never dies when the diamond merchant says to the news reporters.... "We get life only once a time .. why waste time sleeping?" The balance is always there ... they are not very smart people who cannot manage there 10-12 hrs out of the 24 for their own....

3. You will get sick if you work long and late?
The only reason I think can get sick of is the workplace....damm that bought a giggle on your face didn't it? Yes been in office longer and late can bring you to a point where your eyes don't want to see more of the office place..... But did I already tell you that swapping team places and co-locations help in getting rid of this thing? Yes the workplace layout needs to be manipulated and edited every few weeks / months so that the team feels different .... however thanks to a high attrition rate in the software companies they see new faces always :D that was just a joke BTW...

4. Mistakes? If you work long?
And what mistakes are we talking here about? I am sure not many people think that mistakes are not done deliberately... and are not done ONLY when you are not in state of mind... damm we need some science out here to support my statements.... anyway... when I see someone saying that longer work make you irritation level rise earlier than when you work 9 - 6? Boooof... that was a bullet without a gun to me..... The irritation level can be high even if you work shorter NO ? All you need is a better work environment that irritates you... So I remember a guy who always worked 9 - 5 but was always irritated because he did not liked smiling faces around.... ahh there I Go... I thought that irritation has something to do with the nature of the person... you cannot expect a cold blooded man to leave anger away just by making him friends with his biggest foe can you? So when we talk about bigger mistakes I think they are not directly linked to longer hours but the quality of the hours spent.... someone can burn his 8 hour long brainy cycles in a minute if he has to deal with a creature in the office that doesn't understand one thing in one time... Now you agree is it?

And now let me go back to My List of advantages ......

1. I am always at a startup
All my career I have always preferred working with small companies .... many don't know but the objective was to work hard and make sure that the small becomes BIG sometime... for me Life is too short to know the shortest of the world... and if Internet and other facilities provide you a source to know a better part of this world with just a few extra hours of you ... is it not a BUY 1 GET 2 Free deal? Remember You are the smallest of the creature in the world.... only hardest of your efforts are going to give you best est of the results and success's..... so every day is a new beginning of a day with your company and 8 hrs is just a startup to understand what a world wants from you......

2. How many of us know today if Britney Spears lost the visiting rights to her kids today? Or know that YouTube is blocked in China from today?
I haven't seen many of the 9 - 6 personalities doing anything once they reach home than sitting gossiping, shopping or putting their heated Asses in front of the IDIOT box.... reason? Ask Savio.... Once talking to him he said .... "No matter I reach home at 4 in the evening or 11 in the night the feel of been tired is the same....." and damm that applies to many.... how many of you after reaching home have opened a exciting Harry Potter Novel that you have already read 3 times? or how many of you have spent time watching the National Geographic and writing a thesis on why Lions are more prone to Sex than Tigers? geeeezz.... well honestly many of us when we reach home really don't want to work more because we just got back from it bloody hell.... SO how many of us really update ourselves after 6 when we reach home?

3. I work Long to Give My team a confidence....
what do you expect your security personal to do when you ain't in the office? BE AWAKE AND AVAILABLE... No? Yes .. that's what I do when I am awake and working late and longer... I make sure that I am with my time or ahead of my team to make sure that they don't have blockers ahead waiting for them ... just because I am not there...... Now don't you dare talk about empowering and dependencies here ..... It has no connections.... I work long so that my team has a feeling that Someone is there..... It may be ME or SOMEONE else.... and that is one of our objectives right? specially when people call us leaders?

4. I have a flair of advantage
Google did not start working 9 - 6.. nor did Steve Jobs kept a work life balance when he started APPLE?..... so If you are a start up You have to work long so that your future can be smooth , relaxed and convenient.... Working late gives me fair amount of advantage over my competition... competition that stays in and out of my organisation.... When I work long I compete with the outside world, gain more knowledge, work towards achieving my goals and gaining that upper hand that can help me accelerate my skills.... However I am not a very strong believer of showing that I work late.... I work late for myself and my tasks to finish... and not for MY COMPANY....

5. I sleep less to sleep more....
I always heard some statements made by the biggie managers... WORK HARD PARTY HARDER.... and if you are a bit aware of Ramayana you must be knowing Kumbhakarna ... who really followed it... so when you really go to vacate yourself on vacations you party hard.... and I am sure you don't need any special request to party harder... the moment you get to party you party harder anyways....

6. Do I need to mention more?
OK Let me wait to the reader comments and I shall shoot more of shit at you...

Thursday 18 October 2007

How disguisting it is to work with Idiots?

With my keyboard not allowing me time to write about the book that has been waiting since long... I started my new chapter on "How to be efficient working with Idiots" with a pen and paper yet again... and hell Yes I am on my second page.....

Let me write the extracts tonight and on the weekend when I finish the long waited lost continuity....

Monday 1 October 2007

Do you know the GOD's and the DOG's of your Project?

OK Lets find them... Comment or reply to my Email... lets list the characteristics of the GOD's and the DOG's of your project.....

Beware both can be dangerous if not handled correctly... and one complements the others ;)