Thursday, August 2, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Giving back in my own way
Knowledge and Welfare are worshipped in the forms of goddess Saraswati & Laxmi. Both are vital for growth of society.
Laxmi is the goddess of welfare. Most of us find ourselves understanding goddess Laxmi synonymous to Wealth.is Wealth is private whereas welfare signifies community wealth. Generate wealth for all is the true test of good business.
Wealth and knowledge must be shared with community as water in a village pond.
Being born to a humble family in a remote village in Southern Orissa and coming up the academic leading to the monetary success ladder, inspired by the ancient concept and a true believer of the same I am trying my best in whatever way possible within a budget of 1% of my annual salary .
Mission:
Giving back some thing to your society (mother land) in terms of time/money or labor. With the distance acting as hindrance the option of time and labor is restricted to the vacation trips to my village.
Objectives:
The first being: to spread education by providing the tools and amenities
The second (a more ambitious one): To open an old-age home (though looks a bit more ambitious)
Execution:
The initial idea was to provide books 8 to 10 children in each of the three classes (8th, 9th and 10th) in my high school which has shaped my career. Due to the changes in the school opening timings the idea failed .The syllabi for 4 subjects in class 8th have been changed .So it was decided that the new books would be distributed to 22 students of class 8th.
The process involved identifying the financially challenged students who have the desire to pursue studies.
Total of 88 (4 x 22) books were purchased and distributed among the selected students
Books not Scholarship
There was a conscious decision not to provide cash to avoid doubts about utilization. And again cash in term of scholarships will go to the individuals for a particular year only and the effect wouldn’t be passed to others. The good thing about distributing books is that books can be rolled over for next year bringing the multiplier effect into force. So if I spend the same amount of money next year the number of beneficiaries will be doubled (provided the syllabus doesn’t change).Next year it will be tripled……….
The amount may be minimal but the smiles on the faces of the student and teachers were noteworthy. I was not there in the occasion.
Other Forms.
Giving your old books
Paying for School fees.
If you /your parents are influential in the area requests can be made to the authorities of the concerned institutions to waive the school fees.
Laxmi is the goddess of welfare. Most of us find ourselves understanding goddess Laxmi synonymous to Wealth.is Wealth is private whereas welfare signifies community wealth. Generate wealth for all is the true test of good business.
Wealth and knowledge must be shared with community as water in a village pond.
Being born to a humble family in a remote village in Southern Orissa and coming up the academic leading to the monetary success ladder, inspired by the ancient concept and a true believer of the same I am trying my best in whatever way possible within a budget of 1% of my annual salary .
Mission:
Giving back some thing to your society (mother land) in terms of time/money or labor. With the distance acting as hindrance the option of time and labor is restricted to the vacation trips to my village.
Objectives:
The first being: to spread education by providing the tools and amenities
The second (a more ambitious one): To open an old-age home (though looks a bit more ambitious)
Execution:
The initial idea was to provide books 8 to 10 children in each of the three classes (8th, 9th and 10th) in my high school which has shaped my career. Due to the changes in the school opening timings the idea failed .The syllabi for 4 subjects in class 8th have been changed .So it was decided that the new books would be distributed to 22 students of class 8th.
The process involved identifying the financially challenged students who have the desire to pursue studies.
Total of 88 (4 x 22) books were purchased and distributed among the selected students
Books not Scholarship
There was a conscious decision not to provide cash to avoid doubts about utilization. And again cash in term of scholarships will go to the individuals for a particular year only and the effect wouldn’t be passed to others. The good thing about distributing books is that books can be rolled over for next year bringing the multiplier effect into force. So if I spend the same amount of money next year the number of beneficiaries will be doubled (provided the syllabus doesn’t change).Next year it will be tripled……….
The amount may be minimal but the smiles on the faces of the student and teachers were noteworthy. I was not there in the occasion.
Other Forms.
Giving your old books
Paying for School fees.
If you /your parents are influential in the area requests can be made to the authorities of the concerned institutions to waive the school fees.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
been there done that - though half way
Just came across this !!
When you have a passion and a reason to do something, you will surely excel. You may not be talented or gifted but if you have a strong enough reason to do something, you will be able to tap into your inner God given potential.
When you have a passion and a reason to do something, you will surely excel. You may not be talented or gifted but if you have a strong enough reason to do something, you will be able to tap into your inner God given potential.
A tribute to the makers of "Mahendra"
Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.
Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate, was a jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.
One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
"I packed your parachute," the man replied.Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man grabbed his hand and said, "I guess it worked!"
Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."
Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb kept wondering what the man might have looked like in a Navy uniform. He wondered how many times he might have seen him and not even said good morning, how are you or anything, because you see, he was a fighter pilot and the man was just a sailor. Plumb thought of the many hours that sailor had spent in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he did not know.
Now Plumb asks his audience, "Who is packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day.
Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down. As you go through your week, month, and even New Year, recognize the people who have packed your parachute and enabled you to get where you are today!
Mahendra
Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate, was a jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.
One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
"I packed your parachute," the man replied.Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man grabbed his hand and said, "I guess it worked!"
Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."
Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb kept wondering what the man might have looked like in a Navy uniform. He wondered how many times he might have seen him and not even said good morning, how are you or anything, because you see, he was a fighter pilot and the man was just a sailor. Plumb thought of the many hours that sailor had spent in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he did not know.
Now Plumb asks his audience, "Who is packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day.
Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down. As you go through your week, month, and even New Year, recognize the people who have packed your parachute and enabled you to get where you are today!
Mahendra
Beauty of English
Yesterday I saw a client person working till 7 pm in the evening which is quite unusual considering the fact that everybody leaves by 5.30 pm.
I was just tempted to ask " Are u competing with Indians in staying late in office? " but somehow I didn't like the wording . So kept quiet for some time, Then I got a better word. And I was excited...
And I asked him " Are u inspired by the Indian colleagues to stay late in office ?......... Apt came the reply. "Hey thanks for reminding that it's late. I have an angry woman at home ... I have to keep her satisfied also."
I said "I won't comment on that"
And we had a hearty laugh ...........
I was just tempted to ask " Are u competing with Indians in staying late in office? " but somehow I didn't like the wording . So kept quiet for some time, Then I got a better word. And I was excited...
And I asked him " Are u inspired by the Indian colleagues to stay late in office ?......... Apt came the reply. "Hey thanks for reminding that it's late. I have an angry woman at home ... I have to keep her satisfied also."
I said "I won't comment on that"
And we had a hearty laugh ...........
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Mind mapping techniques
Though I have been a constant provider of class notes to my fellow friends through out my +2 ,engg and MBA studies ,I had underestimated the importance of writing "minutes of meeting" after coming to the Industry.but after some serious differences with the requirements provider and my ITPL , i came to the real world. Suddely ,I was invited to a presentation on mind mapping techniques .I found this useful .Perhaps it wil help me in becoming a better listener and writer.
As a process and way of thinking ,it's a better method encapsulating the holistic view of things.
A highly recommended stuff from me.
As a process and way of thinking ,it's a better method encapsulating the holistic view of things.
A highly recommended stuff from me.
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Business Analysts @ IT Industry (1)
I stumbled upon two blogs on a fairly interesting topic concerning my education – and my role and my behaviour in the workplace specifically to the industry I have chosen.
The fellow bloggers have hit the points .So pls go through the same
http://www.prakashonsoftware.org/blog/index.php/2006/07/19/why-domain-consultants-must-learn-technology/
http://lakshvivek.blogspot.com/2006/08/fresh-mba-grads-as-business-analysts.html
From an organizational perspective:
The IT industry in India is not sure how to utilize Indian MBAs @ offshore .Onsite I am not sure. ( Because while I am happy with my work at onsite my client asks me hey mahendra .u have done mba in finance why u r writing use cases u not in investment banking ,trading ,alternative investments etc.. ---------- The perception and expectation differs)
Till 2001-02 the players were picking up only guys with prior IT experience. But keeping pace with the demand, they have started recruiting freshers also.
Initial two/three years:
Profile of a BA
Some PPTs, Presales work, some training sessions and some Collateral (from Google or some project doc) and some white paper once a while.
If u get a project then u r lucky perhaps.
Then why the industry is recruiting and why MBAs are coming?
Thanks to all the 3rd/4th generation methodology of off shoring, moving up the value chain etc... , the IT companies have to create an impression in the minds of the clients that, they have people from the best institutes (May not be the best people from the best institutes), proven academic track record etc.
Why MBAs are coming to the industry – In this world of information, orkutting and alumni networking I won't say people, don’t know the work and the environment. Then perhaps the reasons are Money and Onsite …………….. (U agree or disagree??)
At onsite: These Business Analyst (BA) folks are expected to talk to the client and gather requirements write use cases and pass on the same to the developers.
Now the problem arises when the developers find that something is very difficult to implement /realize, but the BA who has gathered reqirements has ignored the diffciulty part.
There can be two reasons:
The BA is ignorant of the enormity of the issue.
He has failed to convince the client (business) regarding the issue that the developers would face within the budget and the time frame
But what a typical technical /developer thinks is that these BAs don’t know anything and they promise anything and everything to the client and the developers face the music. This is the easier part.
No body touches the second part …..
Some of the requirements that I faced from the business but that were not acceptable to my development team
1) Displaying 20,000 records on a single page without pagination facility with sub grouping ( +expand collapse buttons) with sorting
2) Addition and deletion of columns dynamically ( from a list of 60 columns) on a particular page ( JAVA HTML )
And some others……………
(As a BA these two are representatives of potential issues for consternation)
So it was my onus perhaps to make the two parties come to a common platform.
I did something which didn’t go well with the mgmt .I felt that I was somehow not able to act as a streamliner in the communication .So I arranged a direct communication talk of the offshore team with business guy here at onsite. One can debate on this method, but at that point perhaps I though it the best way.
What I did was successfully avoided any possible embarrassment due to my ignorance on the subject. And the team members were motivated thinking that they talked directly to the client business guy
I got the following mail from one of my team members when I left the project
“Hi Mahendra,
It was equal pleasure to work with you.
I really appreciate the patience with which you have handled all our queries and provided timely resolutions. Also I appreciate that you accepted our technical suggestions that this will be tough to implement, this does not make sense, let’s do this in this way etc and that you could communicate all this to the client :) “
Perhaps the last line is the most important thing.
Actually MBAs have place of their own. But this IT Industry has been a great leveller. There is no rocket science involved.
So if a techie with experience acquires good business knowledge (either out of own interest or by virtue of being involved in domain intensive project) s/he can challenge and beat a fresh MBA squarely ……. (Definitely my fellow blogger friends fall into this category)
But the reality is different ……. There are so many people with excellent tech skills but no aptitude to learn business ………
The other side of the coin will be revealed in my next post.
The fellow bloggers have hit the points .So pls go through the same
http://www.prakashonsoftware.org/blog/index.php/2006/07/19/why-domain-consultants-must-learn-technology/
http://lakshvivek.blogspot.com/2006/08/fresh-mba-grads-as-business-analysts.html
From an organizational perspective:
The IT industry in India is not sure how to utilize Indian MBAs @ offshore .Onsite I am not sure. ( Because while I am happy with my work at onsite my client asks me hey mahendra .u have done mba in finance why u r writing use cases u not in investment banking ,trading ,alternative investments etc.. ---------- The perception and expectation differs)
Till 2001-02 the players were picking up only guys with prior IT experience. But keeping pace with the demand, they have started recruiting freshers also.
Initial two/three years:
Profile of a BA
Some PPTs, Presales work, some training sessions and some Collateral (from Google or some project doc) and some white paper once a while.
If u get a project then u r lucky perhaps.
Then why the industry is recruiting and why MBAs are coming?
Thanks to all the 3rd/4th generation methodology of off shoring, moving up the value chain etc... , the IT companies have to create an impression in the minds of the clients that, they have people from the best institutes (May not be the best people from the best institutes), proven academic track record etc.
Why MBAs are coming to the industry – In this world of information, orkutting and alumni networking I won't say people, don’t know the work and the environment. Then perhaps the reasons are Money and Onsite …………….. (U agree or disagree??)
At onsite: These Business Analyst (BA) folks are expected to talk to the client and gather requirements write use cases and pass on the same to the developers.
Now the problem arises when the developers find that something is very difficult to implement /realize, but the BA who has gathered reqirements has ignored the diffciulty part.
There can be two reasons:
The BA is ignorant of the enormity of the issue.
He has failed to convince the client (business) regarding the issue that the developers would face within the budget and the time frame
But what a typical technical /developer thinks is that these BAs don’t know anything and they promise anything and everything to the client and the developers face the music. This is the easier part.
No body touches the second part …..
Some of the requirements that I faced from the business but that were not acceptable to my development team
1) Displaying 20,000 records on a single page without pagination facility with sub grouping ( +expand collapse buttons) with sorting
2) Addition and deletion of columns dynamically ( from a list of 60 columns) on a particular page ( JAVA HTML )
And some others……………
(As a BA these two are representatives of potential issues for consternation)
So it was my onus perhaps to make the two parties come to a common platform.
I did something which didn’t go well with the mgmt .I felt that I was somehow not able to act as a streamliner in the communication .So I arranged a direct communication talk of the offshore team with business guy here at onsite. One can debate on this method, but at that point perhaps I though it the best way.
What I did was successfully avoided any possible embarrassment due to my ignorance on the subject. And the team members were motivated thinking that they talked directly to the client business guy
I got the following mail from one of my team members when I left the project
“Hi Mahendra,
It was equal pleasure to work with you.
I really appreciate the patience with which you have handled all our queries and provided timely resolutions. Also I appreciate that you accepted our technical suggestions that this will be tough to implement, this does not make sense, let’s do this in this way etc and that you could communicate all this to the client :) “
Perhaps the last line is the most important thing.
Actually MBAs have place of their own. But this IT Industry has been a great leveller. There is no rocket science involved.
So if a techie with experience acquires good business knowledge (either out of own interest or by virtue of being involved in domain intensive project) s/he can challenge and beat a fresh MBA squarely ……. (Definitely my fellow blogger friends fall into this category)
But the reality is different ……. There are so many people with excellent tech skills but no aptitude to learn business ………
The other side of the coin will be revealed in my next post.
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