BLT Diaries - My management credo (part 3)

Pardon me, but even after having long shed the role of a BLT, i’ll continue to call this series of posts “BLT Diaries”.

the decrees so far..
Part 1 - http://ohnewoerter.blogspot.com/2009/07/blt-diaries-my-management-credo-in.html

“Anything can be, and everything that can be, will, very likely be, uncertain”
“Ye all shall learn the most sacred art - Follow Up”
“Earth calling moon rocket” - if you can’t figure this one out, read the full post :P

Part 2 - http://ohnewoerter.blogspot.com/2009/10/blt-diaries-my-management-credo-part-2.html

“Thou shall beware the wrath of the P-R Vortex”
“Thou shall ‘be the ball’”
“Ye shall always be the puppeteer short of strings”

and now...  My management credo (part 3)

“Confluence - lest thy predicament persist” 
Remember “12 Angry Men”?? When in conflict, it does work!! Decisions can be arrived at simply by getting every person involved around one table to talk on the subject matter!! (ok travel budget cut, i hear ya… over a conf-call will still do :P). Easier said than done... expect about 5 of the 12 to be involved, 3 to be disinterested, 2 simply questioning every line that comes outta your mouth (valid or not :| ), 1 texting (or these days playing angry birds on their smart phone) and 1 (you) moderating!!!  But get this done, and rest assured, the issue will be at a better place than where it started from...


“‘TO-DO’ or not ‘TO-DO’”
While I curse microsoft’s powerpoint, I adore its Excel. Don’t get me wrong here, i am not a numb3rs person - am not commending the over abused ‘macros’, multiple sheets of valuations (will all formulae plugged in already :/) i am talking about a simple “ToDo: What-When-Status” sheet. I believe vehemently that the human brain (mine for starters) is not meant to multitask. There are times my thoughts run like traffic in Bangalore - changing lanes every few minutes at the end of which i am left wondering where i am headed... This, when one’s worrying only about what they are supposed to do... Now add on to this all the stuff the same person has to “Follow Up” on lest it gets... well, you know what.  
Another version of this when “confluenc’ing” is the “Go where no one has ever gone, But be sure to make a tracker”

“Ye shall know your Freak-hold”
When to start freaking out?? This stands out as one of the two major learnings i take back from B-school. No problem is as big as it seems at the time… not passing a paper, not having made it thro one interview... it doesn’t seem so grave in retrospect does it?  Having said that, I admit - this is one of those decrees I know, but when needed, find really impossible to remember!! Also, that said, if you have a job  where you can ruin the world economy, work with viruses that could destroy the world, please freak out more. Else, take a breath n a walk before crossing over to freak-out zone.


i realize my decrees are becoming less funny and more morose... hazards of being buried under work i guess, but will try and flex those humour chords and hit those notes soon enough.. till then adios.

Life across W-A-M

Yes, i am a bit of a geek… Yes, i work in the technology space.. but nothing manages to wreak my day like having to work on my W-A-M setup i.e. my Windows XP office laptop, Android smart phone and Macbook personal laptop.

Of course, there is a distinct advantage to having the set-up i do ... as someone who works in an environment creating applications its a fantastic thing to be exposed to the best and worst of all that is available in these application oriented platforms. But then again, the hassles of trying to live with these does drive me wild now and again.. 

Its almost as if my digital space is dyslexic.. what i suddenly think of and note down on my mobile (on a fancy app that has awesome mind mapping etc), i cannot work on on the W and M machines! Worse, Mac informs me that i cannot write onto a HDD that is NTFS formatted and asks me “Do you wish to format” at the cost of losing my life’s collection of music and movies!! And of course, google and OEM who work on Android seem so completely assured that no MAC user will ever buy an Android phone that all mobile connect software made available for macs are “Lite”, crappy and near impossible to work with!!

I have moved on to sticking to plain text and pdf’s which partly solve the problem whilst unrealistically looking forward to the day when i may be rid of these and manage to work seamlessly in a W-A-M space...

PS: I am talking disconnected computing here where my work does not hang on the “cloud” yes it clears the W-A-M dyslexia a bit, still it nowhere near ‘seamless’.

Istanbul - 2

Although it comes very late, memories and hence the content still remain fresh in my mind. In my earlier post, I spoke about being in love with “bosphorus”, my second love in Istanbul – Istanbul-ites.

It’s a nice feeling when the cab driver realizes you are a tourist and not only does he point out and attempt to describe his city’s landmarks (most of which I hardly understood coz I don’t speak Turkish :P) but also pauses to ask you about your country. “Industan” I say, to which every single one replies with “ooo slumdog millionaire!!”  Or “ya ya, awaraama ooo (with a dance step thrown in as well)”.

If you have something to hide, better stay a loner in Istanbul, coz you are bound to blurt something out caught in the barrage of questions.  :) It only takes an introduction for the istanbullites before they treat you as a new found cousin from a far off land and wish to know everything there is about you… it seems totally OK to ask a person you’ve known for 5 minutes “Do u have a boyfriend??” or “when do u plan to wed? :O

Strangers on the street are willing to play dumb charades to help you find your way, friends you make take you out to little known local hang-outs, teach you to play ‘tavla’, a local backgammon game or take you cycling in the islands over the weekend or teach you how to speak Turkish :)

I walked into the city as a complete stranger and flew out having met some wonderful people and made a few great friends.

Istanbul

4 years ago, it never occurred to me that the first stamp on my brand new passport will take 4 years to come by and that it would be that of a country whose borders span 2 continents. Turkey. “Welcome to Istanbol” said my neighbor in the plane, music to my ears after 19 hours of flying and boring transfers.

(PS: this was when I started drafting the blog… now when I am posting it, I have been to two more countries :P )

Everyone has their favorite pick of every city they travel to. Well, if u ask me about Istanbul, I could say “the grandeur of the ancient Aya Sophia” or describe the streets if “Kapali” Bazaar, the grand bazaar in exquisite detail…. But it wouldn’t be honest. The only honest answer would be the sea – her moods, her colors, and her strength.

I am truly, madly and deeply in love with Istanbul’s “Bosphorus”. On board a ferry at different times of the day, you’ll notice how she dons diverse costumes – to look like liquid gold in the soft morning light, stunning crystalline blue through the day, molten lava during a fiery sunset, fluid silver on a cloudy afternoon and into a restless black cascade by moonlight. She will make a romantic out of any one who pauses, and takes a while to observe her =)

A friend suggested that I read Orhan Pamuk before venturing into Turley. I managed to grab a copy when in Turkey and start reading… he describes turkey as having its own ‘melancholy’ (huzun) in his words… I could not agree more… to take that last ferry across the sea and feel a quite descend over the city… and wake up to the prayer calls of the mosques at dawn… its heart breaking and endearing.

I regret not being able to travel out of Istanbul to explore the whole of turkey - hope to do that on my next trip :)

Convergence?? Long shot... but maybe?

Its not exactly funny, but its hard not to laugh if you've been following the headlines for the past few days… Well yes, I know.. its not a laughing matter but its also natural for an observer to quip "Why stop with states?? why don't we split every district/ city/ street into its own land"

I don't understand politics and neither do i know much about what's happened in the past in the world of politics, so i won't try to pretend i do.

I'll digress here and recollect an incident that happened about 8 months ago... Me and a group of friends decided to head to the Wagah border on our way to Delhi... A beautiful sunset and with the 'beating the retreat' proceedings underway, my friend sitting next to me pointed to the sky and smiled. We looked up to see a flock of birds flying across the border and I realized what she meant "they don't have borders do they"

And here we are yet, trying to divide pieces of land further more!!! More borders, more boundaries!!

As an inane observer, can't help but wonder, is it simply madness or possibly an act that might provoke thoughts towards convergence?

'coz well, we seem to be heading down a path where ultimately one'll realize "ok! now that each street is a separate entity, what next??" and maybe they'll answer declaring "we can't function anymore! one country, one state"

no point musing you say? you may be right, since there's no way of predicting with any amount of accuracy what might happen... yet, there's a nagging feeling that I might just live to find out :P

BLT Diaries: My management credo (part 2)

Continued...
Part 1 at: BLT Diaries: My management credo in the making http://ohnewoerter.blogspot.com/2009/07/blt-diaries-my-management-credo-in.html

“Thou shall beware the wrath of the P-R Vortex”
Its depressing, its frustrating and damn near impossible to bear… its not often I’ve heard someone complain of the power-responsibility (P-R) dilemma… then again, I am limited by the sample of managers I’ve heard from regarding. What’s the vortex you ask? Well, I’m talking about the situations where one finds themselves stuck in a role where we have loads of responsibility, all accountability and zero power on who/what/how/when of the actual execution.
The ride on this wave is as choppy and mutinous as it can get, but hell, we’re going to have to and are expected to survive and emerge (with as little damage as possible) on the other side. Not to fret, we have of course, a big smug smile and a great story of how we braved the storm… (Alas, only until the next one comes along!)

“Thou shall, ‘be the ball’”
Of all the funny situations (not funny to the protagonist at the time mind you!) we’ll find ourselves in, the best is the one of the being the ball… you know, those really awkward situations when you find yourself trying to get two teams, who seemingly support each other, to well, actually support each other!
The feeling of being bounced around from one court to the other (visualize a completely harassed trainee as the ping pong ball in a game of TT that never ends…), a sense of nirvana coz we know that the only role the ball has in the whole scheme of things is indeed to get smashed, thrashed and bounced around, and at last (if one is lucky to survive to see the end of the game) feel the elation of being held high by the victor!!! I rest my case – thou shall, indeed, be the ball!

“Ye shall always be the puppeteer short of strings”
I am not kidding. Honestly!!! There are moments when I yearn for those days when I could code-compile-and see it work!
Getting people to work is so much more difficult than doing it yourself…
U’ve got them working? Great! Now lets get them to work without getting on their nerves…
Done? Good! How about making them enjoy their job… however mundane it is??
I rest my case! =)







Will continue...

BLT Diaries: Mumbai

Statutory Warning!! This narration is totally biased - seen, felt and expressed in the terms of a photography buff and a damn near quixotic essayist!

Having vowed to write/blog regularly, I’ve never really stuck to the resolution. But the whirlwind that is Mumbai has fascinated me into penning this one down

This is not my first encounter with Mumbai and it has most certainly not been ‘love at first sight’. My first impression of Mumbai was a capital lettered NASTY!! (Rains and a couple of sluggish dirty and smelly taxis are to blame!) A typical visitor’s reaction I’d say in hindsight. But this time around, I’m here to stay… albeit for a few weeks only (once again during July-Aug amidst the monsoon mayhem). I am now able to see Mumbai from the eyes of someone who lives in this city – freshly pressed formal trousers folded up to knees, laptop bag in one hand & umbrella in the other, rush hour morning traffic en-route work, a walk on the sea face while returning home, calling friends and meeting them over dinner.

Bustling train stations, striking malls and stores, Big-bazaar queues so long that they leave you teary eyed, the super rich, the visible poverty, high rise buildings fenced by tiny one room tin roofed homes (I know not if they can be called houses, but a bunch of rain drenched kids and granddads playing outside the curtain that doubles as the door, definitely makes ‘home’ a fitting description!), huge Victorian style Gebäude* so picturesque, that I risked getting out of my taxi at a signal during rush hour just to click a snap (*Gebäude just means buildings :P but if you’ve seen the ones I’m referring to, I’m sure you’ll appreciate me using a word that sounds more exotic), flyovers- one after another, buildings that have stood for decades (if only they could talk, what history they’d be able to recount!!), red buses sounding their characteristic horns, the unrehearsed ballet of the black-yellow taxis, the smell of the rains, the sight of the sea, the breeze, lights, noise, people, crowds!

Confounded… Drenched… Lost… Overwhelmed…Charmed!

And every step of the way, I’m told “Yeh hai Mumbai meri jaan!!”
To which I quote from Delhi 6, “Yeh shehar nahin mehafil hai!!”