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.

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!!”

BLT Diaries

Chapter 1 - Haldia Awakening
Haldia, WB

(hmm, guess i've been watching Heroes a lil too much!!!)

It started out with an unbelievably dingy hotel (ironically named "Classic Inn" nothing classy about the place i assure u). After a depressing few days in the "classic inn" moved (ran frantically would be a closer description) into the company house. Awesome place with a private garden, patio, music system, gym and home theatre.
If your thinking it had it all, well, reality check... the only things missing were a water purifier, washing machine and best of the list, pest control!! so much so that it reminded me of the land that time forgot... only replace all the dino's with terrifyingly huge/tiny lizards... ewwwww!!! U know paati's (granny) tales of hearing lizard's chuckles (i dunno what else to call the wierd noise they make) being inauspicious?? That better not b true for my sake coz i'm given to listening to entire lizard 'o concerts when i'm at home!!

The next few days went by without much happening. The usual work-home-TV-internet-takeaway parcels substitutes for food-sleep. Then came a all enchanting Sunday. (btw did i tell u, by some silly rule, factories work six days a week...talk about work-life balance, blasphemy!!)

Back to the story. The all enchanting Sunday.

Plan of action: Stay up really really late on Sat, watch movies that i've seen already a zillion times... who cares! i should stay awake!! wake up after noon... take a riverside walk, spend quality time with my precious (tats my awesome'st legendary canon dSLR i'm referring to).

And as most (needless to say, most=> every single one) of my plans end up in deep graves, the all awaited Sunday went something like this.

The only thing that went according to plan - movie marathon n staying up reeeaaallly late on Sat. As for the rest of the Sunday, this is how it went.
Woken up rudely at an unearthly hour (who knew clocks actually touched actually hit 8:30 am on sundays) by the guest house cleaner!! the rest of the day went: clean-dust-clean again (damn! should have dusted bfr cleaning the first time!!!)-eat dry toast-wash clothes(still no washing machine !)-stay indoors... political unrest outside.. u better not venture out says my manager and finally blessed sleep (outta exhaustion). Blissful wasn't it?

But all was not lost... I promised myself that next sunday would not be the same. After a surprisingly fruitful week at work, again the most awaited Sunday.

This time, it did get better!! took a lazy long walk by the riverside, got drenched in the rain. Sadly it was pouring so heavily, that i wldnt dare take my precious cam out for a few snaps! Saw a overloaded jetty take off on the hoogli river, a broken bridge that was really picturesque and to top it all, saw an actual hovercraft in action (u know, the 007 kinda awesome luking ones) at the coast guard hovercraft port. Totally rocking!

Monday morning blues were quickly washed off by the beautiful rains. Which now have turned into a cyclonic storm (named Aila!). Am now stuck at work inside the factory coz its too dangerous to venture outside winds at 90kmph speeds, trees uprooted n everything. Which is what brought about this long long ramble from my part. Got a lil tired of being stuck in my room and listening to the wind wailing outside.

3 more weeks to go in this tiny town... Chapter 2 in d pipeline!