Learning to admit one's mistake - primary lesson to be taught

Last week, I'm told we had the unfortunate and unpleasant task of having to let go of an individual in India for lack of propriety / matter of trust. When I walked through the scenario, I found that the real issue was one of personal ego : as simple as admitting that there had been a mistake on the individuals' part.

What transpired was not at all good for any of the teams involved, neither the end customer, nor Inatech or the individual involved offshore.

What started as a simple mistake that could have been handled quite simply with a "Sorry, we made a mistake" ended up being a standoff. The standoff progressed to a level where "honesty" and "trust" were put up as table stakes. This, IMHO is a no-win game.

What are we doing in schools and colleges if we cannot teach the young that it is "ok" to make mistakes, that, it is "ok" to admit that an error has been committed and an solution / alternative has to be worked together as a team ?

Instead, we end up with a LOT of posturing, threats of walk-outs / resignations etc. When will people learn that there are NO shortcuts in life when it comes to values like "TRUST" ?

Investing in park and share facilities : eg BIAL travel

I think it is time that we started to explore the options available for Park and Share facilities. If we consider the new services available for travel into BIAL from the city - eg. The Vayu Vajra, Airlift etc. All of them have a basic problem and that is of the last mile connection.

I have read about the last mile taxi option in the Vayu Vajra booking site, but, must confess that I do not want to test it. What would be good is if there were park and travel options at key places in the city. This will certainly reduce the amount of people trying to commute / traveling all the way to the airport in their own vehicles just because there is no option in the city for this.

I would love to be able to park (for example near Mekhri Circle) and then take the bus over to the BIAL airport.

Options ? Maybe time for private participation or even influencing BMRTC to think of an option (as they do have parking on top of Shivajinagar bus stand ?)

The loss of a "left luggage" option - Airports in India

The day before yesterday, I lugged my baggage across to Mumbai and back just because the new airport BIAL has no left luggage option and all the airlines do not accept check-in more than 2 or 3 hours before travel time.

The problem arose as I had to fly out to Mumbai and back before I caught an international flight late in the night / early next morning.

In the end - I had to check in my baggage to Mumbai (waste of fuel / energy). Get to Mumbai to realize that they too do not have a left luggage !. Lug the bag in the boot of the taxi and ask for a "left luggage service" from the taxi driver :-)
I checked it back in the evening - unopened.
How I wish my travel bag had a frequent flyer option :-)

I did enquire and was given the standard "Security reasons sir" reply, but, that does not cut ice !

Contrast this to the left luggage desks you get in most railway stations in Europe. Infact, in Germany, the major stations have an "airline style" check in for left luggage. The bags are x-rayed, tagged and bar-coded before being sent to storage on a conveyor belt.

I think it is time people stopped repeating banal reasons as to why something is NOT workable, but, work towards providing solutions. Anyone for teaming up to provide left-baggage service as an entreprenuership option for BIAL ?

Plastic Waste : Carry Bags .vs. Small Sachets

Last week, some of us were chatting about "waste" collection and disposal. This was in relation to what gets done in the UK and India.

While we, the Indians at the table spoke at length at how our culture of "Raddi" / "Kabadi" wallas automatically provide a recycling solution, I was forced to contemplate on what is the rising problem ? Surely the "plastic" menance is not just the less than 40 microns carry bags that is banned ?

Surely the real menance is the new found favour in small packaging / sachets ?

Everywhere (even while trekking in a rural / reserved forest setting), I come across empty small plastic sachets. These would have held either Gutka, chewing tobacco, sweets or even Rs. 1 packs of Shampoo and coconut oil !

These are too many in number and too low a form factor for anyone to pay attention. Therein lies the problem.

If we are serious about controling the use of plastic packaging, IMHO, we should start at the bottom of the pyramid. We should look at a new packaging material (or even an age old one like waxed paper) that is more degradable than the LDPE / HDPE sachets.

Ideas anyone ?

Common sparrows : A lost sight in Bangalore : BIAL has some !

Another post related to BIAL (Bengaluru International Airport) and this one has NOTHING to do with the facility, size, baggage handling etc. This is to do with the sighting of a number of common sparrows !

I'm not sure how many people remember the time in Bangalore where one would sight sparrows, mynahs and the "did you do it" ? bird in abundance.

I'm told that the increase in the crow and the grey pigeon / dove has almost wiped out the sparrow population in the city.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear loud "chirping" in the arrival hall of BIAL on monday. I stopped, looked around to validate that the noise was NOT from an "electronic bird" and was awarded with the sight of a small sparrow flying from one girder to another !

I stood looking around for more of these and as I was looking around, I also noticed a BIAL official with a Motorola "Walkie Talkie" also looking up and around. He was inside the arrivals area and I was already out of the security area. If not, I was going to go up to him and have a chat about his intentions !

I fervently hope that he was not looking around to chase these sparrows away !. That would certainly be a shame and a loss of opportunity for BIAL in terms of a redemption :-)

Noise pollution : Making normal citizens aware of this ?

This morning, being a Sunday, I was hoping for a late sleep-in. Unfortunately, it was not to be : I was woken up before light, approximately at about 4:45 in the morning by some idiot in the apartment complex with his noisy audio "reverse" indicator.

Listening to the loud "beep-ep beep-ep" at that time of the tranquil morning, I was forced to imagine all the things I'd do to this person / car if I were the violent kind.

What is it that makes people think they have the right to make as much noise without remorse ?

This is not the first time that I've noticed / commented or even lamented on the noise level of our Indian roads. However, I'm exasperated. I think we should not have only "honk-free" days but, "honk-free" weekends for a start.

Other instances that I'm sure will strike a chord with my fellow citizens
- Honking by a person in the back while you (and the whole world) is waiting patiently for the traffic lights to go from "red" to "green"
- Honking while overtaking even when one knows it is better to wait for another 50 m to get a good sight of the road ahead
- Switching on the "reversing" audio with various options on tunes
- Even making loud "Beep-Beep" when locking / unlocking the car or vehicle

Is this an attitude or is it education ?
Why is it that people do not use the "silent" option available in most autolock / autocop versions where the instrument can be "muted" ?

Dubai : The local watering hole in the Gulf

Last week I spent an evening out in a restaurant close to the Dubai International Airport. The whole set / sequence reminded me of a trip I had made to Daman about 20 years ago and I thought I'd document both the set.

On a bored weekend, a few friends and I decided to take off from our shared flat in Andheri, Mumbai and head to Daman. We left on a Saturday morning and were in Daman by late afternoon. We checked into the hotel, went out for a late afternoon lunch. There was really no beach to speak of and bored, tired and sleepy after a heavy lunch, we decided to nap till evening. All of what we had seen until then was a sleepy town with hardly anyone in the street and very little activity.

We were in for a contrast. At around 6:30-7:00 most of us came awake at growing noise outside in the road. By the time we washed up and came down to the front of the hotel lobby, there was a sea change. The roads were filled with people, cars and two-wheelers and generally the place looked as though there was a Mela about.

As the evening progressed, this sleepy town went through a transformation that'd put Las Vegas to shame !. There were brawls in pubs / bars and restaurants, there were people walking the streets with liquor in-hand or upto their eye-balls.

As it turns out, Daman is the closest "drinking hole" to Gujarat (DRY!) and the floating population was just that - float in and out over the evening. It almost seemed as though all the people who'd want a drink in Gujarat had gravitated to Daman !

Now, cut to Dubai.

There were just 2 of us who wanted to have a quiet drink and catch up on business developments. I had about 2 hours to kill late in the evening having already checked in and with my boarding card. As we went into the local bar, we saw some people, but, not much.

As the evening / night progressed, I realized that my "Daman experience" was being replayed. Everyone around was drinking more than they could carry and were pretty boisterous. All the frustrations pent up was being spent in a binge. This even led the person with me to comment that all of them seemed to be "Dharam-Bhrasht". To add to this, I even saw a person with the beads of meditation in one hand and a drink in another. Talk about immediate salvation ?


In Daman, by the next morning, the roads were empty of people / traffic, but, crammed with junk and garbage. In a way am glad I was not going to be there the next morning in Dubai

Journalism or Reporting : Where is the media headed ?

A post by P Sainath (author of the book called "Everybody loves a good drought") made me sit up and take notice of the question in the heading of the post.

The book itself is something I picked up on the recommendation of Mr Ramamurty of Sikshana.

While the book is a collection of thought provoking articles, the fundamental question raised at the start needs a very deep / detailed look.

With the proliferation of the online channels (multiple 24x7 news channel included), I think there is less of journalism that comes out of independent thought and reflection and more of "being the first to file a report" happening in India today.

Be it a report on local crime, citizen / civic issue or the coverage of an event that is newsworthy. The worthiness is related to a quick "instant" meal rather than the process of extracting the key essense / doing "root cause analysis"

What I think is needed a bipolar strategy that channels / newspapers and the fourth estate in general should undertake. One that is "responsive" and will file in the reports, while another that is based on reflection and analysis.

The new Bengaluru International Airport - My take on it :-)

I've waited for about a week before I posted on the new Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL as it is going to be known I guess). The reason for the wait was to ensure that I did not post a "first / biased" comment without letting the thoughts in my own mind settle down :-). I guess, the end result should be a more balanced view ?

Let me get over my cribs first (as it popular with the BIAL bashing brigade)

- Not all loos are working : A whole section was blocked off and people were diverted to another area. Even in the area, where one'd expect a hugh crowd - ie. next to the eating joints at departure level, the mens loo has just 4-5 slots ?

- Food area is crowded : There is NO WAY the area is going to take the load. The gates were not fully operational and in the morning, there was already a team of people walking around the area with breakfast trays in hand trying to get a "parking" slot. The coffee line was about 30 feet long !

- Ground handling sucks : While, I did not have to go through a torture at the baggage retrieval area as I was traveling light, I did have to endure a 20-25 minute wait for the bus to cart us from the aircraft to the arrivals hall. While on the bus, I heard a number of conversations in Kannada where there was a LOT of back and forth as to which gate the bus driver was to go to ?

- Expect a LOT of public injury claims on the outside road : Fairly shoddy finish on the exterior with NO thought to safety. It is absolutely dangerous to walk on the footpath / pavement while wet towards the car park. I had to watch every step gingerly as it was very very slippery. This is while some of the vehicles were zipping past just a few feet away !

- Even the road in and out of the airport is not designed well in my opinion. People have to drop to almost ZERO from whatever speed they are traveling at (it is quite high - believe me), in a few feet when they hit the roundabouts. I will not be surprised to see quite a few "Crashes" into the roundabout. We Indians' just do not have the discipline at circles / roundabouts that one sees in places like UK


Let me cover the positive points now (and being an optimist - I like this)

- The first is the feel : The airport **atleast** feels like one now. Right from the road towards the airport, the area is clean and it feels as though you are heading to an airport / heading from an airport.

- While I did hear a few complaints on check-in. For me, it was a breeze

- Parking was also a piece of cake notwithstanding the rate !(although, there was quite a line at exit time due to a single functional gate)

- I was VERY impressed with the long line of Vayu Vajra coaches at the front of the airport. This should go a LONG way to reduce stress once it gets to work properly.

- Also, very impressed with the lack of touts and the orderly fashion people were going towards their exit : Taxi, parking, coaches, shared transport etc.

Balanced Synopsis ?

Excellent start - but, I think someone needs to start thinking of extensions NOW ?
I think the place is going to run out of space / will not be able to take the load within the close of this calendar year !!!

Our most forgotten question : Why ?

Curiosity is a trait that we see diminishing when people grow up and we talk about them getting "wiser" ?

Whenever I talk to a child, I'm struck by the number of times I'm asked "why ?"
I'm also struck at the number of times I'm NOT asked "why ?" by an adult !

How I wish we could all magically retain our ability to ask "why ?". To me, this is the most important question that needs to be asked and it needs to be asked first. Inatech is a company that does business consulting and it takes us a LOT of time to convince our own employees to ask this question. Unfortunately, either the Indian education system or the society has converted all the "whys ?" to "whats ?"

It is hard work to get an individual to ask the customer "Why do you need this process ?" instead of "What do you need done in this process ?" - thereby, missing the whole point of "NEED" ?

Maybe it is due to our education system that encourages learning by "rote". I do remember one of my own science teacher who said - "You do not need to know that to pass your exam" as a response to my question. (incidentally, ever since, She's lost all respect from the child in me)

Or, is it due to the societal pressure of accepting what is said by "elders" and not to "question elders ?". I can almost visualize the conversation - a child asking a parent "why is the sky blue" and the parent replying "Because, it is so" and adding almost casually "don't waste time asking obvious questions".

How many of the "elders" have the maturity to accept that he / she does not know and takes the effort to go and look up "Rayleigh scattering" or just "Why is the sky blue" in google / or an encyclopedia ?

Or, maybe we can also blame this on our famous Indian "fate" and quote like Lord Tennyson : "Ours is not to reason why, ours but to do and die" :-(

Handing work over to others : Whom would you choose

Following on my adage bit... I've always held the belief that when you want work done, do not pass it onto someone who has nothing to do, instead, pass is to the busiest chap with a hint that he/she can use the other resources as they deem fit.

The reason is simple. A person who has no work is in such a position for either one of the following reasons
a) The person has no initiative and needs to be told what to do
b) Everyone else thinks that it is a waste of time to get things done out of this individual (and in most cases, they'd rather do it themselves)

Both of these are fundamental issues with either attitude or approach and are not to do with expertise. Expertise is the easiest of the problems to solve, while people use that as an excuse. Ie. you will hear often that someone does not have either the skill or the expertise to do a particular job. While this is true for specific skill based execution, it has no relevance in "getting the job done"

Maybe I'm rambling ?

Net net, you will still me making a beeline to the person who is fully loaded ...

My Beach Economy Theory - views expressed in private until now

I have been traveling the last few weeks and hence no recent posts : Well, in reality, that is an excuse.

During the trip, one of the bits that was discussed was my series of "one line adages" - I was then asked as to why I've not posted these onto my own blog - so, here goes .... the first one is an opinion that I've held for over 15 years....

The theory is what I call the "Beach Economy". In this, I theorize that NO economy (other than hospitality industry based) can flourish near good sandy beach towns.

I could state a few examples. In India, I would list : Goa, Trivandrum the good beaches of Orissa etc. The reason is something that I've learnt first hand in Goa.

In Goa, I learnt that an individuals' life ambition / goal is to own a beach front shack that is a combination of beach bar / restaurant. I always felt that while this was an interesting goal - it did not seem to be very ambitious ?

Over the years, whenever I've visited a famous beach, I tend to notice that the complete economy has high migrant population, very few industries and almost the complete economy is based on hotels / tourism and in general hospitality. No major educational institutions, no industries (even high tech) etc.

Would like to know if this is just a statistical occurance or something that is much deeper ? Especially from people who can list proof :-)

Akshaya Tadige : Why is it such a big deal ?

I'm sure there is NOT a single person in Bangalore (beyond the age of 6 years atleast) who has not figured out that yesterday was Akshaya Tritiya. I mean, how can people miss this grand event of the year ? TOI carried a very "glossy" addendum that listed the superlative products and excellent "offers" and reasons as to why EVERY SINGLE person in the world had to rush off and buy GOLD!!

What a marketing driven feeding frenzy !

I'm sure if we had someone with a Rip Van Winkle syndrome wake up today, they'd be distraught that they've missed the greatest opportunity and good fortune this year.

Seriously, as an youngster, I did know of Akshaya Tadige (in Kannada, it is Tadige not Tritya - but that is just semantics). Did I pay any attention ? Not at all !!.
Not only did I NOT pay any attention, I do not remember ANYONE paying attention.

Nobody offered special discounts on Gold coins (Infact, there no coins sold and no ads put up)
Nobody listed out the reasons that made buying gold on this day
No shop put up a pandal (makeshift tent) in front to seat the enthusiastic shopper and then fed them glasses of fruit juice, snacks etc.
Nobody put up hoardings that said "We are extending shopping hours for the convienience of our esteemed shopper" (like I care !)
No special editions on paper
No "exhibitions" of the latest design
No......

Is this the consumerism that I had been warned about when discussing the American Consumption ?

Bangalore - Not yet ready for buildings higher / taller than 50 feet ?

My apartment complex is in the process of getting a new coat of paint. Given, that I live in the top floor of an eight floored building, I find it extremely stressful watching the process / progress. The prime reason is that I see individuals dangling on un-anchored / manually anchored ropes without a safety harness ?

Why is it that we allow for infrastructure to be created without necessary maintainence features built into the system. This is not just buildings - it is also the corresponding infrastructure with the support services / emergency services like the fire department.

We, in Inatech were unfortunate to witness a fire accident and the main reason why we could NOT contain the fire was the level of smoke in the floor that had fire (airconditioned and hence in some ways sealed !).

There were several fire extinguishers spread around the office - but, there were not reachable to be of any use ?

Now, you'd expect that the fire department has the necessary equipment ? My own experience has been a sorry state.
- The "standard" fire engine does not have retractable ladder that can extend beyond 3rd floor
- The "standard" engine crew carry ONE smoke mask. More importantly, this does NOT come with a flashlight fixed on top of the helmet which means that the fireman is expected to carry a flashlight / torch in one hand and the hose in the other
- The "standard" fire mask (lone one) is not oxygen supported, but is of the active filter kind.

I'm sure I can write a lot more of the deficiencies, but, that is not the point.

None of the infrastructure that is coming up seems designed to handle this.
How do we as individuals / citizens ensure that there is enough protection ?

Electric Cars : Are they **REALLY** environmentally friendly in India ?

I thought I'd write about what I believe is a urban myth.
I'm told time and again how Electric Cars in India are environmentally friendly as against the regular petrol / diesel and CNG cars. However, I think this is a myth - especially in a country like India where power generation is so very inefficient ?

It stands to simple reasoning that Electric cars run on "stored" energy (batteries) that has undergone 2 transformations and in that sense is already subjected to atleast 2 levels of efficiency (or should I say in-effieciency as it is less than 1) conversion ?

The first conversion is when Coal and other fossil fuels (notwithstanding hydro - but that is altogether a separate blog entry) is converted with LOW efficiency. Then there is approximately 40% transmission losses, it then goes to charge a battery with low energy transformation efficiency (heat loss etc). Finally, when one gets motion out of the motor, I'd hazard that we'd probably not even recover a tenth of input -> output energy efficiencies ?

In short, are electric cars really environmentally friendly ?
IMHO - Absolutely not.

I'm sure someone is going to argue that if coal were to be replaced by Hydro, Solar, Wind (and even Nuclear), then, automatically electric cars could be classified as environmentally friendly - but, even then, I'd retort (very easily proved) that given the energy shortage that India faces, having more motors to drive is clearly not going to be efficient ?

IMHO we should be using only ONE major criteria for environmental friendliness and that is "Energy efficiency".

Think before you act - Why is it so difficult to enforce this maxim ?

I think we Indians have been "directed" for so long, told what to do and instructed on action being the best policy for so long (primary education to choice of career are all dictated in most cases) that we seem to have lost the ability to think for ourselves. What does it take for us to get to a mode where an individual thinks - one as himself (detached from the problem) and two, as a customer (as a recipient) ?

In my opinion, this will change India to be the leader and not be led.

I was THRILLED when I was told that in my child's class - 6th Std, they introduced a rule that the student is not allowed to start answering immediately after the question paper is distributed.
This is the best thing that I can think of for instigating the thought process ??
How I wish people in my school were forced to do this. In those days (and I'm sure in pretty much the whole of the country today), there is a mad rush to start answering the questions before even glancing through the question paper.

There have been numerous occasions when I was told by individuals in my class that they have answered ALL the questions (including the choices !!!)

This trait of acting without thinking is spilling over to the work arena with disastrous effect. We are fulfilling the prophecy made by a few newspapers / analyst about a decade ago that India was a nation of "Tech Coolies".

It is time we stopped and thought ...
Ideas as to how ?

Urgent and Important : Managing the difference

I thought I'd put up a couple of posts that try and elaborate the Indian difficulty in understanding key differences.
The first one is the difference between what is Urgent and what is important ?
This is a typical issue with the folks who work in an onsite-offshore model. While the person is working on a priority list, the assignments of priority themselves seem to be out of a hidden agenda from the perspective of the onsite person.

While some of this can be put down to communication gaps. I personally think that there is a more fundamental issue related to prioritizing.

There seems to be a mixup in priorities as the individual concerned cannot differentiate between the two. While one requires a response, some acknowledgement that the issue has been picked up, the other requires action.

This invariably leads to the constant Onsite complaint that whatever has gone offshore seems to have gone into a "black hole"

This leads to a post in the near future - one related to "response .vs. reply"
:-)

SaaS / ASP model : Is it for India ?

I think over the next few months / years, Software as a service / the hosted Application model is going to get to primetime in a few markets.

The question is, is it the right model for the new "growth" markets in India and China ?

I, for one, think it is. Especially for bits like ERP / CRM and business applications.

Infact, I'd wager that this is the "real" market for such a deployment. There is not enough of process maturity to have implemented differentiated process, but, with sufficient setup on the ISO base to get to a common application process model to be able to share the application set.

In terms of processes that I think is going to go over first.

- SSC components like payroll, GL consolidation / reporting, procurement etc.
- ISO documentation components
etc. etc.

One of these days, I think I'll put in some more thought on this and list what I think is going to work....

As usual, one more TO-DO ;-)

A device to record verbal commitments / add onto mobile phones

Today, again, I have had to control my temper when faced with a set of unkept promises. Maybe I did not get people to take a oath on Gita or Bible or some reference point before I let them get away with a verbal committment - but, you get the picture ?

It seems to be one more of those "Indian" things.... where someone states that they will get back today / tomorrow of next monday with absolutely NO mechanism to follow through !!

I think it is time someone built an application onto the mobile phone. The moment someone commits a deliverable, it should be recorded (voice recording is a standard feature) and then we should assign a date (default to 24 hours reminder). This way, these reminders can be sent across either as an sms or a voice reminder.

If this does not work, then, there should be a cattle prod kind of jolt that goes to the individual ;-)

If anyone were to come up to me with the statement that this is far too harsh, then, I'd be willing to tell them that on the reverse, am happy to get them a "electronic / electric massage" for every promise kept.

That should be an equitable carrot-stick policy ?

Tourism in India - what ails the industry ?

Yesterday, I was in Savandurga with the kids trying out trekking, cave exploration and rappelling.
While the whole tour was a great success and everyone had a whale of a time, some of the sights / things that I saw made me think of current issues with tourism.

I'm told that the domestic tourists going out of the country has been the highest and growing at a tremendous pace, as is the influx of external folks. However, I do think that we should get to more domestic internal tourists interested. Things that I think are low hanging fruits

- Visibility and access to information
I'm sure it is quite easy with the current information base + technology to provide a very factual and up-to-date information about the tourist spot. Simple tips like the best route to take (given the pothole / roadworks situation), what to watch out for (eg. No water source / shade all the way up the hill), where to park a vehicle (even if there is no separate parking area marked) etc. Other than this, it will be good to get some local weather, nearby places to eat etc. info. I'm sure someone will state that this is what blogs are meant to do - but, that is not the point. These cannot be a "voluntary" bit that has no throat to choke / nobody to hold responsible

- Civic amenities
Given the footfall / number of visitors, I'm sure places like this will sustain (or better even, provide a sustainable employment) local participation in civic amenities - eg. Garbage clearing, distribution of local information pamplet (even if charged on a individual pamplet basis / paid for by local vendors like restaurants etc), manned toilets etc.

- Clear markings
I've seen some boards up in a few places, but, this is another piece I think, that is easily done. Markings for trails, directions, historical significance etc. Simple bits that can be put up without too much of an issue and also linked to a locally available facility / public building. Eg. in this case, there is a temple that seems pretty well attended / taken care of - except the premises outside is under nobodys watch. Even if there were to be resistance in putting up this info board within the temple premises, I'm sure it would stay as long as it was put on the outer compound wall ?

Maybe the start is to come up with a "model" that is clear and replicable. Again, when I have the time, maybe I'll start with a info portal ?