Last night when I was idly browsing through channels (with eyes half closed) I bumped into this on Star World. ON THE LOT
This is a program which searches for talented film makers . Yes it is a kind of a contest. Similar to American Idol or Indian Idol and its version on various channels on Indian television
Now the contest goes like this.
First the award … The winner gets a million dollars to make a movie.. Sponsored by FOX and Verizon, this is interesting.
Now what you have to do is -- to make a movie of 1 minute yes 1 minute duration and the theme has to be laughter (at least for the one I saw the theme was laughter)
And then there are judges and there is voting ( but this time VOTING is free – a toll free number ;) unlike INDIA )
Go browse more and for me my date with this program is fixed …..
The site is really cool.. AND THE BONUS IS u can see some good movies absolutely free. I am game.. ha haa haaa haaaa
I am waiting when this hits INDIA and someone starts something on these lines for Indian TV..
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Another favourite -- Blog book site
http://www.changethis.com/
This is another of my favourite place. I like reading this one. I particularly enjoyed the one by Hugh MacLeod -- "How to be Creative".
I think reading the more contemporary stuff keeps you abreast. The blogosphere allows you to do the same. The classics are always there to read and follow but the latest thinking and the latest trends are there on the blogosphere :)
Check this one also by TOM PETERS. http://www.bizsum.com/trial/2006/111ObviousThoughtsOnSelling.pdf
This is another of my favourite place. I like reading this one. I particularly enjoyed the one by Hugh MacLeod -- "How to be Creative".
I think reading the more contemporary stuff keeps you abreast. The blogosphere allows you to do the same. The classics are always there to read and follow but the latest thinking and the latest trends are there on the blogosphere :)
Check this one also by TOM PETERS. http://www.bizsum.com/trial/2006/111ObviousThoughtsOnSelling.pdf
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
WHY???
Why do they want US to understand them?
Do they understand US?
Do they understand US?
Why do they give excuses to everything when REAL is something else...
WHY?? WHY ???
nityn
Monday, May 28, 2007
Amazing forward FW: Toast to the Jams of Bangalore - Another creative work from a jobless s/w engineer... :)
Awesome !!!!
Over these last few years of living in
These jams do build your patience and character.
Is it a coincidence that
Does it tell you something? Sri Sri Ravishankar; does he get his daily dose of spiritual inspiration while in a jam??
And will I also get a halo after a few more years of this "character building"??
There are, I am sure, thousands of future Anands stuck in the Adugodis and Anand Rao circles, who are plotting their moves against future Kramniks those poor little Kramniks stand no chance.
And if you see a professor-like guy prancing around the Palace road jam, you can deduce that a postulate in Physics has just been proved.
A few days back, I had a thought - If we can have reviews of movies,
which occupy only a few hours of our life in a month, why not reviews
of traffic jams, which takes up significant hours of our day?? So here
is my review of some of
no particular order).
But before that, a general comment - As they say, the taste of food
in a restaurant is dependent on the ambience ; similarly, the way I
see jams, cozy inside the office shuttle or public transport, is
different from the way the owner of the swank new SUV sees it. (btw,
if you are the owner of the swank new SUV, don't run me down).
1. The Hosur Road Jam - Unarguably, the mother of all jams. We (ex-)
Infoscions are proud of being associated with a great company.
We are equally proud of contributing in no small extent to this jam.
This jam gives a great glimpse of the Other India - colorful
music-blaring interstate buses, garment factory workers, highway
trucks, smoke spewing lorries and such. Provides ample food for
thought for socialist minds. (Rating: ***1/2)
2. The jams around K'mangala/Forum mall - Definitely the best jams in
town. PYTs (Pretty young things), fancy cars, and fancy restaurants;
this has it all. But you can't afford any of those. Never mind!! Your
sadistic brain can take pleasure in the fact that the guy in the fancy
car next to you is cruising around for a parking space, feasting his
eyes on the PYTs , while his family is having dinner in one of the
fancy restaurants. (Rating: ****1/2)
3. The
weekend. Every auto/taxi in town seems to be stuck while going towards
the City railway station - your hair stands on end, you start
sweating, the heart beats faster, and you get the rush that a Michael
Schumachaer gets on his last lap. And just as the auto moves, a movie
show ends and a few hundred more vehicles pour out. Which was the
train that hooted just now?? (Rating: ***1/2)
4. The Jayanagar jam - The puzzle-lovers jam; Jayanagar is maze of
bylanes, one-way streets, no right-turns, no left-turns, traffic
signals and whatnot. It is an establised fact that Point A to point B,
in Jayanagar, can be reached in 6436 distinct ways. But whichever way
you take, you are left with a hollow feeling that another route had a
better and bigger jam? (Rating: **1/2)
5. The jams around Marathahalli/Whitefield - The IT professional's
dream jam; As she sits in the office shuttle looking at other office
buses, she can make her career plans. A typical evening in this jam
goes thus:
Voice from Company A bus : "Any J2EE developers in your bus?". Three
guys from Company B bus respond "Yeah" and get down. By the time, the
bus crosses the Marathahalli bridge, the first guy is hired as a J2EE
developer. The second guy, who didn't know what J2EE meant, is hired
as a project manager and the third guy is rejected as he realised late
that he has already worked for Company A last year.
(Rating: ****)
6. The
Koramangala jam but has socialist twist. This jam treats the rich
businessman, who will later travel business class on Jet, the same as
a poor programmer, who had unusually come to office early in the
morning, 3 months back, to buy one of those cheap airline tickets.
(Rating ***)
7. The BTM 7th Main x 7 Cross jam - Close to my home, so close to my
heart. But alas, the spoilsports at BDA finished the flyover at the
Jayadeva circle and brought an end to this jam. But for a couple of
years, this jam used to give me pure joy as vehicles of all types
created a tangle in the small bylanes of BTM layout. The BDA is now
planning a new flyover at the
hope (Rating ***1/2).
We jam lovers - currently this club consists of only me - have
petitioned the government to protect and preserve traffic jams as a
cultural asset of
endangered in the future, we have these suggestions:
1. Build more flyovers - Flyovers do not reduce jams. They just
transfer it to the next junction. And in the 2 years that it takes to
build them, you are assured of some joyous jams. I am drooling...
2. No public buses - If everybody goes by buses, where will our culture go?
3. Make Tata's 1-Lakh car cheaper by making it tax free - Imagine
every two wheeler replaced by a car...The prospects are
mouth-watering.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Strategy for IT and ITEs companies
The dollar is soaring, thus the margins for IT and ITeS companies are reducing. They (Indian Companies) have a habit of profit margins of 20 %. The share prices are also based on similar expectations.
So what are the alternatives to maintain these margins
1. Increase rates -- less likely as there is more competetion and companies like Infosys are already enjoying premium rates
2. Increase productivity -- Redcuce attrition and reduce bench strength
3. Increase Business -- Capture newer markets and businesses
4. Capture Indian companies -- Indian non IT companies can be captured
5. Reduce costs -- reduce over heads, reduce variable costs, reduce fixed costs -- But for how long and till when? You can stop transport, tissue paper or free coffee but will that solve or open some other issues :)
6. Practice Lean Servicing
7. Increase the value add ( Do higher end job )
8. Climb up the value chain
More focus on consulting. Use your connections and start with freelance consulting. Once they are accustomed then you can start charging
9. Productise your services -- Now this is a new one... I think that the services that you provide to one kind of customer that you can provide to similar kind of other customer also. Hence make your services as a product and start selling it. Takes time. But can think of the same. This is the same model as the news agencies use to sell the news to various channels and news papers. Similarly try and sell similar researches to various clients :) INTERESTING ISN'T IT ? :)
10. Automate your services -- Let smart IT do more of your job
11. Collaborate with Captive IT companies and take their businesses
Anything else you suggest
So what are the alternatives to maintain these margins
1. Increase rates -- less likely as there is more competetion and companies like Infosys are already enjoying premium rates
2. Increase productivity -- Redcuce attrition and reduce bench strength
3. Increase Business -- Capture newer markets and businesses
4. Capture Indian companies -- Indian non IT companies can be captured
5. Reduce costs -- reduce over heads, reduce variable costs, reduce fixed costs -- But for how long and till when? You can stop transport, tissue paper or free coffee but will that solve or open some other issues :)
6. Practice Lean Servicing
7. Increase the value add ( Do higher end job )
8. Climb up the value chain
More focus on consulting. Use your connections and start with freelance consulting. Once they are accustomed then you can start charging
9. Productise your services -- Now this is a new one... I think that the services that you provide to one kind of customer that you can provide to similar kind of other customer also. Hence make your services as a product and start selling it. Takes time. But can think of the same. This is the same model as the news agencies use to sell the news to various channels and news papers. Similarly try and sell similar researches to various clients :) INTERESTING ISN'T IT ? :)
10. Automate your services -- Let smart IT do more of your job
11. Collaborate with Captive IT companies and take their businesses
Anything else you suggest
Think Beyond. Next strategy for Service Companies :)
Think Beyond. Next strategy for Service Companies :)
Main advantages for IT in India
The IT industry growth has been the highest in the last few years. India has been serving the growing IT needs of almost all parts of the world. The US, EU, Middle East Asia, Far East Asia or Pacific regions, all have seen IT services given by India. India has been able to do the same due to various advantages that it has. The advantages that it has due to its geographical location or has grown and developed in the past. Now these advantages have been harnessed in terms of IT revolution.
The main advantages as we can all see and know are
1. Great technical know how
2. Large availability of talent pool
3. Cost advantage – low cost work force
4. Largely English speaking population
5. 12 hour advantage over US. When US sleeps India works
6. Political will and an willingness to open the economy
These factors paved a way to the development of necessary infrastructure and were also captured by the visionaries of India which ultimately led to the development of IT industry. Hence India’s face was plastered in the growing business demands for IT solutions.
But today, after 25 years of this exponential growth these advantages are fading away. A lot is being done in order to keep the USPs in place.
There has already been a scarcity of good technically sound people and the organizations are trying to groom the available talent. Simultaneously the country is also gearing up to produce more technical people by setting up better education facilities and training grounds.
English advantage is being challenged by other languages coming in for IT solutions and also the developing nations are getting proficient in English. Though India’s English speaking population is also increasing at a phenomenal rate.
The cost advantage is reducing as the cost of manpower is increasing due to high demand and less supply. This is becoming a major reason for the reduction in the profit margins of IT organization. The gross profit has not grown in the same proportion as the sales figures or the total income. See attached graph.
This scene is going to continue until some thing is done that brings back the USP of cost advantage.
What can be done? What was done in other industry?
In manufacturing Toyota led the way to move to Lean manufacturing and it can be said that days are not far away when we start following Lean servicing. Now who is going to be the pioneer in doing the same?
Lean manufacturing to Lean servicing
Main advantages for IT in India
The IT industry growth has been the highest in the last few years. India has been serving the growing IT needs of almost all parts of the world. The US, EU, Middle East Asia, Far East Asia or Pacific regions, all have seen IT services given by India. India has been able to do the same due to various advantages that it has. The advantages that it has due to its geographical location or has grown and developed in the past. Now these advantages have been harnessed in terms of IT revolution.
The main advantages as we can all see and know are
1. Great technical know how
2. Large availability of talent pool
3. Cost advantage – low cost work force
4. Largely English speaking population
5. 12 hour advantage over US. When US sleeps India works
6. Political will and an willingness to open the economy
These factors paved a way to the development of necessary infrastructure and were also captured by the visionaries of India which ultimately led to the development of IT industry. Hence India’s face was plastered in the growing business demands for IT solutions.
But today, after 25 years of this exponential growth these advantages are fading away. A lot is being done in order to keep the USPs in place.
There has already been a scarcity of good technically sound people and the organizations are trying to groom the available talent. Simultaneously the country is also gearing up to produce more technical people by setting up better education facilities and training grounds.
English advantage is being challenged by other languages coming in for IT solutions and also the developing nations are getting proficient in English. Though India’s English speaking population is also increasing at a phenomenal rate.
The cost advantage is reducing as the cost of manpower is increasing due to high demand and less supply. This is becoming a major reason for the reduction in the profit margins of IT organization. The gross profit has not grown in the same proportion as the sales figures or the total income. See attached graph.
This scene is going to continue until some thing is done that brings back the USP of cost advantage.
What can be done? What was done in other industry?
In manufacturing Toyota led the way to move to Lean manufacturing and it can be said that days are not far away when we start following Lean servicing. Now who is going to be the pioneer in doing the same?
Lean manufacturing to Lean servicing
Lean manufacturing (from wikipedia.org) is a management philosophy focusing on reduction of the seven wastes
- Over-production
- Waiting time
- Transportation
- Processing
- Inventory
- Motion
- Scrap in manufactured products or any type of business.
Lean servicing
A management philosophy focusing on reducing various types of wasteful activities in a service industry
- Wrong designs (not understanding the user requirements completely and redoing the job)
- Reinventing the wheel (doing what has already been done by some one else in the organization for some other customer)
- Finding of right knowledge
- Reducing wastage of talent of human capital
- Time spent in coordinating activities
There will be more definitely. There are many methods and many models. But on the ground level how to do this is a thought to ponder
Knowledge Kinematics
This is what is needed. To be able to leverage the existing knowledge and to be able to build more knowledge and build capabilities is what is required. Take each one of the waste and you will find that Knowledge kinematics can be leveraged to actually have a unique way of reducing the wastes and thus a Lean Servicing
Friday, May 11, 2007
Leadership By Walking Around
I loved this approach. It seemed as if someone has written my own thoughts here. I strongly beleive in the same. In fact I have an increment to this post.
The post is called "If I Were The CEO..." http://mayankkrishna.blogspot.com/2007/05/if-i-were-ceo.html.
He says that he will act like this when he will be the CEO. But I say that this approach can be followed everywhere of course customized levels
1. When you are managing people.
2. When you are managing children.
3. When you are managing peers.
4. When you are managing your Boss.
5. When you are managing your friends.
6. When you are manging your relations :)
This is the approach to be followed. Maximize the interraction. Maximize the communication and it is done ...
The post is called "If I Were The CEO..." http://mayankkrishna.blogspot.com/2007/05/if-i-were-ceo.html.
He says that he will act like this when he will be the CEO. But I say that this approach can be followed everywhere of course customized levels
1. When you are managing people.
2. When you are managing children.
3. When you are managing peers.
4. When you are managing your Boss.
5. When you are managing your friends.
6. When you are manging your relations :)
This is the approach to be followed. Maximize the interraction. Maximize the communication and it is done ...
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
U theory
U theory
- Let go and observe
- Retreat and reflect ( allow inner knowledge to emerge )
- Act with new understanding
Friday, May 04, 2007
ATTRITION
ATTRITION is the biggest problem in the industry today. The reasons being simple
1. The work is not that value adding to an individual. It is by and large monotonous work.
2. The maturity level of people in this industry is low and their aim is QUICK money.
There can be more reasons but the root cause or the business problems behind the issue are these two.
The obvious solution is not that obvious
1. We cannot increase the level to maturity of people so easily.
2. We cannot increase the level of work.
The solutions proposed here like
1. Investing in people
2. Profit sharing practices
3. Reward and recognition
4. Etc
Are the ones that are all being done and there is no limit to do this. Keep doing this and do it best but also do something that they want.
I suggest that what needs to be done is TALKING. Only this will increase the maturity of people and will make them understand that there are people who take care of them and they are valued resource. Each team to have two managers (very compatible with each others) – one taking care of processes and other taking care of people. Have a measure like “employee touch point”. How much time has been spent by the people manager with the employee? Listen to employees concern and solve them then and there. (use MBWA) Each person should be ORIENTED towards making a CAREER. Don’t only sell this but also seriously work on that.
The other thing that can be done is INVOLVE them. Have as many as open forums and meeting to discuss things and decide things. Involve them in all issues like choosing furniture for the company to taking a business decision of acquiring a rival company. (Use MAVERICK principle) Can also have a process based organization structure.
Nitin
1. The work is not that value adding to an individual. It is by and large monotonous work.
2. The maturity level of people in this industry is low and their aim is QUICK money.
There can be more reasons but the root cause or the business problems behind the issue are these two.
The obvious solution is not that obvious
1. We cannot increase the level to maturity of people so easily.
2. We cannot increase the level of work.
The solutions proposed here like
1. Investing in people
2. Profit sharing practices
3. Reward and recognition
4. Etc
Are the ones that are all being done and there is no limit to do this. Keep doing this and do it best but also do something that they want.
I suggest that what needs to be done is TALKING. Only this will increase the maturity of people and will make them understand that there are people who take care of them and they are valued resource. Each team to have two managers (very compatible with each others) – one taking care of processes and other taking care of people. Have a measure like “employee touch point”. How much time has been spent by the people manager with the employee? Listen to employees concern and solve them then and there. (use MBWA) Each person should be ORIENTED towards making a CAREER. Don’t only sell this but also seriously work on that.
The other thing that can be done is INVOLVE them. Have as many as open forums and meeting to discuss things and decide things. Involve them in all issues like choosing furniture for the company to taking a business decision of acquiring a rival company. (Use MAVERICK principle) Can also have a process based organization structure.
Nitin
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