Specialisation – Really?

Eighteen years back, today’s date was a fancy one. The calendar said 06 / 06 / 06, the sixth day of sixth month of year 2006. More than being fancy, it was probably one of the most important days in my life, the day when I started my corporate life with Mindtree in Bangalore!

Two years before that day, I stepped into the beautiful campus of Christ College in Bangalore. As a first year MBA student I was quite sure that I’ll be specializing in Marketing as my core subject. HR wasn’t that interesting; Finance was not my favourite and since I already had an IT background, opting for Systems would’ve been an overkill.

After two years and officially becoming a ‘management specialist’ in Marketing, I joined an IT organisation as a Business Analyst in the Staff Operations department where part of my profile required me to allocate Business Analysts and User Experience Designers for various projects across the world. Little did I realize that the department I was associated with, will give me a tough time during my catchup with my college friends.

In all subsequent gathering of college mates, I started getting my legs pulled for doing an HR-kind-of-job all the while being a Marketing specialist. Each time we met, I got worked up with the joke and every time I vehemently defended my position citing the Analyst part of my profile. Nothing seemed to work and the teasing went on for a couple of years.

On the third year of my job, I got into a full time Analyst role where I was assigned a client and started doing none of the HR-like job for which I had to endure all that mockery. My Marketing days finally arrived.

A few months into the job and I started asking the question. Being a Business Analyst in the Travel & Transportation Industry, figuring out solutions for challenges faced by renowned names such as SITA & Travelodge, wasn’t this more of Systems than Marketing. Little did I realize that behind every conversation I was having with a client, my HR skills combined with my Marketing dexterity was helping me to solve issues for my clients with the help of technology of course.

A few more years with Mindtree and it was time to move to Dubai to be associated with one of the greatest brands in the world of aviation, The Emirates Group. One of the biggest realizations that dawned on me was what they say in Spiderman, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. In my earlier avatar, it took weeks to finalize Use Cases especially working with legacy customers. On the contrary, Emirates as an airline with the growth trajectory facing North, had an unsatiable appetite to expand and develop. The time required for finishing a couple of Use Cases in my previous job is what I got to prepare a fully completed Requirement Specification Document. The scale was exhilarating.

Soon enough the last standing specialization which I kept at an arm’s length started peeping at me. Estimations were something which I never laid my hands on. It all started with smaller ones and as days went by, it was no more testing waters. Before even I knew I was neck deep into numbers. I still use a life jacket though.

Long story short, the close to two decades has taught me one fact of life. Earlier days of your career, you may fret about specializations or core competencies that you think will differentiate you among others. While on the short run it holds some value, on the long run, none of those matter. As you climb the metaphorical ladder, your number crunching along with people skills ably supported by the technological prowess, completely enveloped with how best you can market your idea or product, all come together as an inseparable bond which makes you a better professional and a person with whom your colleagues love to work with.

Remember, the big picture is not something you can see from day one, but it is out there for you to see for yourself. Just keep an open mind.

Where is your trumpet?

It was about twenty years ago. Our MBA class specialised in Marketing was seated in a circle at the birds park in the lovely campus of Christ college in Bangalore. The class was in progress with Professor Dikshit at the helm taking us through multiple facets of Marketing.

As usual, in between the session, special words of wisdom came from him which you will never find even in a Peter Drucker book. ‘It isn’t just enough to do a good job; you need to be shameless enough to let the world know about it. Learn to blow your own trumpet! That is the corporate world you all will soon step into’. These words sounded quite prophetic but didn’t make much of an impact then. Now with close to two decades of being in the corporate environment, and observing the behaviour of people, no other management lesson seems to be more relevant than this!

Interesting enough, if you observe, there are three kinds of trumpet usage you generally see in the corporate world. There is the first category, who does solid work and climbs on top of the roof and shouts to the world about their success. These are the people about whom others say, these folks certainly deserve it! With their supremely positive attitude, success usually gets chauffer driven to the doorstep of these folks.

We then have a second category, who does a fantastic job of blowing their own trumpet, but practically does nothing to truly substantiate it. Every organization in the world are ‘blessed’ with best actors like these who absolutely avoids any work that comes their way but has the tremendous potential to make people believe that everything went well only because of their gracious persona. The management team usually sees through such people and most often their drama remains that and are rarely considered genuine. But that never deter these people to make even Shakespeare ashamed of his creations!

There is the third category of people as well who may not even know what a trumpet is. These folks are truly awesome when it comes to productivity and professionalism but are the worst in the world when it is about marketing themselves. They never talk about their success, but more importantly, they detest telling the world how fantastic they are. These are the ones who most often get sidelined by the above two categories since the top management either does not recognize their merit or dislike them for being painfully transparent in their approach.

For the record, we may have a fourth category as well in the corporate world, who neither does a good job, nor blow their trumpet. These folks don’t last too long in an organization in any case.

It is worthwhile doing an introspection of which category do we belong to. While I aspire to be in the category one, many times the tentacles of third category pulls me down. It takes an effort to put on that thick skin and shout out to the world about your success when you have put in your blood and sweat into it. Else, you may just remain dejected to see the category two people who does this so seamlessly.

Nevertheless, being truthful to yourself helps you with one thing for sure. At the end of the day when you hit the bed you can guarantee that you get a peaceful sleep since unlike a few others, you have not pawned your conscience to the devil!

Careers & Traffic

Alex was on his usual drive to office in the morning. He was on the last lane, the only one that led to the exit to the right and hence patiently moving forward following the cars in front of him. At one instance the inching traffic led to a tiny bit of a gap between his car and the one in the front. As he was about to make up for the gap, out of nowhere a man poked his car into the lane where Alex was driving. To avoid hitting his car, Alex obviously applied his brake, and the other person happily went ahead. Alex couldn’t help but think why he waited patiently on that lane when a few others without having an iota of care resort to all sorts of dangerous drama on the roads.

Now freeze the above scene and apply it to a corporate environment. You won’t be surprised with what you see if you replace lanes with careers and drivers with you and your colleagues. You are bound to notice quite a few colleagues including you are like Alex who continue to proceed with the career in a steady manner with a destination defined. While you seem to be proceeding with care, one of your colleagues who was either at the same level as you were or lagging, does some drama and suddenly got ahead of you. Resentments are bound to set in, and all sorts of questions start flying high.

This is where you need to remind yourself the value of consistency. You may see people overtaking you in your career with tactics that are unacceptable in professional ethics. Remind yourself that these are the folks that drive recklessly and will eventually end up getting fined or get wounded in an accident. So let them have their path and you take a deep breath and continue cruising forward at your pace.

Let us get back to the roads. You are on a six-lane highway driving next to the speed lane. As you focus ahead, you can see cars zipping past at breakneck speeds on the fast lane. Before even you realize those folks would’ve reached miles ahead of you. In the corporate environment, you will see people who score way ahead of you and reach heights which you think is unreachable for you but all in a legitimate manner.

This is where you remind yourself that not all of us are created using the same mould. Each one of us are unique in our own way and there could be someone with a different skill that he or she makes effective use of to move forward. It is times like this we ask ourselves the question if we are doing full justice to our potential. Are we really delivering what we are capable of? Else it is time for us to improve and see ourselves soon zipping through the fast lane!

Back on the roads again. Depending on which part of the world you drive, there are good drivers who give way to others and patiently wait for their turn so that you have your right of way and even allow you to proceed even when they could have done so. These exceptionally awesome human beings can be seen in the corporate world as well. These are rare and genuine souls who truly want you to succeed for which they are ready to help and support you. If you ever spot an individual like that, cherish them as you will, with an exquisite diamond because these are the people who will give you their shoulders for you step on and see what is on the other side of the fence.

This is where you really need to be thankful and apply this blessing in your life as well. In the next available opportunity that arises, you must help someone and ensure that you become their steppingstone. The rewards will be priceless.

Traffic teaches us a lot in terms of career progression. There will always be good drivers and bad ones. It is up to us to realize the impact each one of them have in our lives and prepare ourselves to respond and not react. This alone will guarantee a pace that will help you proceed while you don’t lose focus on the ultimate destination.

Happy and safe driving on the roads and with your career!

Hard earned money, literally!

We all now enjoy the luxury of getting money out of a bank ATM in a matter of seconds at the press of a key. It is so convenient that if we don’t see an ATM in a shopping mall we start complaining. Our patience levels have gone down so much that even mobile ATMs were introduced which literally live up to the name of Any Time Money! Countries like India has taken this even forward where cash transactions are now part of a history. Most transactions are digital now with Google Pay and other forms of digital payments in vogue now. While we adore the life in a well-connected world now, it wasn’t always this easy.

Can you imagine a time in 80’s and even early 90’s when you literally had to plan well in advance to withdraw cash from your own account?

The process was a long drawn one which started with you physically visiting the branch of your bank where you had the account. You then had to wait for your turn to request for a token which used to be a metallic piece, circular in shape, with a unique number engraved on it. We also had to fill the details of amount to be withdrawn on a paper slip, a bundle of which were kept at a counter with a pen next to it tied to a rope to write the details.

Getting hold of a withdrawal slip was an easy task, but God help you if you didn’t have a pen of your own. You’ll be at the mercy of other customers, who all had their eyes on that one pen, waiting to pounce on it as soon as the previous customer was done writing. The scene was something akin to a battle ground where everyone fought with an equal amount of fervour with a sole objective of winning. Somehow once you finally got hold of the pen, you would fill the withdrawal slip with all required details. The waiting game started then.

If you were lucky, you would find a place to sit on one of benches meant for the customers. You then patiently waited for the bank teller also known as cashier, to call out your token number. You had to dedicate your attention to this call out since any distraction will cost you the chance to present your token to the cashier. If that happened, you ended up fighting with the customers next in the queue to get your chance back.

Once your number was called, you rushed to the teller and presented your precious token which assumed as much value as the amount mentioned on your withdrawal slip. You would also hand over the paper to the teller and waited for her to verify the details. If all details were correct, she then reached out to her cash drawer and took out the amount you had requested for. A manual counting of the currency followed since there were no currency counting machines then. Usually, the counting was done twice to ensure that the amount dispatched was correct. The amount would be handed over to you through a pigeonhole sized opening of the cabin in which the teller usually sat.

It was then your turn to do the counting. The teller even after checking twice could have made a mistake which could turn out to be costly for you if the amount dispatched is less than what you have written in the withdrawal slip. After all this was done, you confirm the amount as correct and bid a goodbye to the teller like how you would wish someone in your family when you went visiting them.

Banking used to be a time consuming but extremely personal affair. All these gave way when core banking was introduced, and technology played a pivotal role in connecting all the banks together. Various other advanced customer friendly services also followed.

While convenience has increased multi-fold with all the modern-day digital banking, the happiness of engaging with people while doing business was something special in those days. Then again, certain changes are mandated by the all-powerful force of nature called time! You just tag along…

Come in, we are open!

Seventeen years ago, I stepped into my first corporate experience as a Business Analyst associated to Staff Operations of Mindtree in Bangalore. After the initial induction, I found myself seated among the elite company of Staffing, HR and Finance teams. Mindtree was already a known brand by then in the Indian IT industry for being a people friendly organization. Having said that I was in for many surprises as Mindtree did break a few cliches associated with typical corporates.

Right next to where the HR head sat, there was a table like what was used by most of the manager’s in Mindtree where you could walk in and talk to the occupant anytime. This one was busy most of the times and the person who occupied the desk made the conversations quite lively.

I was not sure who that dynamic person was and the curious cat in me wouldn’t sleep longer. I promptly asked my boss who he was. I was stunned, will be an understatement, with the answer he gave me. He was none other than Partha, one of the co-founders of Mindtree. All the management jargons, the corporate biographies I read and every other theory that spoke of the typical ways of working of a company took a bow at that moment. It was indeed a moment of awakening. It was a tremendous realization that these founders are indeed human beings, and you could talk to them without an appointment!

That day taught me a big lesson. Not everything about a corporate culture can be understood in the induction classes. Quite a few facts about an organization will be revealed to you in due course and that could even hold a few surprises for you, some pleasant and others not so.

The culture that was displayed by the executive management of Mindtree was truly one which screamed openness. None of the senior management had to announce this every now and then. They lived and worked with this mindset. You were free to walk in anytime to anyone’s desk irrespective of their designation and ask anything professional that you have in your mind. There won’t be any judgements or reservations about your questions, ever!

It really should be an alarm bell for the senior management of any organization when your staff does not feel comfortable raising questions. It displays a culture of scepticism and lack of trust in the management. Any staff meeting that ends up with a Q&A session which is not utilized must be a cause of concern for a good leader. If you end up ignoring these signals, rest assured, the organization you head will soon experience a derailment. Hence watch out for these signals and correct your course of action.

If you are heading an organization or a department and next time you call for a staff meeting, watch out for the Q&A session. If your people do not raise enough questions, do understand that you are in for trouble, sooner or later. It is also imperative you identify genuine questions vs tick-in-the-box questions. You should welcome the former with both hands and deal with the latter with the kind of respect it deserves including diplomatically discarding if required.

Management is an art, a science and many more. It isn’t something you learn only by reading a bunch of books or doing a Masters from an outstanding university. It is something you need to approach with the warmth of a heart that beats and the swiftness of a brain that pulsates so that you know your people and give them what they need the way they understand.

Here is a toast to all the ‘real’ great managers we know around the world!

Agile & Harry Potter

What has Agile got to do with Harry Potter unless of course we are talking about how agile he is when he flies The Firebolt, the broomstick? That’s probably a discussion for another day. Let us now talk about Agile, the ways of working involving delivering value to business through Features, Epics and Stories.

Our Agile ways of working started predominantly during the work-from-home era due to pandemic. Since then, my kids have been exposed to quite a lot of Agile terminology. Two days back I was referring to User Stories in a conversation and Ryan, my ten-year-old promptly asked, ‘Appa, what are these Stories you are talking about. Is this something which you keep writing and publishing?’.

Now, how do you make a ten-year-old kid understand Scrum practices and Agile concepts such as breaking down of boulders, stones and pebbles. While kids these days are smarter than most adults, I still wanted to give an easier explanation. That’s when I noticed my son holding Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book in the series. A sudden spell came to my mind!

‘Here you go’, I said. ‘Imagine you have finished reading a chapter in this book. That is equivalent to a Story, the smallest piece of work that can be taken up and completed. Once you finish all the chapters in the book, that’s when you can say you are done with an Epic. When you finish all seven books in the Harry Potter series, you have completed a Feature. The catch is you do all these within a defined timeline which we call cadence.’

He seemed to be quite under my spell and I wasn’t finished yet!

I said, ‘Ryan, these Harry Potter books belong to your library which has quite a lot of other books as well. If you finish reading all of them, you have successfully delivered an Initiative, the topmost item in the Agile delivery chain which gets created based on the demand from your business unit’.

His face was beaming and I was quite convinced that I have simplified a complex model of Software Engineering as much as possible for my son. It was nothing short of magic! At least that’s what I thought till the time I heard another tiny voice from behind asking a question. It was Mia, Ryan’s younger sister.

‘But Appa’, she countered saying, ‘Amma had clearly told brother not to spend too much time with his story books. He needs to focus on his studies.’

I couldn’t help but smile, not just because of the seriousness of the argument, but being presented with an excellent opportunity to help them understand Agile better.

‘Yes darling, that is right, and it also is one of the most important principles of Agile which we call as prioritization. This is how you determine which piece of work is more important than the others. Just like studying well gives you good marks, reading other books gives you knowledge. This is the value that you deliver for yourself, just like how the User Stories deliver value to Appa’s business unit.’

I now have two budding Product Managers who are Agile ready, well almost!

Anatomy of Autonomy

It was the best hospital in the entire state run by a group of efficient, dedicated and extremely knowledgeable doctors. Dr Anatomy, Tommy as he was known, was the most admired among the lot. Years of practice and hundreds of critical and successful surgeries up his sleeve, Dr Tommy was revered by not just the medical team in the hospital, but by doctors’ fraternity across the state.

Dr Tommy led a group of proficient medical team, each one of them being the best in their respective fields. The anaesthetist, the surgical assistants, the nurses, and everyone else were simply the best. They all knew exactly what they were required to do and absolutely followed every instruction from Dr Tommy which ensured a hundred percent success rate for the team.

It didn’t stop there. Dr Tommy ensured that he gave enough room to learn to all his interns and assistants. They were trained so well that when an opportunity presented itself, they were allowed to perform surgeries independently with only a supervision from him. The story went on to the extent that most of the well-known surgeons across the state once worked with Dr Tommy. His legacy lived on.

One day everything changed. Dr Tommy had to pack his bags and move on. He was replaced by Dr Autonomy, Nommy as he came to be known later.

Dr Nommy was given a briefing of how the hospital functioned and especially the high-performance team. After learning everything, he introduced a new way of working for the hospital. He was a true believer in teams being autonomous. Hence, he suggested that they eliminate the concept of a team leader. Everyone was equal and played equally important roles.

He also brought in a dramatic change in terms of skills. Dr Nommy didn’t believe in specialists, instead he wanted the anaesthetist to assist in surgery, the interns to perform anaesthesia and the nurses even could handle a scalpel if need arises. Cross skilling was the order of the new world. What was even more clear was the fact that no one in the new team knew what exactly they were expected to do and when.

Surgeries continued to be performed, patients as earlier got admitted for surgery but unlike in the past, many of them didn’t leave the hospital by their own. They were all carried out in decorated caskets as the new team slowly but steadily helped the hospital to be in the record books for the greatest number of failed surgeries leading to partial or full loss of precious human lives!

The last update was that Dr Nommy lost his job and the hospital is searching desperately for Dr Tommy to bring him back.

Disclaimer: If this story has any resemblance to how agile ways of working was implemented in your organization, it is quite incidental.