Monday, May 26, 2014

Highway 1 Calling....

Chetan Bhagat once said “There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. 

However Love Guru believes “If you have a heart of an Artist, your everlasting results come out during the worst & most painful phase of your life”. 

The most popular eternal literature of Hindi “Ramayana” written by harbinger-poet Adi Kavi Valmiki is said to be the outcome of pain.

मां निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमः शाश्वतीः समाः। यत्क्रौंचमिथुनादेकम् अवधीः काममोहितम्॥

Abhijñānaśākuntalam, Meghadūta (Cloud messenger) and Kumārasambhava, the finest work of most celebrated Sanskrit poet Kalidasa's is also said to be the outcome of pain caused by his wife Vidyottamā.

अस्ति कश्चित् वाग्विशेषः!!

After reading Abhijñānaśākuntalam and Meghadūta in last 5 days, can feel myself into a different Eco-sphere. Sometimes it’s really difficult to control the wild animal inside. So despite of having a severe cervical back and neck pain (credit goes to sleepless nights) all set for “Road Trip of a Lifetime”. Last time I drove 2300 miles (3600+ KM) from Texas to Seattle in 4 days (thou I know historical data sucks, but sometimes it is necessary when you are feeling low coz of the external factors out of your control) and those were the best days of life in recent time wherein I witnessed extreme of Mother Nature…from Sandy hills to Lush green hills to Snow covered hills in a single day.

This time the target is to hit “Highway 1” and to spend next week to drive from Seattle to San Diego and then return back. Driving – outing, driving - outing is going to be the only activity during this trip.

Though instead of 90 degree the neck movement is restricted to only 15 degree coz of the neck pain & the toughest job would be to click the photographs while driving the car that too in rough terrains…. one mistake and you are…..yet I am all set to make it one of my most memorable trip….would be interesting to see how long my back supports me…. as they say “No pain… No gain”!!!

गिरेंगे अर्श से तो चोट भी गहरी होगी.... आज़ाद परिंदों ने ये कब सोचा होगा !! 

Friday, May 23, 2014

Management Lessons - Lake Sammamish Trail Cycling Trip

It was another wonderful day. Sun was playing hide & seek with the clouds. A perfect day for some outing. So decided for a 10 mile (16 Km) cycling trip over to "Lake Sammamish" trail.

As it was a scenic trail, halfway thru the trail a wild thought came into mind: Why not go for the entire approximate 30 mile (48+ Km) trail? Within the moments in flashback I reached to 2010-11, the Pune days when I used to go for tracking almost every weekend. Though 30 mile cycling, that too for the 1st time, was a crazy & senseless idea.

But based on the historical data and this killer thought from Love Guru “At least try once.....so that in future you have no guilt that you didn’t tried once - Ek Koshish” decided to go for it. 

Next 5 hours were amazing, exciting and exhausting as well. Completely drained but Mission accomplished.
But now after a few hours I feel like I am an alien, body functioning almost like a Robot. What else I have to face in next 24 hours, I really don’t know??? 

Moral of the story:

- Once Scope is baseline, don’t play with it….Never… Ever....Ever. Whatever is out of Scope, should remain Out of Scope. Otherwise be ready to pay the price.
- Historical data sucks!!! 

Management Lessons - A trip to remember for rest of the life!!!

Bad Luck redefined: It was just another day and I planned for a hiking to Rattlesnake Ridge Trail, a popular trail in the summer months.

It was a JIT (just in time) plan, so quickly checked the hourly weather conditions over there as it was cloudy & rainy in Bellevue, WA. Forecast was pretty (partially cloudy & sunny) good. Enjoyed the drive thru I-90 and then started the hiking.

Halfway thru the 4+ hour trail and all of a sudden it started to hail. It was my first real life experience of such a crazy & heavy hail storm. Although it was a result of poor planning as I didn't had anything to protect myself from hail storm but then I did the Profit & Loss analysis for this project 

I had 2 options: one to return back (which means net outcome = 0) and another to complete the trail (which means a gorgeous & breathtaking view from the heaven) and face the hail.

As they say “A project is considered successful if & only if the benefits are more than the expenditure”. So finally I was left with the second option, which was much more lucrative 

Anyway I didn't had any other option so next 3 hours I enjoyed the hail storm. The view from the top was stunning – no other word to describe it – you won’t find better views anywhere else this close to Seattle. Earlier it was just face but later on fingers as well become numb coz of the hail and freaking n freezing wind. Finally when reached to a stage where I was even not able to press the camera buttons (which means no more photography) decided to return back.
It’s almost 24 hours and still feeling the heat of that wrong decision 

Moral of the story:
-> Never do the P&L (Profit & Loss) analyses like most of the managers, if your planning is not foolproof at the 1st place.
-> Also never trust upon http://www.weather.com/ if you are in Seattle 

Whiz kid managers (Regretful State of Indian IT Project Managers)

Duniya badal rahi hai, Sarkaar badal rahi hai but when the mindset of Indian IT Project managers will change? when?? when???

A snippet from my messenger conversation, just had a few days back with an >a*******e offshore project manager (I would call him SS - Sannata Singh – coz of his fear among the offshore resources) regarding the project schedule:

SS - I think we have experience factor also, so 1 more week may be eliminated.
I – hmmmm, actually that is –ve as last time I had ‘P’ (a resource) in the team but this time I am having ‘S’ (another resource)

SS – is ‘S’ not good? and I believe you are also there.
I – I am there, but I am a magician, I just want to manage the show… also I don’t want to compare orange with apple. 

SS – but both ‘P’ and ‘S’ are in the same level, so both are apple 
I - Hmmm……so if I put apple & orange in the same basket, will you buy them at same price??? 

SS – ‘S’ has to step up if he is not performing and I want 1 more week to eliminate from the schedule.
I – you are asking for delivering a baby in 1 month by impregnating 9 women. Will this baby survive? 

SS – then can you pls communicate about this to client?
I – Why should I? This creative idea was your brain child to score the brownie point. so u should communicate 

Silence for next 8 minutes….
I – if you feel that I can handle the situation in a better way, then I can take it further.
SS – thanks… lets monitor it tightly.

Moral of the story: When these so called ‘whiz kid managers’ would start applying their brains? Why they believe they are the special creature of God.

Pyar ya Paisa (Importance of H1B in marriage)

Changing Trends: Boys marry with a Girl or marry with her H1B Visa? Eat, Drink & SLEEP with anyone but for marriage they need a girl with H1B visa 

Case 1 (J&K Guy): Almost 4 yrs back a close Infy friend told his parents that for marriage he needs a girl with H1B n I thot he is just a fanatic of US. 

Case 2 (MP Guy): 2 months back another (Infosys) friend was almost on the verge of divorce, after around 8 long years of relationship & marriage (and Yes, it was a love marriage  ). Before marriage he thot that the MBA girl can work in US on dependent visa (I think people call it a H4 visa; I am not very sure however). Just 1 wrong assumption and your dreams are…. He filed for divorce. Finally by grace of God the marriage is saved. But it’s extending on a 3 months contract (Yes, you guessed it right; I am talking about the marriage on contract). 

Case 3 (WB Guy): And now this morning another friend called me to inform "he is getting married and the girl is having a H1B visa and we are all set to become a typical Infosys couple" (both working in Infy). I was aware that this champ has recently dumped her long time GF after honeymoon with her in Udaipur/ Goa/ Ooty/ Jaipur etc etc…. but unfortunately this ‘poor’ girl (working with Indian IT bellwether TCS) doesn’t have a H1B. 

Surprisingly instead of wishing him the luck I thot to pull his legs n asked him: What if something happens to her H1B; will you dump her after the marriage the way you did your Ex? A minute back this guy was full of joy n energy n happiness but now he was just speechless…. Finally he told: No; coz he knows the girl from last 1 month and he is in love.

I thot in mind What a lame excuse? Was there “NO Love” when he was in a relationship for years with the poor TCS girl? Earlier it used to be: “Made for Each Other” but now turning into “Made for H1B”!!!

“Poor Girls” or “Poor Boys” or “Poor Parents” what to say…really confused...or may be .... H1B rocks!!! Dollar Dreams!!! Power of Dollars!!! 

Current state of mind: "Aazaadi hai to tum ho Sahjade mere pyaaro; Shaadi hui to samjho Bhikhari ban gaye Yaaron"!!! 

Naked truth of IT (Information Technology) Industry

A snippet from my conversation, just had 5 minutes before: 

Wipro offshore Guy: Bakawas hai Wipro. Projects hi nahi hain. 
Infy offshore Guy: Bakawas hai Infy. Projects hi nahi hain. 
Accenture offshore Guy: Bakawas hai Accenture. Projects hi nahi hain. 
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.
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I am really really confused. Is this the reality of IT or Silence before the storm?