Parenting & Management - any resemblance?

Should we treat our children like our team members OR should we treat our team members like our children? I have found that most times emotional approaches do work with both categories. They stay bonded with you for long even if they MUST leave the project/place that they share with you.
Usually, we are asked not to spoon-feed kids and allow them to make mistakes and learn their own lessons. In the corporate world, we only have to make sure that we dont commit many costly mistakes. Everyone feels they have achieved only if they are given the freedom to experiment and show results.
I used to tell my son that I had a mobile primarily because I wanted to hear him when he is back from school. I also found myself telling my team members, that when I am away, it is to hear their stories that I carry a mobile.
I used to criticize my son in private lest he get insulted in front of all. Do we not apply this in management as well?
Lavish approbation when he does something worth praising in public makes him feel so motivated and encouraged. Team members?…likewise!
Ya. I know we do not have formal appraisals for our children but if we did, it would only open room for conversation and better understanding.
In all, any human would only like to be treated that way. It does not matter if he/she is your child, peer, subordinate, neighbour, parent, brother, sister, et al!!! All that it takes is good managerial skills.

Are you Masculine or Feminine?

For a long time now, I have been thinking that I should patent this idea. Do share your views on whether the idea I am proposing is worth the trouble.

A child is born on this earth as a Male or a Female. We, otherwise, say the baby’s gender is a ‘M’ or an ‘F’. The baby grows into a boy or a girl then becomes a man or a woman. Now, where does this topic of ‘masculinity’ or ‘feminity’ come into picture? Every human being has some qualities of the other gender. Some men possess more feminine qualities and some women, masculine. There is nothing right or wrong about this. It is only natural.

There is nothing to feel proud if a woman has masculine qualities and nothing to laugh about if a man behaves like a lady at times.But I have come across some women teasing other women if they are too ‘boyish’ or ‘masculine’. And vice versa…I strongly think we should stop this. What say?

Why I thought of patenting this idea may be a question on your minds. Recently, I attended a NASSCOM training for Women in IT. The trainers were talking about Masculine work and Feminine work in the context of Time Management. I thought I should at least let a few people know that I have thought in these lines already. Just in case this concept becomes popular, you would know that there was this soul which researched on this subject!!!

BTW, what are you? Man or a woman? Masculine or Feminine? J

Who scared who?

This incident happened some 15 years back. I was in my college final semester. We were deputed for training in New Delhi for 6 months. My friends had taken up the out-house of an independent house on rent. Now in this house, they raised a ferocious dog for a pet! It always used to be tied up. But even then, as I enter the gate, the horrible, fearsome barking sound of this dog used to send chills down my spine.
On this particular Sunday, after lunch, we 3 friends went back home. First, one of our friends, walked in opening the gate. I followed him with the confidence that the dog should be tied up as usual. Suddenly, I heard the barking sound and the pouncing beast almost on me! One can imagine my plight! I took to my heels shouting "someone....help me!!!"....it was a scream...a real, loud one...my whole body was shaking terribly in fear....I ran up to the friend who was walking in front of me, held him, shook him, turned him around and tried to hide behind him. I was screaming all through and shivering!! I had seen death in close circles…
For a moment, the dog stopped, stared at me strangely! May be it had never got this kind of a response ever in its life. It stood frozen there for a while. Then, as though nothing had happened, it just shook itself and walked back to its place!
It took at least a few minutes before I could calm down. Readers wondering what happened to the 3rd friend who was behind me? Well, he saw the dog, he saw me, he immediately closed himself outside the gate!
BTW, I am married this hero now! :-) May be that day he thought, "If she could scare such a ferocious dog away, then what should I fear in life, if I am married to her?"

Kabir Bedi OR Kiran Bedi?

Those were my initial days in DSQ. Just out of college…I hardly had any industry exposure or experience. But I used to be a bundle of energy (even now I sometimes feel, I am more energetic than some college fresh grads!). I knew nothing on IT or Computers! But was radiating with confidence…had a lot of guts to question anything and everything under the sky…truly I was in a state of what you call (ignorance is) bliss!

Readers please note that right from the time I started talking as a kid till this date, I have this disease of ‘verbal’ diarrhea. No medication works. Even the strongest medication was tried (my hubby’s rude advice and criticism which ended up in ‘Mouna vrat’ for a few days… I mean he refused to speak to me). Nothing works! L

One of our senior VPs, who was impressed with my articulation of thoughts and (a few) ideas, called me to meet him one-on-one. May be he liked my energy?! I am still wondering what made him call me because I am sure he repents it till today J

He was asking me what my aim in life was and what ambitions I had. I was so excited that such a senior person was talking to me. He asked me what I wanted to become. I was (in full-flow) telling him very animatedly all the people I admire. I said I liked Jayalalitha’s courage in dealing with issues. So far, so good! Then, I said, I wanted to become like ‘Kabir Bedi’….

See, now, don’t laugh at me! I told you I was excited. Least, did I think that growing a beard would be a challenge! I just spurt it out but realized I made some mistake somewhere. My VP had a twitched brow, a face full of question marks and very hesitantly, he asked “You mean, er, hm, Kiran Bedi?”. Knowing girls of this age, may be he was unsure if I really wanted a gender change or I had made a mistake. I was magnanimous enough to admit that it was just a slip of the tongue (it was a slide, not a slip!). I retorted “Yes, yes, the same Bedi!” with a very ‘matter-of-fact’ look on my face. He then breathed a sigh of relief… He then quickly concluded the conversation and let me go.

The next I heard about him was when he had quit DSQ in a week’s time after that. Now, don’t blame me for it! I am innocent…

Why Processes? - Contd...

Part 3:

Since we can’t leave tasks to be performed differently by different individuals, we try to streamline activities by framing processes around them.

But, why is quality always looked at as ‘documentation’ or an overload of that? Why should we document? Is there any relationship between ‘process-focus’ and ‘documentation’ at all? Do we need SEI or ISO to tell us we are process-oriented? Why?

Let us take the example of your mother making ‘Dal’ or some delicious ‘Sambar’ in her kitchen…

She has the process ‘institutionalized’ in herself. She is habituated to making it a thousand times. Hence, she need not go through a manual or look at a written down process. She knows clearly what she is doing.

On the other hand, you/your wife/sister/brother want to emulate her cooking skills. You need to note down (document?!) the process, follow it a few times until you become an expert!

Alternatively, you could watch her and repeat the steps. But that is not scalable! You can’t really pass it on to the others who may want the recipe…

That is exactly what we do in business. We have some experts. They have tried and tested many recipes for successful projects. They have documented all that worked (and those that did not too!). If they had not documented or felt lethargic about it, we would be reinventing the wheel now! What a waste of everything it would have been?!

Now, you may ask me, why do I have to document my own project-related details (why a requirements document, a design doc and a test plan)? Well, wait for me to continue on more ‘whys’…

Why Processes?

Part 1:

Those of you who have ‘worked’ with me ;-) would know how much I philosophize on this subject. The main reason being, all the quality manuals/policies/procedure documents/guidelines/templates of any company would have loads and loads of information on How/What/When/Which/Where/Who and what not? But, there would not be any mention on “Why we need these processes”. May be the Quality Evangelists always thought that this is a silly question. And, it is “understood”.

The fact of the matter is, unless we face a challenging situation, we never realize, as practitioners, “Why” we need these processes.

Without asking a “Why” knowledge is not complete. For those of you who follow Tamil and have watched our evergreen “Puratchi Thalaivar” singing “En endra kelvi ingu ketkamal vazhkai illai” (translated “there is no life if we do not ask the question why”).

Asking a why enriches the knowledge by making one understand the rhyme and reason for every theory/concept/action.

So, again, WHY processes?
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Part 2:

There are successful small-timers who do not have processes. But they have to have the same set of people executing the projects.

So, first step, we need processes so that what person A does very well is repeatable by person B (and all the others), in more or less the same precision as person A. This is the baby step towards becoming BIG. Avoid ‘people-dependency’.

Else, we would stay in that ’small-timer’ position until we breathe our last.

However, the choice is yours! Do you want to grow “BIG” or remain where you are and be contented with that? Ask yourself…

More to come…

My Blog Post Categories

I plan to categorzie my posts under the following headings? Makes sense?

1. Fun 'n' Frolic
2. Processes
3. Project Management
4. Team Building
5. Communication
6. Personality Development

Any modifications required?