Opinion – Page 4 – gcmouli.com

Trivial April Fools Jokes

It has now come to the point where companies try and pull a slow one (yeah, its not even fast these days) on April Fools day. The jokes are lame and silly. On first glance, it is obvious that it is a prank.

Google Blue. Really? A first look at the video instantly tells you its a prank.
Youtube going down. Really? Just a few days/weeks ago, there was a revenue report, which reported it was doing quite well.
Adobe releasing a new font called Blank, which users cant see. Really?

Guys, if you dont have any thing to fool people, just skip this year. This is just silly.

The Mini City – Kumbh Mela

First the quote:

On the sandbanks of the river Ganges at Allahabad, bureaucrats and workers from Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state and one of its poorest, took less than three months to build a tent city for 2m residents complete with hard roads, toilets, running water, electricity, food shops, garbage collection and well-manned police stations…..

…..Devesh Chaturvedi, a senior official who is divisional commissioner of Allahabad, is proud of the “huge task” that he and perhaps 100,000 workers have completed in organising this year’s festival. He mentions 165km of roads on the sand made of steel plates, 18 pontoon bridges, 560km of water supply lines, 670km of electricity lines, 22,500 street lights and 200,000 electricity connections, as well as 275 food shops for essential supplies such as flour, rice, milk and cooking gas.

Wow. I read this through here and here. Both articles attribute it to faith. The fact that the entire administration could accomplish this in 3 months is because of the faith that, this is ‘real’ service to the pilgrims attending the event. This is considered paramount in the Hindu doctrine. Doing service to ‘servitors to God’ is considered higher than serving the God himself – according to the Periya puranam.

While giving me faith that things like this are practically possible to accomplish, I wonder whether it would be feasible. I doubt if the various bickering political parties that fight to rule (and loot) our country, have the inclination. In our country, turning members of one religious community against other, seems to be the most common political mileage gaining stunt. Given this, accomplishing things like the Kumbh mela, based on faith, would just be a dream. Like millions of Indians (who are the receiving end of the Secular Government Tamasha), I do wish the dream come true some time though.

Too Many Hops

Quite recently, I had been talking to a friend of mine, who was vying for a senior leadership position. After a couple of conversations with the recruiter, he was told he had taken too many hops, and hence the company was not considering him. I was thinking about this for a bit, and I thought I would share my thoughts.

I personally feel that, ‘rejecting’ based on this reason as the only reason seems pretty foolish and hasty. The least that one should do is to find out the reason for the hops, and how the hops happened.

Insecurity? Were the hops because of the candidate not feeling confident that he could do the job assigned to him? This might be a valid reason for rejecting, but then, we should also dig in into finding out how the fellow landed up that job in the first place. In the numerous interviews that I have taken, I have found that, one can easily figure this out, using some behavioural traits.

Performance. Were the hops because the candidate did not perform well? Did the interest levels dip soon after the candidate was hired? Again, think. Why was this not caught during the interview process? Again, performance measurement is subjective. It could be your perspective that he may have gotten the boot because of bad performance. But, this is a valid case of rejecting a candidate.

Burnt bridges. How did the candidate leave the previous companies? Were they amicable? Were they jumps with the management in full support? Were the jumps such that management tried ‘everything’ to retain him? Did he burn bridges? If the candidate had had personnel (not personal) issues because of which, he burnt bridges (fought with manager/team etc), then this is definitely something that should discourage you from hiring this person.

The fire brand. Is the candidate someone who has the fire burning in him to grow fast? Did he find that he has been increasing his net intellectual/management experience worth significantly by jumping from gig-to-gig once in a few years? If the candidate is someone like this, you can be sure that he would not have left the previous gigs in bad taste. He would have alternate plans, succession strategies, etc, that when he leaves, it does not leave a void. It is not necessarily a bad thing to hire this guy. Except, one should hire him recognizing that he is a fire brand, and craves growth. For a senior management position, this craving is a good thing. Stoked correctly, this fire brand can create miracles for a company.

To end, my opinion is that, too many recruiters make this mistake of judging a candidate by too-many-hops. Yes, I agree, there are some folks who have had too-many-hops because of ‘issues’, but you cannot generalize. In this current generation of companies, there are two kinds of people who race to the top – both the turtles and the hares. The turtles are the folks who have risen in the company (it took them 15 years in the same company to become the senior manager/director). The hares are the folks who gain experience and expertise in working through a variety of positions (these are the folks who have risen to a senior manager/director in 7-8 years). Think for a moment, and you can easily recall folks in both categories.

LinkedIn Endorsements

It has been a while since LinkedIn rolled out its endorsement feature, and I hate it. Don’t get me wrong. I love LinkedIn, and a big fan of the service. It is one of the best professional networking sites.

My biggest cribs about the endorsement feature are:

There are some people in my professional network whom I barely know. These guys are still important to me, and are present in my network for networking purposes. Example – several head-hunters and HR professionals. I do not want them endorsing my technical skills. I don’t mean disrespect to these people, but it dilutes the endorsement. I would rather have such an endorsement from (say) my manager (or ex-managers).
The skill set basket is still very weak. As a computer science professional, I do not want to be endorsed for stuff like algorithms and data structures. These are fundamentals. I would rather be endorsed for something like C/C++ programming, or Program Management, or Building Teams, Technical Management.
And do not force me by saying, “Mr. Foo has endorsed you, do you want to endorse him?”. I do not like being emotionally blackmailed. Some times, I do not want to return the favour. Especially when the favour was not asked for.

Perhaps, the above three points of feedback have been given to LinkedIn already, perhaps a thousand times, but the endorsement circus continues on.

As a Technical manager, and a computer science professional, I hate just talking about problems. Wherever I can, I give a couple of suggestions/fixes. My suggestions to fixing this ‘mess-up’ are:

LinkedIn, be the great professional service that you are. Retract the feature. There is nothing wrong in retracting. It only shows your commitment to customers.

I do understand this is highly unlikely. If I can take the liberty of guessing the underlying power of endorsements, it is for the savvy recruiter to hunt for people with required skill sets (aka the skill sets that people have endorsed the candidate for). It also gives a nice indirect reference check.
Ask me, if I want to accept endorsements from your network. Give an option (in the header menu) to locate someone in my network and propose an endorsement. (Of course, as in (2), this endorsement would need to be ‘accepted’ by the recipient.) This would make the endorsement feature very similar to the ‘recommendation’ feature. In fact, it would give the lazy professional networker a lazy option to recommend someone.
Create ‘proximity’ levels within my professional network – much like the ‘circles’ in the google+ network. And give me control on who goes into which level, and which levels I can accept endorsements from.

The one thing that you would notice common in all of my three suggestions are that, make the act of endorsing user-cognizant/user-initiated. This way, I have control over my endorsements, much like my recommendations.

Hypocrisy – Modified Value Systems

As fancy as the title sounds, I am going to be writing about something that is super simple, and about something a lot of us have actually seen in our real lives (in recent times).

We were in deep discussion about an on-going project – me and one of my team members. The door was partially closed. She swiftly peeped in and barked – “which way to Mr. T’s office?”. I was initially taken aback. For a second, we had been wrenched out of a train of thought, and that too by someone who we did not know, and who had just asked a question in a rather rude tone. After a moment of uncomfortable silence (for us), I said, “Down the hallway and to the left”. She barked a quick thanks and left as swiftly as she had appeared.

I have a couple of observations here. Brand me as judgemental if you want to, but I make these observations here on my public blog, only because, this is becoming more common in recent times.

1. The ‘bark’ and the tone, resounded with the attitude – “I am a visitor from the US office, and I demand attention.” I do not subscribe to this attitude. Sorry. Would you use the same intonation when you are in the US office. “Please, could you tell me which way I should go to Mr. T’s office. I would very much appreciate that.” Ha ! Then why the change in attitude, when you visit here. And oh, did I mention that, less than a decade ago, you were the same as me – ‘desi office worker in the India office’.

2. Would you barge into a someones office like you did today, in the US office? I very much doubt that. You would then be branded as the ‘rude Indian lady’. So what makes you think, we do not brand you that.

I wonder why people get this chip on the shoulder when they relocate to the US (or for that matter, any foreign shore). Why is there such a dramatic transformation in attitude and behavioral aspects when you visit your ‘motherland’ versus your other home? Would you be OK if come and hug you or give you a high-five, or scream your name down the hallway, when I visit the US office next time?

This has always been the case, except this is being noticed more these days, and I will tell you why. There are people like me, and several others, who have been on both sides of the ocean. I studied for 5 years in the US, and have made several (I still do) business visits to the US office. There are several folks in this office, who have worked there for several years and have decided to move back to the proverbial ‘desh’. We have seen both sides of the equation, and unfortunately see through the hypocrisy immediately.

So dear lady from the US office, I really wish you understand, we are all professional co-workers and share the same professional and personal ethics. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to reschedule the meeting you just interrupted, and pick up the threads and restart from where we left off.

Of Rectangles and Rounded Corners

“Today’s verdict should not be viewed as a win for Apple, but as a loss for the American consumer,” the South Korean electronics firm said after news of the $1 billion patent infringement award by a California jury.

“It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices. It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies.”

Statement from Samsung after Apple won the Patent case in a jury in California. I love the statement about rectangles and rounded corners. So true. I firmly believe, Apple played on the sentimental value of the jurors and the people by playing the “Made in America” card. I cannot believe how silly some of the patent charges are.

Flipkart, Amazon, Forbes ….

Just read a piece on the slate, which states that Amazon is trying to make same delivery of goods possible. The piece also states that, how this has been the utopia of internet retailers, and several have failed. It also states that AMZN is now investing Billions into this, to make this possible.

Spin the globe a bit, and look at our own home turf – Flipkart. These guys have been on the motto that, customer service is #1, whatever be the cost. They have not quite given the guarantee of same delivery, but they have been attempting to do this for a while now. And, get this, they have not really charged anything extra for the same day delivery.

I am now thinking about the Forbes dirt slinging article on Flipkart, which clearly states that, this obsession on the customer service is going to cost Flipkart, and it is a mistake and so on … Well, all of us know that AMZN has been the “King” of internet retail for a while now. And to some extent, I think if they do something, they are doing it after thinking about it, and they are mostly right about it. Well, now, Mr. Forbes article writers and editors, tell me, if Flipkart has it right or wrong?

And no, I don’t really care about what happens within the company, or which hostel allegiance that the founders and management folks turn to. It is a culture within the company. And I think it is wrong to go and dissect a company culture from outside. There are reasons why there are some things that happen a certain way. If these were wrong, Flipkart would have faced flak a long while ago. Well, they are still going strong. So they must be doing something right.

Flipkart, I am a big fan of yours. Please do continue your obsession towards customer service. This is why we revere you. God Speed.

And no, I don’t work for Flipkart, for those inquisitive over-enthu investigative journalists.

The Depressing State of Affairs

This is a rant post. If you are not interested in my rant/opinions, please hit your back button now 🙂

Everytime I read the paper these days, I am so depressed with the current state of affairs in our country. It so happens that every piece of news is about corruption and how the nation’s so-called leaders are making so much of a mockery of governing the country. Be it coal blocks. Be it the commonwealth games. Be it the race for the president. Be it the Tatra trucks deal.

I just read today about the military “forgetting” to order helmets for the troops. How ridiculous can that be. Apparently bullet proof vests were ordered but not helmets. The Indian Express mentions that, a soldier who suffers from a chest wound can still some times recover, but a solder with a wound in the head is almost certain to die. Apparently 40% of the fatalities last year were because of wounds in the head. This just irritates me beyond words.

There is almost no leadership in the government. We cannot hear our PM say anything without “consulting” his Italian mentor. The UPA government makes policies that are almost everytime withdrawn the next day. Someone in the coalition threatens to pull out. Be it Mamta, or DMK. Ridiculous.

And there is our dear friend Kapil Sibal, who has not even left the prestigious educational institutions alone – the IITs. Looks like he was not satisfied with the amount of confusion he caused with the abolition of the Xth boards, grading systems, and the subjective evaluation system of kids. Ask any parent, and all I hear is hatred for this system.

Then I hear about the perks that all these so-called Ministers of Parliament get, and what they use it for. You can recall the IPADs and the porn-gate incident at the parliament. After all this, a week later, there was a small announcement in the newspapers that the Lok Sabha is going to have wifi. Wow. Now is that not convenient.

Sure, we can blame the Congress for all this. The frustration does not end there. Is there an alternative ? The amount of in-fighting that is happening within the BJP is even worse. I am pretty disillusioned with them as well. If dear leader Mr. Modi cannot tolerate someone within the party (Mr. Joshi), how can he tolerate someone from the administration, an opposition party, or perhaps a coalition member.

We pride ourselves as a nation which has woken up to the mobile world. True. The proliferation of mobiles has increased like nothing else. I read somewhere that there are more mobile phones in India than there are toilets. But look at the other side. Folks like Raja made the money in allocation of the spectrum. One cannot put a number to the amount looted. I fail to even succeed at counting the number of zeroes in that number. But hey, Raja is out.

Then there is the Air India pilot strike. If the state of the country’s International carrier is in such a shape, one can but wonder. The Maharaja has never had a good reputation, and this does not do it any good. I flew to the US once in Air India in 2001, and I vowed never to ride in one again. Such was the apathy to the passenger. And this was when the airline was in fine shape. Now the pilots are staging protests like a factory union. I personally believe this is all the Government’s fault. One, to have let this situation fester so bad. And two, now not being able to control and bring the situation back in control. You see the same news every day in the paper that Ajeet Singh has said, he is ‘considering’ what to do with the striking pilots. And in the middle of all this, the first A380 dreamliner lands with a water cannon salute. Sure, it is now securely parked in a hangar (for which I am not sure if AI has the money to pay rent for) – because there are no trained pilots to fly the damn plane.

And ofcourse, amidst all this, our dear president Ms. Patil (and her small entourage of about 60 family members) tour the world at the country’s cost. There are “Parliamentary Sub-Committees” of ministers and aides, who tour the US and Europe to “study” such things as the effect of rainfall on drought hit areas. Defenitely worth a study.

T20 was a sham. Gym equiment worth lakhs of Rupees were accounted for multiple crores of Rupees in the Commonwealth games. Kalmadi is out, and even saying he may apply for election. Maybe he will get elected. He now has the minimum qualification of having gone to jail. During all this, sad news such as the Olympic Weight lifting team being put up in a Tin shanty in Delhi also comes out. Sad. The only guys who earn us a few medals are the ones who are treated this way.

The sad part is that, this is starting getting to get noticed. Guys like S&P are giving warning signals. We got some bad press from BRIC as being one of the lower rung countries. The UN recently said that India is the most unsafe country for ladies in the world.

There are no good roads. There still is not enough water in most parts of the country — states constantly bickering about why they should not be releasing water to the nearby state. No electricity — wind farms and new plants marred by protests. Unemployment persists — with the government of some states giving a free tv, Rs. 1 rice, and subsidized alcohol, why is this not so surprising.

I know that this article reads very depressing and pessimistic, but I cannot help it. I poured it all out. And I am not too sure if I feel better after pouring it out either. If the situation improves, it would be no short of a miracle. Until then, I will do the Bangaloreans have taught me — “Simply Adjust Maad Sir”.

Update: As reader rakamath states below, its not the dreamliner, but 787. And the first one is still yet to arrive. I guess I got confused a bit seeing a file photograph of the water cannon and new aircraft in a newspaper photograph.

Two Reasons why I like my Blackberry

My current employer gives out Blackberrys to its managers for official use. Two really cool features which make me smile each time:

Access to Intranet pages. Wow. I could _not_ do this in any other mobile. In the blackberry, I guess, you are part of the corporate network. When I open my browser, I can get access to every intranet page I have access. *Nice*
Seamless connectivity to our internal address book. Yes, Windows Phone (and maybe Android and the iPhone) can do it too. But the speed at which this guy works is just awesome sauce.

I spent a conflicting 2 minutes on whether to say ‘why I like my BB’ or ‘why I love my BB’ in the title. I guess I am not yet at the stage where I am ‘loving’ the BB yet. I guess I got used to the super-awesome touch screen typing experience (with auto-correct) in Windows Phone. I still dont have that here. I need to rely on my finger nails to press the minuscule keypad on the BB.

Facebook to buy Instagram

Facebook has concluded a deal to buy out Instagram for close to a billion dollars in cash and stock. That is a pretty big deal, considering Instagram is a fairly young company. There are some folks in the internet who are saying that Facebook is the new Google, and will swallow up any new good technology that crops up. And there are a few which say that the true reason is ‘fear’. I agree with the latter. I believe trends were beginning to show that, people were beginning to start sharing info about their lives and other things more over instagram photos than sharing updates on FB. I am sure that must have made FB jittery.

Apparently, as a first time ever, Facebook is going to let Instagram function the same way as it is, rather than integrating into FB. And that is one thing that I just do not believe. I have gone through 2 acquisitions, and seen a half a dozen in the EDA industry (where consolidation happens pretty commonly). This ‘show’ of ‘trust’ in letting the new company function as it is, does not last long. Let us see how long they remain independent. I am sure Instagram will get stuffed in the timeline somewhere, very soon.