I PUBLISH, THEREFORE I AM

I see hoardings on the streets, and on construction sites, that reads, WORK IN PROGRESS. Does that mean actual work is getting done; of course, it means people are working but, the point they have broadcasted with their hoarding is that they are working, they never say anything about when is it going to complete . Let’s say, a hoarding says, WORK IN PROGRESS – EXPECTED TO FINISH ON 20-10-2011, that would make total sense . I know, I’m being unrealistic and stupid, fine!...but I am still to make my point. What I am really getting at is why do we have so much of work in progress , it’s time we understood that work in progress in not real progress . If you were expected to finish 10 tasks by tomorrow , and you are done with 90% in all the 10 tasks but have not finished even one, then you have all the 10 tasks under WORK IN PROGRESS, in a way, you have not done anything so far. On the other hand, if you did 5 tasks fully and didn't even start with the other 5, then you have...

Work is not something you go to, it is something you do. No...it's not a smart-ass line, it is for real. You make sense only when you get something done. I feel that we stress a lot on going-to-work, instead of stressing on doing-actual-work. I have fairly worked in different work environments, the rookie in me used to think, why is everyone talking about results all the time, what matters is the effort and work that goes into a process, right!...absolutely not , what ultimately matters is results, a result oriented work environment ensures clear progress. Not just the end results, even the intermediary results matters a lot. Now I know, why everyone told me to solve question papers before exams, instead of just reading through the chapters and answering chapter-wise questions. It's because solving question papers is very result oriented a.k.a doing-actual-work , whereas, reading chapters is merely like going-to-work . Unfortunately, I just kept reading chapters till the end a...

I know! why the hell am I talking about unlearning when learning is what matter, isn't it?  I don't think so ;-|. Learning is really important, we do it or don't do it on the basis of our liking, our ability and whatnot. But, when it comes to unlearning stuff, we are not really bothered because unlearning is much more painful, that means truck loads of shitty hard work. I wish there was some twitter-like  unfollow button or a MS-Office-like undo button in our heads, but unfortunately, the only way to unlearn is to learn it from scratch (one more time) . For instance, there is some problem with my English writing skills (I guess! you would have noticed by now ;-), I don't follow any writing convention), that's because I am from a place where people don't speak/write much English, so, I spoke/wrote English like I knew it, I used to make my own rules and spread it to the uninformed...by the way, confidently bull-shiting people is an art and I am good at it ;-P...

Why should we polish everything and try to make it look good. Everything happens for the good – yes it does, for those who make sense out of things that are absolutely nonsense. For instance, in the name of helping  people  out, some guys in the internet make you believe in things that are absolutely useless, not just that, they justify the horrifying results and make you feel good about whatever bullshit that happened to you. Say what? It’s all for the good – I don’t think so, may be good for who is saying it, but not the one who is reading or listening to it. Beware of guys in the internet who try to make you believe in random things , don’t just listen to the fancy words people put on their website to get your attention – ahem , I too liked to grab attention – but I realized that the attention I grabbed was really short-lived ( I went from 300 subscribers to 150 subscribers in 3 days – shit happens ). Pretty remarks, psyched analogies, self-analysis, and trying-to-tak...

If you are starting something today, and it’s a job that needs you to thrive for months together then don’t overdo it on the first day. You end up overwhelming yourself with work and then your momentum drastically goes down . Don’t do this mistake of overdoing it on the first day, I did it and I know how I got tired of it and eventually left it. It’s a marathon, not a 100 meter race, you start running slowly for the first few kilometers then you speed up and go steadily to finish the race. As they say, consistency is the name of the game… I say , they are god damn right ;-). Let the enthusiasm be in you till the end, finish it one block at a time. We all prepare for something or the other on a daily basis, let’s say, you just joined a gym, you start doing weights, 30 minutes treadmill, 20 minutes cycling and all that on the first day. Guess what! you din't turn up the next day ;-).

Yes! I really think you should bring home the soaps, shampoos, fluffy slippers, and all the other freebies that a hotel provides to make your stay comfortable. Why should you take these small things which you can easily buy it yourself ? It's simple, because you are paying for it and it's not something you are stealing. It's like going to a restaurant, paying for a meal without having to eat it...everyone does it, people say Indians do it, if you think so, you gotta watch this episode from F.R.I.E.N.D.S . Hotels charge you keeping in mind the maximum you can utilize, they provide you comfort and wait for you to ask for more convenience...I say, what are you waiting for, go ahead and ask for what you are paying for, capitalize on what all you can avail in a restaurant/hotel. I think people need to rewire their heads about why is it absolutely normal to bring home all that you pay for. I don't travel much but, I know once I start going to these fancy five star hotel...

is what people say when they are given some work that is out of their job description. First of, your job description is not precise, you get an overall picture of what all will you be responsible for, mind it! its just an overall picture i.e. its not complete. There is no end to the kind of work that will come your way, some employees just cant take it, and they resists doing it, for a simple reason that its not something they do as a project manager/project developer/project engineer...but I say, it IS your job, its just that you don't like doing it, or its something really new to you and you gotta do a lot of ground work to take up that work i.e. extra work. Whatever it is, you gotta welcome all kinds of work that is even remotely associated with your interests, I am not saying learn everything - it's your right to ignore things you don't like and just stick to what you like - but what I am trying to say is, you can give it a shot, it doesn't have to be th...

Word of mouth is amazing and this kind of marketing is really unforced, its something by choice. I have noticed that a lot of times our word of mouth marketing doesn't work and sometimes it spreads like fire. Why does that happen; it's because sometimes your voice is heard by someone who is just not good at networking, and sometimes your voice is heard and appreciated by someone who is really interested in your idea/product, and genuinely has a bunch of networks to talk to. I've confirmed this very concept in an amazing book The Tipping point (BUY BOOK) . Superb book for anyone who wants to sell his idea or product or anything to that matter, small changes can make a big difference, you just have to know what change to make (who to tell your idea to). Have a wonderful read. PS : you can also check this article on idea recognition .

I am really happy to say that the bosses I've worked for were really awesome (how clichéd). In general, a lot of rookies hate their bosses coz they think their boss has something against them, but in reality, its just your work not you, I think every rookie screws up and gets a 15-30 min firing on " why were you not careful ". Been there, had that ;-). I have been really really really really pissed with a lot of my bosses and some of them I've hated to such an extent that I wanted to meet them somewhere outside to lay a hard punch on them. That was really kiddish, I know, now I realize, that's exactly why I am writing this post. My confession, I've learned by doing and screwing (a lot), this is not necessarily good for an employee. But, I've come to a realization that the bosses I hated were the reason why I am - somewhat - good at what I am. (watch it in 4x speed; not able to see the flash, click here ) Who am I trying to impress - no one ;...

My idea got recognized because the evaluator knew what my idea can possibly do. My idea didn't get recognized because the evaluator didn't know what I was talking about. My idea didn't get recognized because I was not able to express it in words/presentation. My idea got recognized because the evaluator's work was directly impacted by my idea. I don't think anywhere we talk about how good or bad the idea was. It is quiet evident that every (may be, most of them) idea is worth a try, the ideas which get recognized are the once which the evaluators like. Thumb rule, your idea is always worth it. An idea gets a true evaluation when the evaluators are customers or a varied audience. Why should a writer be evaluated by some writer's guild, why should technologists decide which technology should be mainstream. It should be the users who get to decided what's hot and what's not . A wonderful example of a truly evaluated idea, facebook.com.

I am doing something, even if I don't get anything from it, I realize there is nothing to lose ( only then will I do that ). I am sure, the time spent is not a waste, it's one of the best way forward, if you don't have anything to lose, you have nothing to worry i.e. when you don't have anything, that's why you can do everything . Unknowingly, we do a lot of things like an expert, but, we don't realize we are experts in doing that activity, because we developed that talent without a real need to get anything from it. PS : Forget about the high-profile people saying - A need/goal is very important , no one's denying; but, In a given day, we do a lot of things with no intentions of excelling in it, I just realized that we somehow perfect those things.

It's simply snap judgement (reminds me of BLINK by Malcolm Gladwell), people don't really play by the rules coz they want what they feel like. I find it really difficult to speak vague and keep the other person thinking about how stupid I can be. I'd prefer to not answer, than to answer it vague; it's not just stupid, it's even worse as it brings out the nervousness and the inability to confront. Just say it! say it on the face - whatever is that you feel like. I don't wanna guess,  Communicate to win . Whenever you are asked certain things, answer them and make sure you give a closure. Precisely, don't make it a thread (reminds me of my MS Outlook archives).  There was a small change required in some documentation, I tried to explain her (my colleague) - what needs to be done - over the messenger, guess what! after I wrote around a paragraph explaining her what to do, she replies "Try in English ;-)". PS : I know her saying "Try in ...

It's really savvy to have a gadget that does everything, for instance, a phone which is also a camera, a GPS, a TV remote, an alarm clock, an email reader, a torch light, an mp3 player, a pen drive, and of course an Internet browser. It's great to have everything at one place; but if you notice, on a daily basis, we don't even use 20% of all that a phone is capable of doing (at least, most of us don't). On the other hand, what do you think of a cannon SLR camera, a SanDisk pen drive, an ipod...blah blah blah. How would you like everything as a different unit? not so fancy, isn't it. My verdict : It's good to specialize in one thing and not dive in all directions to service a customer. I prefer carrying a camera (just a camera) to shoot great snaps, instead of a cell phone which takes average shots. PS : This reminds me of my computer science days where I learnt about Monolithic applications  (Such a geek ;-)).

We spent awesome time everywhere, but we forget to be courteous i.e. we spent quality time with our family, friends/colleagues, and relatives, but when we had to shift our base from one place to the other, we forgot to follow up and send a what's up mail/phone call to a lot of guys. Not exactly with friends coz it's always cool with friends, but with family/relatives, it really isn't cool to just come out of that place and lose touch. Go give a ring, send a message, do whatever you want...get in touch and forget the line long time han, good to see you.... (that's the American way of bumping into an old friend and trying to save face for not being in touch). PS: It's just a formality, I know!...but somehow, somewhere we know that we purposely lost touch. PS: When it comes to friends...thanks to FB and Gtalk.

It's not just hard, but sometimes impossible to try to get what you want , coz you know there is no chance that's gonna happen. Personally, you go on and on and on ...and you know, this is something which wont work. But, you still keep trying till your physically and mentally exhausted. That's very human, we have this thing called hope ;-) which can misguide us . In business, a call center guy makes a lot of sales calls and makes no sale, they say " those guys are just trying to sell the product without having any belief that the product is worth it and can make a difference to their customers ". I remember, I gave a presentation (basically, a sales pitch) to an audience where my boss was sitting like a decoy, after the presentation got over, he said " You were all pumped up when you were explaining about the product, but in the last slide where you announced the price of the product, your enthusiasm drained and it felt like you were not convinced with...

Freshies (and interested professionals) can digg this opportunity at SCIENCE EXPRESS ;-). If you want exposure, people skills, travel and fun, and lots of learning, then this is the right launch pad . Click the image to enlarge I don't see this as a job opportunity, for me the USP is that the employees will be living out of a suitcase for around 5-7 months (I always wanted to do that after college, not so much now), and of course, travel the country for free. On the other side, it has a lot of turn offs for guys who have a comfortable routine; those who wanna break away from the busy city life should capitalize on this opportunity. PS: I am no HR, I am not associated with Vikram Sarabhai Community Center ; I posted this opening coz I found it really cool for guys who are just out of college. If I were just out of college, I would have applied for this.  

Its really appropriate to say that   bad guys finish first , the problem is that you don't know about them till they go away; as long as they are with you, nothing seems different, but one fine day they fly away to someplace else which makes you think that its pure luck. Bad guy a.k.a smart ass is actually  a good guy , they seem bad coz: They always get what they want - they have a way with words, they know when to fall back, and when to go for it. Politics isn't bad as long as you are a politician ;-). Put yourself first,  don't be a nice guy always , lets give someone else a chance ;-). They are happy doing something really unconventional - I read/heard from a guy who was a surgeon (real big shot); this guy says 'there are a lot of surgeons out there who were toppers in their universities...forget about my body, I wont even let them cut my hair...they are that bad at their job'.  Nothing w...

M ake people assess you the way you want them to. They say, Don't judge the book by its cover, but you still do it. Intelligent/Clever openings is all it takes, doesn't it,  we are what we are and we do what we do . Early Judgement is all crap (Courtesy: Website ) Simple things such as your computer wallpaper, t-shirt doodle, signature, songs in your car, kind of slippers, choice of words, the perfume you wear, your voice and your email ID...blah blah blah....is what is required for anyone to make a judgement about a whole lot of things in you. If you want me to think the way you'd like me to, then you know what to do. Play smart ;-).  

The prices attached to special dishes is not based on what goes in its preparation, instead, it's all about how they present the dish and what the chef has to say about the so called exotic dish. That's called MISDIRECTION - What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes ( John Travolta said so ). It's simple, we pay the price only when we are made to believe that the dish/product is worth it, so, its not you who decides whats worth it and whats not. Happy being a consumer? :-D Chef attack : I made this Italian egged pasta spoilt with cheese  (that's the name I could think of) with yesterday's bacha-kucha kadak roties ;-) ; I had to put all the cheese and egg to make the roties consumable ;-). You see, I don't waste food...:-)

You take up an activity and you are going great guns for a month, then, without any drop in your passion/enthusiasm, slowly, you see yourself being pulled away from that activity. You try it again and again , but, damn it! it just doesn't happen. Finally, you are the lazy guy ...seems like you have started caring less for that activity. Timing is everything There is always the right time to do the right thing and being at the right time at the right place . This is sometimes the main reason why we are not able to do all that we want to. There is a lot of  flexibility at workplace ( that's a lie ;-) ) and home, and if you think that the kind of work you have taken up is not getting done by the same old 9-6 routine , then may be the timing is screwed up. Nothing intelligent about it, but still its the road less taken . To be done: Some personal activity ( PA ) (High priority) Scenario: Say, you started with a mindset that yo...