Hi, my blog is now shifted to www.sujithnair.com

"Processes" are the new "Objectives"

what are processes? and why are they worshiped and followed like a religion by some. For me those who do it without taking into consideration the real "objectives" are robots. From whatever common sense i have, i could understand that processes are laid and followed to make sure that the real objectives are achieved without going through unnecessary hiccups and bottlenecks. What it turns out today, some people use process in a manner that it itself results in hiccups and bottlenecks. And "real" objectives ?? Gone to dogs.. we have only one objective.... "follow the process"
Enough of frustration... had to pen it down. Not that i am against processes. I think they are very useful.... only if followed "sensibly"

I ... a rebel ??

When one thinks differently, it is more likely that he/she gets branded as a rebel. And, when you are in india, you can be doubly sure about that. The objective of following a trend or the so called norm is to grab all learnings. Two situations can never be same. Ofcourse, they can be similar... but same? i doubt it. So there cannot be a ready made solution for everything.
In technical projects (ofcourse in other projects as well), there are situations when you can make use of historical data, processes and industry norms. It always help to standardize. But does it always provide a best solution? There should be some flexibility to provide customized solution. There were times in the so called web 1.0 era, when people did not think beyond proprietary solutions. It was a norm. No one would dare come out with something for free. Then some rebels like linus torvalds would dare to think differently. Suddenly the whole world started talking about opensource. Its not that the concept of opensource didn't exist till then. But you would need somebody to make an impact. The whole buzz around web 2.0 is about sharing, collaboration etc. This is now slowly becoming a norm and there are people who follow this model blindly. Don't know for how long? The real value is lost somewhere.
Earlier most companies would follow a typical water fall model. Any deviation from this model was considered to be a mistake. Slowly, the "rebels" started proposing different kinds of models for different requirements. But conventional thoughts still hold the ground, which says there has to be a model and/or process to do things correctly and continuously.
In a product development environment, random changes were still discouraged. But for how long? Now you have the internet domain and some websites proudly identify themselves as "product company". Nothing wrong. But when you try to import the set of processes, organizational structures, development models etc as it is into your organization business, you tend to forget real objectives. These objectives have to be in sync with business model and market requirements. Any ready made solution will not work again. No wonder, there emerged different models yet again for internet product companies. Models/methodologies like RAD, Agile, RUP etc were formalized and accepted. Though they may be very different from an otherwise conventional model, but who cares. The solution is important and not the medium.
There has to be a balanced "rebel" in each one of us. The lack of it will result in stagnation. The more of it will lead to instability. The right balance will help in "evolution". Hmm... so am i "rebellious" or "evolutionary" or "futurist". Well, who cares :-)

Naukri : Job search 3.0

It has been a keenly awaited enhancement and needless to say, we all were excited about it. It is the new algorithmic tweak in the jobsearch engine. We have enhanced the algorithm to throw more relevant results. Also, a keyword "suggester "is now available for the jobseekers. It is truly a "suggester" as it has its own intelligence and therefore is not a mere "autocomplete" feature. There is a well thought algo behind this small yet powerful feature. We have taken the first step towards a long but interesting journey. The new engine will empower us to experiment with new tweaks and enhancements. Watch out for this search engine. The work has just begun.

Outsourcing/In-sourcing

I am not an avid reader, but when my friend anshum praised and suggested a book to me, i thought i'll give it a try. I am still not finished with "The world is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman, but could agree and relate to many of the author's observations. The important observation was conceding part of your work to others. He talked about big business houses outsourcing and in-sourcing their work and benefiting from it. This is not just limited to big business units, but is relevant everywhere as well. The old school of thought was to accumulate as much work as possible, or sometimes beyond it. The focus was to stay in control and have more direct authority to drive it. There was a sense of insecurity. As a result of this approach, the focus from the core activity spreads across other activities, which sometimes may not be your strength and beyond your competency.
Today corporates are ready to part with some part of their business activities and concentrate on their core activity. Idea is to let the best people do the work. The resistance to part with is no longer there. The main requirement however here is "trust". If you don't trust your vendor, or if the vendor is not able to come good on your trust, the decision may backfire. Which is why a thorough analysis is required before such decisions are taken.
This strategy is well implemented within a team also. I have seen some good leaders delegating work with ease and achieving their objectives efficiently. Some new leads can be seen clutching on to important tasks, even if they don't have time and resources for it. This is not good for anybody and for the bigger objective.
The sooner we understand this, better it is for us. I could co-relate this with another book i was reading called "now, discover your strengths". This book emphasizes on discovering your strengths and working on it to get the best result, rather than concentrating and working on your weakness. Though this was more about soft skills, i thought it is in sync with what is discussed by Friedman in his book.

Sujith Nair - PMP

Hmm.. sounds good. Well, not a big deal for many, but it is a refreshing feeling for me to be a certified Project Management Professional. Frankly, I didn't study seriously in the beginning, but towards the end pushed myself. The main concern however was that my 25K of examination fee will go in the drain if i don't do well :-) Got a lot of support from shikha (my wife). I must admit that for a lazy guy like me and from a not so big company like naukri, it wasn't easy. Firstly the industry I am in do not follow processes by book. I don't have the kind of process exposure that a PM from a wipro or TCS has. However, my planning and execution is somewhat strong (this is what i feel) and it did help me relate to the questions asked in the exam. Something new in my academic life has happened after 7 yrs.. whoops.... (7 yrs makes me feel older). Well, but that did help and now i have come back into my "study" mode. Feels good to be a student again... atleast I feel a little younger ;-)

Homepage - new look !

Have made some changes on my homepage. Go take a look .... Couple of changes that i have made are,

• Changed the base colour to black. Well, black is my latest choice. It looks cool and rocking than a simple white.
• Have added the flicker "badge" at the bottom of the page. Watch out for my latest pics.

I am planning to add more content and sections to my site. Have to get the space increased before that. I am planning to install wordpress and then take it from there. Don't want to waste time coding different sections, which wordpress provides ready-made. I'll rather use that time to add content and put some cool features.