The Intricacies of a Lead

It was late November 2008 and confused soul was walking around the Sona Towers building wondering what should be his next step. Yes, it was me who was just then given a choice of heading a team in Technical Line 2 Support. Prior to this I had taken up a few responsibilities and probably lived up to the expectations of whoever was observing me. Finally I decided to plung into the offer and accepted the role to lead a team of 5 members. I agree I was a little lucky to have been offered such a role at the begining of my career. My then manager probably liked to take calculated risks and tough decisions.

Initially it was a 5 member team of all guys. It is equally easy and difficult to manage an all guys team! There was a lot of learning which had to take place as I had not formally lead a team before. Also, there was a requirement of a sixth member in the team as five people managing the show was pretty difficult at the initial stages. Hence I decided to be a part of one of the small teams. So it was now a dual role for me where I had to perform and also see the bigger picture of things and also be responsible enough so that the team can look up to me as a lead.

It was always a belief for me to develop a team informally. Things had to be professional wherever required; but at the same time, it had to be working in a mode where the team members do not have any barriers while operating. To take out this barrier, the environment created in the team is very important. I was lucky enough to have 5 good folks with me who knew each other from before. This informality had to be brought between me and the team as well since the environment was dependant on me also. Since I had worked with a few of them and knew the others, it did not take too much of a time for me to bring this in the team. Also the fact that I had decided to operate in a mode where I was working along with them did make a difference here as they felt me as one among them. The next hurdle was the knowledge in the team. Though we had worked on one of the systems under us, we as a team did not have so much of an in-depth knowledge for operating as a full fludge Level 2 support team. We had to build this knowledge with the help of the relevant people and ofcourse through self-analysis. This lead us to a very long journey where every single ticket was a new discovery. I should thank my team and the onshore co-ordinators for having patience to really learn through the job. It was a very good team effort displayed!

There were many more challenges ahead for us. The hierarchial structure of support operations changed at this point of time and we had to report to a new manager. The entire setup had to be changed. For me as a lead, it was important to make sure that the work is not affected and things went on as they were. At this point of time, I decided to be the face of the team to the manager so that atleast micro-management need not be done. It worked out this way and the new manager was encouraging enough to let us operate in the way we wanted. After this re-structuring, I took a whole new role. Though I continued with whatever I was doing before, I started to operate as a contributor to the entire support operational team apart from my own team. Here again I need to thank my team as my involvement within the team had reduced to some extent as I was concentrating more on setting up processes, operations and other essentials of a bigger team. I along with a few others really went off the way to setup things in the new team. It was more like setting up operations for a mini-organization where we had to consider all the parameters involved in operating as an organization.

I, at this point of time had moved into a role of an on the job learner and I sincerely thank my manager for having given me oppurtunities where I was able to implement the ideas which I had in mind. It was a point of time where we were working in a India and UK shift. So it was almost 5 extra hours put in work every single day. We did not mind doing it as the work was so exciting that we were self-driven. Then came the challenge of attrition in the team. It was a big challenge for we as a team to handle it as we did not want the routine to be affected due to this. To minimize the risk I had to negotiate for a new resource in the team who had already had the system knowledge. I felt it was more proper that way as itsaved us a lot of time and we can get into a BAU mode very quickly. Luckily for me, there were people available with the pre-requisites I had. Also, the other team members responded positively. So, the business went on as usual again!

At this point of time, the hierarchial structure changed again and I wanted to operate in the same way (again it was my concern that the team should not be affected by whoever there manager is). It was for a simple reason that if they feel the difference, the deliverables may be affected. Also due to this change in hierarchy, I had to take a larger role to manage 13 people now. It was a call which I had to make as I had to again enter into areas where I do not have a clue about. I finally decided to take it up. Afterall 'Spiderman bhi toh risk leta hai!' :) ...

A new journey of learning started for me. By this time, the processes were almost in place for the entire operations. So, I did not have to bother so much about it. Hence I started concentrating more on the team. With the bigger team on hand, I realised the importance of a few behavioral factors to be present in the team. With a support kind of a setup, Trust plays a very important role in the team. Since, the interaction to some extent happens directly to the customers, one needs to just trust the team members. This is not so important when one leads a technical team. Team dynamics play a very important role here. I did fail at places where technical solutions had to be given, but I felt there were people who can do that in a better way. But yes, it would have been better if I had the technical competancy to a good level as well! I don't really have to concentrate on that. Hence I started concentrating on grooming the people in the team where they can grow to a level where they can handle issues and people by themselves. My belief had now shifted to a team of high performers. Also, I had my own selfishness of my career path in it as I had to move out of the team for realising my dreams else where. (I am being frank with you all today, so please don't take it the other way :) ... ). So, if the team is self-reliant, it does not make much of a difference if the lead is present or not. My belief at this point of time had shifted to a mode which said "A team is performing at its best when a lead is not required!"

To my luck again, I had to move onshore for a short assignment. I did not want a replacement for me now as I had decided to groom the team. I spread my responsibilities to the team members and again, I thank my manager for letting me take this risk and ofcourse my team who accepted it as a challenge and took it up very positively. I also had another challenge at onshore. Apart from my normal work, I had quite a few tasks. So, I was not able to concentrate much on the team. Kudos to each of them in the team for having displayed a great show at this point of time! After my return from onshore, things were as usual and I returned to my role. But at this point of time, I had decided to move out of my role. It was more of a personal aspiration which I had decided to run behind. After a good round of KT to the new lead, I moved out of the team. There were few more things which were pending from my end as well. There were a few on-going issues in the team which had to be dealt. But, I decided to move-on as issues will always be there and one needs to just tackle it as and how they come :).

It was a very good journey of learning for 16 months for me. Thanks to all the people who were a part of my journey and gave me confidence, encouragement and space to explore.

Cheers,
Shreyas

The Transition…

The Transition…

It 2:30PM on the 5^th of February 2010; I was busy restructuring the team at office for a new cost-effective way of working. Anand Sawkar was waiting for me patiently. We had a flight to catch at 6PM to the national capital, Delhi. I wrapped up the presentation and we were off to Mekhri circle to catch a bus to BIAL. We reached a little early and checked in before time. The plane tickets were booked by Anand around 2 months back. Hence it worked out cheap for us. Upon reaching the Delhi airport, we took a cab from there to reach the Nizhamuddin train station. Anand had booked a train from there to Dehradun. We had a not so quick dinner as we had ample time with us before the arrival of the train. At 12AM we were finally on our way to Dehradun to attend a Punjabi wedding of our colleague. With a lot of noise from the group which were traveling with us to Dehradun, we were able catch a good sleep of around 4-5 hrs. We arrived at Gundeep’s place at around 6:30AM on 6^th Feb. Then began our journey of attending a Punjabi wedding!!

Dehradun is a pretty old hill station of India residing in the Madhya Himalaya (Himachal) Range of the Himalayas. It exists from the time of the East India Company. Education is the main industry in this wonderful city of hills. Hence it can be considered as a recession proof market of India! In and around Dehradun, one can find many schools and colleges even today.

The functions had started 2 days back. We had missed the ‘Mehndi’ where the girls in the marriage beautify their hands with designs. Gundeep patiently explained both of us the various functions and the rituals of a Punjabi wedding. Things went above our head though! This was a day prior to the marriage. There is a ritual called “Maili” among the Punjabis where the bride is not expected to take bath and to be in old clothes. This is basically to make her look more beautiful on the day of wedding.

The rest of the morning of 6^th went in me and Anand loafing around Dehradun and passing some time and preparing ourselves for the long night and the really tiring days coming ahead. It was a very good view of Massourie from the terrace of the house. We then discovered the tiny Tibetian settlement in Dehradun. Then a little time pass here and there made it lunch time. It was time for more timepass and this time Ramandeep (Gundeep’s cousin) joined us too. We then understood the essence of the Punjabis. The talk with him was very valuable to us as it told a lot about the way of living of the Punjabis. A little insight on the opportunities created in the world was also discussed as general topics.

The Punjabis don’t have a specific time for marriage functions as such. As and how things go well, they decide to get married. Only the day of the marriage is fixed. The time is at their stake and it is their responsibility to complete the functions before the day ends. They are also very “Dildaar”. They are passionate about life and very helpful from within. They also have this great character of making sure that the guests are given utmost importance. It is come with their culture and their way of living.

A few of them to share – Gundeep’s bro (Ashu) was passionate about capturing moments and posing in front of the camera. Ramandeep’s friend was passionate about riding a bullet with an empty number plate on it. His comment was “The max I have to pay is a 100 buck; which makes it 3000 per month. But I am atleast satisfied by doing it!” Phew!! It looks weird though, but I felt that people of this kind of passion will only make a difference at the end of the day.

It was then the time for a few rituals before the cocktail party. Not sure about the name of them though. People from the groom’s family came to the brides’ place and gift exchange happens. After they leave, the bride is made to wear a sacred thread around her hand. The bridge’s mother then has to cross over the wooden slab on which the bride sat during the ceremony. ‘Prasad’ is later distributed among the women. All these rituals are an integral part of a Punjabi wedding where a great display of relationship bonding is made.

The next ritual was to get sacred water from the Gurudwara. Since the bride wouldn’t have taken bath on the previous day, the next day, she is expected to take bath in the sacred water brought from the Gurudwara by her sister-in-law.

The 3Ds – Dance, Dhol and Daaru are the essentials of any Punjabi wedding. Every small function has to have dance associated with it. The people don’t mind doing it as it is the way they are brought up.

Then was the ceremony where all the people in the Bride’s family made the Bride wear a pair of ‘Chudian’ (bangles – one red and the other green). ‘Sangeet’ (Punjabi folk songs) followed this ceremony. Here again the energy of the Punjabis is much appreciable. All of them were completely involved in all the celebrations with utmost display of enthusiasm. Post Sangeet was the cocktail party and dance floor was open. It was fun dancing with people who were filled with energy even at 11 in the night! There of course was a dual course of dinner in between to entertain our stomach! The first day of the marriage came to end finally at around 12AM. I and Anand went to a good soundless sleep knowing that many such tiring days are awaiting us!

I woke up early in the morning on the next day. Anand was still fast asleep and I guess was still digesting the heavy dinner! I heard noises outside as soon as I woke up. There was one more ceremony going on. I couldn’t attend it though. It was a ceremony where the bride is made to wear the auspicious bangle which she has to wear it for the rest of her life. But I later discovered that due to changing trends and modernization, a new rule has been put in place where the bride is expected to wear the bangle for a minimum of 41 days. After a quick round of breakfast, it was time for us to leave to the marriage hall where another ritual – “Milni” was organized.

There was a huge noise of a band approaching the marriage hall. I and Anand went near the band to discover that they were from the groom’s side. The Bride’s relatives waited patiently for around 30 mins to receive the groom’s relatives. This act of the groom’s side meeting the bride’s side is called Milni. Here, the equals in the family tree of each side exchange garland and gifts. The groom’s side then approached the entrance of the marriage hall. All the people of the Bride’s side try and stop the people entering by demanding money in exchange of them entering the hall. After a good round of negotiation, the groom’s relatives were let inside the marriage hall. This is when the breakfast was arranged for all. Food is one thing which you don’t have to worry about in a Punjabi wedding. You will be fed and made to drink enough for your life!

There was a round of photo session in the marriage hall. Balli, the groom had a royal entry with his ‘kirpaan.’ Kirpaan is the sword which a Sardar is very proud to own. It is a symbol of victory and pride. The bride was completely decked up. The entry of a bride to the stage wass no less than a ‘Maharani’s walk’ to the throne! The guy received his to be maid with utmost respect. The photo session continues…

The entire concentration then shifted to the Gurudwara. This is where the marriage took place. The marriage began with welcoming both the sides. The guy’s side settled down first; Then the bride’s side. A ritual of ‘kanya dhaan’ in which the bride’s father officially hands the responsibility of the bride into the hands of the groom was carried on. There are four ‘pheras’ around the sacred place in the Gurudwara. The guru reads the granth in the due course of the four pheras. Then they are officially declared as married. This whole act of the marriage was sentimental. I could see the real emotions in the bride’s eyes where she burst out with a thought of leaving her parents officially.

The scene then shifted back to the marriage hall where a round of lunch was awaiting our ever hungry stomach. After a good round of food, it was time for ‘vidai.’ The bride then officially is out of the family and enters a new home to light it up! This again is a highly emotional scene where the bride throws ‘chaval’ (rice) backwards from her hands over her head without turning back and walks out of the house. She is then driven away to the groom’s house and will be received with due respect.

By the time all these rituals got over it was 6 in the evening. We were asked to take 2 hours of rest and gear up for the reception given from the guys’ side. It was in a different hall. That night there were drizzles and we were waiting inside the car waiting for Gundeep’s relatives from Saharanpur to show them the route to the hall. We went into a conversation with Vinod, the servant at Gundeep’s place about Garhwal, Vinod’s home town. Garhwal is a beautiful place even today as it has not been very much explored by the Indians apart from a few foreigners (thanks to ‘Lonely Planet’) and the locals.

We finally entered the marriage hall at 10:30 in the night. The music in the party hall goes on till only 10 in the night due to the government rule. There was a last round of meet with all the wonderful people and we went back home for sleeping pretty early. After a fun packed 2 day wedding at Dehradun, the eyes closed with a good memory of the wedding and a new hope of meeting new people with new adventures the next day…

We woke up early in the morning on the 8^th of February. Gundeep’s dad drove us to a bus stop where we get buses to Rishikesh. Yes, we were heading to Rishikesh for a fun filled rafting experience. Anand had again booked the package online at Garhwal Himalayan White water rafting. They are into rafting and other adventure sports for more than 15 years now! We reached Rishikesh at around 9 in the morning. We had to reach Rashi’s place (another colleague of ours). Puneet Agarwal had also joined us at the bus stop in Dehradun. The three of us were seated at different places I the local bus to Rishikesh. An hours’ drive and we were at Rashi’s place near IDPL. We spoke to her parents, placed our baggages at her place and rushed to Muni ki Reti in Rishikesh. This is where the rafting office was located. To our bad luck, none of the ATMs were working there on that day. But we had paid 70% of the amount online. So, a little bargaining and we had enough cash with us to carry-on till the end of rafting.

The jeep took us through the roads that were made by cutting down the mountains. It was almost a 30 min drive from Muni ki Reti. I saw the sacred Ganges for the first time in my life. What a sight it was. Greenish water amidst the mountain range, terrace farming on the mountains, the small settlements on the banks of the river and on the hill tops. The whole sight of this new world made me numb. I had no words to describe it. All I was doing was to stare outside the window to catch even the slightest sight of Ganges. Then came the place where we had to stay for more than 24 hours. We had taken a 1.5 day package inclusive of food. The welcome was with a small climb down the mountain to reach the base camp. It was on the banks of the Ganges. Covered with white sand and the flowing river water!

There were no appointments, no to-do lists, nothing to do apart from photography and a bit of talking. More important than all, there was no mobile signal! The moment I saw that, the whole expression on my face turned to that of a complete rejoice. As though, I had gone to an ideal place. I just lost myself in the lap of Mother Nature. The two days of marriage rush had made us very tired. But, the moment we entered this awesome place, all our tiredness went in the air; as though someone has done a magical spell to drive it away!

After a quick round of photography session, we went for breakfast and were asked to assemble near the entrance once we get ready for the first days’ rafting. I had done kayaking before, hence had a basic idea of how to row and float in case of anything. We had to start our rafting from Marine drive which is around 27kms from Rishikesh and around 20kms from our base camp. On the way to Marine drive, we had to collect our rafting equipments from Snow Leopard Pvt. Ltd. All the equipments were imported from US. Each raft was worth more than 3-4 lakh INR!

We came to the starting point of the rafting session. Rana was our guide for the day. Apart from him, there were two more of them Dharmesh and Ashok. After a quick round of introduction and a 15 min practice, we were all set for the raft! We were covering only 10kms on the first day as there was a trek planned for us as well. We went through the rapids hitting them as though they were our enemies. Well, they actually were our enemies at that point of time; simply because, if we didn’t hit them they would have hit us to death! After a series of level 2 rapids, we were now pretty confident about rafting. Next were the level 3 rapids. The waves were very calm until we went near them. The moment we entered, we were sucked inside as though we have touched a picture plant! There was one thing our guide told us – “Stronger the waves, stronger you hit them.” Hence before entering any rapid, we were increasing the speed of our raft. We were also given instructions to hit the rapid with the front of the raft towards the rapid. All these instructions were actually helpful to me and Anand as we were sitting in the front facing the waves. After crossing the 10-15 feet high waves at the level 3 rapid, there was a sense of achievement that I could feel within. The real Shreyas started to roar I guess!!

After a good 10km rafting session, we had a home made authentic north Indian lunch. From there we went for a trek to Neer Water Fall. It was also nearby. It was a 10 min drive to the base of the trek from our camp. It was ages since I had trekked. Hence I was all excited for the trek. There is a village towards the top of this hill by name Neer. Hence the waterfall is also named after the village. The government of India has made proper places to rest in the due course of the trek. There are seats all the way to the top. There are picnic spots done as well!

We were not able to reach the top as it was getting dark and the weather was also getting bad. We reached an area where the Indian government had built a bridge for the villagers to cross daily. Must say, it was one of the most amazing spots I have ever seen! Even though I have seen many hidden waterfalls, there was a difference in this waterfall. It was made of the same glacier as the Ganges. It shared the source with the Ganges and ultimately joined the Ganges. We were thrilled to see the natural beauty. I along with the guide Theku went a little further as Anand and Puneet were a little slow in climbing. I needed perfect spots for my shots. But I seriously missed my tripod this time around.

After a good photography session I continued my walk with Theku. He was from Nepal which was a 2 day drive by bus. He had learnt rafting while young and had come to Rishikesh in search of a job. Since his core competencies matched, he joined this adventure club. We were then discussing about the beauty of Nepal and the unexplored places in Nepal. Since my interest is also traveling and trekking, our talks just went by till we reached down where our jeep was waiting for us.

By this time, the weather had become bad with drizzles starting. By the time we reached the camp, it started to rain. We just sat and relaxed for the rest of the day. We had a real good dinner at the kitchen of the adventure camp. We had the dinner along with our guides, cook and driver. The rains did not take the name of stopping. Anand slept early that day. I and Puneet spoke for sometime and slept. But it was so cold that I woke up at 2 in the morning to check the weather outside. It was still raining heavily and the water level in the Ganges had risen by around 5-7 feet. We finally woke up by 8 in the morning just to discover that it was still raining. Ashok came to us and said that we can freshen up, have breakfast and leave for rafting. We were all excited again for a second day of rafting where we had to cover level 4 rafting!

Rafting started after breakfast. We drove till Shivpuri and started rafting. Today Theku was our guide. The Ganges was furious than the previous day and the level 4 rafting which we were supposed to do had automatically become level 4+. We were all determined to complete the rafting session of 17kms without a single fall! We became more aggressive than the previous day and easily covered the level 3 rafting. Then came the big guy. Theku just told us one thing before we entered “Remember guys, the water in this rapid has so much force that it can rip you apart and throw the raft to wherever it feels like.” Yes, it could have done it. The waves were as high as 20 feet! We were all the more aggressive with this rapid and faced it with a furious round of rafting. We were hit badly by the waves and we enjoyed it! It was an out of the world feeling to just be out of a level 4+ rafting session without being pulled into the water! “Well done team! GANGA!” was the cheer. The rest of the raft went on well without any hasles. Finally by 12 noon the entire 17km rafting session came to an end. We were blessed by hailstones for our achievement!

We then headed towards Madras Café for a good round of lunch. We were initially thinking of Chotiwala but we had cross the river and the boating guy was charging us 200 bucks. Hence we decided against it. We returned to Rashi’s place as Puneet had to leave to Dehradun. Once Puneet went back, me and Anad went around Rishikesh and saw the different temples, Ram jhula, Laxman jhula and many other ashrams. We then arrived at the Paramarth for witnessing the world famous Ganga aarti.

This is a daily routine for all the local Sanskrit students to assemble during sunset and worship Ganges. Since Ganges in India is treated as god, she is worshipped with bhajans and a lot of devotees assemble to witness this 30 minute event. At the same time, government has taken proper measures to keep the Ganges clean. In fact Rishikesh is the cleanest part of Ganges once can see which is not polluted even after so much population and popularity. People are not allowed to put any sort of ‘arpans’ inside the Ganges.

After this short visit to Rishikesh, I and Anand went back to Rashi’s place to finally meet her parents with some time in our hands. It was an amazing experience how different the thought of people in North and South of India is. Relationships and values of a relationship are the closest as far as I have seen in the northern part of the nation, Though it is a matter of fact that it depends on how you take it; but on a larger scale, I feel north India beats the southern part when it comes to valuing relationships. Must tell you, Rashi’s mom is an amazing cook!

After a good round of dinner it was time for me to leave to Delhi. I had a flight booked on Wednesday at 5PM from Delhi. So, I had decided to visit Surajkund in Haryana (near the Del-Har border). It was 4:30AM on 10^th when I reached ISBT. I put the luggage in the cloak room in ISBT, took bath in the public toilet and set my journey towards Surajkund. But, the journey was taking me too much of money as the border had to be crossed. Hence I decided against it and decided to see Delhi instead. I took am auto at 5:30AM and went to Redfort. I had to wait for 2 more hours for it to open. Hence I visited all the temples (Gurudwara, Jain templae, Ram temple and Masjid) on the Chandni chowk – Delhi 6. I then went into the metro station of Chandni Chowk just to check out how metro works in Delhi. Then it was 8 by the time I came back to Red fort. I had a quick glance on the Red fort and by 9:30 I was out and tired. Completely burnt out due to tiredness. I had developed fever as well. Hence I decided to return to the airport and take rest before I board my flight. After a lazy breakfast at CCD, I headed towards the airport. After a nice 4hr nap, I boarded the flight to Bangalore.

After all this, you might be wondering about the significance of the title. Well, these 5 days made me stretch beyond my limits. From a busy life to a slow moving city life to a immobile serene life to a ultra fast city life. I saw it all…

Hoping to have many more lovely trips like this. Cheers to all the lovely people I met in the due course of this trip and three cheers to my fellow travelers – Anand Sawkar and Puneet Agarwal!

The Beauty of a blank mind

This compilation is an output of a few days of mine where I have been blank from the top without letting my brain work the normal way. Wanted to just experience it. Also, given the fact that it has been made to stretch for quite sometime now, wanted to give it a little break as well ;) (Just hope it is not too long though). So, here goes the experiences and a few observations in this one month where my brain has literally not thought in its usual way.

Discovery of the defaults:

There are a few default activities which the neurons will be pre-programmed for. These activities are the ones essential for you in life. For a normal social living with a commonly agreed behavior. They are the ones without which you might not be identified as a normal human being by the external society. On a normal day, this whole process of facts would have lead me to a lot of queries from within questioning the existence of such external influences. But since I had switched my mind off, it was at peace; just accepting the facts and moving on to the next.

These pre-programmed activities actually allow you to re-discover yourself and it lets you at times to discover what you actually have been doing since quite sometime now. The derivation out of this is something which took me by surprise. (It was more of a logical derivation which stuck me while writing this up :P). The point is, if this act of yours which you would have done sometime back and hence registered in your 100+TB of memory allows you to feel happy and satisfied, you have actually discovered your passion! It might not be true always though.

A few built-ins:

In the due course of you playing various roles in your life in order to take it forward, there are a few more characteristics which you would be embedded with. These also to a great extent qualify for being default. But the reason why I have not categorized them as defaults is the fact that these characteristics gets associated with you by choice and not by force. Though you might be pushed into doing a few things by force, at the end of it, they will eventually turn-out to be a choice (because if you had a better choice, you would have gone ahead and done that instead). Even these gets executed without any hassles without much input signals reaching the brain which demands it to work.

A few forced actions:

This was the most difficult part to deal with in the due course of the transition. These are the actions which you would have to perform since you have committed your presence else where. It may work or any other personal commitments which you might not have intense interest in. But, due to the fact that you have committed your contribution, you will be forced to stretch your brain there. Now, this is the case if the brain is not left blank as well. But, there will be a difference in execution of the act when it comes the brain being left blank. This was one observation I had when I introspected and thought back as to if there was a better way of handling things. Well, there actually was a difference. Most of the acts performed were based on the built-in capabilities which I had and the outcome of a solution for a problem was something which I would have obviously done (logically going by the historic record etc). This lead me to a thought process which said "It might be the case where the history speaks and the experiences of history provides a solution". Well, I couldn't arrive at any conclusion though.

Creative actions:

It did not come to my surprise that there were not many creative actions performed in this period of time. There were no actions which spoke of me being different from what I would have done with a 1-2 months of lesser experience in life (It might not have been humongous different though...). Even the interest levels for me towards the acts performed were at a lower end. I was not the same old enthusiastic person and to my surprise it was very evident!

I am not planning to bug you guys any more now! At the end of it, the only moral which I could practically prove out of this exercise is "Thinking is the source of Innovation. Historic events provide solutions to any problem in an expected manner which the world might accept as it is supposed to be proven; but this will not be the ultimate solution to the problem which would have been better dealt if there was some innovation attached. Be foolish; be hungry!"

Shreyas

The Urge Within...

There is always a trigger for me in life to go ahead with something! This time it was this movie “3 Idiots”. Don’t worry, I am not going to describe the story here and reveal it to the world even before they watch it!

I always believed in this concept of “Listening to the heart” (though I did not do it). The urge within you to achieve something makes you really love it!! I should admit the fact that the last one and a half years have been really a paradigm shift for me in life where I have gone running behind my dreams. Though I have stopped temporarily, the urge within me still exists. The fire still burns. I still get goose bums!!

Let me get into the market realities. How many entrepreneurs had we seen when we were children? You could count them on your fingers (I am considering entrepreneurs to be as people who start companies here though I am wrong in assuming this note). And how many do we see today? Any thoughts of why this transition has happened? Any idea where were all these bloody brilliant ideals and bloody nerve before? They were all inside you! Inside your own mind and inside your own self!! Here are my few thoughts on this… They are pretty straight forward infact!

India has always been a land of opportunities. This is the case with most of the developing nations (not that developed nations are not!). Due to the onshore-offshore model which was introduced by the software industry, people in this developing nation started to become financially independent. Since it has been quite an amount of time since the advent of this industry and considering the fact that the competition is building, the growth at the top started to stagnate. So, the only choice left was to quit and start! This is the case with a selected few though!

Then came a set of highly motivated young professionals who wanted to prove to the world that they are different (please not to mistake this as their ego quotient). They were young, did not bloody care for money! Had confidence of winning this world! Had the motivation to slog their ass out in the market. Had the perseverance to sustain in the market even after getting royally raped in it! They also had the ideas with them and the courage to innovate! Now, does this sound like a perfect combination to you all? Well… if you ask me its not! Out of all these bunch of guys, only those went ahead who actually had the urge in them! Who had the passion for whatever they were trying to do! For doing what ever they found was good and not the world! This is what is required guys… Even if you don’t have the best of the degrees, even if you are not having the best of the ideas, even if you are not out of a tier 1 college, it doesn’t bloody matter!! Only thing that matters is the nerve that drives you crazy about one small thing! Go for it guys!! Just go for it!! (Yes, you would need patience for people to accept it as at the end of it, they are going to pay for it!)

Thanks to Aamir for this one more breath taking movie!!

Importance of transportation for an economy

Was on my way to visit the economic model which India copied from (initially ofcourse...). Yes, you guessed it right; in UK for a short assignment. Had heard a lot about it having one of the best plans with respect to the city transport and one of the very well marketed tourism department. Got an oppurtunity to see it first hand now. So, here going my thought process on it...

My flight to London was boring initially. But later discovered that the person next to me was the owner of a company. So talks began about discussions on a few business models. Since I was involved in a few startups since more than an year, I was more curious about things; the "do's and dont's" etc... Our discussions entered into one of my areas on interest; "The tourism department". Well... its a known fact that the Indian tourism department is not basically well marketed. Also, there is not enough support from the transport department to fill the gaps of the tourism department. Though this is majorly controlled politically, there is still a lot of scope where there can be a lot of improvement which can brought in by the private players. "Guys like you should plunge into it and not just talk about it." Those were the exact words the other guy said in the due course of the discussion. The discussions carried on with a few other things... But this thought of tourism stayed back with me and I wanted to observe a bit more closely while in UK (also considering travel is more close to my heart...)

Then came the day when I landed in London. Right after I landed, I knew where to go (well managed directions...). Went right into the counter of National Express to get tickets to Bristol (This is where I am staying now... till Jan'10). I could see boards all through the travel. Every small town; every small station had directions well before we actually reached there. I am not saying that this isn't there in India. This is very well there especially if you travel via NHs or SHs. Even in Bristol station, I exactly knew where to get down. This is one thing which is backed up very well by technology. There are automated announcements (not sure if its completely automated and linked to the navigator in the bus or it is driver controlled though...) which makes the life easy even for a person who has not travelled before.

Days went by and I was travelling down to Slough... I had to take a train (rather 2 trains) to reach Slough. This was again a first time experience for me as I did not know where to go in a station. Again, there were no hastles. Everything was well directed. Just that you as a traveller needed to have a little bit of common sense :). While at the parway station at Bristol (where I reached an hour early), I again did not have any problems. The customers are informed almost 45 mins prior to the travel with ample amount of information with enough time-time updates. Even if there is a last minute rescheduling, it is very well taken care and every system is interconnected so that there isn't any wrong information and the customers are not taken by any surprise. Even the train collision etc is managed well through proper information sharing... This took me back to MIS classes though. This is where the discussion with the CEO in the flight became more practical. Things were more clear... But this will require a lot of financial backing as well.

Going back to the parkway station... unlike the Indian booking system, UK has a concept of a lesser pay in the booking if the booking is early. Now this is pure ECONOMICS and an intelligent way to implement it as well. Not really sure if the money which is paid earlier is used for getting returns out of it... but its a really amazing concept and a win-win situation as well... Also, there was a lot of marketing in the train stations as well... all the offers for the new year with a guide book... travel book... reach etc etc... We (Indians) should seriously learn from their marketing methodologies now. Now that we have copied their Law, a bit of tourism and administration... its not a bad idea to copy this as well if it results in earning a few bucks :)...

Well... though it might not have been something different if I had written it if I hadn't come here; just that it is more authentic now as I am having the first hand information... Signinging off as of now... Until next time... Keep inventing... discovering... innovating... digging!!

Distribution Management – Decline of an Industry

Background:

XML Pvt. Ltd (name changed as the company still exists in a different sector) entered the market with a vision of being the market leaders in home appliances. They entered the market with Television as their only product in the market. When they entered the market, there were not many major players in that segment in India. Soon they became very famous and every household had its name associated with the company. The company had a wide network of local dealers and supplies. XML had very powerful sales forces who were locals from the various states in India and the market penetration was easy for XML. Slowly, XML expanded its product line from beyond TV and started manufacturing Washing machines, refrigerators and other electronic home appliances.

XML was an innovative organization with the R&D department consisting of engineers from the top engineering colleges of India who were working with the future technologies. Hence it always took its customers by surprise and quality was never a problem for XML as its products usually persisted for more than 10 years without a single complaint.

Supplier problem:

The main supplies XML had was of ICs, the manufacturing parts and cartons. It had tied up with various local vendors for supply of manufacturing parts and cartons. For sophisticated parts like high-end LCD and other ICs, it had tie-ups with international vendors.

The initial problems with the suppliers started when after monopolizing the television market, XML started demanding from the suppliers. The suppliers were given a credit period as high as 6 months. The suppliers also did not have much of a choice because XML being the major market player, if they are associated with XML, their value proposition increased at that point of time. Hence, XML exploited this situation even more. Even if the credit period was 6 months, the suppliers were being paid after a year or two. This lead to the descend of many local suppliers since they were not able to sustain the pressure of money.

On the other hand, the international suppliers were paid on-time. This increased the grudge in the local suppliers. They started meeting among each other without the knowledge of the company and started forming unions. Since the employees were also local people, the suppliers started encouraging for the employee unions. Finally after a lot of strikes, XML had to move its production unit to its headquarters.

In the new headquarters, XML decided to tie-up with more suppliers and spread its suppliers from over the entire country. This led them to take command over the few local suppliers they had. But this also put them into a lot of problems as the other suppliers were a lot more demanding with respect to the credit period. But XML did not change its strategy for the credit period. The suppliers now wanted to teach XML a lesson. Hence they now started to push all the rejected pieces into the manufacturing units by bribing the employees. This affected the quality of the products to a larger extent and the customer complaints started to increase. Since XML had never faced such a situation, it was not quick enough in responding to the customer queries and the service earned a very bad name.

Due to this, the international suppliers also did not see XML as the vendor they wanted to be associated with. Hence they also started to disassociate themselves with XML. This was a major hit-back for XML as it lost most of its suppliers. At the same time, competition had become fiercer in the market. Smoothening of the government norms had led to international brands enter the market. Hence the suppliers started to concentrate on tie-ups with the international brands. This lead XML to loose most of its quality suppliers.

Dealer problem:

Even though the government norms were eased and the foreign brands were allowed to enter India, these new brands had a very tough time initially. They had the main challenge of replacing the existing local players, setting up a distribution network and many other challenges.

With all the proceedings as depicted in the ‘Supplier problem’ section, the competitor took advantage of the situation. They paid a higher dealership price than what XML was paying. This made the dealers to concentrate more on the products of the competitors. The shelf space for XML kept reducing month-month. Many dealers discontinued their relationship with XML. The competitors need not have to think about penetration either. It was already present readymade in the market. This gave the competitors a cost advantage as the market was already open. Hence the competitors could manage a higher compensation to its dealers and suppliers.

Apart from the competition, dealer and the supplier problems, XML was also attacked by a family issue since it was a family run business. All this finally contributed to the collapse of the electronic home appliances section of XML.

Learning:

• For you to operate in a value chain created by your company, all the stakeholders in the supply chain have to be treated at par.
• Do not neglect competitors and update yourself on a regular basis. Though XML had a full fledged R&D team, they were not in par with the technology offered in the market by the competitors.
• Monopoly does not exist for long in an open market environment. Hence try to build brand values as long as you have the monopoly. These values will come handy during the time of immense competition. This will also help in arresting the competition from penetrating the market easily.
• Consider the business model of having exclusive dealers.
• Innovate the marketing strategies to be in sync with the changing business needs.

Sales ... A case study

Note: The discussions below are a true case study of a private company. Hence the name of the company, its clients and competitors are kept confidential for ethical purposes. Regret the inconvenience caused.

It was May 2008 and the top management of the entire organization was involved in a proposal to one of its most prospective clients. It was one of the highest revenue generating projects in the recent past for the organization. The company, XYZ Pvt. Ltd, is a niche telecom service provider in the market space of Europe. XYZ has been in a good relationship with its client organization CLT since more than half a decade providing constant innovative solutions to CLT and thus collaboratively helping them to growth in the highly competitive market. Due to the ever increasing demand of its customers, CLT decided to capture a place in the cloud to enable its systems to provide a cheap solution to its ever increasing client base. Hence CLT decided to change all the systems involved in providing the service so that the technical disability is avoided across the entire set of services.

XYZ was the most preferred vendor of CLT due to its constant innovative solutions provided. Hence they were asked to draft a proposal for this initiative. Over the period of more than seven years, many competitors had developed in the European market. Hence, along with XYZ, CLT also asked Comp A, Comp B and Comp C to bid for the proposal. Since the other three organizations were involved in supporting the other systems of CLT, this move of CLT did not surprise XYZ.

After a month’s long hard work, the final proposal was ready and a few top executives of XYZ headed to Europe for selling the services offered by XYZ. The major parameters considered for measurement of the proposal by CLT were as below:
• Quality of service provided (QOS)
• Cost incurred by CLT (ROI)
• Overall service package offered

For the ease of maintenance, CLT had divided the systems into eight logical domains ranging from customer registration to billing.

Among the above four expected parameters, XYZ had an edge in the quality of the service provided since it had a very good track record over a period of seven years and also due to the fact that XYZ was the most preferred vendor of CLT. The other vendors were also very reputed for their deliverables in the industry. But the fact that XYZ was in a long running relationship with CLT gave it a clear cut advantage.

Considering the second parameter under consideration, the variation in the bidding amount proposed by all the four vendors is depicted by the graph below:

From the above graph it can be incurred that the amount proposed by XYZ was comparatively the highest. It was around 50 million € greater than the lowest bidder. This is when CLT started to bend towards the other clients and the interest of CLT towards XYZ started reducing. Hence the chances of XYZ winning the bid were really less after the cost related statistics was portrayed.

Now XYZ had only one opportunity left to showcase that they are different from the other vendors in the room. They had to do a proper service mix to make sure that the contract is not lost. Instead of concentrating on what went wrong, the top management at XYZ decided to take advantage of the fact that they were the most preferred vendors of CLT. They concentrated on the quality of service they provide. Instead of just offering the solutions to the existing problem at CLT, XYZ also offered value additions to the systems at CLT. This meant that, along with the normal expected services, XYZ offered a free value addition to the domain under operation. They also went a step ahead to align themselves with the customer to identify their existing problems and providing a permanent solution for the same (thus removing the recurrence of the issue). This was a perfect mix of services which XYZ offered and CLT (who trusted the quality of deliverables of XYZ) had no other choice but to choose XYZ for the contract. At the end of the meeting, XYZ had won 50% stake of the entire bid and the remaining 50% was split among the other three vendors.

It was a win-win situation created by XYZ which led to it bagging 50% of the stake. Due to the non-reduction in the cost factor, XYZ was even more thrilled to provide a better QOS. CLT was happy that XYZ was closely working towards their business goals and were ready to improve their customer experience free of cost in the form of value addition to the domains under consideration.

A few points derived out of the above case study are as below:
• Cost or ROI is not the only factor on which businesses work in this highly competitive environment. You should always have a competitive edge so that you can make a difference.
• Proper pricing strategy has to be considered while selling. In the above case even if XYZ had lowered down the price by 50 million €, they might not have won 100% of the bid. Purely because of the fact that the perception of client to spread the domains was not because of the cost factor. It was because he had to increase the pressure of QOS due to cut throat competition.
• At times, a perfect product/service mix appeals to the clients. It might create a win-win situation.
• A sales force has to be flexible enough to cater to the customer demands. If the customer requires technical solutions or projections, the sales force should deploy technical people. If high level decisions have to be taken, the proper DMU (Decision Making Unit) has to be deployed.
• Customer perceptions play a very important role.