Quota Systems - for the toughest resource issues !

Finite amount of test beds. Finite amount of runs possible in a month.
Multiple users. Release Ops. Development engineers from multiple teams.
And the 'easy going' quality managers mandating a 'run' for every unrelated development crowds up the testbed.

No real control.

And when, the analysis happens out of 800 odd runs a month, 400 can be policed. But now 'policing' is a 'job' and needs head count. Do not want to 'police' ? Demand to build more such test beds.

Sounds like a familiar problem even your org has ?

When the cacophony reached me 2-3 weeks ago from all the sub-orgs, I looked to traditional Indian political way of fixing (because everyone seemed to have enough justification for their irrational numbers, and even funnier, everyone agreed that the load can come down by 50% at the aggregate level).

Monthly QUOTA of 'runs' for each sub-group and a simple tweak to tool to dis-allow anything more than that from the team. Last couple of weeks, I ve not seen any deliverable of any team slipping because of this test bed.

Stake on the "roof"

Yes.. I am making up this caption !

But not making up this age old tradition narrated below !

In rural parts of Eastern India, during the 80s, every upwardly progressing low middle class, had one dream. To have a shelter / home with a "concrete" roof.

It was looked up as an upgrade from Tile, Asbestos or other forms of roofing.

When people built “Pucca” houses, the toughest thing used to be the roof.

They will put the false ceiling with Bamboo pillars, and wood planks.
Put a layer of soil. Then some leaves, then the iron frame.

Then on one sunny day, the concrete mix will be poured in to the iron frame which has to settle for subsequent 21 days before the take off the false ceiling.

Putting the concrete mix to iron frame is considered last mile and considered tough job. It has to be done in ONE SESSION. Point being, if not finished in one go, and a portion left behind, no matter what you do to blend the cast, there would be a gap and the roof would leak.

And in that last day, invariably the chieftain of the mason’s, in the last moment, will put a 4 inch PIPE / Barrel / Cylinder in the soft concrete cast. If not pulled out quickly and blended in the same session, that would leave behind a permanent hole in the roof, which wont be possible to seal.

This is how the tradition goes after that.

The owner of the property is supposed give him a new dress and praise his masonary skills in front of everybody. After that brief drama is over, he will remove the stick. And the job will be taken to completion.

So how is corporate culture any different ?

This week, a major delivery which has taken an year for 100s of employees to complete is supposed to be released. All of them who are involved, have taken their part seriously. And done the job in a coordinated fashion so far to make this happen. There has been no red flags. Most of the last minute errors are done away with. Most of the people are feeling good and relieved. The smart ones are already blowing their horn, etc. The usual corporate circus !

One employee, who has been responsible of final testing, has not yet found a reason to blow him horn. So, he goes ahead and put the "stake on the roof", latching on to an ignorable thing.

And, the solution, was simple. A public praise of the person's effort and a small corporate borwnie point. The ignorable issue was ignored ! Successfully !

Now, Betaal thinks - may be we should make it a tradition - like the mason's in rural India did 20 yrs ago. Would not that reduce a lot of emotions around the last minute scuffle and make it more fun :)

Balancing ambition and capabilities

I ve seen many leaders talking about this -

"Grow until you are comfortable growing and until you are delivering to the level you are in, handsomely".

But, at least in corporate India, I ve not seen that happening.

People think growing in ranks is a birth right, and a function of doing the job OK, and spending required amount of time in a level.

Then there comes a phase where, ambitions start running high, right around that pre-conceived, peer-defined time period is about to elapse.

That definitely causes a lot of pain.

Over the last few years, India's corporate culture has evolved and now a new variable has been added at senior management level.

That is - beating expectation of your current role and having spent enough time baking in that level are not enough. There has to be a true organizational opportunity to accommodate a person at the next level.

In other words, have you created a position for that next level, where you want to grow in to ?

Valid addition !

With that as a back ground, I was pleasantly surprised today. I went to one of my mid-managers, and offered him and fabulous opportunity, asked him to treat this one as a ticket to grow in to sr. management. And this person is at the top of the stack already in his peer group. So, it was a slam dunk for me to offer him the new opportunity that came along.

To my surprise, the person showed amazing maturity in saying - " I ll do it. I ll do it well, irrespective of it being a ticket. But DO NOT grow me, if I wont fit in there. Do not grow me, if I get in to a level, where expectations out of me are going to be ahead of my capabilities. And that makes me uncomfortable. I would rather be the best mid-manager than the average sr. manager."

Is the next wave of maturity firming up in corporate India now ??

Style vs. Substance ...

Now, we all know "style" without "substance" is not good enough, and sometimes outright ridiculous !

With style, one can get a reception, but not an acceptance. Its pretty much like the Blue Fox !

Substance without style is equally in-sufficient ! At least in today's corporate culture. Its so crowded, that you need to grab attention before they pay attention to your value addition.

Thus goes a story of a mid-level manager in my work place. The guy has been honest with his work, innovative, and smart. However, he never bothered to blow his horns - and the system labelled him as mediocre, year after year.

This year, he spent 25% less time working, and channelled that to some key visibility points based on Betaal's suggestion and guidance.

Wiola ! He is a well known, relied up on, looked up on manager now !!!

So, betaal says, wear your style, now that you have the substance !

Cursing - As a profession

The department I work in, has a full time employee (called a program manager) specializing in "cursing" "swearing" and plain "screaming", twice everyday at 400 engineers. Full time regular employee on the pay roll !

His e-mails would have generous portions of exclamation marks.

All CAPS phrases like - "HOT and URGENT !!". "YOUR TEAMS NUMBERS ARE PATHETIC", "LEARN TO HONOR YOUR COMMITMENT" etc.

Everyone is used to that and its amusing to see that deliverables starving because of plain old "procrastination" do move by those ALL CAPs e-mails.

It feels things do move because of this continuous push ! This persons job is not to understand what is blocking the deliverables. Just take all that was due for that day and send those BIG nasty e-mails. Un-emotionally ! That's his job and he does it right.

This reminds me one annual incident as a child. There is a big festival every July in the part of country where I grew up, where Lord Jagarnath comes out of temple with his brother and sister in chariots pulled by devotees.

And on the chariot there will be a "curser". He would continuously be using foul, nasty, vulgar, cheap (cheaply funny !) two-liners ! Very very loudly.

And if he stops, the devotees would stop pulling the chariot. The language that can never be used legally in social circles and in office space without being fired !

I even asked my father once, why this guy stands on the chariots and spits out such vulgarity in such an auspicious day ? His answer was simple, - "To see where your mind is - in the two-liners or on God". I believed it then.

But after looking at our program manager pushing deliverables using ALL CAPS e-mails, I think his job was actually to get massive chariots pulled few kilometers by mortals.

Is this fair ?

Vicky lives in an apartment complex, where an old man comes to work. His work is "ironing". He collects all the clothes in the morning, irons them in the basement, returns them in the evening.

That's the only way to make his ends meet. A man from the neighboring state.

And one day he stops coming ! Which is OK. That extended to an week. Now residents became restless. They were getting some paid service right under their nose, which is gone now.

And there is no way to contact this person, to ask what has happened. No one cared to keep a contact number.

One more week goes by !

Then Vicky, sent the security guard to the near by village where the "ironing man" used to live. The person went there and found out the old man is sick, with some mental disease, and is in a mental asylum. He has been moved to his native state to be taken care of by few kins.

4 more weeks go by. The consumers (residents) start flooding the housing alias with inconvenience caused by his absence.

Vicky, went to village, found another young man who does "ironing". His only condition to come do the job in a free real-easte with guaranteed customer base was that - "If the old guy comes back, we would not throw him out. He needs to have a permanent job and not a temporary one."

Granted ! After all 2 months have gone by and there is no way to find the old guy and figure out if he would be able to comeback.

The new guy does a good job. Settles in. Two more weeks go by ! Residents happy again.

Then the old guy shows up ! Become more fragile. And still looking a lil unstable in his thoughts. And wants the job back. With him a few kids, looking distressed and in need of a living.

And the same residents who enjoy the service, they all pointed him to "Vicky". Go talk to him if you can get your job back. Now, "Vicky" is in tough spot.

One side a shaken old man with no living... on other side another young man who just got some foreseeable roadmap of hope !

And in this "Dharamsankat" no other resident is willing to emotionally standby Vicky to help him make a decision.

So, Vicky finally took his own and sent the Old man home. Quite emotional ambiance there.

Vicky, in search of solace, went to the trusted adviser "Betaal". Asked if what he did was right.

Betaal says - "Vicky ! These decisions are not measured with metrics consisting of "right"/"wrong". These are measured with a parameter called "appropriate" from your scope of duty's prospective. Think again now. And you ll have some peace."

E.Q.

My kid love his cubes.. Rubik's cubes. 3x3, 4x4. His favorite pass time is fixing them, messing them up again and fixing them again. And measuring how fast he gets doing this.

At this age, during this phase, those cubes are the most prized possession he has. Everything else, comes later.

So, yesterday after the weather cleared up after many days, we were going to the tennis court. And en-route he was busy in the car, doing his cube.

When we reached the tennis ground, he left the cube in the car, picked up his racket and went to play.

When he came back, he immediately said, there is one yellow piece sticker someone has removed and exchanged with one of the White ones. I thought, impossible ! How can even someone find out in a jumbled cube ? He was positive. And as predictable, he threw an tantrum, asking for a new one right away etc. Very upset.

I asked - the car was locked. All of us were playing for the same time. Only driver in the car waiting for us. And do not think he will touch the rubik's cube.

But he was confident, it was physically tampered.

So, finally he asked the driver, - "Did you change it ? ". And the driver said, yes, he was curious.

All of a sudden, the his tantrum was down. Just to test him, I asked my kid - "If you want, I can recover the money for the cube from the drivers salary." And he immediately said - "No need ! Anyway I know how to fix it. I do not want a cube. Don't cut any money from his salary. And in fact he was very apologetic."

That was a great sign of E.Q. for the young guy !