The choices that we make on where we live etc. led me to formulate these 4 C's.
Career - Clearly one of the primary reason where we decide to live.
Cost of Living - This is a secondary influence
Community - This has two pieces depending on what point in your life you are in. If you are young, you want to party and have fun. You will probably prefer a city or a downtown kind of life. As you age and have kids, a suburb becomes a preferable choice due to obvious reasons.
Commute - Once these are figured out, then commute comes to play.
In this 4 dimensional space of the C's, we have to make the fifth C. The fifth C is choice.
Have fun C'ing in this 4 dimensional C space.
Thanks
Mahesh
Monday, December 29, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
SCRUM
A few weeks ago, I came across this term called SCRUM. You can find a definition of course at Wikipedia. SCRUM
SCRUM is a rugby term where the players move the ball back and forth and across to the other side. It is now used in Agile Programming where a product is built incrementally by a team with small pieces of functionality and improved over and over again into a usable product.
SCRUM projects have two kinds of members.
They are the "Pigs" whose bacon/ham is on the line i.e. they stand to lose the most if the product does not work which is to say they are fully committed.
Then there are the "Chickens" whose egg is on the line i.e. they don't stand to lose much if things go wrong.
The point is that when you are in a project kick off meeting and you see that you are the only pig in the room and the rest are all chicken, you should have a higher sense of awareness in the project. The chicken will forget things or tell that they were not told to do certain things etc. And then you are toast err..bacon.
In any case, the next time you are in a room and you are the only pig, it is time to get serious...
Happy Oinking....
SCRUM is a rugby term where the players move the ball back and forth and across to the other side. It is now used in Agile Programming where a product is built incrementally by a team with small pieces of functionality and improved over and over again into a usable product.
SCRUM projects have two kinds of members.
They are the "Pigs" whose bacon/ham is on the line i.e. they stand to lose the most if the product does not work which is to say they are fully committed.
Then there are the "Chickens" whose egg is on the line i.e. they don't stand to lose much if things go wrong.
The point is that when you are in a project kick off meeting and you see that you are the only pig in the room and the rest are all chicken, you should have a higher sense of awareness in the project. The chicken will forget things or tell that they were not told to do certain things etc. And then you are toast err..bacon.
In any case, the next time you are in a room and you are the only pig, it is time to get serious...
Happy Oinking....
The Right Thing
An year year ago I was talking to a mentor of mine (Gary Goodman) and he said this which really impressed me.
Business and Life are about two basic questions.
1.) Are we doing things right?
2.) More importantly, are we doing the right thing?
The simplicity hit me. While we trod through life, career, relationships and projects it helps to keep these two questions in mind.
The story behind it is funny too. My mentor and his friend were at an airport to go to a business meeting. The friend's shirt lost some threads and buttons. This friend then goes to a room in the airport and tries to mend it with a needle and thread. This took about an hour. My mentor asked his friend why he did not take out a new shirt from the suitcase and wear it.
When in the middle of something difficult, keep these things in mind..
Dedicated to one of my Mentors, Gary Goodman who taught me this lesson over lunch. Gary, you will be missed!!
Business and Life are about two basic questions.
1.) Are we doing things right?
2.) More importantly, are we doing the right thing?
The simplicity hit me. While we trod through life, career, relationships and projects it helps to keep these two questions in mind.
The story behind it is funny too. My mentor and his friend were at an airport to go to a business meeting. The friend's shirt lost some threads and buttons. This friend then goes to a room in the airport and tries to mend it with a needle and thread. This took about an hour. My mentor asked his friend why he did not take out a new shirt from the suitcase and wear it.
When in the middle of something difficult, keep these things in mind..
Dedicated to one of my Mentors, Gary Goodman who taught me this lesson over lunch. Gary, you will be missed!!
Alcohol Effect
This is probably not a true story but is funny nevertheless. The 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Chandrasekar Venkatraman for his discovery named after him called the Raman Effect. The Raman Effect explains the phenomenon behind the scattering of light in general and more specifically in liquids.
At the Nobel ceremony, it is customary to drink a toast to the Prize Winner. As the toast was made, everybody including Raman lifted their glasses and Raman put his glass down and did not drink while everyone else did. Raman was teetotaller.
When the people asked him why he did not drink, he apparently quipped. "Ladies and Gentlemen, yesterday I explained to you the Raman Effect on alcohol, I don't want you to witness the alcohol effect on Raman".
At the Nobel ceremony, it is customary to drink a toast to the Prize Winner. As the toast was made, everybody including Raman lifted their glasses and Raman put his glass down and did not drink while everyone else did. Raman was teetotaller.
When the people asked him why he did not drink, he apparently quipped. "Ladies and Gentlemen, yesterday I explained to you the Raman Effect on alcohol, I don't want you to witness the alcohol effect on Raman".
Something to "Bragg" About
The 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics was unique. The prize was awarded to William Lawrence Bragg who was the youngest Nobel Laureate at the tender age of 25. The other prize winner was the father William Henry Bragg. Nobel Prize in Physics 1915
Physicists will argue that the younger Bragg did not deserve the award.
All said and done, it is something to Bragg about..
Incidentally, the other youngest physicist awarded the Nobel Prize for independent research was Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer who was awarded the prize at the age of 32.
Nobel Prize in Physics 1961
Physicists will argue that the younger Bragg did not deserve the award.
All said and done, it is something to Bragg about..
Incidentally, the other youngest physicist awarded the Nobel Prize for independent research was Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer who was awarded the prize at the age of 32.
Nobel Prize in Physics 1961
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Knowns and UnKnowns
I was looking at this posting on youtube and it is may sound funny but it makes a point.
Rumsfeld on Knowns and Uknknowns
Basically, there are four combinations of Knowns and Unknowns.
Donald Rumseld talks about three. Now Rumsfled is a smart guy. He is from Princeton and he was one of the youngest defense secretaries. He was Dick Cheny's mentor in the 70's. He was also an ardent fan of Milton Friedman.
Known Knowns:
There are things we know that we know.
Known unknowns.
That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know.
Unknown unknowns.
There are things we don't know we don't know.
There is one more thing that is missing which is the Unknown Knowns:
Unknown Knowns: That is to say that we don't know something that is already known. As consultants, we need to be cognizant of this.
An example would be something that is in the documentation that you don't know about. This may cause you to scramble to get this in the known task list once you find it or you may create an inelegant solution because you were not aware of it.
So be known....
Rumsfeld on Knowns and Uknknowns
Basically, there are four combinations of Knowns and Unknowns.
Donald Rumseld talks about three. Now Rumsfled is a smart guy. He is from Princeton and he was one of the youngest defense secretaries. He was Dick Cheny's mentor in the 70's. He was also an ardent fan of Milton Friedman.
Known Knowns:
There are things we know that we know.
Known unknowns.
That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know.
Unknown unknowns.
There are things we don't know we don't know.
There is one more thing that is missing which is the Unknown Knowns:
Unknown Knowns: That is to say that we don't know something that is already known. As consultants, we need to be cognizant of this.
An example would be something that is in the documentation that you don't know about. This may cause you to scramble to get this in the known task list once you find it or you may create an inelegant solution because you were not aware of it.
So be known....
Method and Methodology
At the risk of being pedantic, I hear us using the words Method and Methodology interchangeably. AIM is a Method not a methodology. You ask what is the big deal.
The first page of the AIM book tells us it is a method and not a methodology.
The American Heritage Dictionary offers the following explanation.
"In recent years . . . “methodology” has been increasingly used as a pretentious substitute for “method” in scientific and technical contexts. The misuse of the word methodology obscures an important conceptual distinction between the tools of scientific investigation (properly “methods”) and the principles that determine how such tools are deployed and interpreted — a distinction that the scientific and scholarly communities, if not the wider public, should be expected to maintain".
AIM is a Method in the sense that it offers a specific set of steps for implementing Oracle Applications which we use on a regular basis. AIM Methodology would be something that would be the study of the method. Unless we are planning to study the method and the principles behind AIM and suggest modifications, we should stick to Method.
Also, the next time you hear somebody use it, you know they are trying to sound important without knowing the underlying context which you can use for leverage. I have a couple of times and it made the customer aware that I was being careful and not pedantic...
The first page of the AIM book tells us it is a method and not a methodology.
The American Heritage Dictionary offers the following explanation.
"In recent years . . . “methodology” has been increasingly used as a pretentious substitute for “method” in scientific and technical contexts. The misuse of the word methodology obscures an important conceptual distinction between the tools of scientific investigation (properly “methods”) and the principles that determine how such tools are deployed and interpreted — a distinction that the scientific and scholarly communities, if not the wider public, should be expected to maintain".
AIM is a Method in the sense that it offers a specific set of steps for implementing Oracle Applications which we use on a regular basis. AIM Methodology would be something that would be the study of the method. Unless we are planning to study the method and the principles behind AIM and suggest modifications, we should stick to Method.
Also, the next time you hear somebody use it, you know they are trying to sound important without knowing the underlying context which you can use for leverage. I have a couple of times and it made the customer aware that I was being careful and not pedantic...
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Accounting is a RAPARR
As I was thinking about accounting and financials, I started thinking about how to structure and group activities within accounting and the following came to mind.RAPARRR -
R - Record. The first step in any accounting step (I am not considering setups) is to record transactions.
A - Approve. Once these transactions are recorded, they need to be approved.
P - Post. Once transactions are recorded and approved, they need to be posted.
A - Audit. Transaction that are recorded and approved need to be audited.
R - Rollup. After transactions are recorded, approved, posted and audited, they need to be rolled-up into appropriate categories.
R - Report. After rollups are performed, they need to be reported to the appropriate stakeholders.
One of these days, I will try to write a RAP song about it...:)
Mahesh
R - Record. The first step in any accounting step (I am not considering setups) is to record transactions.
A - Approve. Once these transactions are recorded, they need to be approved.
P - Post. Once transactions are recorded and approved, they need to be posted.
A - Audit. Transaction that are recorded and approved need to be audited.
R - Rollup. After transactions are recorded, approved, posted and audited, they need to be rolled-up into appropriate categories.
R - Report. After rollups are performed, they need to be reported to the appropriate stakeholders.
One of these days, I will try to write a RAP song about it...:)
Mahesh
The three fundamental questions in sales
I am not directly selling but I do a lot of assists in the sales process and I am around a lot of sales people. A lot of the stereo types about sales people is probably true. When I worked at Oracle from 1995-2004, we had our ups and down in sales. What we learnt over the years was that the biggest competition was not the competition but a lack of immediate imperative from the customer, and a tendency to procrastinate. The salesman is thinking at any given time as follows. "The customer needs to buy from us now".
Let us analyze this statement. "Needs to buy" is the verb or the action that the customer needs to perform. It begs the question as to why the customer needs to buy at all or do anything for that matter?
The next thing is the word "now". It begs the question why now. In other words, why should the customer act now if at all they have to act?
Assuming the customer actually needs to buy now, then the words "from us" becomes relevant. A lot of time you will find sales people answering the question "why buy from us" without even bothering to answer why buy and why now?
A good sales manager is somebody who recognizes this and ask the three fundamental question all the time to his sales people in that order.
"Why do anything at all?"
"Why now?"
"Why us?"
Happy Selling. These are tough times. Tough times do not last, Tough People do..
Mahesh
Let us analyze this statement. "Needs to buy" is the verb or the action that the customer needs to perform. It begs the question as to why the customer needs to buy at all or do anything for that matter?
The next thing is the word "now". It begs the question why now. In other words, why should the customer act now if at all they have to act?
Assuming the customer actually needs to buy now, then the words "from us" becomes relevant. A lot of time you will find sales people answering the question "why buy from us" without even bothering to answer why buy and why now?
A good sales manager is somebody who recognizes this and ask the three fundamental question all the time to his sales people in that order.
"Why do anything at all?"
"Why now?"
"Why us?"
Happy Selling. These are tough times. Tough times do not last, Tough People do..
Mahesh
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