Right is Might!
February 8, 2010 at 5:18 am | In Software Engineering | Leave a CommentRecently I read a book “Whole new mind” by Daniel Pink. Our brain has two hemispheres, left and right. The left brain specializes in logical / sequential / analytical activities whereas the right brain is good at lateral / synthesizing / holistic thinking. According to the author, the twentieth century belonged to L(left brain) directed abilities while the twenty first century needs strong right brain abilities. The author has identified six pairs of such abilities. These are given below. Those on the left side of the pair are left brain directed and the right side is for right brain directed. Functionality – Design
Facts – Story
Focus – Symphony
Logic – Empathy
Work – Play
More – Meaning
He further goes on to state that the left brain activities will get increasingly comoditized and either be automated or outsourced to the developing world. Hence, the developed world should focus on building the right brain abilities which are difficult to automate or outsource. His assumption also seems to be that the Asians are not very good at right brain abilities when he says “(automation & outsourcing is) freeing professionals to do what computers and low-wage foreign technitians have a more difficult time replicating: recognizing patterns, crossing boundaries to uncover hidden connections, and making bold leaps of imaginations.”
Indian software professionals have already demonstrated excellence to the world in left brain abilities. Now is the time to complement it by focus on building right brain abilities across wide section of these professionals.
Power of “I don’t know”
February 1, 2010 at 8:27 am | In Out of my mind | 1 CommentLast week, a friend of mine asked what I do at work. I said it is mostly related to being a mentor to various teams & groups. He looked puzzled. “Is it like being a coach?” he asked. I was not sure. My first reaction was to give an immediate answer whatever I thought; otherwise he may think that I don’t know what I am doing and laugh at me. There were other friends watching too. Then a thought occured to me; what if I admit “I don’t know” which was a fact. After a little hesitation I told him so. His reaction was not what I had expected; I felt relieved.
Now I had to find the answer and tell my friend about it. Obvious place to start was google. As usual there were plenty of links. I went through them and had a few thoughts of own. I shared these with mt friend yesterday. He was quite impressed.
I was surprised how much I learned because of that simple admission “I don’t know”. For the first time, my mind was completely open to the new ideas without trying to defend or be biased by what I would have said to save my face.
Decentralization versus Uncentralization
January 7, 2010 at 4:53 am | In Out of my mind | Leave a CommentEvery leader wants to develop people working with him by giving them more responsibility and supporting them while they learn the ropes. In the process, he passes on part of his authority for actions & decision. This is a process of decentralization.
There is another situation where people working with him should always have had the authority since they are accountable. For various reasons, the leader continued to hold on to the decision making authority. When he realizes it, he would pass on the authority where it always belonged. This is a process of uncentralization.
Though we normally tend to club both under decentralization, it is good to know the difference and act accordingly.
Remember you are a class not an object
January 6, 2010 at 8:07 am | In Out of my mind | Leave a CommentEach of us exists as an object amongst innumerable other objects in the cosmic OO space. We are created and destroyed by some other object. We inherit our behavior (methods) and properties (instance variables) from our parents (super) and forefathers (other classes in the inheritance chain).
In early childhood, we are aware of ourselves only when one of the objects which is close to us (has reference to us) triggers certain predefined behavior (calls a method). Our response is preprogrammed (by the class of which we are an object), but the result depends on the behavior of others (method arguments). Once those around us understand how we respond, they start teaching us (set our instance variables) so that they can get desired response from us. We in turn start calling methods on others around us (other objects) and learn what works and what does not. It gets stored in our memory (instance variables) which we can use next time we interact with others.
Some learn fast while others take time. It varies from individual to individual (type and variety of instance variables and intelligence built into the setter methods). Some are gifted (instance variables set when the object was initialized) while a few others may have inherent defects (lack of essential variables or poorly defined setter methods) and continue to struggle being labeled as mentally retarded.
Some of us are born shy and introvert while others find it easy to reach out and are extroverts. Degree to which we yearn to share or feel safe to share with others differs from person to person (private, protected and public scope). We may be also reluctant to share our inner feeling and true behavior and hence live behind a mask (getter methods).
As we grow, we continue on this journey of constantly interacting with variety of people (objects) or situations (contexts), patterns are observed and get stored in our memory for future use. This is what we call experience. However, each of us may form different patterns though going through same set of interactions. How much importance we give to past experience and how much to what is happening now again varies from individual to individual and depends on our makeup (what our class has defined for us).
We continue on this journey throughout our life, reacting to situations, storing pleasant / unpleasant experiences and allowing ourselves to be manipulated by others because we perceive ourselves and feel attached to the object. This leads to emotions like greed, anger, blind attachments and so on.
However, the class of which we are the object lives its own life, responding to others at its own level (class methods & class variables). One major difference compared to its object is that the class not only reacts but can proactively act. It is aware of its object and can re-factor and dynamically create /modify / destroy instance methods and variables as well as their scope based on what it observes. Though the class is bound by what it inherits, it has power to implement new interfaces (like Java) or mix new modules (like Ruby). It loves its object but does not feel attached to it.
Our journey on the path of self awareness starts only when we become aware of our class. Initially, we are still strongly attached to the object and feel helpless when faced with adverse situations. However, as our awareness of being the class becomes stronger, the picture becomes clearer and though we are aware of all that is happening to us as an object, our attachment to the object starts diminishing. We feel more confident, more in control and less dependent on others approval. The result is emotions like greed, anger, blind attachments and so on slowly start melting away.
If we believe in rebirth, we become aware of the fact that we are a singleton class. There can be only one object at a time. The object may eventually be destroyed but the class continues. When the object goes away, the state attached to it also gets destroyed and eventually garbage collected but the definition and state of the class persists and will be the basis when next object is created.
Though the object may not be, but the class is aware of its inheritance tree going right up to the topmost class from which all other classes are derived. It has a direct connection (inner voice) with other classes through the inheritance tree including the original class. When we are aware of this, we have the power to make use of this immense resource and get an answer for any problem. The uncertainty and dilemma when faced with a tough decision vanishes and we are at peace.
When we have this object oriented understanding of our existence, our answer to the eternal question “Who am I?” will spontaneously be that “I am a class; I am fully aware of and love my object but I am not the object”. Enjoy!!!
My new year resolution for 2010
December 31, 2009 at 8:31 am | In Out of my mind | Leave a CommentIsn’t the right choice obvious?
Structure to implement the processes
May 31, 2006 at 10:37 am | In Process Enabled Organization | Leave a CommentProcesses are not enough. They require a structure to implement them. The structure consists of both, the human beings and / or the software. For a successful implementation of the process, we need to understand the structure and its role. The process defines the requirements. The architecture and design are important for the implementation. In addition, it is very important to build right kind of culture / value system and habits in the structure.
Role of the organization structure
May 12, 2006 at 11:09 am | In Process Enabled Organization | Leave a CommentThere are two types of organization structures. The formal, hierarchical structure is based on the concept of span of control. This is the visible structure as shown in the organization charts. There is a more subtle, dynamically changing structure, with a web of relationships, based on the concept of span of influence. Every member of the organization belongs to both these structures, giving a sort of matrix structure to the organization. Though the structure based on span of influence is not readily visible, yet it is powerful enough to affect the working of the organization. It is worthwhile being aware of, not only the formal structure, but also the informal one.Process-driven organizations tend to rely more heavily on the formal structure, placing heavy emphasis on the documentation and religiously following the set procedures.To become process-enabled, an organization needs to take care of not only formal structure but also the informal structure. We will discuss more on this later.
Comparison of organization characteristics
March 9, 2006 at 11:20 am | In Process Enabled Organization | 2 CommentsLast time we saw that there are three types of organizations, viz. process-starved, process-driven and process-enabled. Their typical characteristics are given below.
| Process-starved | Process-driven | Process-enabled |
| Focus on innovation | Focus on process | Focus on users |
| Fluid | Rigid | Flexible |
| Plethora of solutions | One solution fits all | Solutions to meet the need |
| Continuous change | Change resisted | Change welcome |
| Virtual absence of processes | Insistence on formal process | Informal processes accepted |
| Users may sometimes be lost | Users feel constrained | Users enjoy working |
Differences between organizations
March 6, 2006 at 10:48 am | In Process Enabled Organization | Leave a CommentProcess and innovation are the two opposite but complementary forces in all human endeavors, including organizations. Processes provide continuity and stability, whereas innovations provide change and growth. A delicate balance is required between the two to ensure smooth progress. Process is the body and innovation its soul. One is not complete without the other.
Organizations, when they start are small, agile and quick to respond. They have no time for processes. As a result, they are starved of the benefits of processes. Once they start growing, they can either remain process-starved or adopt processes. The risk is to borrow processes without considering how it fits into their current culture and ways of working. As a result, they become process-driven. There are only a few fortunate who evolve their processes to suit their unique needs and become process-enabled. Some of the important characteristics of these three types of organizations will be given next…
Difference between Knowledge and Information
March 6, 2006 at 7:58 am | In Knowledge and Information | 2 CommentsTo me, knowledge is what we possess and information is what we exchange. Hence information is objective and knowledge is subjective. Knowledge transfer between two entities A & B takes place as follows.
A codes its knowledge into information. The information is used by B to create / update its knowledge by decoding it and assimilating into existing knowledge that B possesses. The process of coding and decoding is complex and gives rise to all the problems as well as possibilities. We will go into these more in detail….
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.