Thin lines...

It is said that there is a very thin line between certain two closely placed aspects on the life line...sometimes it is very hard to really demarcate the two. Some of them I gathered are :

• Think and Worry
• Stress and Tension
• Competition and Rivalry
• Criticism and Jealousy

When you read these terms separately you are sure of their definition. When you put in a careful thought, you really are not sure of the aspect you are referring to at any point in time...

Not clear ?

• Try to figure out if you are stressed or tensed?
• Try to identify if you are thinking or worrying?
• Try to see if you are competing with something/someone or do you have a rivalry situation?
• Are you trying to be a critic or are you being jealous?

Honestly, it is difficult to tell... Give it some thought.. If we manage to keep these two aspects separate, am sure all our professional and personal lives will improve for good.

Use the web reference or any dictionary reference to find the word meaning, but connect with yourself to find out if you can clearly distinguish these thoughts....

This is one of my recently gained insights.

An integral segment of IT highways and IT parks

If you are an IT professional and your office is in one of those IT parks, you wont deny the fact that one of the happiest business man in that part of your town is a Pan shop owner... Every compound/fence of IT company/IT park has all these : A driveway with Entry/Exit Boards, the gate guards who look at you like you are the next person whom they expect to bomb the building down, the security folks who are ever so sweet to let you know that you can't walk on the driveway as per the sign board , the gardens and fresh flowers, spic-span walkways, the rear gate which is always busy with some traffic of trucks, trolleys, buses, that you never have the time to spend to understand....and then there are these cabs or buses neatly parked.. they have to be taken out of the building on time when the employees get out... (or is it the other way??... the employees get out of office on time because the buses leave at a definite time... ) and then there are these Pan shops situated at a Strategic business point just outside the huge building... They form the integral segment of the IT facility I would say.... :-)

Pan shop owners don't spend a lot in putting on interior decor make up to their shops.. It is typically a shed of sorts with an asbestos if an old timer or a canvas/kakhi shamiano( the kind that is used for tents) if the guy is testing waters in business in this particular IT park/company. Then there are a lot of things neatly arranged on the small counter..I have no idea what are the things but from the known IT traffic to the shops I can say Pan, cigarettes and chewing gums, are sure items on sale. Some of these are in sachets and they are hung in such a beautiful pattern that they give quite a decorative ambience to the shop. Since the shop is frequented only by IT folks who are supposedly posh , care for cleanliness and just the idea of looking neatly dressed and are well mannered, there are no loud talks and no bargains... there is no need to tell people to use the dustbin and no need to appoint someone to clean the place after a high-tea is done... By the way, in more organized Pan shops by the IT bay, you will also get to see a small table and few chairs, giving the setting a truly high-tea friendly spacious look.....

In my few job hops, I have always seen that this Pan shop owner is a happy man catering only to the software guys.... there is always one shop.. at the most you will see two shops in the vicinity of an IT giant.....

I have always wondered why the IT parks and company authorities never complain about a not-so-posh shop dotting their posh office..
And why IT folks complain so much if the AC is off for a few seconds in office, while they don't mind taking walks outside office to the Pan shop in sweltering summer heat.....
And how is it that the Pan shop owner always smiles and our folks always have a " This is too much to handle" look on their faces....
And why the IT guys don't read what is documented on cigarette boxes "Smoking is injurious to health".. but coming to think of it, most of them don't read emails and official documents properly as well... So lets just leave it at that :-)

IT folks decide to move out of IT......

I have been hearing this often for quite sometime now.... " I want to quit life at a software park and move into something else ".... Some of the interesting thoughts that I came across...

I want to start a chain of Fresh fruit Juice centers... I want to make it a business empire out of it... I do not know anything about selling fruit juice, but I want to learn in another few years, so I can move out of IT. I believe I can meet a lot of people during my work day.

I want to become a farmer... I have no idea about farming but I want to learn it in another few years, so I can move out of this IT profession. I believe I can make a difference to the world this way.

I want to become an agriculturist... I have an admiration for agriculture, but have no idea what it takes to become an agriculturist... but I want to move out of IT into agriculture. I believe I can stay in touch with Nature and its beauty this way..

I want to own a tea shop... This has to be in a a hill station. I can stay connected to the nature's beauty, observe people and enjoy the peace and quiet of the scenic beauty around.

I want to teach in college.... I love teaching. I want to quit IT life and teach young and ever energetic student crowd.. Will make me grow younger each day.

I want to write for a greeting card company... I want to put in some emotions into my work to make it a nice adorable piece of art... I want to quit IT after I have made money...

I want to teach kindergarten kids... They are such lovely teachers, wonderful friends whose innocence can make my work life interesting... I want to quit IT and move into a K.G school so my life becomes more cheerful and I can smile every minute....

I want to produce a movie... I want to play a small role in it.... I am sure it is more interesting that IT anyday....

I have heard all these so far. Last week I heard that some techie in a very reputed company chose to move out of IT to pursue his interests in Agriculture... He wants to make use of his programming knowledge and acquired knowledge in agriculture to come up with something nicer and profitable for himself and India at large.. He and his family have moved into a small town in Tamil Nadu to start work on this. Coming to think of it, I am sure it takes a lot of strength to give away a plush office space, swipe cards, identity cards, recognition in the name of the company, high-speed computers, ever-available Internet, city traffic, international schools, metro environment, immense bank balance, some five cards - both debit and credit always packed with cash to spend, luxurious life style - party, gifts, drinks, expensive wardrobe, Inox theatres, music and dance, Pepsi and Pizza, posh car, mobile phone that is less of a phone and more of a camera, player, computer, and recorder today... and anything else that you can think of that characterizes an IT professionals' life today.

They say " You have to give up something to gain something ".. May be such a sacrifice will bring big gains to the community.. May be it will involve a lot of struggle.. May be it means a total change in lifestyle... but it also means lot of happiness at the end of the mission..

May be some results are worth sacrificing comforts of IT life... May be it is worth a thought.... May be everyone should consider doing something other than their tried and tested profession someday...

Splash on Job

1. Never make your hobby your job...suddenly, at some point in time, money will seem to matter a lot.
2. Love your job.. If you don't, find ways to love it.. If not, move on.
3. All jobs get interesting with nice managers.
4. The most interesting job can get irritating with a bossy manager.
5. Aim for and work towards perfection in your job, but remember to forgive yourself of your mistakes at work, because no one else will.
6. To love your job, compete with your past record in the same job.
7. To do a thorough job, all you need is the fundamental belief that you can do better than the best.
8. Take time to appreciate the job you have done... often that improves your performance.

Outlook in Life...

Yes, right... I am talking about Outlook... the role of Microsoft Outlook in work life..

Yesterday when someone asked me, if I would be available on Thursday morning for a discussion, it took me a while to realise that I had no idea whatsoever of my appointments on Thursday.... I had to rush to my desk to look at my Outlook calendar to say "I am free on Thursday morning"...

I sat back thinking about this... Its never happened with me... I am known to remember my appointments, phone numbers, task lists, email ids and of course birthdays....I once used to argue with people that if you prioritize 'People', you cant really forget these things...what's happening now?

Outlook is everything at work....
You have a task to finish, enter it in Outlook..
You have a birthday wish to send, mark it in Outlook...
You need a contact number, look it up in Outlook...
You want to see a message from a friend, check your Outlook...
You want to write to a friend, compose it in Outlook.....
You have to meet someone, save it in Outlook...
You have a discussion, etch it in Outlook and send invites to people....
You have to store some information, scribble it in a draft and keep it as long as you want...
You want to remind someone of something, flag a follow-up on Outlook....

So, everything.. just about everything that you need to do, is dependent on Microsoft Outlook.. The Outlook, kind of, defines how much people are working these days...

Every day....

• An over-flowing mail box with two emails from friends, one of which is usually a forward and the other is a "hello, how are you? Long time.. no see/hear.. what's up?" email....
• An Outlook calendar with back-to-back meeting appointments, some of them important, some of them name-sakes, some of them which are usually bound to get cancelled/postponed and some of them which can be skipped....all of which are usually accepted most of the times...
• A task list which usually runs to lengths....
• Reminders that pop-up as the system clock ticks by each day....

Without these, life at work is not complete...

What if one day, just one day, for some reason unknown, Outlook stops working in companies all over the world... ????

No emails, No notifications, No reminders, No phone calls, No meetings : No one knows the task list, No one has any clue about meetings, No one has any phone number recorded anywhere else, No one has any information on what happened to all the work that they finished...

If Nothing of this happens, there is practically NOTHING that happens at work desk in a software company... so also, I guess everyone will be on a paid holiday, much more relaxed and will use the native super computer - that is, the BRAIN much more..... Life at work will change for the better.. :-)
I also am tempted to mention:

May be, the "whatever" council/body/committee will declare "Outlook day" where Microsoft Outlook will not be functional in their offices.... I have to admit that there will be an email flood across the world saying : " Tomorrow Outlook will not be functional. Please take proactive measures and send all emails that you would need to send tomorrow by End of the Calendar day ( 23 hours 59 minutes) tonight. Request you to ensure that your business does not get affected. Have a happy "Outlook Day". Thank you for your cooperation. Best regards. "

And one will end up thinking " Why on earth do I have to put up with this ? Just do away with this Outlook free day and I'll be better off with my own mails, task lists, calendars and contact lists and spend less of my brain.....:-)

All said, it is Outlook that makes my life at work better, just because, the moment I come inside office, my brain instructs me to open my mail box.. Now that my brain is tuned to Outlook, I guess, I salute Microsoft for its Noble work as I am plunging into the whirlpool of emails today..... :-)

Wonder what my superiors think of their email boxes?? :-) May be : Behind every manager's success there is people, attitude, and of course Outlook. :-)

Comments do matter...........

This is about how comments can change your life.... :)

It was my first job as a writer... Never written anything except those essays in school and a few technical, sleepy, long winding, sometimes, utterly lifeless essays in college, in the EXAM banner... ( I hate exams, though I was able to perform well in most of them, throughout my academic life.. Thanks to my folks at home.. Studies were rarely a topic of conflict for all of us at home ... I guess that's what made me study without hassles... )

Here I was, working on my first assignment, first paragraph - introduction.......struggling for the golden words to just jump out of my head... ( or is it my keyboard, I have no idea.....). It was just impossible for me to write the first few lines of the document. It was on project management... :) I did not know projects at work as yet, Project management was a far-fetched illusion back then.. :)

My assignment was to write a user guide for a project management software for a client company. That simply means, the client says and you listen.. You cannot take your own sweet time to write your document. It might be your first project but it is his focal interest and your manager has signed you up(!!!!!??!!!!) for the project. First job, First project, First manager, First salary, First image, First impression and all that came in my way so much that I could not get that First line right...

I forgot there will be a First editor also in my writing life.... After one whole day of struggle to write a paragraph which had five lines and all these properties:
- grammatically correct sentences
- meaningful to the business eye
- strictly adherent to the style guide I managed to grasp partially over two the first two days
- simple enough for the reader
- slightly basic for an MBA, still will pass the documentation test any day

My manager introduces my first editor to me and says that he will be editing a paragraph before he got to the book that he was editing that day. The editor said, " I know you would have done a good job, given that you have cleared our stringent recruitment process, but let me have a first look at your work for a few days till you get a first hand grip at writing... " Tired of the repeated firsts that I was facing that day, I left for the day. My editor works in the evenings only.

The next morning, I came in to have a second look at my first paragraph.. All I could see was RED colored comments... All over the page. I never knew you could rip apart 45 words ( average - nine words per line) in about two full pages of comments. Every word had a comment... I did not know how to react... I was beginning to feel, if I ever will qualify as a writer... and then came the best of the lot :) (back then, it was worst, as I was all RED in fury... I hated editors instantly....)

My editor had written this on my document:

Hi Deepa,

I know this page does not find you in the best of your cheers this morning. You must be feeling very upset at my comments all over the document. I also have to appreciate that you have taken all efforts to follow standards and write error-free grammatically correct. None of this is a language error.

Let me tell you, just this once, close all the comments, then you will get a real good grip on writing. Believe me, this situation of having to look at all red marks will not happen again in your writer life, IF and only IF you close all these comments to the best of your satisfaction.

Thanks and Regards
- Your editor

I was all wild that moment... "if none of this is English error, then what have you commented at all??!!!??" and i intended to find out.... I cleaned up the document and left a counter note to the editor saying.. " Thanks a lot....I hope you never get to make such comments again on my document. Some day I intend to learn to read a document to the level of ripping it apart with questions and comments...."

And believe me this changed my way of looking at writing for a profession and till date, I owe my sincere thanks to this editor friend of mine.. :) I am still into writing, because I successfully closed my First set of comments on my First document in my First writing job by my First editor...and such a thing never happened again.. My work still has comments, but never to that extent... I prefer to think that I have improved, though the chances are that my editors do not read my documents with the same eye for detail.

I have taken all the liberty to violate all technical writing rules in this page... :) So please don't look for technical writing standards here :) If you still do, then don't let me know.. :) This blog has only ethical rules :) and nothing else.

Excuse me.........

Excuse me.....I will be back in a moment.
This is from a bright cell phone newbie..

Haachhooooo .......Excuse me......Haacchhh
The sneeze shook everyone in the office to reality...

Excuse me..... I have a doubt. "Why is the...".
This fellow goes on and on with questions between the meeting where every one else is trying to ward off sleep.

Excuse me..... I made a mistake.
A 'sincere' junior.

Excuse me......Come again.
A 'serious' learner.

I can think of a lot of instances when we use the words 'Excuse Me'. Still I cannot think of one reason why my senior friend didnt say this to us when we were busy solving an English crossword.

Over to the office desk... This friend of ours had apparently been waiting to talk something technical to us for a very long time and all of us were busy trying to solve an english crossword puzzle. He never said 'Excuse....' so we never got the chance to notice that he was around.

Unfortunately the issue he had come to discuss with us had been testing his patience since morning. After all the hard work over it, he wanted a one-minute clarification.

I looked around casually trying to solve one of the questions when I incidentally saw him waiting right behind us waiting for one of us to look back. We shifted gears quickly, got the job done for him, but then......

All he needed to have said was 'Excuse me' to avoid the impatience that usually accompanies the long wait to meet some one.. He didn't say and we didn't know.

So the next time you want your job done, remember to say 'Excuse me'.....

Take a little Time to....

Take a little time each day to....

1. Pray for your loved ones
2. Admire Nature
3. Appreciate whole-heartedly
4. Greet your acquaintances as you walk past them
5. Learn something new
6. Respond to your e-mails
7. Share a Joke
8. Recall appointments with people
9. Plan your calendar
10. Maintain promises
11. Listen to a friend in need
12. Speak to your Loved ones
13. Say 'Thank You'
14. Read few pages of a book that interests you
15. Listen to Music
16. Understand people
17. Count your Blessings
18. Spend with your ‘SELF’

These thoughts just sprang up on my mind when I was just finishing a technical document. I have no idea why, but then i think these eighteen points are worth a try.

Response to E-mails.

How often do we realise the importance of response to an e-mail communication ? Only when there is a major problem or when there is an appreciation or when your opinion is explicitly asked for.

Admittedly these three contexts are good reasons for you to write back to e-mails but there are other reasons you could possibly consider.

Some one has actually thought of
1. Sending you a mail
2. Addressing you by name or as Dear
3. Spending time on the e-mail message
4. Wishing you well or saying 'Thanks' or 'Good Day' or 'Thanks and Regards' as a sign-off line

In group emails, apart from the content of the email,your name in the mailing list and the time that the sender has invested in writing the message are two good reasons for you to respond to the email.

This idea applies to cases when you dont write back because you dont have time.. This does not apply to situations when one deliberately avoids writing back to emails. I have no comments on the later case.

Watch out for the next article on the e-mails in the next post.

Have a Great Day

Hi,
This is something i wrote for a newsletter that never came up. Ideally this article takes the credit of the first set of lines i have ever written outside my profession.
I spent about half a day putting these ten lines in place. Not sure if it would really take that long, but i think i took extra care because the world was going to read it... So now that i have a platform to publish it, thought i would very well put it up here........

Check list to having a great day at work:

Do you
• Say a cheerful "Good Morning"?
• Say "Please", "Thank you" and "Sorry" and mean it?
• Count on self-confidence?
• Believe that "Mistakes do happen and it is okay to make mistakes"?
• Forgive and cheer yourself when things go wrong?
• Believe that problems could be "interesting"?
• Define fun as "solving interesting problems at work"?
• Try to do your best even when you don't feel like it?
• Know when to take a break from work?
• Think of "Work" at Work and "Home" at Home?
• Wish someone "Have a great day"?

If your answer to all of these is "Yes", then you are sure to "Have a great day"
TODAY and EVERY DAY!!!