If I were to list the top three teachable skills that are most important in the Indian workplace, being able to structure work intelligently would figure on that list.
What do I mean by structuring work? I mean being able to break down a job intelligently into its sub-tasks, so that when you think you are done, you are really done! And you have done well!
Let me give an example. Let us say my boss asked me to find a good location for a new office that is being planned. I could take up this job in several ways.
THE BAD WAYS
1. The "Stunned-into-silence" way: I go away and am not heard from again, almost. Each time the boss asks me the status, I make some noises to the effect that I am working on it. I want to finish it all before I show her anything but I don't really know what to do! Then as more time passes, I start to feel I'll have to show her even more stuff. Now I get terribly uncomfortable. Finally when she pings me yet again, I make some more noises and show her some tidbits of work. She gets fed up, understands that the job is too much for me, and gives it to someone else.
2. The "Please-wipe-my-nose-for-me" way: I come back two days later and ask my boss, "Should I look up some real estate brokers?" When she says yes because she is busy and can't pay full attention to my question, I go away, only to come back a few days later. "Ma'am, I have got the phone numbers of three real estate brokers. Should I try to get some more?" "Yes!" she exclaims, deep in some work. Then I come back again a few days later and say, "Ma'am, I now have the contacts of six brokers. What should I do next?" And so on. It takes ten times as long as it needed to and the boss starts to feel that she might have just as well done it all herself. Also because she is answering many stupid one-off questions when she's not paying full attention, the process is bad and the task gets done badly.
3. The "First-idea-that-comes-to-mind" way: I come back in an hour and say, "Ma'am, there is an office available at xyz address, should we book it? The color of the walls is very good!"
Do these examples look too bad to be true? We see such examples every single week!
THE GOOD WAY
Some thinking and planning goes a long way. Think of it as a project.
What are the criteria for a good decision, i.e. what are we trying to achieve? These could be hard constraints - e.g. the office must be at least 10,000 square feet - or these could be objectives - e.g. distance from public transport. Write the criteria down! When you think you are done, brainstorm for some more ideas. One could also assign weightages for these criteria such as critical, important, good to have, etc. Weightages can of course alse be numerical.
Next, what are the alternatives? I can divide the town into various zones and look at the alternatives at that level. And I can later list all the alternatives under each zone.
As I proceed, I need to make sure I am tapping all the sources of information. This is not just information regarding the alternatives (e.g. real estate brokers, etc.) but also regarding the criteria (e.g. HR can tell me how many people live in each zone, etc.) If I forget to tap a source of information, the lapse will probably come back to bite me.
Only when I have set this entire framework in place should I proceed to evaluate each of my alternatives against my criteria. I'd ideally do it in a spreadsheet.
The evaluation will lead me to the decision, or at least take me close enough. Once the choices have been narrowed down, the final decision is often a little subjective and the boss might want to make it.*
Anyway, if I structure my thinking and my work in this way, my boss will probably be quite impressed with my thoroughness and abilities. I'll go far in the company.
It's easy, right? Yes! But you'll be surprised how few people actually act this way.
So watch out for the "Stunned-into-silence", "Please-wipe-my-nose-for-me" and "First-idea-that-comes-to-mind" modes of project failure. Practise structuring your work intelligently, so that when the time comes and you are given the responsibility of a big project, you'll do a good job.
* I once blogged about the CASED method for making a decision (here is the post and here is another with an example). C for Criteria. A for Alternatives. S is for Sources of Information. E is for Evaluation. D is for Decision and perhaps Documentation. This above example is basically in line with that approach.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Improving the air quality in our cities
Government expands easily, and seldom contracts. Rules and regulations proliferate and are not reviewed often enough to see if they still conform to the dictates of common sense.
I was reminded of this by a large advertisement in leading newspapers by the Pollution Under Control (PUC) drive, Government of Delhi. It reminded the city's vehicle owners that failure to produce a valid PUC certificate on demand would lead to a Rs. 1000 fine for the first offence, and a Rs. 2000 fine for every subsequent offence. The Delhi government is understandably eager to reduce air pollution ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
But does enforcing this rule really help? Let's analyze and see.
A PUC certificate is valid for three months and costs Rs. 45. Therefore the government is effectively taxing each car owner Rs. 180 each year (and spending most of that money on the test) and perhaps 2-4 hours of his or her time. The time does not seem like a lot - but if you add up all the running around an Indian needs to do for his or her driving licence, ration card, passport, electricity bill, etc., the result is a very large number. The bureaucracy crushes our productivity.
My Civic is now more than 2 years old and has covered 25,000 km approximately. It's emissions numbers look like this:
The measured CO level is just TWO PERCENT of the limit. Similarly, the level of hydrocarbons is LESS THAN TWO PERCENT of the limit.
It is not just the Civic that gives these incredible numbers. My 15 year old Suzuki Esteem still gives very good numbers. In fact, most modern petrol cars will be well below the limits for the first few years or first 100,000 km of their lives. Given that there are at least ten or twenty lakh cars in Delhi that meet these criteria, we have perhaps Rs. 20 to Rs. 40 crores and millions of hours of productive time being wasted each year in enforcing the PUC certification for these vehicles.
And what of the cars that are at the edge of the emissions limits or over them - the cars that are diesel run, old, or used for commercial purposes? They often get PUC certificates too, by temporarily adjusting the engine, by bribing the vendor, and so on. I am not saying that the PUC certificates are useless, but this system has many holes.
Perhaps there should be random checking and the fines should be changed thus: Each time you are caught with emissions above the limits and no certificate, you pay a Rs. 2000 fine while if you are caught with emissions above the limits but with a valid certificate you pay Rs. 1000 (and the vendor who gave you the certificate is put on a watchlist). Wouldn't that ensure better compliance and lesser wastage of resources?
I can bet the Delhi air would be a LOT cleaner before the Commonwealth Games if this was the approach taken. Plus we would save a lot of time and money.
The current PUC system - computerized and with a webcam - was a great advance but it is time that we improve it still further.
I was reminded of this by a large advertisement in leading newspapers by the Pollution Under Control (PUC) drive, Government of Delhi. It reminded the city's vehicle owners that failure to produce a valid PUC certificate on demand would lead to a Rs. 1000 fine for the first offence, and a Rs. 2000 fine for every subsequent offence. The Delhi government is understandably eager to reduce air pollution ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
But does enforcing this rule really help? Let's analyze and see.
A PUC certificate is valid for three months and costs Rs. 45. Therefore the government is effectively taxing each car owner Rs. 180 each year (and spending most of that money on the test) and perhaps 2-4 hours of his or her time. The time does not seem like a lot - but if you add up all the running around an Indian needs to do for his or her driving licence, ration card, passport, electricity bill, etc., the result is a very large number. The bureaucracy crushes our productivity.
My Civic is now more than 2 years old and has covered 25,000 km approximately. It's emissions numbers look like this:
The measured CO level is just TWO PERCENT of the limit. Similarly, the level of hydrocarbons is LESS THAN TWO PERCENT of the limit.
It is not just the Civic that gives these incredible numbers. My 15 year old Suzuki Esteem still gives very good numbers. In fact, most modern petrol cars will be well below the limits for the first few years or first 100,000 km of their lives. Given that there are at least ten or twenty lakh cars in Delhi that meet these criteria, we have perhaps Rs. 20 to Rs. 40 crores and millions of hours of productive time being wasted each year in enforcing the PUC certification for these vehicles.
And what of the cars that are at the edge of the emissions limits or over them - the cars that are diesel run, old, or used for commercial purposes? They often get PUC certificates too, by temporarily adjusting the engine, by bribing the vendor, and so on. I am not saying that the PUC certificates are useless, but this system has many holes.
Perhaps there should be random checking and the fines should be changed thus: Each time you are caught with emissions above the limits and no certificate, you pay a Rs. 2000 fine while if you are caught with emissions above the limits but with a valid certificate you pay Rs. 1000 (and the vendor who gave you the certificate is put on a watchlist). Wouldn't that ensure better compliance and lesser wastage of resources?
I can bet the Delhi air would be a LOT cleaner before the Commonwealth Games if this was the approach taken. Plus we would save a lot of time and money.
The current PUC system - computerized and with a webcam - was a great advance but it is time that we improve it still further.
Monday, February 22, 2010
I feel better today
After months of struggling with the inadequate English skills and critical thinking abilities taught by our Indian schools, I feel much better after listening to this Verizon customer service audio clip from the US.
They have their own problems!
They have their own problems!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Senseless TV: payback time?
For the US at least, this recession is all about payback. Letting the finance guys (and girls) dream up paper money? Payback. An entire generation not investing enough in education? Payback. A culture of living off credit cards? Payback. Dependence on cheap Chinese labor? Payback.
Spawning a particularly mindless genre of TV that now corrupts the entire world? Payback.
I must confess that as much as I am mostly nauseated by the tabloid talk shows exemplified by The Jerry Springer Show, reality TV, WWE/WWF, tabloid style "news" channels, and even the song/dance contests, I never fully grasped what the downside to this all-American programming was. Perhaps people would spend too much time in front of the TV, perhaps they would not really develop their intellects. But so what?
Well, the most significant payback has, it seems, come in the way that the US is no longer able to sensibly discuss or debate the crucial questions that it faces.
So even while nearly one out of five American men of working age is unemployed - yes, one of out five - the rational debate is drowned out by the type of hollow arguments, petty one-upmanship and invective-filled language one would normally associate more with The Jerry Springer Show.
As Thomas Friedman points out in the New York Times, "the rise of cable TV has transformed politics in our country generally into just another spectator sport, like all-star wrestling. C-Span is just ESPN with only two teams. We watch it for entertainment, not solutions."
So here's a request to all of you - the next time you find someone you know watching senseless television of any type, intervene. Friends don't let friends watch senseless TV. The life you save may be your own.
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Spawning a particularly mindless genre of TV that now corrupts the entire world? Payback.
I must confess that as much as I am mostly nauseated by the tabloid talk shows exemplified by The Jerry Springer Show, reality TV, WWE/WWF, tabloid style "news" channels, and even the song/dance contests, I never fully grasped what the downside to this all-American programming was. Perhaps people would spend too much time in front of the TV, perhaps they would not really develop their intellects. But so what?
Well, the most significant payback has, it seems, come in the way that the US is no longer able to sensibly discuss or debate the crucial questions that it faces.
So even while nearly one out of five American men of working age is unemployed - yes, one of out five - the rational debate is drowned out by the type of hollow arguments, petty one-upmanship and invective-filled language one would normally associate more with The Jerry Springer Show.
As Thomas Friedman points out in the New York Times, "the rise of cable TV has transformed politics in our country generally into just another spectator sport, like all-star wrestling. C-Span is just ESPN with only two teams. We watch it for entertainment, not solutions."
So here's a request to all of you - the next time you find someone you know watching senseless television of any type, intervene. Friends don't let friends watch senseless TV. The life you save may be your own.
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A newly productive India?
In the mid-1990s, Japan funded and provided technology for a new bridge across the Yamuna in Delhi. At that time even minor repairs on the old Yamuna bridges would carry on for decades (seriously). Therefore it came as a shock to us Delhi-wallahs when we saw this bridge being built in a matter of months, sometimes even at night under spotlights, with every worker wearing a bright yellow hardhat. It was the talk of the town. Somehow the pace of road/bridge/flyover/metro construction in Delhi was never the same again. Today, our city's public works proceed almost at the pace at which they do elsewhere in the world.
A few years later, in the early 2000s, I noticed the local FM radio stations taking up specific local issues and demanding accountability from the government. For example, they would talk about a big pothole on such and such road and then report back a few days later that it had been filled. (I immediately invested in the Indian stockmarket, with good results!) That activism on radio appears to have subsided but it left its mark. Delhi's roads are by and large of better quality than, say, Boston's.
Yesterday I had another experience that appears significant. I had to get my Delhi driving license renewed and went to the Regional Transport Office at Surajmal Vihar. Though the place was moderately crowded, the experience was smoother than that at most private sector institutions.
The man at the Enquiry counter directed me to Counter #4 ("Renewals"). I stood in the queue and got to the counter in a few minutes. The guy looked at my papers, smiled and said, "We don't need so many documents for residence proof, just one will do. Just get it verified from Counter #11."
The Counter #11 guy spent just about 30 seconds on my document and signed the copy. He directed me back to Counter #4.
The #4 guy now entered my data into the computer. There were two computer screens, one facing him and one facing me. He asked me to verify the details when he was done. Then he stamped my paperwork, asked me to sign and said, "Pay the fees". Used to Indian government offices, I thought the cashier would be sitting somewhere far away behind a wire grill, acting like some demi-god. I was pleasantly surprised to find instead that the cashier was the Counter #3, which was essentially three feet to the left of where I stood and looked identical to every other counter.
A few minutes in the queue later, I was in front of the Counter #3 guy. He glanced at my documents; "Rs 300".
While I counted out the money, he pulled up my case on the computer and at once my receipt began to print out in front of the guy next to him. He asked me to step in front of this other guy, who motioned me to sit on a stool I had not noticed till then, clicked a photograph via webcam, asked me to step up and sign an electronic pad and then offer my index finger for a fingerprint. All in a minute.
And then it was done. "The license will be couriered to you." I could not believe it - the entire process had taken just ten or fifteen minutes and had been pleasant. Every RTO employee was fully occupied and productive. In the US it typically takes much longer and even the productivity appears to be lower.
This automation of processes in government departments yields fewer opportunities for bribery. A friend noted yesterday that some folks who work there try to squeeze out some money by being slow to return the change when you give them a currency note and hoping that you will just walk away. Bad, true, but a big improvement!
Kudos to the Delhi transport minister for running such a smooth operation. If such cleansing spreads outwards from Delhi and the metros, it will be a big reason to be bullish on India.
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A few years later, in the early 2000s, I noticed the local FM radio stations taking up specific local issues and demanding accountability from the government. For example, they would talk about a big pothole on such and such road and then report back a few days later that it had been filled. (I immediately invested in the Indian stockmarket, with good results!) That activism on radio appears to have subsided but it left its mark. Delhi's roads are by and large of better quality than, say, Boston's.
Yesterday I had another experience that appears significant. I had to get my Delhi driving license renewed and went to the Regional Transport Office at Surajmal Vihar. Though the place was moderately crowded, the experience was smoother than that at most private sector institutions.
The man at the Enquiry counter directed me to Counter #4 ("Renewals"). I stood in the queue and got to the counter in a few minutes. The guy looked at my papers, smiled and said, "We don't need so many documents for residence proof, just one will do. Just get it verified from Counter #11."
The Counter #11 guy spent just about 30 seconds on my document and signed the copy. He directed me back to Counter #4.
The #4 guy now entered my data into the computer. There were two computer screens, one facing him and one facing me. He asked me to verify the details when he was done. Then he stamped my paperwork, asked me to sign and said, "Pay the fees". Used to Indian government offices, I thought the cashier would be sitting somewhere far away behind a wire grill, acting like some demi-god. I was pleasantly surprised to find instead that the cashier was the Counter #3, which was essentially three feet to the left of where I stood and looked identical to every other counter.
A few minutes in the queue later, I was in front of the Counter #3 guy. He glanced at my documents; "Rs 300".
While I counted out the money, he pulled up my case on the computer and at once my receipt began to print out in front of the guy next to him. He asked me to step in front of this other guy, who motioned me to sit on a stool I had not noticed till then, clicked a photograph via webcam, asked me to step up and sign an electronic pad and then offer my index finger for a fingerprint. All in a minute.
And then it was done. "The license will be couriered to you." I could not believe it - the entire process had taken just ten or fifteen minutes and had been pleasant. Every RTO employee was fully occupied and productive. In the US it typically takes much longer and even the productivity appears to be lower.
This automation of processes in government departments yields fewer opportunities for bribery. A friend noted yesterday that some folks who work there try to squeeze out some money by being slow to return the change when you give them a currency note and hoping that you will just walk away. Bad, true, but a big improvement!
Kudos to the Delhi transport minister for running such a smooth operation. If such cleansing spreads outwards from Delhi and the metros, it will be a big reason to be bullish on India.
To share this blog on Facebook, click here:
Share
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