When you work in an organization or within a team, you can think of it as ‘doing the work for someone’. For the company. For the manager. For the client. Or you can think of it as ‘doing your work’. There is a big difference. Our work is a way to express ourselves. A programmer […]
Here is a simple idea: Whenever you have a new manager (project manager/departmental leader) joining in your organization, put him/her through a simple training program on how to manage people. Train existing managers as well. The premise: Most project managers/team leaders get work done through team. I have also seen that a lot of people […]
As professionals, we all are responsible for shipping stuff to our customers (internal or external). The stuff that we ship is commonly referred to as a “deliverable”. As a manager, it helps if you can clearly define what deliverable means. The first step to get something right first time is to define it accurately in […]
Akshaya Patra Foundation in India is a shining example of how social entrepreneurship combined with power of innovation can make a HUGE difference. First, some background information. Akshaya Patra is an Indian NGO that provides mid day meals to about 1.2 million children across India on all school days. These meals act as an incentive […]
Friday again – time to share some of the most profound posts that I loved reading last week. These brilliant posts hit the point and leave us with some excellent lessons. A big high-five to these amazing folks. Six Thoughts About Middle Management – by Lisa Haneberg Lisa says, “Management is a social act. Conversations […]
Building quality involves cost. You spend efforts and energy on preventing the errors (prevention cost) and then checking your work (appraisal cost). These are positive costs, or rather investments that ensure that you get it right the first time. The cost of rework when you or customer identifies a LOT of defects(internal/external failure costs) is […]
It pains to see teams where people work on a common goal but don’t get along well with each other. We work in teams and knowing how to get along well with others is extremely crucial. So how do you get along well with others and establish required comfort? Here are 10 broad pointers that […]
Friday is a great day to share links to some of the best thinking out there. I am fortunate to a part of a wonderful leadership/management community who so generously share their ideas, insights and knowledge. So, here are 5 posts that I totally enjoyed reading in the last week, and I am sure you […]
A lot of companies have the phrase “delighting our customers” in their well-crafted mission statements and quality policies. I see “customer delight” as a cherry, with the cake being “solving their problems and meeting the expectations” – so when we say “cherry on top of the cake”, the cake has to be right. Customers don’t […]