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Category: Ideas & Wisdom

  • Time Management Tips for Developers

    1. Break projects into steps with specific deadlines for completion of each step.

    2. Generate manageable due dates for the achievement of these steps and schedule specific times to complete the steps to meet these due dates.

    3. Use due dates to monitor progress towards the completion of steps in your plan.

    4. Write down daily tasks and cross them off as they are accomplished.

    5. Use calendar books to record appointments and intended dates for completion of tasks.

    6. Have daily objectives to move them toward the completion of multiple tasks.

    7. Continually review long-term goals so the sight of long range objectives is not lost.

    8. Begin projects early to give yourself time and freedom to brainstorm about the best ways to accomplish your tasks.  Begin early on assignments to create the opportunities to gather information, think over the matter, and collaborate with others for assistance and suggestions.

    9. Be honest about how plans are going.  Don’t hesitate to modify plans to achieve better results.

    10. Seek advice from others.  Accept and even seek input from anyone in a position to assist you or offer helpful information.  Review other’s materials, converse and correspond with expert sources, and consider other’s ideas as you plan a course of action.

    11. Use available resources and don’t try to go it alone unless it is unavoidable.

    12. Inform people involved as much in advance as possible about any role these people may have in any activity.  This allows time for others to plan ahead as well.

    13. Remain flexible and prepare for the unexpected.  Successful people have plans B and C.

    14. Try to anticipate obstacles but be ready to adapt plans in cases of the unexpected.

    15. Remain persistent in the face of adversity by considering other avenues of approach when encountering barriers.  Effective time managers don’t give up easily.

    16. Realize that a polite “No” is sometimes a proper response.  An effective time manager has the ability to say, “I will get back to you on that.  I want to think about it overnight” or “No, I cannot do that now” if the request is disruptive to task completion and progress toward goals.

    Credit : Dennis H Congos

  • Everyone Loves A Controversy

    Bollywood Actress Shilpa Shetty is a victim of racism on UK Reality Show Big Brother. Everyone is now aware of the insult of India, Indian Woman and charges of racial attack on Big Brother. We have seen images of poor Shilpa sobbing like there is no tomorrow. For the uninitiated, check Rediff Coverage. Also read Neha Vishwanathan’s Shilpa Shetty, Big Brother & Racism on Within / Without Blog.

    However, let us consider these points as well:

    1. Shilpa Shetty got Rs 3.5 Crore for the show. She chose to be part of the show. Let us all respect her decision. Let us allow her to fight it out. Anyway, she is unaware of the huge ruckus outside. And let us not forget she is a gutsy, cunning, smart and a courageous lady.

    2. Shilpa’s career was going nowhere in Bollywood. The controversy has helped her get equal amount of newsprint and television time as Ash-Abhishek engagement. Surely this will help to revive her career.

    3. The controversy has helped revive interest in Big Brother. It has got one of its highest TRPs in recent times. Big Brother producers are indeed smiling all the way to bank.

    4. All TV Channels and Newspapers got one more chance to play out the controversy and gain TRPs. Suddenly Shilpa Controversy is bigger than all other events of national and international importance and gets front page and first headline status.

    5. Politicians get a chance to play on sentiments again. P R Dasmunshi and Government step in. Is it really warranted? I & B Minister should be more worried other urgent priorities rather than Shilpa’s misadventures. Even British MP Keith Vaz forced British PM Tony Blair to make a statement in the parliament. Empty Victories!

    The Bigger Questions:

    1. Does Hype Rules Over Lives?

    2. Is Dumbing Down of Media Complete?

    3. Are News Channels The New Entertainment Channels?

    4. Are We A Celebrity Crazy Country?

    5. What About Our Own Racism Against Each Other?

  • Gandhi Is Back!

    “I’ll be back!”
    Terminator, 1984

    Well, move over Arnie, Gandhi is back in international mindspace. Wow! Gandhigiri tops the list of Hot Trends in 2006 in India. Gandhi beats Sensex, xbox 360, Nach Baliye, FIFA World Cup, iPod, Blogging, FM Radio etc. to get to the top as the hottest idea of 2006.

    Courses in Universities, Gandhi Topis, Quiz Contest, People Practising Gandhigiri, Increased Sale of Gandhian Books, Cover Stories in Leading Magazines – all are the proof of renewed interest in Gandhi.

    Well, I am not surprised. I recollect an incident which took place nearly a decade ago in my life.

    Once we had session in our college on 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, an amazing book by Stephen Covey. After an interesting and effective presentation, I asked the trainer the following question : Why is that Indians are forgetting Gandhi while West is rediscovering Gandhi? He was both surprised and impressed to see a young college lad being interested in Gandhi. He could also understand my concern on the cool trend of criticizing Gandhi without understanding him.

    He smiled and answered me through one simple quote from T S Eliot. The quote was:
    We shall not cease from exploration
    And the end of all our exploring
    Will be to arrive where we started
    And know the place for the first time
    ~ T S Eliot, Four Quartlets

    Indians are just discovering West and exploring it. They will soon realize importance of Gandhi when they will come back home after the Western Trip.

    Tons and tons of pages have been written about how Lage Raho Munnabhai brought Gandhi back in Indian hearts and minds. Now we have people organizing constructive programs on Gandhi and colleges starting courses on Gandhigiri. TV shows debate more about Gandhi than Rakhi Sawant.

    The fact is Gandhi can never be ignored. Gandhi is not ephemeral. Gandhi is timeless. Gandhi is the soul of world.

  • Top 10 Signs You Are A Marketer

    Ann Handley of MarketingProfs has sent us the following in the latest email. It is credited to Aussie Michelle Smith.

    10. You lecture the neighborhood kids selling lemonade on ways to improve their look-to-buy ratio.
    9. You get all excited when it’s Saturday so you can wear casual clothes to work.
    8. You refer to the tomatoes grown in your garden as “deliverables.”
    7. You find you really need PowerPoint to explain what you do for a living.
    6. You normally eat out of vending machines and at the most expensive restaurant in town within the same week.
    5. You wear gray to work, instead of navy blue, to make a bold fashion statement.
    4. You know the people at the airport and hotel better than your next-door neighbors.
    3. You ask your friends to “think out of the box” when making Friday night plans.
    2. You think Einstein would have been more effective had he put his ideas into a matrix.
    1. You think a “half-day” means leaving work at 5 o’clock.

  • Alliances : Road To Growth

    Change is constant in today’s business environment. In order to maintain a competitive advantage, companies are forming alliances to complement their product and service strategy, and to offer clients comprehensive, innovative solutions. Magnet has also decided to unleash the opportunities through alliances.

    Synergy works! It enables us to share best practices, scale up operations and enable continuous process improvements. Alliance partners can focus on their core competencies. Magnet Alliance Partner (MAP) would focus on marketing efforts by spending more time on analyzing customer’s specific requirements and monitoring the development process. Alliance partnerships are a route to scalable and fast growth by optimizing strengths of alliance partner’s strengths.

    Alliances ensure:
    – Greater Focus
    – Lower Costs
    – Speedier Execution
    – Effective Organizational Efficiency
    – Optimal Results
    – Increased Profitability
    – Total Peace of Mind

    What makes for a successful alliance?

    Benjamin Gomes-Casseres has written a article on Successful Alliances based on his consulting experience and on the research for his book, The Alliance Revolution: The New Shape of Business Rivalry (Harvard University Press, 1996).

    He says : Tomorrow’s companies will not survive if they try to do everything themselves, nor will they be saved by a strategic alliance here or there. But having a real alliance strategy will give them a fighting chance.

    According to him, an alliance strategy creates the context for the success of individual partnerships. Ten factors pertaining to the deal itself are critical:

    1. Have a clear strategic purpose. Alliances are never an end in themselves–they ought to be tools in service of a business strategy.

    2. Find a fitting partner. This means a partner with compatible goals and complementary capabilities.

    3. Specialize. Allocate tasks and responsibilities in the alliances in a way that enables each party to do what does best.

    4. Create incentives for cooperation. Working together never happens automatically, particularly not when partners were formerly rivals.

    5. Minimize conflicts between partners. The scope of the alliance and of partners’ roles should avoid pitting one against the other in the market.

    6. Share information. Continual communication develops trust and also keeps joint projects on target.

    7. Exchange personnel. Regardless of the form of the alliance, personal contact and site visits are essential for maintaining communication and trust.

    8. Operate with long time horizons. Mutual forbearance in solving short-run conflicts is enhanced by the expectation of future gains.

    9. Develop multiple joint projects. Successful cooperation on one project can help partners weather the storm in less successful joint projects.

    10. Be flexible. Alliances are open-ended, dynamic relationships that need to evolve in pace with their environment and in pursuit of new opportunities.

  • Heart and Emotions

    SHUBHRANGSHU ROY
    Shubhrangshu Roy shares his conversation with Dr Trehan on the topic of heart and emotions.

    Dr Trehan says, “if you look at it the way I do, the seat of emotion is the heart. The brain may well send out a signal and that has to be the same for every person, but even medically, if you look at it, the response always differs from heart to heart,” the doc went on.

    Which is why when you love someone from the bottom of your heart, it’s the ultimate act of emotion. There is nothing more you can scrape. Which is why when you have a broken heart you feel the pain right in here. Which is why when you have a bleeding heart, it drains you of all your joys right in there. “That’s the ultimate truth,” the heart doc said.

    “And what about hate?” I wondered.“I am certain that while love and compassion come straight from the heart, hatred can only come from the head. Right now, I have a lot of hatred in me, but I don’t feel any of that right here.”

    Source : This one’s from the heart, stupid! (The Economic Times, Oct 26 2005)

  • The Psychology of Happiness

    James Montier gives us the following tips for Being Happy!

    The top ten list for improving happiness (in no particular order):

    1) Don’t equate happiness with money.
    People adapt to income shifts relatively quickly, the long lasting benefits are essentially zero.

    2) Exercise regularly.
    Regular exercise is an effective cure for mild depression and anxiety. It also stimulates more energy, and is good for the mind and body.

    3) Have sex
    Ppreferably with someone you love! Need I say more?

    4) Devote time and effort to close relationships.
    Confiding and discussing problems and issues is good for happiness, so work on these relationships.

    5) Pause for reflection, meditate on the good things in life.
    Focusing on the good aspects of life helps to prevent hedonic adaptation.

    6) Seek work that engages your skills, look to enjoy your job.
    Doing well at work creates happiness, and the easiest way of doing well at work, is doing a job you enjoy.

    7) Give your body the sleep it needs.
    Too many people have a sleep deficit, resulting in fatigue, gloomy moods and lack of concentration.

    8) Don’t pursue happiness for its own sake, enjoy the moment.
    Because people don’t understand what makes them happy, pursuing happiness can be self-defeating. Additionally, if people start to aim for happiness they are doing activities for happinessÕs sake rather than actually enjoying the activity itself.

    9) Take control of your life, set yourself achievable goals.
    People are happiest when they achieve their aims, so set yourself goals which stretch you, but are achievable.

    10) Remember to follow rules 1-9.
    Following these guidelines sounds easy, but actually requires willpower and effort.

    Let’s leave the last words to Adam Smith (quoted in Adam Smith, Behavioural Economist by Ashraf et al (2004) from the Theory of Moral Sentiments):

    Through the whole of his life he pursues the idea of a certain artificial and elegant repose which he may never arrive at, for which he sacrifices a real tranquillity that is at all times in his power, and which, if in the extremity of old age he should at last attain to it, he will find to be in no respect preferable to that humble security and contentment which he had abandoned for it. It is then, in the last dregs of life, his body wasted with toil and disease, his mind galled and ruffled by the memory of a thousand injuries and disappointments which he imagines he has met with from the injustice of his enemies, or from the perfidy and ingratitude of his friends, that he begins at last to find that wealth and greatness are mere trinkets of frivolous utility, no more adapted for procuring ease of body or tranquillity of mind, than the tweezer-cases of the lover of toys.

    Source : www.drkwresearch.com