Killed a Billion Dollar Startup Idea!

How do you define, What is right? What is wrong? What is Legal? What is Illegal? Is it possible that what was once a right thing was wrong at a later point of time and vice versa?

Well, my point is always it depends and it is not always that simple and straightforward as we think it is. Once "Sati" the practice of burning women after her husband died was a standard practice and even celebrated with folk songs in praise of Sati Devi. ( I won't talk about Galileo and LGBT's)
Why am I talking about all of these when the title is about killing about a billion dollar idea?

Last week, was part of the jury panel for the startup weekend at Anna University. One of the pitches was to be the market place for the Airline luggages. Premise is there are sizable number of business class travellers and others who don't utilize the luggage limits to the fullest or don't utilize it at all. Also there are lot number of people who are in need of it and end up paying the airlines for that space.  The airlines also end up selling the unutilized space to the cargo companies. Yeah, apparently seems they are selling the same space twice! (and still they are not profitable! sigh!)

We, the jury said it was illegal for you to carry the luggage of other and outrightly rejected it. [Before the judging we were also talking about Zenefits] Well of course the other pitches were better. Though I thought it was one good helluva idea and more unique and innovative than others, I never made the case for them. Somehow, I still can't get that idea out of my head and how we people look at things and evaluate new ideas.

Yeah, the numbers need to be validated, need to see will passengers be comfortable carrying the luggage of others, will the incentive offered be something that would interest the business class customers, Airlines may completely clamp down or alternatively do it by themselves,(offer extra miles if you carry less on a business class and so on)

I was much intrigued by how we look at things, how we perceive and interpret them.

How many times have we paid the exorbitant extra luggage fee to the airlines? How many times have we asked one of our friend to carry our luggage? How many times have we carried the luggage for others? So why not make a business out of it?

Lets go beyond and look at other things. While at abroad, How many times we have asked someone, I will pay you (or pay me in local currency) and I will ask someone to settle the equivalent amount back in India? (Isn't it hawala in the smallest scale and how many such transaction happen and what if we can bring it online and create a marketplace for it?)(This I still do think it is totally illegal!)

Before we scream about legality and right and wrong, let's take a hard look at ourselves.
We hate the local auto guy cause he never runs the meter or charges exorbitantly and want the government to rein in them. Yet we talk about supply and demand and think surge price for Ola and Uber is perfectly fine. If charging above the meter is illegal, isn't the surge price illegal? Or are we going to call it a market price (as in how land value is higher than the government guided price) Point is how we think it is okay for Ola/Uber to do it but not for the auto guy.

While we would happily go to court or at least threaten to go to court, if someone sells beyond M.R.P, we are more happy to hunt for discounts and go and buy from the online site that sells for the lowest. One could say it is maximum retail price but not the minimum retail price so why not buy it at the lowest price.  Let's worry about consumer behavior and the irrationality of it some other time.

Coming back to the legality of market place for airlines luggage, take a look at airbnb! If I am letting someone stay at my home and charging them for it, shouldn't I be subjective to the same laws and compliances to that of a hotel? What if AirBnB was never given a chance?

Point is most of big billion dollar bets started as crazy and impossible and never can be done ideas!

Who will bell the cat?

In all of our lives, we face problems. Some that have direct impact on us. Some may not be. In such instances, most of time we do a good job of the root cause analysis of the problem, why it is, who is responsible. how it could have been averted and even say how it could be fixed.

The problem with this analysis of problems, it is just armchair analysis. Well if not for the armchair, the analysis would be activism.

Not many really do have the guts or decency to go ahead and fix the problem when they know how to fix it or at least speak about the problem to the root cause of the problem (Yes, sometimes fixing a problem is all about being decent)

Let's say you are worried about your front yard being filled with trash by your neighbor. You get irritated, curse the person or throw back his/her trash in their front yard along with your trash. May be get in to a shouting match with the trash just lying in your front yard.

How many would walk up to the neighbor and polite, calm and assertively say, what you are doing is wrong? Get your act straight.

If your boss is giving you more work, go tell him, you cannot do it. If your colleague is annoying tell them to stop it. If you like a guy/gal, just go tell them. If you want to move on from a relationship, just move on.

As they say, best way to beat the temptation is to yield to it. One way to beat the fear is to face it.

Similarly, if you have a problem, man up and solve it. Don't just keep cribbing about it. Cause it's your problem and you gotta fix it and nobody's gonna clean your shit for you! Quicker you do it, less the stink!*

p.s
*Sometimes, some people eventually do get to solve the problem, either when they are left with no choice or reach their breaking point or get a epiphany about it. Yet a lot of valuable time and peace of mind is lost from the point of occurrence of problem and time it gets solved. Hence the need to act on it at the earliest!

How To?

In our professional lives, we are all fed and swamped with information in presentations and reports. 

• How to tell someone that they are wrong?
• How to tell someone that they are wrong but they do not know it?
• How to tell someone that they are wrong but they do know it pretty well that they are wrong?
• How to tell someone that they are wrong but they do not care, is it right or wrong?
• How to tell someone that they are wrong because they have no clue about what they are talking?

Also, In any or all of the above scenarios,

• How to tell, if it was someone who works for you?
• How to tell if it was your peer?
• How to tell if it was your boss?
• How to tell if it was your boss's boss?
• How to tell if it was your client?

If you ask me, what would you do? 

The old me would say, "To hell with the scenarios and who is telling and this permutation and combination shit, Just tell them they are WRONG, DEAD WRONG and for good measure, roll your eyes with a disapproving look in your face and if you have luxury of  time take their case for pretty good, so that in future they would think twice before telling something that they are not sure of"

p.s

If you ask me, what would the new me do?, You already have the answer! #YOUGETIT?

Reflections from a rainy evening...

Thanks to few kind souls who have enormous faith and belief in me, had an opportunity to talk to around 600 people in a software company.

• Felt too good and too proud to know a truly global standard product is being built out of Chennai. It is really world class cause in a way it is beating the leaders in a particular geography. In a way much more than bigger than Zoho, cause their competitors are much more serious companies. Think of big enterprise software companies selling to bigger companies!
• Good, growing companies invest in people and think of ways to engage and nurture their people
• Despite being an entrepreneur for 15+ years and having such a large company, which definitely requires a lot of hard work and perseverance,the founder was very humble and his thoughts were much more humbler. (Not the typical stereotype ones that we come across in today's hyped up media)
• It is all about being in the right place at the right time
• One should not be too emotional and attached to their venture. Should not hesitate to kill it if it doesn't work
• Ventures are like family. One way or another, they sustain themselves and outlive the founder 

N.B

• The world is truly a small place; 
• No, I am not very sure how good my talk was. I think, it wasn't that bad cause, I saw many people going back to their workstations and continue working
• Nevertheless it was a very good personal learning experience

Two Tortoise Stories

Story 1:

Once there was an angry young man. His peers used to call him reckless because he would always speak his mind and shoot off his mouth without worrying about consequences or giving a damn!

He was worried about the inefficiencies in the organization as a result of the reporting structure and the training/skill development program launched across the organization. He would go on to explain how it could be fixed to anyone who would listen!

One of his colleague said, "You have an ambition to play in the big leagues and you are also so convinced about your thoughts and ideas.Why not write to the highest authority of the organization."

His time in the organization too was ticking away. His another principle was to do something and regret about it rather than regret about not doing it. He decided to give it a go and wrote it to the third highest authority.

To his surprise, he even got a reply later from the highest authority copying one of his top commandant to look in to it and assigning a lieutenant to track and make his ticking clock go away!

If you are wondering, I promised a story and tale should have a twist, and where the hell is the surprise? Well, wait for it!

The first reply started off saying, "Could not download the attachments". The note on issue was sent as PDF and  by then iPhone 4 was already in the market for an year and 4S was about to be launched. Even in top major Indian IT companies,shareholder and chairman are the first and second highest authorities of an organization respectively!

Story 2:

After working for a very large organization, the protagonist wanted to work for a startup. Rationale was he could work across different functions, make a mark and be recognized for his efforts. Considering his MBA plan, he reasoned, it would be good to have experiences from both extremes.

The startup CEO assigned him few employees, and tasked him with a primary function of training them and set up a new services offering unit! Those were the days, where people were worrying about the screen resolution and browser types than the Android/iOS and form factor challenges.

Once he asked his team member to find the version of IE in his computer. Having not heard from him he went to the place of teammate to see what he was up to.

In the IE, he was googling, "What is the version of IE in this computer?"

Disclaimer:
Any resemblance to real life characters are purely coincidence!

Inside Amazon! NYT is not so Neutral!

To appreciate this blog post, it would be good to read the New York Times article,  which says Amazon may be a good place to buy but not a good place to works for cause it is draconian(Darwinian) in a way!

Here are my quick thoughts in no particular order!

• Don't you wish the company and workers of company from where you buy your product to care for you very deeply and be committed about it? 
• Have you never spent money for company related work and did not bother to make a claim on it? 
• Have you never felt that you could say, that was a stupid idea when someone says something very stupid in the meeting rather than faking polite smile and laugh about it it later behind their back?
• Have you never been angry with your co-workers who slack and goof up and wish you could tell their boss rather than hoping for karma to strike down on them?

If the answer had been YES, then one has nothing to complain against Amazon or things mentioned in this article!

• As a customer, you want to buy things seamlessly and delivered at the earliest! If that has to happen someone must work crazy and hard to make it happen. If you are fine with sloppy delayed delivery then complain and criticize at what Amazon does!
• As a stockholder, you want the company to put your money to work, grow it multifold. So why complain when the company is frugal!
• Amazon is the modern day WalMart. Remember similar kind of arguments or accusations against them too. No wonder they have surpassed WalMart!
• Haven't you ever felt bad about, people who don't work properly, people who goof around getting promoted, getting raises, the undeserved getting perks and benefits and accolades! So what if there was a system to give anonymous feedback about them to their bosses!
• Haven't people complained about working for Steve Jobs? At least there it was mostly from people who worked directly with him rather than across the organization. Here Jeff seems to have inspired everyone to be like that. If that is true, then I think it's a great achievement! [Sometimes management is all about making everyone work the way you want even when you are not around!]
• I also wonder, will Flipkart ever succeed against Amazon!

Please note, I am not defending Amazon. I am not saying what they doing is absolutely right and am not prescribing every organization out there should follow what Amazon does. I just feel the NYT article does exaggerates and paints everything in bad light!

The point that I am trying to make is, every system, every organization has its own ethos, own style of working. Some people embrace it. Some don't. To quote a Bond movie,  One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.

Moreover, it is too difficult and virtually impossible to have an uniformity (either good or bad) across the organization and generalize stuff. I think it all boils down to your immediate boss and the team!

Self Plug: Buy my book on WalMart at Amazon!

Notes on Deal Making

• Just because someone puts a deal on the table doesn't mean you have to do the deal
• Just because the deal on the table is interesting doesn't mean you have to do the deal
• Just because everyone says, it's a good deal doesn't mean you have to do the deal
• Just because the numbers seems to make sense doesn't mean you have to do the deal
• Just because you have seriously considered it and even did some ground work for it doesn't mean you have to do the deal
• Just because you started negotiating doesn't mean you have to do the deal

Think well, in a rational calm manner (without getting in to deal frenzy that you gotta do this deal) Think, is this what you want  to do it, if yes, what is the terms that you would want to do. Stick to your guns.

Remember you can always walk out. There will be several others!

p.s
For all you know, this post may not be about professional deal making at all! Let's take out the word deal and alter the situation with a gal, you might end up with a Valentine day post!
p.p.s
At the end of the day, even happy, good to have problems are also just problems!

Update:
May be sometimes you have to just do it when you have the opportunity and chance to do it.
cause, sometimes it may be too late. If you are wondering why such change of heart in less than 12 hours, read this insane story
If the above link talks about the good luck here it is the bad luck story

Thoughts on Digital Piracy (Revisit! Reecho)

Sometimes back, I posted my thoughts on digital publishing and piracy. Now I guess it is time for another such post or echo them again.

• I really don't believe that piracy can be eradicated.
• I really don't believe that there cannot be an effective efficient fool proof technology to prevent piracy.
• I am also not a big fan of currently available DRM solutions whatever that I am aware of.
• More especially the ones that tells you can read the content only when you are online
• The ones which says you can read the book only on this device and on another or restricting to few platforms
• It is more similar to saying, you can buy this TV, we will install it in your house, but you cannot take it to your new house. To make it more apt, you can buy the DVD but use it only at your home but definitely not in your neighbors home
• You can buy this physical book, but you cannot lend it resell it to anyone.
• Digital books should be treated similar to the way the physical books are treated.

Having said all the above, let me tell you where the problem starts. Not all customers treat the digital books as they would treat the physical books.

They may lend a physical book to a friend or two, resell it again or give it away to library. If they want they may buy the book in bulk by paying and give it to others.  Have you ever seen anyone photocopying a book and sharing it across? No one can buy one physical book and make it available to scores of people free in one single second!

At the same time, when it comes to digital book, one single mail, one single upload, they make it available to 100's or 1000's or 100,000's of people at the same time.  (Makes me to rethink my principles and stand on DRM)

This is not a unique phenomenon to one part of globe or country or region. Pirated books, software, movie and music are available all over the world. If you want to find them, you have to resort to torrents, or some sites where people would upload or share under anonymous names.

No one ever puts out this pirated copy is brought to you by so and so. Please do send your thanks to this email id or send a Christmas card to this address!

Wait a minute, why this post ? Happened to see a FB group, which asks people to share the Tamil e-books that they have. Worse, also saw one very good and interesting book of leading Tamil Publishing house translated by the Publisher itself!

I am not sure, whether the guy who uploaded the file in FB knows, it is possibly a punishable offence.

As I said in the old post, unless people are aware that violating copy right and intellectual property is a punishable offence. (If I had understood and read the law, one can be imprisoned anywhere from seven days to three years and fine of INR 50,000 to INR 200,000 rupees)

Coming back to piracy, what would really stop it? My firm belief is, it stops only when the guy who commits the act of piracy decides to stop it! Also check out other factors in my old post.
For further proof here it from the horse mouth! The confessions of a Book Pirate!

Oh BTW, Both my books can be bought as eBooks here
 

Darn You Google!

Nothing gets my goat than "Smart people being so stupid and silly"
Yeah, How can smart people be so stupid?

Googlers are considered to be smart. They do work on Space Technology, Internet Balloons, Cars that drive by themselves. (

Yet, they dont have a google talk on Apple Store. (Well, Hangouts cannot be installed if you do not have a front facing camera i.e iPhone 3GS)
The messenger in Google+ just doesn't works.

FB has messenger that works seamlessly across devices. Viber does that. But you Google! Shame on you.  [Skype doesn't have a seamless integration but it is understandable as they are owned by Microsoft now]

Hope the Product Managers at Google get their act together or may be the top management should do a realignment like Apple er like what Microsoft did ;)

P.S
They shutting down the Reader while having Currents is a post meant for another day.

P.P.S
Nothing has changed in Google Talk from 2008 as mentioned here. I have changed a little bit. I would love to take a shot at building the next Google rather than just making their perpetual beta products .

P.P.P.S
Inspired due to missed pings in Google Talk ;)

 

No, He was not an "A"!

You are one of the best in what you do. I mean the very best in the world. Any company who would want your expertise will hire you right away with the top money you demand.

Now will you choose to work for a company which can't even let you talk about work to any one in the world.
Worse sometimes you don't even know on what exactly you are working on. No we are not talking about CIA!

To top it your boss happens to be the one who is perceived to be the "A". It is not a random statement. A management professor from Stanford wrote a chapter on "the virtues of assholes." greatly inspired by him.

Yes we are talking about Steve Jobs and Apple!

I find this very contradictory. If Jobs was a "A" as portrayed why would the so called best in business work for him? Why would they even tolerate him? Why would they give their very best to him? Why would people who worked on Mac describe that as one of the best time in their lives? 

How come a "A" went on to create history in computers, movies, music and mobile, even retail and e-commerce.? Even on a personal level he had a successful marriage with four kids. Why would a successful smart woman live with a "A"? Well the relationship with the first kid was turbulent. I think it was cause she was just like his father. The apple doesn't falls far from the tree. does it?

So who are all these people who call him the "A"?  Why do they call him so?

People who did not leave up to his standards. People who just don't understand him but misunderstood him pretty well..

Many people confuse Job's success was a result of his behavior. They also tend to think just because he was a "A" (from their perspective), people gave him the best. People who worked on Mac do accept that each and every time he rejected, they came up with something better and do accept their earlier work was best. It was just that Jobs was passionate and wanted even minute things to be perfect. [Jobs called Vic to fix up a yellow gradient in the Second O in Google on Sunday]

So being an "A" will not make you Jobs, cause he was not an "A" in the first place. I would also go out on my limb to say Job's managerial or leadership style was no different from most of the other successful people who created history. Job's behavior was greatly exaggerated in the very own reality distortion field created by others.

Stanford professor also contends Jobs was too singular to offer many usable lessons. In Jobs case, many is not necessary. The 14 leadership lessons from Jobs as distilled by Isaacson in HBR is more than enough to distrupt an industry or two.

p.s
FB page on book about Steve Jobs by me
You can buy it here

Lawyers and the evolution of Technology

Many people do not like lawyers. They think no good can come out of lawyers. I beg to differ.

I would attribute the evolution of all technological 1.0 2.0 and 3.0 and all others yet to come to Lawyers. Even if not entirely the one and only cause, lawyer(s) was the biggest catalyst in making this happen.

The big bang evolution of Technology started with the PC. More importantly and precisely the IBM clones. It was the Windows that made the IBM clones possible. So where did the lawyers come in to this?

In the name of innovation and secrecy the IBM PC group was way secluded away from the rest of organization. IBM never leveraged the resources within their company. IBM never thought PC could be a game changer. So isn't it all about strategy failure of IBM throwing away the future? NOOOO.

Isn't it all about Bill Gates selling his software all over the world taking a free ride back of the giant IBM? Again I would say NO.

It was because Bill Gates was able to sell his software to all other than IBM too.

Usually when IBM buys software from a vendor, they ask for an exclusive agreement that they should serve as a sole vendor only to IBM. Considering it is OS to the PC, this should have been in the legal agreement. Some lawyer should have spotted this and should have included it in the agreement.

Oh, Would Bill have been bound by a piece of paper? Couldn't Bill have wiggled out of the agreement as he once did with Ed Roberts of MITS? Bill even found a loop hole in an agreement with Steve Jobs and announced the launch of GUI based OS well before the launch of Macintosh. Why not pull the same trick with IBM?

Well, either Roberts or Steve weren't as big as IBM. Bill could have gotten away from any iron clad agreement with Roberts or Steve, but not with IBM! May be Bill could have set himself free from the agreement, even it was iron clad. But then Big Bang of technology evolution couldn't have occured and even if occured, it would have been delayed.

Long live that lawyer who overlooked that clause of the century! 

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Why should not this experience economics be called as nothing but a marketing gimmick?

Possible examples includes Disneyland and of course Starbucks!

I do not know anything about Disneyland but I do know something about Starbucks.

Yeah, Starbucks does provide good experience and Starbucks is Starbucks.

Didn't the Starbucks suffer during recession? Didn't they try to behave like Mcdonalds by selling starbucks in Subway?

Doesn't the decline in the growth during recession convey the success and sustenance of the experience economy depend on the disposable income of the individuals?

Recession or no recession, werent there other players in other segments who were relatively successful?

More over, doesn't the soceity will always contain the rich and the poor masses? How much of the population can really afford starbucks?

What percentage of the population can really afford to pay for the experience?

If only a relatively small percentage of population can indulge or afford in experience goods, then why should it be so relevant?

p.s
This post is not just due to craving for a good coffee or my inability to afford Starbucks right now. [Having a Starbucks right across the college doesn't helps]

p.p.s
If you had the patience to read about Experience economy and what i have written why not check out is Information economy reaching its overload as well as say hello to Feedback economy

Maniratnam, Biographies and Biopics

There are too many good books out there. But, there are very few books which make you mutter Oh My God and Holy Cow every now and then! No, I am not talking about porn or soft porn books.
To me one among them was Barbarians at the Gate, the LBO of RJR Nabisco. I felt it was the mother of all books when it comes to giving the insider view of how the company works.  I also felt, never ever such a book could be written on Indian companies.
Well, only recently I read Polyester Prince, of course not written by an Indian! Though wiki says it is banned, Guha says it is just unavailable!

It is not just the biography of Dhirubai Ambani not the history of Reliance. In a sense, it is very much the history of India itself, its economy, stock market, politics, the mindset of the people.

The contents are much more explosive than any Hollywood and Bollywood movies. (at least for me)

It does explicitly names the people involved and the deeds done by them. At certain places, though author explicitly doesnt names the people, it is pretty obvious where he is pointing his fingers!

Though i was outraged and enraged at the things (allegations) Ambani has did, I do admire the sheer  Geniusness and the capability of Ambani to run the company, stock market and the Government of India itself.

I have heard personally from one of my friend who worked in building one of their plant, it was one of the best in the world. Best of the machinery, best of the technology in the world and No compromises on that. You could also conclude the friend who told me was also the best and he knew what he was telling me.He also did tell me the operating cost[the cost of converstion of one barrel of crude oil to other useful forms] was much more less than Shell by many factors.
I am very sure this was the guiding and founding principle from their early days and all their plants or operations would have adhered to the same standard.

If only Ambani did play the stock market as mentioned in the book all you wallstreet finance whiz kids, who couldnt avert Lehman or any other such crisis, go spend a fortnight on the grave of Ambani!

And for the influence, If only lobbying had been legal and structured in India, would we still consider what Ambani did was wrong?

I also couldnt help thinking if this much could be culled out by an Australian, how much dirt or as Ambani himself says, what else lies under the beautiful fountain he has built over!

Though the author washes much of the dirty linen and brings out the skeletons from the closet, I think he himself admires and applauds Ambani in a back handed manner. Also long back, he has pointed out at the possibility of rivalry among the brothers.

No one can better sum up about the Ambani and be the best jury rather than the concluding pages of the book!

Now to stay true to the title of the post :)
There have been times, I have held Maniratnam at awe. After watching English movies, started thinking, may be Mani doesn't deserves the hype he deserves.

But, after reading this book, Mani has been elevated back to the pedestal.

His Guru and Iruvar had been my all time favourites.
Iruvar, no one else could have actually captured the 40 years of history of Tamilnadu in Celluloid. The same goes with Ambani and his Guru movie. Mani has actually lifted references of Ambani from this book [Salam, Different slippers and Drinking to name a few]
Again as Mani himself as said, his movies are not biographies as he only draws inspirations from real time storis and weaves a story of his own.[Mani himself as admitted even his Agni Natchitram and Alaipayuthe were inspired by real stories of unknown faceless people] or make a few changes here and there for the revieweres to say, this is where it is not true to the reality.
Still kudos and three cheers to Mani.
If you haven't watched either of this two movies, you should, even if you are not a movie watching guy.[yeah i  talking to you :)))]

Full Disclosure: I have the climax of Guru in my lappy and watch it every now and then, whenever i feel low. :) :P :D

N.B
It is a best read to motivate you to acheive towards success rather than any of the other self development books. Remember Ambani says Never break the law :))

Annoying Airtel (Well Nothing new)

Nothing pisses me off like a bad customer service!

I pay money to your service and expect value for each and every paisa that i pay.

I am one among the many who use a touch screen mobile. Yeah that also happens to be the so called smart phone.Hence I also data services.

Along other spam messages i receive[Yeah i have subscribed to DND] there comes a message on 12 Apr-20.48
I have subscribed for GAMES MANIA_5
The reaction of yours truly was WTF! I dont play any games and have never played any games except for the occasional minesweeper and the legendary angry birds. [Yeah i am one of a rare specimen]

I call the customer care,blast at them. They take the request for deactivation[Ref #: F1037597005]
I raise the same same issue in twitter to @airtel_presence. I get a canned response share your contact details we will call back.
I get a call when i was in middle of something so asked him to call back later. Later,I get a call from broadband when the issue is with my mobile and one month goes away and i never get any call from any folks.

When i open my bill to pay, I see am being charged 5 per day from 12-Apr.
I call the customer care, unable to resolve, the agent volunteers to escalate to that the supervisor and i get the below response

1)The service was deactivated
2)But,The service was reactivated [Oh yeah of course by yours truly as he doesn't know how to use a smart phone and more importantly how to finger i mean use his finger]
3)Hence the bill.

He doesn't know how it got activated, he cannot assure that the activation will not happen again.
He doesn't know why i never got a notification, when i reactivated it.

I come back tweet to @airtel_presence praise(sic) them they are the best customer service and after asking them is it because of the lack of the SIM or the lack of network coverage that they are still not able to get back to me even after a month.

Now a person calls from Airtel takes a look at everything, when i ask him, why I am i billed day in day out even after the deactivation, he accepts, though the agent has made a note it has been deactivated, he never deactivated!

Now here are the questions:
1) Why does it gets activated when i havent activated? Why does it just notifies me with out getting a confirmation? How do you even let such a system exist in the first place?
2) If Airtel is just the content provider, why does it allow the vendor[GAMES MANIA] to behave in such a manner? Is the revenue cut from GAMES MANIA much important than a Customer?
3) Why is that in the customer service, no one monitors or tracks things properly?
4) Doesn't Airtel conducts audits or process checks with the customer service vendor now and then?
5) When the Airtel guy can answer me effectively and if a customer service vendor cannot handle me, why to have a third party service vendor?
6) When i will be fined 100/- for a late payment even by a minute, why should i pay my bill promptly and wait for a month to get a refund?  More importantly who will compensate for the time i spend with the customer care for such a long time and more importantly your time by making you read all these!
7) I did ask them, I need the mail id of Vice President for the Customer Service, he said it is confidential. Those folks have my phone number mail id and address and you are a publicly traded company and he cannot reveal the mail id of Vice President of Customer care!

The issues doesnt ends over there. I think they are first (hopefully the only one) to charge the customer for talking to the customer care!

When you pay the bills, online, Whenever i copy paste the number at number field it never accepts it as valid number
It asks for the mail id if it is mobile bill and sends the receipt but it doesnt asks for the mail id when i want to pay my broadband bill
God knows why such discrepancies.

No I am not alone, Please check the https://twitter.com/#!/Airtel_Presence to see how many complaints they receive in an hour?

Now,if only their process/service/systems were proper, what is the need for a customer service? Well if you buy a product and if the product is too good and you dont face too many problems will you worry much about the after sales support or service? Similarly if only Airtel had good systems or process in place, the chance for the customer to complain comes down, so out of that the complaint of bad customer service too obviously comes down. Just dont focus or worry about proper balances and checks ensure there is no need for balance and checks

I really wonder how they design their systems or the senior management folks do or manage the outsourcing but we get to see articles like these.
http://blogs.hbr.org/govindarajan/2012/05/telecoms-competitive-solution-outsourcing.html

Nope I am not against the outsourcing. All i am saying is manage the outsourcing properly.
May be the right question to ask rather than all of this "Why I am i still their customer?"

Sincerely,
Concerned Stockholder

p.s
If Airtel had been in US would it have been possible for me to get all the dissatisfied customers and file a class action suit against them and made lakhs #justasking

Four rules for your First job

1.Lit a fire under your ...
After a long and arduous journey of pre-school to college, when you land up in your first job, you might think, you have reached the end of tunnel.
Remember there is no end of tunnel and there is no light.
Above all the journey has just begun.
Be ambitious. Be goal oriented. Have a plan.
Ensure the fire under your bellies do not fade out but add fuel to that fire and lit it under your ...

2.Find a Good Guru
No college, No course prepares you for the real job. When you land up in your job, it is nothing else but a dark and dangerous jungle.
With out a proper guide to show you the way you would really be lost. By the time you, you figure out your way in jungle, you would have been eaten alive by predators.
With out a guide, you just dont stand a chance.

3.Pray for an ambitious manager
Ensure you work for a manager who is ambitious to the nth degree.
It is more like a ladder where you all are in queue and your manager is on top.Until and unless he moves a step ahead you will never be able to climb ahead. If he doesn't climbs up, the only way to charge ahead is to change your ladder.

4.Meaure your progress with numbers
You might hear some wise #$% remarks such as, "It is the time to learn. You should not be focussing on money. In the long run all things will get even out" 
When the companies worry about customers rather than profits, when the companies worry about employers rather than operating margins. When people stop drooling at Asin, Anushka, Tamanna and Trisha, because they too get old one day and will look ugly.
You too could stop worry about your bonus, hike and the money you make.

Make no mistake, if your numbers dont grow, it just shows you are just not growing.

Update:
This space will be updated shortly with "Purpose in life" [Contribution from some one who has taught me most of the tech stuff and most importantly the way of thinking and what not]
p.s
All the above are based on the presumption that you are smart, logical, quick thinker with superb social skills. It also means you know your craft and is too good at it. To sum up you should have potential. Alas, Potential alone will not take you anywhere. Then, the title is a misnomer. It applies not just to your first job, when ever you enter a new role, new team, new department, new company, in short any new jungle!

p.p.s
The above post was written quite sometime(4-5 months) back with the intention to be published under a totally different circumstances. It could be clearly seen in the refences to Asin, Tamanna and Trisha rather than say Hansika, Shruthi or Richa ;). Neverthless it had been in draft section for quite sometime, i thought will let this see the light of the day.

IT இனி மெல்ல சாகும்

முன்குறிப்பு:பின் வருவன உண்மை மிக உண்மை. மிகை சிறிதும் இல்லை.

தமிழ்நாட்டின் சாலையோரத்தில் மரங்கள் மத்தியில் இருக்கும் எண்ணற்ற கட்டடங்களில் ஒன்று. பொறியியல் கல்லூரி என அவற்றின் முன் ஒரு போர்டைக் காணலாம்.

அங்கு நாளை பார்ட்டூன் 500 கம்பெனிகளில் ஏதாவது ஒன்றின் கணக்கு வழக்குகளை நிர்வகிக்கும் மென்பொருளின் ஒரு பகுதியை உருவாக்கவோ, நிர்வகிக்கவோ அல்லது ஒழுங்காக வேலை செய்கிறதா என்ற பரிசோதனை செய்யவோ ஆட்களை அள்ளிக் கொண்டு செல்ல வந்திருக்கும் ஒரு பன்னாட்டு மென்பொருள் நிறுவனத்தின் நேர்முகத் தேர்வு.

கேட்கப்பட்ட ஒரு கேள்வி, ”How will you determine, whether a number is prime or not?”

சொல்லப்பட்ட பதில்,“By dividing it by zero!”

குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது என்னவென்றால் பதிலளித்தவர் பள்ளிக்கூட தேர்வுகளில் சதம் கண்டவர்!

கடைசியில் கேள்வி கேட்டவரை பதில் அளித்தவர் கேட்டார் ஒரு கேள்வி, ”How did i do my Interview?”

கேள்வி கேட்டவர், Horrible என பதில் சொல்லி விட்டு நீ என்ன சொல்ல விரும்புகிறாய் எனக் கேட்டார்.

எனக்கு என்ன பதில் சொல்வது எனத் தெரியவில்லை என்று பதில் வந்தது.

இதில் மிக ஆச்சரியம் என்னவெனில், இப்படிப்பட்டவருக்கு வேலை கிடைத்தது அல்ல. Horrible என்றால் என்னவென்று பதில் அளித்தவருக்கு இன்னும் தெரியாது என்பது கேள்வி கேட்டவருக்கு இன்னும் தெரியாது.

பின்குறிப்பு:

1.நான் இந்த நிறுவனத்தில் அல்லது கல்லூரியில் கால் வைத்தது கூட இல்லை. ஏன் என் காற்று கூட பட்டதில்லை!

2.அன்றும் இன்றும் ”C code for average of n numbers” கூட தெரியாதவன் தான் நான்!

3.என்னைப் பொறுத்தவரை, பிரச்னை, அரசாங்கத்திடமும் நிறுவனத்திடமும் தான்!கல்லூரியிடமோ மாணவர்களிடத்தோ அல்லது ஆசிரியர்களிடமோ இல்லை!

4.தலைப்பில் தவறு இருக்கிறது.இனி மெல்ல சாகாது, செத்து விட்டது!

Amazing Airtel

Yeah, it was me the word AMAZING in front of Airtel. I am neither stoned nor my account has been hacked.

Last week sometime, just like that my broadband stopped working. Even the Phone went dead. I was not sure how to call the customer. Some good soul suggested call 121.

Calling 121 from your mobile takes you to the mobile complaint center but not to the broadband center.

Surprisingly when called 121, rather than giving me the above sermon, he just gave me 044 44444198 to call and press 1 2 3 to reach the customer care directly.

Again the customer care guy was so prompt, gave me the ticket number and the resolution time. He was even frank enough to say, the executive will come only by ten and not earlier.

The very next day even before i ran out of patience the service executive called me, asked me for the landmark and came in no time.

Fixed it quick, tested and went back. As luck would have it, as soon as he was gone, the broadband alone stopped working.

When i called the exchange directly, rather than the customer care, they were kind enough to accomadate me and fixed it back quick,again. Very well, he could have asked me to raise or reopen a ticket or could have given me lame excuses.

It was amazing customer service, I would say.

May be the Airtel had gotten its act together still there is something that deserves our attention.

It is not the CEO, it is not the grandiose vision and values that lies in the decorated plaques in offices. It is not the million dollar marketing campaign. It is the guy at the bottom of the pyramid, who interacts with the customer directly day in day out makes all the difference to brand, adds value, leads to the customer satisfaction, sustains the very survival of the company.

N.B
Earlier Airtel goof ups can be seen here, here and here.

Just Business! Really?

"It's just business, nothing personal"
Thanks to the movie, "The Godfather". It has been uttered several million times by several people on several occasions.

Is there any truth to it?
Do people really mean it?
Can it be just business and nothing personal?
I say, BIG BULLSHIT.

Why do you even go to office? To get a pay cheque at the end of month. Isn't this personal? Where is the just business thing in it?
It's not just you. For everyone, it's just personal business. 

How can one be successful or good at what they do with out being passionate about what they do? Isn't being passionate a personal thing?

How can one be a successful salesman, if he is not personally convinced with what he sells?
How can one be a successful CEO, if he does not personally believes in the company?

Well, guess what? It does not only apply to business world or petty causes even to greater societal national causes.

Ever wonder how India got it's independence from the British raj?
Do you think going all gung-ho against the establishment which threw you out of a train from the first class despite having a valid ticket was just business and nothing personal?

பிளஸ்-ஃபேஸ்புக் பிழைக்குமா?

சில பல வருடங்களுக்கு முன் கல்லூரியில் முதல் நாள் காலடி எடுத்த வைத்த போது இரண்டாவதாக நான் பார்த்த பெண் அவள். இது ஒரு ரைமிங்க்காக எழுதப்பட்டது அல்ல. நிஜமான நிஜம்.

வெள்ளை முகம், இது போதாதா ஆவென வாய் பிளந்து பாக்க, ஆனால் அண்ணாந்து பார்க்க வேண்டிய அளவு உயரமும் இல்லாமல் குள்ளமும் இல்லாமல் அளவான உயரம்.[கூடைப் பந்து கூட விளையாடுவாள்!] அப்புறம் நீளமான முடி. என பராக்கு பார்க்க பல இது போதாதாக்கள்.

முதல் வருடம் முழுவதும் அவள் பக்கத்திலே உக்கார்ந்தவன்.

கடைசி வருடம் முழுக்க அவள் கூட சுற்றியவன்

எல்லா வருடமும் அவள் பின் சுற்றியவர்கள், பலர்

வேலைக்கு சேர்ந்த இடத்திலும், எங்க காலேஜ் பொண்ணு என்னதான் பாக்கும் என சுற்றியவர்களும் உண்டு.

பத்து வார்த்தைகளுக்குள் சொல்ல வேண்டுமென்றால், பிகருக்கு பக்த கோடிகள் மிக அதிகம், அடியேன் உட்பட

அப்புறம் அவள் மாற்றலாகி போன பின், என் மனதில் அவளுக்கு இடம் இல்லை. கியூவில் இருக்கும் மற்ற மக்களுக்கும் இடம் கொடுக்க வேண்டுமல்லவா.

ஒரு நாள் வழக்கம் போல வெட்டியாக ஃபேஸ்புக்கில் மேயும் போது சாபக்கேடான சாப்ட்வேர் காரணமாக பிரண்ட்ஸ் சஜஷனில் அவள் பெயர்! ப்ரொபலைப் போய்ப் பார்த்தால் கணவனை கட்டிய படி போட்டோ.

வட போச்சே என்ற வருத்தத்தில் மேலும் பார்த்தால் என்னைப் போன்ற பக்தர்களை விட நாலே வருடம் பெரிய அக்கா. ஆடிப் போய் விட்டேன்.
இவருக்கா இவ்வளவு அக்கப் போர்[நம்மை விட பெரியவர்களுக்கு மரியாதை தர வேண்டுமல்லவா?]

இப்படி மனதை மெர்சலாக்கும் படங்கள், வாழ்க்கையை உய்விக்கும் செய்திகள் அனைத்தும் கூகிள் கூட்டலில் கஷ்டமின்றி கிடைக்குமென்றால் ஃபேஸ்புக் ஃபேஸ் இல்லாமல் போகும் நாள் வெகு தொலைவில் இல்லை.பிக்காஸா செட்டிங்க் மாற்றத்தை மனதில் வைத்துப் பார்த்தால் கூகூவிற்கு பிரகாசமான எதிர்காலம் என்று தான் தோன்றுகிறது.

பி.கு
இந்த பதிவை ட்வீட்டுவதால் டிவிட்டரின் தீர்க்காயுசை நீங்கள் தெரிந்துக் கொள்ளலாம்

Skype Scribbled

The moment, I saw Skype was acquired by Microsoft, just couldn't believe it. I was wondering why would they even do it.
The more i read about it, I was eager to write out an article and send it here
As usual, my usual laziness, sleep and lame reasons like work load helped towards procrastinating the wrap up of the article. [In spite of having the hints, notes all dusted up]
Even was wondering, is my itouch jinxed? [Few other articles for which i made notes for on that itouch never saw the print!]
Finally reading this amplified my guilt. This comment really did inspire me to finish up the article.
This page is due to the above mentioned folks :) Thanks a ton :)