And I thought prohibiting email and IM for personal use was bad. Read how technology students in Mumbai have a curfew of sorts in Internet Curbs for India’s Top Students. Turns out students at the Indian Institute of Technology haven’t been making their 8am classes, so the authorities have shut down their late night Internet access to discourage them from staying up late online. According the the BBC, the school also feels that 24-hour access to the Internet is “hampering the student’s overall personality development.” Can you believe this?
Mar
22
Today our managing director asked us to fill out personality profiles in preparation for a team building exercise we’re scheduled for next month. We’re spending two days with a corporate training firm to enhance a bunch of stuff that sound pretty fluffy to me.
The personality profiles are pretty funny. The instructions are to select the words that best describe the strengths and weaknesses you exhibit most often. Here are some examples to choose from:
Strengths
1. __Animated __Adventurous __Analytical __Adaptable
2. __Playful __Persuasive __Persistent __Peaceful
3. __Sociable __Strong-willed __Self-sacrificing __ Submissive
4. __Convincing __Competitive __Considerate __Controlled
5. __Refreshing __Resourceful __Respectful __Reserved
6. __Spirited __Self-reliant __Sensitive __Satisfied
Weaknesses
21. __Brassy __Bossy __Bashful __Blank
22. __Undisciplined __Unsympathetic __ Unforgiving __ Unenthusiastic
23. __Repetitious __Resistant __Resentful __Reluctant
24. __Forgetful __Too Frank __Fussy __Fearful
25. __Interrupts __Impatient __Insecure __Indecisive
26. __Unpredictable __Unaffectionate __Unpopular __Uninvolved
27. __Haphazard __Headstrong __Hard to please __Hesitant
Now, I love my job and I very much enjoy the people I work with. But give me a break. This stuff used to drive me crazy in business school. Why do some managers think it’s a good idea to treat staff like pre-schoolers? And why do I have to waste my time, my precious time, deciding if I’m haphazard, headstrong, hard to please, or hesitant? I’m none of these things 100% of the time and have been all of them at least once. Haven’t we all?
Mar
21
I spent a an hour this morning removing the term “updation” from a report my team in Gurgaon prepared. I had asked them to update 2005 figures with the most recent data they could find. Their final report was entitled, “2006 Updation,” and was littered with this incognito version of the word update. So I asked my lead analyst why he chose to bastardize the natural version. He said that “update” sounded too casual.
I’ve noticed that my team loves business jargon. I constantly edit terms like leverage, pain points, and actionable. It seems they can’t get enough of the jargon and now they’re creating their own. Where does this pressure to sound uber professional come from? When I was in Gurgaon, I suggested to the team leader of editing that we use the first person in the methodology section of our reports to avoid passive constructions. Her head spun. So I’m baby stepping my way to jargon-free writing. Today’s step was convincing my team that the word update has nothing to be ashamed of.
Mar
20
A study by management consultancy AT Kearney shows that India is still the top offshore location for outsourcing because of an “‘unbeatable mix’ of low costs, deep technical and language skills, mature vendors and supportive government policies. It adds that wage inflation has been matched by corresponding increases in the supply and quality of skills.” Good see we’re in the right place. Read more in China, India Seen Dominating Outsourcing.
Mar
19
I can’t begin to describe how much I enjoy shopping. It’s therapeutic for me, akin to meditation or deep relaxation. So after ten days of extremely long hours working in our offshore office in Gurgaon, I was hell bent on getting in some serious shopping before heading back to NYC. My time was limited so I asked one of my analysts where I could find a one-stop shopping experience in Delhi: I wanted to buy stuff for the home, pashminas, gifts for my girlfriends and family, and, of course, jewelry. My colleague directed me to Cottage, and I highly recommend finding time to shop there when in Delhi.
It took me three hours to cover the enormous four story store. Most of the merchandise is beautiful and authentically Indian in design. I bought a hand-carved and painted wooden elephant for my brother-in-law, a silk paisley tie for my dad, a multi-colored wind chime for my mom’s garden, three silk pashminas for my girlfriends, and a hand embroidered jewelry box for my sister. Sadly, I wasn’t impressed with the jewelry at Cottage. I’m into yellow gold but the gold there wasn’t quite right — it was too light weight. I was told to try the Gold Souk in Gurgaon but I ran out of time. You can bet I’ll be there next time.
Mar
18
Work flow can be tricky for offshore operations. For us, work begins in NYC, makes its way to Gurgaon, comes back to NYC, heads over to the client, and then sometimes comes back for amendments and revisions. We’re always looking for ways to make this flow more efficient and we hired a business development consultant to help us enhance the early stages of the flow. The consultant spent a few weeks interviewing all the staff in the NYC office and senior members of our offshore team in Gurgaon to brainstorm alternative sales tool and pricing structures.
At the end of his assessment he put together a presentation of his findings and recommendations for improving business development and the process of work origination. One recommendation was to involve our offshore analysts in pricing projects. The consultant reasoned that the offshore lead analysts are best equipped to assign price because they understand exactly how many hours and resources will be allocated to each project. While we in NYC agreed that our colleagues in Gurgaon are poised for pricing, we knew our senior management would find this recommendation somewhat controversial. When I started at the firm four months ago, I was told that NYC typcially does not disclose project fees to Gurgaon. The reason given for this was something about preserving confidentiality.
Our senior management was happy with most other recommendations the consultant made and intends to implement many of them. But I suspect the pricing collaboration won’t happen. I’ve heard of several other offshore operations that also do not disclose project fees with their offshore colleagues. We as consultants are committed to confidentiality, both in NYC and Gurgaon. We all sign contracts guaranteeing that commitment. So can someone help me understand what else is at play here besides client confidentiality?
Mar
17
Our offshore analytics team has training sessions every quarter to stay on top of the most current analytical tools and frameworks and to sharpen their written English and data presentation skills. Every so often the training officers ask the analysts if there’s something in particular to they’d like to focus on in an upcoming training session. This quarter we’ve got a former McKinsey consultant and three-time successful entrepreneur leading the training session, and my offshore team wants to learn about beer.
Apparently they requested a training session dedicated to understanding American culture, including some of the finest aspects of American living: drinking beer and watching TV. A months ago my team and I worked on projects for a beer and lager client and a media agency. The projects were fun but my team felt a little limited in their perspective of the American beer and media markets. They wanted to understand the “personalities” of different types of beers and learn the differences between the types of shows on network TV and cable.
I’m proud of them for taking the initiative on this type of training. Its usefulness hadn’t occured to any of us in NYC. It’s a wonder why not; as I type the streets are filled with beer guzzlers dressed in head-to-toe green and the bars crowded with March Madness fanatics. Oh, the irony.
Mar
17
Two weeks ago a global consumer healthcare client handed me a report prepared by a boutique consulting firm my client hired last year to assess a potential acquisition opportunity. My client asked me to update the report with the most recent market figures and then pick up the analysis from where the previous firm left off.
Clients typically don’t ask us to work this way, but I was very happy to oblige. I love getting an inside look at competitive firms’ work — this particular boutique firm has large clients and and a good reputation — and the client had already signed off on their method and presentation which makes my job easier because I’d been asked to emulate their work. I revelled in this blessed project — how hard could it be? — and gave my team clear instructions to update the data and use the original report to inspire ours while still maintaining our look, feel, and level of insight.
One week later I expected to see a draft of the update but ended up with an email from my lead analyst pleading for more time. He said he found “inconsistencies” in the previous firm’s method and felt he had to ditch the entire analysis and start from scratch. He began IMing me the details of these inconsistencies, but IM was too slow to catch my anxiety so I called him. He diligently described the problems he found with two pieces of data and made an excellent case for why we shouldn’t rely on them. Just as I was beginning to think he’d uncovered a major flaw in an expensive project my client had already paid for, I asked about the other 150 or so pieces of data. He told me they were mostly fine, but just to be sure he scrapped the whole thing and started to build the spreadsheet from scratch. It took the previous firm two months to perform their analysis. We had three weeks to do our part. Panic.
We troubleshot together and things will be fine. But I’m beating myself up a little because I still haven’t learned my lesson. This was another lesson about storytelling. My offshore team wants to tell stories from beginning to end, step by step. My client, however, had asked us to pick up the story from where the previous firm left off. I should have anticipated my team’s discomfort with starting in the middle. Better luck next time.
Mar
17
We spent the last of our 10 days in India touring the residential areas of Gurgaon. The office manager of our offshore office drove us through Gurgaon and pointed out the many construction sites for residential properties. As we drove through the suburbs of Delhi several of my colleagues talked about an interest in buying real estate in India. We mostly joked about it just as we fantasize about turning over our NYC-renter status after we purchase four-bedroom condos in Manhattan at $4 million a piece. Indian real estate isn’t quite that expensive but prices are up now that real estate funds are paying attention to opportunities in emerging markets.
In The New Real Estate Arthur Segel looks at the latest developments in the building boom and points out “another sign of emerging growth: India has at least 150 new real estate funds. Gurgon and Noida outside of Delhi have dozens of new shopping malls where you sometimes see more camel and donkey carts (now there’s green energy!) than autos parked outside. India’s 300-million-strong middle class is hungering for consumer goods and decent homes. Despite the lack of infrastructure, this year 10 million cars will be sold.”
This is fascinating and scary. It’s difficult for me to imagine 10 million cars on unpaved, unregulated roads. It’s also difficult to imagine the growing price of ”decent” homes in Gurgaon. Our offshore office manager lives in what looked to me like a more than decent home in Gurgaon with his parents, wife, and daughter. His home is a two-bedroom apartment with thin walls and marginal plumbing. It’s quaint and dusty from the unpaved land surrounding it. He would like more space but can’t afford it. He’s one of our highest paid officers so I’d love to understand why not. What’s the real estate funds’ definition of decent? And how much does decent cost in Gurgaon?
Mar
17
Elattuvalapil Sreedharan built the subway in Delhi. For people who know trains, a.k.a. New Yorkers, the Delhi Metro is a phenomenon and Sreedharan a hero. Many trains in NYC are dirty inside and out and screech along tracks littered with wrappers and newspapers. But the Delhi Metro is gorgeous and truly a pleasure to ride. The cars are white and silver and the inside is spacious and pristine. The train glides as it boldly enters the station and comes to a silent graceful stop — no screech.
I saw no place during my ten days in Delhi and Gurgaon as clean and pleasant as the Delhi Metro. Nor did I see a public area as well organized. Pedestrian traffic flows through the subway tunnels and turnstiles as gracefully and orderly as the trains — a different world from the street chaos of cars, buses, motorcycles, taxis, and bikers ruthlessly competing for an extra inch on congested roads. Such chaos doesn’t exist underground, except of course when the train arrives. People race to squeeze in and out of the train at the very same time, and those exiting the train collide with those trying to enter it. This inefficiency will sound familiar to New Yorkers who have heard NYC train conductors plead for us to allow the exiters off the train before boarding. We in NYC usually don’t cooperate, so I was careful to reserve judgment when the chaotic rush showed face on the Delhi Metro — this is chaos I understand.
Read more about Sreedharan’s brilliant metro in Business Week Oniline, The Miracle Worker of the Delhi Metro.
inside the offshore RSS