It is so painfully beautiful to see, how we are trying to forget each other

Answering – “What do you do when things go south?”

words by Samar Singla (Founder Jugnoo)

We were recently pitching a US based prospective customer. The client was looking for a long term technology partner to rebuild their entire web platform. The entire process of discussions itself took about 2-3 weeks and was one of the most thorough processes we as a company have been through. I personally loved every minute of it.

During one of the crucial discussions the Product leader from the client side asked us a question, a question that I feel we could have given a much better response to; a question that is a curveball unless you have answered it before. As some of you might have guessed it by now, the question is the title of this article.

The product leader asked something along the lines of (and I am para-phrasing here):

A reason why I/you i.e. product owners have a job is because things go wrong all the time, so what do you do when that happens?

This question is simple in formulation but a tough one to crack, a very defensive response would be to say we take care of things so that they don’t go bad.

To answer a question like this one first needs to admit that things will go wrong (murphy’s law) and then realize that a cookie cutter answer doesn’t exist because every situation is different, has context, this question is a subtle invite to a case study where you talk about how things went wrong with a project and what did you to do bring it back on track.

That being said, there are always tactics that help when things go wrong. Not all are applicable in every situation of course but generally these are some principles – some learned, some borrowed and some inferred – that I and my team uses on a regular basis when things go south:

Admit there is a problem or you can feel one coming. Human intuition is not that bad, as a product owner it is part of your job role to anticipate problems to a certain degree.
Make an inventory list of all things that are wrong, leave nothing out, don’t discuss solutions yet. Just must a list and then of course do the following to this list: a) Discover dependencies between the issues b) Prioritize. Make sure the key business stake owners are in sync with your list and the prioritization thereafter.
Pick 3-5 items at the top of the pile. Don’t overwhelm yourself here. The intent is to do first-aid, let cooler tempers prevail and then re-asses.
Identify the root causes of the issues. Causes from my experience fall under two categories: a) People b) Process
If it is people problems, depersonalize the mistakes. It is difficult to way “You didn’t think of this…” as compared to “Why didn’t we do this in the first place….” . It is a common mistake that I have seen leaders make, in trying to be non-offensive or not put people on the spot but it doesn’t work very well. My next point will illustrate why.
If it is a person related problem it could again fall into certain categories: a) One-time issue b) Frequent issue c) Process issue – wherein the person wasn’t clear on the process/expectations.
If it is a frequent issue with no relation to process or communication you have to reconsider the role of the person in the team, either let them off the project or add buffer and reviews to their deliverables. Second option is only sustainable if you can expect improvement over a period of time – it doesn’t work very well for certain behaviour changes such as timeliness as these behaviours are much harder to change.
Process issues can require extra man-power, increase dependencies between people or require setup upgrades. Do this with a balanced judgement, be in touch with your reality.

Of course there are a lot of particulars I can go into and come up with more nuances but the above principles are definitely key ones to start with. In the end, the client decided to go with somebody else but I’m glad that we were a part of the process and if nothing else it gave me the opportunity to formulate these unsaid principles for crisis management for my team 🙂

Do let me know if I missed something major in the comment !
#problemsolving #product

Iphone X vs Mood Swings

Looked at the video of iPhone X launch. Got extremely impressed with the features.
Googles the cost of the phone. Shocked, though it was expected.
Mind starts doing all the calculations now. Bank Balance + Savings + Converting to EMI? Everything can be managed.
Switched on my laptop to check the other details before ordering.
Left Side of the Desktop -> Sticky Notes -> List of the places to be visited.

Amritsar
Ladakh
Spiti
Jammu and Kashmir
Meghalaya
Udaipur
Rameshwaram
…………… List goes on……..

*Speaking to Myself*

If I don’t purchase this phone, I can cover 5–6 places out of this list..
*Checks mobile phone* Why do I use my phone?

Calls
Music
Camera
Whatsapp
Quora

Everything working fine? Yes.
Any performance issues? No.
How old is my phone? 11 months.
Do I need a facial recognition for phones? Naah. I still use a password to unlock my phone.

Final Verdict:

I’ll be more happy exploring the places I’ve always dreamt of visiting with a phone that can fulfill my basic needs of calls, internet and photos.

iPhones? Some other time…… 🙂

Edit:

Glad to see that there are many people having the same views.

As the dialogue from the movie ‘Up’ goes –

‘Adventure is out there…..!!’ 🙂

My (Friend’s) Little Tinder Adventure

(I put up this blog for light humour only, and this was previously written in first person only. So this is not my experience)

I was newbie and just learning the online dating stuff.

My chat game was not great.

Not great is being very generous.

My chat game should have been compounded into some new form of birth control.

In my defense, I hadn’t dated in 4 years. I was reeling from a breakup and doing the best I could.

I eventually stumbled my way to a date with someone I met on Tinder. The date went great and we agreed to go out again.

A week later she invites me out to hop with her and a group of friends.

Seems like a light and fun thing to do right?

No big deal.

So I walk through the entrance to this restaurant, work my way through this busy, shoulder-to-shoulder place.

I get to their table and think, “You have got to be f’ing kidding me.”

At her table is another girl I was Tinder chatting with.

Lady Misfortune was upon me.

Of the three total girls I had managed to have good conversations with on Tinder, two of them were at this table.

So, of course, the entire night was awkward.

And, of course, the other girl pulled my date aside to have a little chat as we walked to the second bar.

My date brought it up, but downplayed it all to me.

And then it got better.

For you, the reader, that is.

The next day the two girls got together over brunch to compare the conversations they’d both had with me.

They went through our chats line by line, word by freaking word.

Then she called me to review their findings.

PSA: Don’t reuse jokes/pics/lines guys.

Just throwing it out there.

“Excuse me, bartender? I’m over here, under the rock. Can I get a Sleazeball Colada to-go please?”

As challenged by a very fancy bloke.

Fast or Right

A good proportion of decisions one has to take in business and life are right vs fast decisions. Is this to be done right or done fast?

The key lies in nature of the question. Is the problem a convergent one or a divergent one?

Convergent problems solve themselves with time. Like a new feature to be built you don’t know will work. Do it fast. If it works, your priorities will change and you will do it right. If it doesn’t work, the bandwidth spent on doing it right is saved.

Divergent problems get more complicated with time. A perfect example is hiring. A players hire A players and B players hire C players. Hiring done fast will trickle down to the very bottom of the pyramid and fill it up with C players.

Solve convergent problems fast and divergent problems right.

Take that Risk

Risk is a misleading word, risk-reward should be a single word. There is almost always a reward so tightly woven with every risk. And this ratio is such that many risks are just no brainers. Yet, many never go beyond the “risk” part of the equation to explore the reward part.

So how do you look for opportunities? By looking for risks. You may say it’s the same thing. It’s not. Let me explain with an example. Blockbuster saw streaming as a risk and played defence. Had they seen the reward of disrupting TV space and not just saving DVD rentals, it would have looked like a no brainer.

Make it a habit to analyse risk subconsciously and look for the reward hiding in plain sight. Risk is always more visible, more talked about and more feared, so it’s much easier to find.

The Jackal Who Performed

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…” – Charles Dickens.

Literature rarely brings me to tears, but I can remember, as an 11 year-old, weeping copiously over the end of Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. Sydney Carton, the prodigal young attorney is one of Dickens’s most tragic and dynamic characters: a brilliant but dissolute and self-pitying alcoholic for whom, at the beginning, it’s hard to feel a slither of empathy. “I am a disappointed drudge, sir,” he says. “I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me.”

Sydney Carton one of the brilliant minds of the Dickens creations, help no boundary for what he wanted to achieve, what ever he desired he got it. But there was a twist in his dynamic personalities. He never felt anything for this world. Neither he ever cared about any rule, any point, any policy, any conspiracy – he was free willed. Carton was a tough nut to crack. At twenty five he was obviously brilliant: he managed to make one of the stupidest men in London, Mr.Stryver, into one of the most prominent lawyers of his time. He was also rather good looking.. at least, we’re pretty sure he is. Because he looked exactly like Charles Darnay. And Darnay was definitely attractive. Which means Sydney couldn’t be all that hard on the eye.
But…

“I am ready to give my life to keep a life you love. Farewell” Astonishingly these were the words that made the Jackal perform.

A Thing About Myself

Sometimes I prefer the road less travelled,
To feel unique,
or sometimes to have an excuse to be with myself,
All the paths that I prefer are as unique as they occur..

I think life is as the same,
we don’t know which path may lead us where..

But that is not what I want,
I don’t know yet what I want

I just flow with the melody.
and that’s what I have got.

Father’s Day

My dad is the strongest and bravest person,

Not because he never gives up,

Or he is for his family throughout,

Or he fullfil ours each and every wish,

And neither becuase of his imense faith in his stupid children,

But because he can kill cockroaches,

He can ride even in the baddest weather,

He can cook food when mommy is not around,

And he can look all my bullies eye to eye.

I think even if I was ten percent of him,

I would have been stupid – even he would have one,

I want to be like him and even more,

he acknowledges it,

but the problem is he wont let me,

he casts his shadows over me all the time with his love and blessings,

But someday I would rebel against it,

And he knows this – that day isnt faraway,

So yeah again my daddy is the strongest and bravest person.

Dedicated to all the fathers and father like figures ❤

Strength

And I thought I was power,

you were just a victim,

I used to fantasise about me trying to save you,

But in reality it was neither of us,

we were here to only fight for along each other,

but like Hawking says in different parallel words,

buried in deep sand of our own battles.

Lovely thing is now I have lost you,

I would have to fight for you again,

but dont worry darling I would find my way back,

and I’ll be more worthy of you..