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Banu is one of the most organized persons I have ever worked with. She plays the role of Delivery Principal with the Techops Digital Platforms group with Thoughtworks. Women leadership series - In conversation with Banu Pavithra V 5 Mar 2022 Banu is one of the most organized persons I have ever worked with. She plays the role of Delivery Principal with the Techops Digital Platforms group with Thoughtworks. How would you introduce yourself? I would like to introduce myself as a passionate IT professional who also is a competent mother of a 9 year old son. There are other hats that I wear both in professional and personal life, but these two - IT professional & a mother stands out the most to me Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? I started my career as a Software Developer - Trainee in 2005 in NTT Data in Bangalore. I played different roles and had very career growth opportunities in my first company and within 5 years of my experience I had played the roles of Analyst, Designer, Onsite Coordinator,Team Lead, Tech Lead and a Assistant Project Manager. Then I moved on to Harman where I spent close to 8 years solidly playing the role of Project Manager across a wide range of projects and clients. In my recent experience with Thoughtworks for about 3 years I have a couple of hats - of a lead project manager, delivery principal and program manager. My leadership journey stems from my schooling time period itself, where I was the class pupil leader from my 6th Grade. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? One of the key challenges that I faced early in my career was leading teams that had team members who were senior to me in their work experience. I tackled this challenge by working more closely with them and by understanding tech involved in depth. The second key challenge I would quote is being too hard on myself that I would attribute any failure to myself - This is because of trying to get done a lot of things myself without understanding that I have the strength of the team. Once I had this moment of realization of the team's backup and strength, I was able to get out of the challenge quite easily. What motivates you? Appreciation and recognition motivates me quite a bit. Just a small thank you note is good enough to keep me up and running for a few weeks! Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? Come to think of it, I owe a lot of my success to my mom - She was a working woman and right from my childhood I have seen her juggle work and home and she is a pretty successful woman who was able to balance her work aspirations and the responsibilities at home quite well. I have had very low moments unable to manage work and life and everytime she has been my go to person who would constantly encourage me to get back up again. I have a solid mentor and guide at Thoughtworks, Sasikala Mahesh who is one of my key inspirations and role models. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership is common sense for me. There is a prescribed format - it just is about how to grasp the context of the situation in hand and try to come up with a win-win situation for the parties involved wherever possible. Leadership is also a form of courage for me to assume accountability and responsibility for a value driven purpose. People say that I practice a people oriented non-conflicting leadership style, which I think suits my personality quite well. What would be your advice to young leaders? Hard work always brings in success. Discipline is key. My mantra [from Jim Rohn] for career progression and even personal progression has been the following in the last few years - “We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”

Vijayalakshimi Kandasamy (Viji) comes with 19 years of IT experience and leads one of the most important project within internal IT. Viji is very passionate about solving problems and has a keen interest towards Project and People management. She loves to be close to nature and spend her spare time trying to maintain a small farmland. Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Vijayalakshimi Kandasamy 25 Jan 2023 Vijayalakshimi Kandasamy (Viji) comes with 19 years of IT experience and leads one of the most important project within internal IT. Viji is very passionate about solving problems and has a keen interest towards Project and People management. She loves to be close to nature and spend her spare time trying to maintain a small farmland. How would you introduce yourself? I am a Lead consultant at Thoughtworks with over 19 years of IT experience . I consider myself fortunate for being exposed to a variety of projects in different domains with many organizations. I am always passionate about solving problems with a keen interest towards Project and People management. This interest also led me to pursue MBA while parallelly working as a developer. On the personal front, I am a mother of two tweens. I love to be close to nature and spend my spare time trying to maintain a small farmland. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? I started my journey as a Java/ J2EE developer in a small sized product company. Being in a small sized company one can’t restrict to a specific role and that helped me to explore and extend my knowledge on the end to end software lifecycle. As the product I worked on was acquired by a large software firm I moved to this firm as part of the acquisition. This opened doors for me to work more closely with clients and understand their perspective. I have spent considerable time in the automotive domain and also with DevOps in trying to set up CI / CD pipeline for toolchain and in automation to bring down lead time for release. During my journey , I always ensured to take up the opportunities that came my way and challenge my limits. Before Thoughtworks, I spent more than a decade with Bosch which helped me to shape my management skills. Being empowered , accountable and driving strategic initiatives to deliver results were some key factors that inspired me to take up leadership roles. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? Collaborating with different teams to achieve a common goal is one of the challenges I could recollect . As a means to overcome , an alignment on the priorities, the benefits of the common goal and responsibility of each team involved will bring everyone on the same page. Following this, establishing a mechanism to uncover and track dependencies certainly helped in successfully delivering the results. Keeping the teams focus and delivering results while navigating through ambiguity and uncertain times is definitely a key challenge faced. Being transparent about the situation , constant communication with teams, working on solutions given the current clarity and openness to evolve as the situation improves were some actions we implemented to sail through the rough patch. What motivates you everyday? It is good to be surrounded by people who constantly motivate you however I feel the best is to be intrinsically motivated. The impact created due to our work and the value we add to the organization motivates me. Also I am greatly motivated while I am able to mentor people and make them realize their complete potential. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? I do not deny the fact that some training and leadership programs help play your role efficiently , but more than any other means I imbibe a lot of skills from the people I collaborate with on a daily basis. While I had opportunities to work with a lot of inspiring leaders , I still cherish working with my first mentor after moving to IT. He inspired the team by his way of approaching a complex problem , modularizing it and then connecting the dots. We were as freshers quite awestruck by his way of solving problems. Another great leader I look up to, empowers his team to be autonomous and stands by them during difficult times. My Mother has been a great inspiration in my Journey ,a Doctor by profession she has always been empathetic and I Am greatly astonished by the positive impact she has created on many people. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership is just not a designation or role offered to you, it is a mindset where you assume responsibility and be accountable for the results. I do not stick to a specific leadership style always ,it is scenario based and a mix of multiple leadership styles. Although mostly inclined as a Democratic leader in some cases I also tend to be autocratic where specific guidelines have to be set and to keep the team focused on near term time critical goals. In a few other scenarios in my experience, where there was a strategic restructuring of teams based on product revamp I acted as a transformational leader in adapting quickly to change and supporting the teams to eventually sustain. It is not that I consciously shift between different leadership styles but this comes out naturally in a given situation. Only later when I reflect , will I be able to differentiate the approach taken and the correlation with the leadership styles. What would be your advice to other leaders? I believe there is no substitute for hardwork and commitment. As leaders, creating an unbiased environment that encourages open feedback is essential.While it is quite common to spend significant effort firefighting on the current priorities , setting up time to strategically plan the long term objectives of the Project will not only help the Business but also reassure the team of the opportunities ahead.

Abdul is a passionate techie with good interpersonal skills who understands business and tech equally well. He is of a firm belief that strategy without execution is hallucination. Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Abdul Jeelani 1 Feb 2023 Abdul is a passionate techie with good interpersonal skills who understands business and tech equally well. He is of a firm belief that strategy without execution is hallucination. How would you introduce yourself? I am a passionate techie with good interpersonal skills who understands business and tech equally well. I am a firm believer that strategy without execution is hallucination. My strength is in the execution, While I employ different methods of execution cutting the unwanted and getting the job done worked out very well. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? I started back in 2008 as an Assistant Software Engineer and in fact I got to play a leadership role right from my first opportunity. During the crisis of 2008 my campus offer was canceled so I joined a service Org as a trainee and then after 6 months I became a trainer there. With a couple of months into training, an opportunity arose where a local client needed to build a MLM website, but the Org did not want to take it up as they only welcome US and UK clients. For me it's a clean chance to prove so I went to the MD and said I will take it up and do it and for the team I can work with other 2 trainers. This negotiation went for like 1.5 hours, I narrated 50 different ways how I can make this happen to sell the idea, and finally we came to an agreement that If I deliver this website as promised then I will be promoted as an Engineer and can move on to client projects. And that is how I started my Dev / Leadership Journey as a Tech Lead from Day 1. Then I moved on to begin a startup but it did not go well. Then I joined a product company where I lead a product (that is sold and a big revenue stream even today!)After a short stint in the next company as a Senior Software Engineer I joined my previous Org a Product company as a System Analyst and moved on to the System Architect role in a few months. This is when I realized the importance of business, domain knowledge and started learning Domain Driven Design etc. This is the moment where I took the leadership role more seriously and led the team to convert a 25 year old legacy enterprise system to a then Modern system in 5 years. I am a leader because I am a people person and want to solve real world problems with pragmatic evolving solutions. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? Thoughtworks is the first Corporate for me. After the first couple of years in /tw during my leadership journey I found the decision making was totally different. I required multiple rounds of conversations with too many people to convince. The way out I figured is to first know who has the stakes and just get their buy in and rest is informed. While this had its pros and cons It worked well for me. The next big challenge is working with a diverse team especially from different cultures. The solution for that is to accept first that there are multiple ways to get things done, and find a common ground for win-win. There were a couple of health issues I faced and I had the right leaders along with me which helped me overcome them in the workplace. What motivates you everyday? Of course My kids, I wanted to provide the best I can to them, that is the driver. Apart from that whenever I see a problem / issue that is a motivation you have an opportunity to make someone happy 🙂 Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? Yes, The role models do change as you mature, And in recent years I look up to Khabib Nurmagomedov , MMA fighter, the journey he went through, His humility and how he carries himself and so on. One quote that I love from him is "When difficult decisions appear in my life, there are difficult questions to answer… I consult loved ones." What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? For me Leadership is taking people together towards the vision without losing interest and ensuring people around you are happy. For that the first step is to identify the right people for the right job. ⅓ of the problem is solved once you understand the problem better and clearly, ⅓ is solved once you have the right people, the remaining ⅓ is about execution. It is really really hard to fail in the last phase if we get the first two phases right. What would be your advice to other leaders? Put people first. You can be an Elon Musk or Nelson Mandela. Make the decisions, It is okay to fail trying rather delaying forever Always stay relevant - When we feel don't it's the time to retire !

Sujana is a natural leader. She enjoys helping others learn new things and realise their full potential. She also thinks that's a great way to learn and realize her own potential. Being a mother of two, staying on top of her game has been one of her top challenges with its own highs & lows. Sujana considers Jesus Christ as her role model continues to learn everyday from the way He leads with humility, love and integrity. Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Sujana Arul Selvi Alaguraj 1 Feb 2023 Sujana is a natural leader. She enjoys helping others learn new things and realise their full potential. She also thinks that's a great way to learn and realize her own potential. Being a mother of two, staying on top of her game has been one of her top challenges with its own highs & lows. Sujana considers Jesus Christ as her role model continues to learn everyday from the way He leads with humility, love and integrity. How would you introduce yourself? I consider myself a natural leader. I enjoy helping others learn new things and realise their full potential and that’s one great way I learn a lot and realise my potential. I am driven by purpose and passionate about the principles and values I hold near and dear Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? I started my career as a developer and then moved on to playing different roles from being a business analyst to VP delivery, product owner to Head of Products. To be honest, I’ve never sought after a leadership role, but I am passionate about my core craft and rendering it with commitment inspires people and helps me evolve as a leader during each phase. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? Being a mother of two, staying in the game has been one of my top challenges with its own highs and lows. But the legacy I want to leave behind for my children, family and society continues to motivate me to stay on. What motivates you everyday? By doing things right or at least making an earnest attempt, you get an inch closer to fulfilling your life’s purpose. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? Yes I do. Jesus Christ is my role model in life. I continue to learn everyday from the way He leads with humility, love & integrity. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership to me is all about helping people and organisations realise their full potential and build them up. I would describe my leadership style as a mix of charismatic & transformative leadership What would be your advice to other leaders? Identify your style of leadership that is very unique to you. It doesn’t really have to be one of those styles the books define. As long as it inspires and develops people motivating them for a greater cause you are on the right path towards becoming a successful leader.

< Back Exclusive Interview with Swapnil Deshpande, Chief Digital Officer, Thoughtworks Here is an exclusive interview with Swapnil Deshpande, Chief Digital Officer, Thoughtworks India, who enlightens the readers about how the company is determined to provide a business transformation with its own digital platform and transformation strategies. Digital transformation is becoming popular among companies and industries to modify traditional processes into smart and digital business processes and customer experience. It is the integration of digital technologies such as AI, ML, data analytics, IoT, cloud computing, and many more in different areas of a business. It is thriving in the tech-driven market, especially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. 1. Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that your company offers. ThoughtWorks, founded in 1993, provides premium, end-to-end digital strategy, design, and engineering services to enable companies across the globe to successfully and rapidly navigate their digital transformation journeys. It connects strategy to execution, using cross-functional teams of strategists, designers, software engineers, data scientists, and other specialists to deliver value to clients at scale. Four global service lines provide specialized capabilities and thought leadership to drive digital transformation: Enterprise modernization, platforms, and cloud : The company modernizes complex operations, platforms, development, and delivery practices to rapidly unleash business value Customer experience, product, and design : The team accelerates value creation through extraordinary digital products and customer experiences powered by integrated technology and design. Data and AI : The company enables data-driven intelligent products and business insights with pragmatic data strategies, governance, engineering, predictive AI, automation, and ML capabilities. Digital transformation and operations : The team augments other services by providing organizations with executable digital strategies, frictionless operating models, and transformation services that increase clients’ agility, resilience, and ability to compete for business and retain talent. Since its inception, ThoughtWorks has been pioneers in trends, such as agile software development, continuous integration, continuous delivery, microservices, evolutionary architecture, and data mesh that now underpin many modern digital businesses. 2. How is your company helping customers deliver relevant business outcomes through the adoption of the company’s technology innovations? Consumer expectations and next-generation technologies are constantly evolving, requiring companies to re-evaluate their business models and undergo end-to-end digital transformations. This trend has only accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is why digital transformation services spending is expected to more than double to US$1 trillion by 2025, according to MarketsandMarkets. The post-pandemic world has seen a huge acceleration in the transformation work that companies are doing to go digital in their services and offerings to their customers. With companies facing ongoing digital disruption, many lack the capabilities and talent necessary to keep pace with the accelerating rate of technological change. ThoughtWorks has been a thought leader at the forefront of technology innovation for the past 28 years. It leverages the vast experience to improve clients’ ability to respond to change, utilize data assets to unlock new sources of value, and create resilient technology platforms that move with business strategies and rapidly design, deliver and evolve exceptional digital products, and experiences at scale. With the globally diversified business and clients across all major verticals and geographies, its global distributed agile delivery model operates where clients are and helps them solve their biggest problems. The talent pool of over 9,000 employees working across 17 countries on five continents helps the company achieve the scale to help customers. Further, the unique, diverse, and cultivating culture, with a reputation for technical excellence and thought leadership, enables the team to attract and retain what they believe is the best talent in the industry. 3. How does your company’s strategy facilitate the transformation of an enterprise? Organizations are getting challenged to transform to adapt and grow in the face of continuous disruption. Innovation, including business model innovation, is almost inevitable for most businesses. Businesses that are digitally capable (modern digital businesses) have an advantage over traditional businesses as they can adapt, evolve, and continuously innovate to compete in the market. At ThoughtWorks, it connects deep strategic understanding with unrivaled software and platform expertise to enable fast, effective organizational transformation. It makes customers’ businesses ready for an unpredictable world. The company helps customers create a holistic vision for transformation and help them navigate their own digital path by building on the experience of working across multiple business and technology domains as well as across different geographies and work cultures worldwide. Using the Digital Fluency Model , the team understands customer aspirations, readiness, and capabilities and works with them to create a pragmatic roadmap that enables them to deliver value faster. Some of the services that the company offers to customers to help them with their transformations are delivery and organization transformation; digital platforms and cloud modernization; technology strategy and executive advisory services; data mesh, data platform, and advanced analytics; idea to market, product management transformation; customer experience strategy, product design, and delivery, as well as value-driven portfolio management 4. What are some of the challenges faced by the developer community today? In the post-pandemic world, the digital transformation pace has changed and there are ever-increasing demands on the IT community, particularly on developers to deliver the value/transformation faster. With the ever-increasing movement of applications to the cloud and the use of various SaaS products throughout the lifecycle of the development, the developers face major challenges to streamline their development process. Throughout the lifecycle of software development, there are multiple tasks that the developers need to do, which are far beyond the actual development work. For example, requesting code repositories, cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines are some of the things that the development teams must do even before they start writing the first line of the code. Unless the process is very clear and automated, these things do take time and introduce delays. As the development progresses, the people in the team may change. The onboarding of the new people and offboarding of the people from the team can also lead to friction. Every new person in the team must be given a certain level of access to multiple systems involved in the development process, and every outgoing person’s access must be taken away to ensure the appropriate access control. Unless the process is simplified (or automated), there are chances that the wrong onboarding or offboarding may lead to security non-compliance. Developing new applications often involves integrating with other existing applications. The integration is done via API route or via event streaming. One of the biggest frictions the development teams face in the journey of integration is the discoverability and getting secure access to the available core assets (APIs, events) for integration. It could take many days to find out what is available, how to get access to the right APIs or events unless a well-established API marketplace to discover and gain access to core digital assets is present. In large enterprises, often there is a ‘ticketing system that is used for communicating between different teams. The organizational processes require each development team to create a ‘ticket’ for anything and everything that is required of the other team. Sometimes, there is a lot of back and forth on the tickets between the teams until they get to the required answer. This introduces a lot of friction and communication delays in the process. In addition to some of the above frictions, it’s also important for the development teams to focus on the delivery metrics to understand their development workflow and how their team is working to deliver intended outcomes. Four key metrics (4KM) is one such industry-recognized metric that helps the development team understand how efficiently they are building and deploying the software. However, many teams find it difficult to automate and build the metrics like 4KM that talk about their delivery efficiency, and many of the process gaps, issues go unnoticed. So, to summarize, the challenges that the development teams and developers face during their development cycle are that of two types: 1. Development process friction: Some of which include onboarding, offboarding of the team members, discoverability of core assets, and tracking delivery metrics. 2. Operational process friction: Some of which include the setting up of the infrastructure (or iteration 0), working with multiple teams to collaborate, managing and responding to tickets, and getting access to core assets. These challenges introduce delays and slow down the development process, introduce frictions, and could potentially leave the development teams unhappy and frustrated, even while doing small and simple things. 5. What was the idea behind building NEO and making it available to ThoughtWorks developers? At ThoughtWorks, the developers are the biggest and the most important internal community. The company has been investing in building a world-class internal development platform for the last few years and considered the time to take the next step and reimagine the digital platform, this time, keeping the top internal stakeholders at the core of thinking— ThoughtWorks developers. Reimagining the internal developer platform, through the lens of the developer, pushed ThoughtWorks IT to rethink the approach and helped the team move from ‘what do developers need’ to ‘what do developers need and how can the company make it available to them in an easy and intuitive manner. The developers build apps or products all the time. Apart from building important solutions for customers, it also has a thriving internal application development community. People build software for learning new things and develop new capabilities in this company. For example, in addressing a business need, ThoughtWorks developers may build an application supporting a sales team to expand into a new area, geography efforts. After doing research and talking to many developers, the team realized that the process to kickstart a new idea or project often was not easy for people to follow. It was often an inconsistent and fragmented experience. They had to fill up multiple forms, talk to many teams separately and the overall experience left developers frustrated. It used to take almost ten days for people to get hold of the basic infrastructure to start coding, seven days to get access to relevant APIs, and security approvals to name just a few. The time for building even a simple application and taking it to production was between two to five months. The team had to do something to address this. So, after observing, speaking with, and interacting with 200+ ThoughtWorkers across 30+ offices in more than 15 countries who develop applications, the team started reimagining the whole internal developer platform experience. This time the team kept the developer and their experience of building products at the center of the thinking. The idea behind NEO was to make it easy for the internal development teams to build better products, faster while saving time, costs and improving the overall security of the applications being developed. NEO enables developers to build ideas that matter, liberates the data and core assets that are held within global IT systems, and accelerates innovation within ThoughtWorks. It speeds up the entire delivery and development cycle. 6. Is this platform only available to Thoughtworks developers or is it also available to other developers also? At this time, NEO is only available to ThoughtWorks employees and the contractors who support the building of the internal applications. NEO is used to build experimental applications, innovations, and business-centric applications. NEO is the internal manifestation of ThoughtWorks Digital Platform Strategy and it helps in developing better products and faster. As part of “ThoughtWorks on ThoughtWorks”, the team is sharing the insights and lessons learned with the experience of developing NEO to build a great experience for developers. The aim of the company is that customers can envisage leveraging this idea for their own digital platforms to create the same for their developers. Recently, Thoughtworks also announced partnering with Spotify to deliver better developer effectiveness with Backstage and helped TELUS, one of the customers, deliver the Backstage developer portal for improving the developer experience for their 8,000 engineers. This shows how the industry is now recognizing the ‘developer experience’ as one of the important aspects of the digital platform strategy. 7. How does ThoughtWorks aim to leverage this concept of developer experience for the developer community? NEO already has significantly changed the way developers build products within ThoughtWorks. It has unified and streamlined the developer experience around the internal developer platform. It has reduced the time to provision infrastructure by over 90%, introduced easy discoverability of the core assets, significantly reduced the friction in managing teams and infrastructure for the team, and introduced a new default start place for developers to go to for all their needs. With some of the best developer talent in the world working with the company, the team can continue to rely on the developer community to provide honest and relevant feedback on improving the developer experience with NEO. The major benefits ThoughtWorks has achieved from NEO are: Bringing all developer resources and apps together from multiple different teams (20+ teams) of the organization into a single place for streamlined management By automating processes and integrating cloud operations with NEO, ThoughtWorkshas significantly reduced time to infra provisioning by 90%. Reducing from as many as 7+ days to less than one day. ThoughtWorks is building new internal products and services faster, reducing the time from more than five months for a new application to less than a few weeks, savingThoughtWorks both time and money Integration with Google cloud platform, Github, CircleCI, Okta, and among others has become a lot simpler and more secure due to NEO automated provisioning Self-serve capability to create and manage the teams (across multiple infrastructure providers) helps with secure and seamless access to resources Easy discoverability of API or events with NEO helps developers discover, access, and use the core assets for delivering better and interconnected products and services Centralized metadata management capability helped to manage common organizational content (such as locations). This has reduced the time to change our systems for common content from multiple weeks to less than a day. 4KM reports built on NEO helps teams understand the delivery performance, potential issues and take necessary actions to speed up the delivery cycles Centralized application catalog helps the developers discover interesting applications and contribute to them Easy discoverability of data assets has helped operational leaders to understand what operational & data insights are available on the data platform and how to get access to them Now, here is how the company plans to leverage the concept of developer experience for the developer community: Use it for better, faster internal product development: By introducing the concept of the developer experience product like NEO, the team continues to push the boundaries of how it builds the internal product. Faster and better development means it will be able to respond to new business requirements faster than ever. With customers: In my opinion, NEO is an example of the ‘digital platform done well’. It reduces the friction from the delivery process, makes the core assets and other platform services discoverable and easily accessible, and accelerates innovation and experimentation within the organization. Sharing internal learnings with customers helps to save our customers from going through the problems that this company has gone through as an organization. With the industry: Creating an extraordinary impact on the technology industry through culture and technology excellence is the core part of the purpose of ThoughtWorks (WHY as the team calls it). It’s all about working with each other to push the industry forward and help companies and communities do the right things. The team believes that the learning and the way that has been approaching the internal developer platform concept through the lens of developer experience helps to put a new and unique point of view that could benefit a larger community. After all, happier developers result in better products, better work environments, and generally stay good for the companies and communities. 8. Would you also like to give some more details about how NEO is being used at ThoughtWorks? How has it been progressing? The thinking around NEO started back in Q2-CY2020 and its journey has progressed through multiple iterations to where it is today. The Alpha version of NEO went live for a very limited set of users (up to 40 invited folks) around November 2020. The Alpha plus version went live in January 2021 and has expanded to more early adopters to get more feedback. The beta launch happened earlier this year in July 2021 and the full product launch started August 2021 onwards across different countries. Since its Alpha launch, the developers globally have been actively and progressively been using NEO for their application development needs. Here are some of the statistics: 2000+ ThoughtWorkers (developers) across various countries have visited and interacted with NEO 450+ active developers in 300+ teams have used NEO for their application development needs 285+ applications available and discoverable in the NEO application catalog 60+ APIs and 200+ events available and discoverable through NEO 12+ active products using 4KM for delivery performance With more and more features being added, it is believed that NEO will continue to play an influencing role within ThoughtWorks for the internal product development process. 9. How do you see the company and the industry in the future ahead? A few key industry trends are driving spending for digital transformation: Expansion of computing boundaries: Rapid development of platforms, cloud, and internet of things are pushing the technology industry to new heights. This is made possible by the expanding boundaries of computing pushing the edges of what is possible for enterprises. The rapid advancement of AI- and ML-based tools: As artificial intelligence and machine learning gain more industry adoption, they enhance productivity and drive digital transformation by making predictions to assist humans in making decisions, and in some cases, by automating decision-making and tasks completely. The benefits of rapid advancement in AI- and ML-based tools can be applied across the entire value chain of business processes, from manufacturing and maintenance to marketing and customer service. Enhanced consumer experiences: The pervasiveness of technology has enhanced modern consumer experiences with the integration of digital and physical worlds, such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality. Consumers are not just demanding availability and accessibility— they expect experiences to be personalized and interactions to be seamless and rich. Enterprises are moving quickly to deliver an omnichannel experience across platforms with evolving interfaces that blend speech, touch, and visuals. Accelerating towards sustainability: Consumers increasingly factor sustainability into their decision-making when choosing a brand or supplier. This requires businesses to examine the environmental impact of their products and operations, including their carbon footprint, and to adopt more sustainable strategies and technologies, such as green cloud optimization. The growing impact of hostile tech and increased focus on information privacy: The increased complexity of technology presents a heightened risk of cyberattacks, computer malware, viruses, social engineering, employee misuse as well as data and security breaches. Privacy is also a key priority for consumers, with an increased focus on data sharing and growing awareness of the impact of AI and algorithmic bias. Previous Next

Many years ago I always used to think that innovation is ... < Back Learning innovation ! – Part I – Innovation by Subtraction Many years ago I always used to think that innovation is ... Many years ago I always used to think that innovation is something that can never be taught on the job and I thought it must come from within individual to break the mould and find out better ways of doing the job. I never thought that you can actually teach someone to think innovative and come up with innovative ideas, implement the innovation concepts and practice innovation techniques. How wrong I was to think that! I have been part of the Innovation Sessions in my organization and the experience there has been nothing short of great. Not only these sessions have given me a direction to think different on innovation, but also to learn more on various innovation techniques and processes. With this post, I would starting a new article series Learning Innovation based on my own learning and my thoughts on the same. I hope this first post will give you few leads to help yourself learn more on innovation techniques and processes so you can also try them in your organization, Innovation by Subtraction Innovation by Subtraction is a bit uncommon process but might yield surprising results. To use the IbS process for doing an innovation in a process, we are expected to make a list of components of the process. The list should contain the MUST have components of the process. Now, as a part of the IbS, you are expected to brainstorm on how the process would still function without each of the components. We are expected to innovate the potential value or benefits would be without the components. However, the most important part of the solution must be the fact that the solution should not compromise the business value or benefits coming out the process. It should sound like a workable business idea ! The examples we discussed within our session were very interesting and the ideas that came out were even better. Have a look at the following example which might give you an idea on how radical can your thinking get when you remove the most essential part (you thought) from your process, service, product. Product / process - Mobile phone Most essential part of your product / process to remove - Battery charging Innovative Solutions when you remove the most essential part Can the phone use solar energy? Can the phone use bio cells? Can the phone breath? Self sustaining power? IbS has been a catalyst for many great innovations over the year. Most notably of them were, Phone call with IVR (Interactive Voice Recording) The most important thing when you deal transactions on phone, are of course the people. You need someone to listen to you and act on your instructions or help you in dealing issues. Now when you apply the IbS rule to this process of a phone call and remove the most important part of the process, the listener (person) and replace with an automated solution, what remains is an innovative solution of IVR. Business benefits – Significant reduction of costs, reduction in errors, more customer satisfaction in general. Client server technology The most important part of the computer functionality was the business processing and the subsequent hardware that is consumed by desktop PCs do support the business processing. When you remove both 1. an ability to compute itself and 2. CPU unit, what remains is an innovative solution of Client server technology. The server controls the business processing and has significant CPU power while the clients are more of dumb terminals with only monitor & keyboard as significant hardware. You can still perform full tasks and can add more terminals with less costs. Business benefits – Significant reduction of costs, space & consistent performance Touchscreen Did you ever think of any computing device until last few years with no keyboard to interact with? Calculators, mobile phones, notebooks, desktops were all having dedicated keyboards for users to interact with them. You now take out the most important part of the device interaction i.e. keyboard and the innovative solution is to have a touch screen interface. Touchscreen technology has been touted as one of the most popular device interaction technology now a days with more and more devices giving option of touch screens. Business benefits – Style factor, bigger screen areas, better interaction techniques So, think on you can use the IbS technique for finding out innovative ideas and solutions for your processes, services. #Innovation #productivity #Softwareengineering #techniques Previous Next

Do you know the effective way of moving forward in your career? If no, read more .. < Back Guide for career progression - 3Ps process Do you know the effective way of moving forward in your career? If no, read more .. While the trajectory of your career is influenced by both hard work and luck, it's equally shaped by your ability to recognize the right opportunities and make strategic moves at the right moments. As you ascend into more impactful roles, the competition intensifies, making advancement more challenging. Drawing from my own experience and observations, I've distilled the journey from one career level to the next into a three-step approach. Following these steps, in conjunction with seizing opportunities and timing your actions effectively, can greatly enhance your career progression. Before delving into the steps and unveiling the secret, it's important to note that this approach may not universally apply to all scenarios and job types. It's tailored to the context of the IT sector, where hierarchical structures prevail, and individuals are driven to climb the corporate ladder. Now, let's explore the three-step process I mentioned earlier. This process typically spans 2-3 years (given the current IT landscape), demanding patience, adaptability, a willingness to invest effort, a knack for acquiring new skills, and the occasional stroke of luck. The three stages of this process are Prepare , Practice , and Progress . Henceforth, I'll refer to it as the 3Ps approach. 1. Prepare yourself well In any job role, setting your own goals is crucial. Without a clear direction for your career and objectives, you could easily end up adrift, like a piece of wood in a river's current. So, establish your goals. Make sure they're realistic, achievable, and, importantly, measurable. Your goals should be tangible enough that you can showcase your accomplishments to your managers and colleagues. It's wise to set goals that can be realized in both the short term (3-6 months) and the long term (2+ years). When setting goals, remember they should meet two essential criteria: Benefit Your Project/Organization: Your goals should contribute positively to your project or organization's success. Add Value to Your Performance Report: Your goals should reflect achievements that hold weight and contribute to your performance assessment. Once your goals are defined, the initial and most crucial step is to hit the ground running by dedicating yourself to your project with diligence and intelligence. Key actions to consider: Rapidly grasp the project's intricacies. Demonstrate teamwork and active listening skills. Assist your teammates. Deliver strong results in your project, establishing your dependability. Showcase your capability to handle the project with confidence. Typically, within 6-8 months, you should be ready to transition into the next phase of your progression. Once you've fulfilled the aforementioned criteria, you're poised to step forward and embrace even more challenges. 2. Practice Diligently – Become a Vital Player The next phase revolves around immersing yourself in project work and evolving into a pivotal contributor. To comprehend the term 'key player' is fundamental to mastering this stage. When I refer to a key player, I mean someone who is: Self-sufficient in project-related tasks Exceptionally proficient and reliable in their role Capable of delivering solutions to challenges Possesses a deep understanding of the project and its environment Achieving self-reliance requires dedicated efforts to understand the project's nuances, internalize its objectives, and align your short-term goals accordingly. As the saying goes: Working hard is crucial, but working smart is even more so! Evolving into a key player not only elevates your significance within the project but also strengthens your trustworthiness, contributing to favorable impressions from your superiors. Rather than merely clocking in hours, it's pivotal to focus on demonstrating outcomes. Although sometimes long hours are needed, tangible accomplishments carry more weight. A span of approximately 6-8 months is a reasonable timeframe to attain key player status. Yet, let me emphasize that this isn't an easy feat. You must constantly exhibit a willingness to learn, adapt to changes, and exhibit your competencies on the journey. This becomes a critical aspect during this phase and serves as a significant exit criterion. Demonstrating your project's value is crucial for your management to acknowledge and appreciate your contributions. (Apologies for unveiling this crucial tip!) Key tips to bear in mind while striving for key player status include: Showcase your value by yielding results. Take the initiative to implement technical solutions for common challenges. Boost efficiency by automating routine tasks. Remember, outcomes matter more than the time spent. Attain process efficiency and highlight gains for both management and customers. Strive to be consistently visible. If you succeed in this pursuit and evolve into a key player within the team/organization, you're better positioned for the next phase in your career journey. However, keep in mind that this isn't a straightforward path and might necessitate regular discussions and aligning short-term goals with your manager. It's imperative to keep your manager informed about your progress, your immediate objectives, and how your contributions benefit the project! 3. Progress forward Assuming you've effectively become a key player within the team and have been performing at your peak for a substantial period, it's time to prepare for the next step by 'unlearning' some of your current project knowledge and cultivating successors. When I mention 'unlearn,' consider these key steps: Identify someone who can step into your role within the project. Personally train this individual on the project's intricacies. Ensure the knowledge you've amassed is transferred, understood, and practiced by your chosen successor. Remain accessible to your manager for tasks that need completion (since, ultimately, you're aspiring for their role, right?). Initiate the process of making your own role in the project redundant. You might wonder about the last point – after all, if the second phase urged you to be a key player, why suggest making yourself redundant now? It's a valid question and a tremendously crucial one. The answer is simple: unless you pave the way for your project to function independently of you, how can you ascend to the next level? The significance lies in building a proficient team and robust resources for the project's continuity. It demonstrates your legacy as a professional, manager, and effective leader. During this phase, connect more frequently with your manager than you did in the earlier stage. Seek to comprehend their responsibilities, methodologies, and performance expectations. Secret tip: Your manager is also striving for advancement. By aiding their progress, you pave the way for your own ascent. Grant them space to rise, and you'll find yourself rising too! If luck shines your way, you might observe favorable outcomes in your subsequent performance reviews. Then, you can loop back to applying the principles of phase 1 to your new role! As I mentioned in my initial post, this cycle generally spans about 2-3 years. Patience and a strong work ethic are vital attributes during this journey. ---- Photo in the image by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash Previous Next

Have you ever felt de-motivated, dejected, disappointed or down hearted ... < Back Seven tricks to feel motivated at workplace and in life Have you ever felt de-motivated, dejected, disappointed or down hearted ... Have you ever felt de-motivated, dejected, disappointed or down hearted after a long day’s work ? I am sure you would have at some point in your life, if not every day after the work. Staying motivated and positive for long time is a real struggle. We are surrounded by and often assaulted by negative thinking and anxiety about the present situation and of course about the future ! We always have a phase where we start doubting ourselves and feel depressed. Unfortunately there is no master key or a simple solution to unlock the mystery of de-motivation. Even after we feel we are over it, sometimes, it comes back to haunt us in an even bigger way. Here, in this article, I would like to mention few of the points that would help one keep up the motivation, focus and avoid the long spells of depression and dejection, especially at work ! Love music Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach Whilst I am not a big fan of music collection, I do have a small collection of specific songs that I find dear to my heart. It is a decent mixture of all types of songs ranging from disco to classical and ghazals to bhajans. Depending on what emotional state I want to get, I choose the song and listen. This helps me often to get right state of mind before I proceed to do next task. Have a buddy at work Its important to have someone at work whom you can consider a best friend or a buddy. You need to have one such friend with whom you can share your work difficulties and vent out temporary frustration. Believe me, more often than not, you need some kind of instant emotional support with whom you can talk and share things. At more stressful jobs, you often experience bursts of negativity around due to several work related matters. So it is always helpful to have someone who you can count on to help you get out of negativity and back to normal mind state. Human is a social animal and we all have an inherent need of talking and being heard. In case you do not have anyone whom you can to and talk your heart out, it really feels like dejected and lonely at times. Spent a good time with your friend and talk on topics that interest you to get your positivity back on track. On the other hand, please extend help to your buddy when he / she is in the need of help. Have a hobby / passion In my opinion, having some passion in life is very important. For me, my passion is watching football. It keeps me going and helps me keep happy. My favorite club is Manchester United and I do everything I can to watch them playing (on TV at least). Watching them play my favorite game makes me happier and feel inspired. However, if they lose then there is an equal chance of me feeling more miserable after that. I do keep recordings of certain match clips which I tend to watch when I am feeling a little low and it certainly has helped in keeping me inspired. Passion is closely related to the emotional behavior of the human and if you see your passion fulfilled, its more of a chance that you feel inspired and motivated. Focus on positives Sometimes, if we experience too much negativity for a prolonged period of time and feel de-motivated for a longer spell of time, we go into a state of mind where all the thoughts start with negative options and creates negative vibes around us. Once you fall into the negativity trap, its not very easy to come out and have any positive feeling about anything. In past, when I had fallen into the trap of negativity, I used to feel negative for no real reason and sometimes a mere presence of few people around used to make me start feel de-motivated. However, the wiser I got, I tend to avoid feeling on this trap by concentrating more on the positives that are coming out from the situation. Look at the scenario holistically rather than what is only seen to you Thank God for not making things any worse Find out one positive thing that you can take out of the situation. As I often mention in many of my conversations, “there are always 100s of negative things that can be made out of the situation, but if you find at least one positive thing out of it, consider it a learning for life and thank GOD”. Positivity is a habit, and once you get it, you can easily overcome situations that are trying to put you back in the hole of negativity and de-motivation. Praise others Spreading good words makes one feel positive and help others feel good about themselves. This, in turn make change in people’s behavior towards you in a better way, making you feel better. Believe me, speaking positive about someone else’s work and personality is the best way to connect with the person in a right way. I remember a specific incident when I was given to work with a so-called difficult person. All the people who worked with that person earlier, warned me about the boring and micro-management behavior of the person. While I too felt a little bit strange with his work methods, the more I started to talk to him and praise him about some real good work he had done in past (in some cases without anyone’s real help), it made him really comfortable with me and I could see an immediate behavior change in him towards me allowing me freedom to work the way I want. Ultimately this led to work satisfaction for both of us and a little bit more positive at work for me ! However, one thing that you need to keep in mind is when to praise someone and how much to praise. There is fine line between real appreciative person and feet-licking bastard ! You need to ensure that you do not cross to the other side .. Open your mind I always feel that one need to share what he / she feels about the situation in a right way. Its not often very motivating to work in uneasy, unconvincing situations or scenarios where you are in a confused state or feel half-committed to the cause. Learn a bit about emotional intelligence and try to be aware of your state of mind. One very important, but often neglected, fact is to know our state of mind and understand our emotions. We go through so many emotions such as happiness, inspired, dejection, unhappy, nervousness etc., at work place during various hours of the day and due to several causes, it almost becomes a habit to suppress them and continue with the job we are doing. Can you stay in a meeting where you do not feel like being, and contribute productively ? Can you give right suggestions and solutions to a problem, when you are in a state of anger or frustration ? Definitely not ! The more you suppress your emotions, the more you feel out of control and start losing your own focus. Its important to let others know what state of mind you are and help yourself in getting back to where you should be. Believe me, the more I tried this, the more I felt in control of the situation and my responses were getting better, in turn making me feel positive and motivated. Think big and have faith When you get the questions, such as “why does it always happen with me”, “why am I being pushed to do something that I do not want to do”, “no one seems to help me here” start flowing in your mind, think of is as time to take a step back and consider the bigger picture and look at the intention behind the situation. When such situation occurs, look at the big picture and find out the intentions behind this situation. In case you are wondering how to do this, I recommend reading a story in my leadership series. You can safely bank on the thumb rule of “intentions of people at work place are never bad, sometimes behaviors are” to sail through this period. On the other hand, if you are unable to trace the intentions and get any positivity of the big picture, think of it as the lowest point and be happy that things can only improve on this point onwards. Just have faith ! #positivethinking #work #mindset #behaviour #worklife #emotions #emotionalintelligence Previous Next

A little story of a conversation between me and one of my product managers .. < Back Trust does wonders to people A little story of a conversation between me and one of my product managers .. [ Originally published on Linkedin here ] PM (A bit worried) to me – Hey Swapnil, we have a 1:1 catch up scheduled every two weeks right now, but I would like it to be a bit more frequent. Can we talk weekly or daily? I would like to validate my thinking and decisions I make before I talk to the team and stakeholders and communicate them the updates and decisions. Me – Hmm. Why do you want to validate your decisions with me? PM – I just want to ensure that I am on right track and making right decisions and have thought through from all perspectives and I think you can help me validate my thinking. Me – What if I say No? PM (Puzzled) – But, what if I make a wrong decision? And how would you know what decisions I make every day with regards to the team? Me – Well, that’s exactly why I say No. I want you to know that I trust you one hundred percent and you should feel comfortable being in-charge and make decisions. Its OK, some decisions will go wrong and we may need to revert those, but that’s the learning you will get through the process. Intent is important and even if you make some decisions wrong keeping right intent, it will not impact my trust and my backing to you. PM (A bit relieved) – Thanks. Feels better now! What if the team members, do not agree with my decisions? Me - Well, it’s not enough just to communicate decisions. You should also be able to communicate ‘why’ you made those decisions and what was the reasoning behind them. Tell them the story, constraints, context and intent behind making that decision and be open and transparent with them. I am sure they will understand each decision you make and by doing this, you are also strengthening the trust bond between you and team members. PM (Happy) – Makes lot of sense. Thanks! But I would still like to come and talk to you on things that puzzle me. Me – Anytime! Like you just did today! Trust does wonders to people! #trust #leadership #decisions Previous Next

< Back How developers can become a lot more productive Swapnil Deshpande & Vivek Kant speak on developer effectiveness, with Times Jobs. The phenomenal pace of digitalisation, especially following the pandemic, has led to a surge in demand for developers. But hiring and reskilling developers is turning out to be an expensive and time-consuming affair. Another way to tackle the problem is to improve the productivity and effectiveness of your existing developers. That was the subject of our discussion in the Times Techies Webinar last week. “A typical programmer spends no more than 30-40% time in actual coding,” said Vivek Kant, CTO of Finserv MARKETS. The rest of the time, she is in meetings, asking and following up on approvals (like for use of IT infra), following up with another team which has built an API she needs to use, going back to business analysts or product owners for clarifications of requirements and design. “There’s also the discoverability issue in today’s microservices and API world, where all applications are dependent on each other. There are so many of these, I wouldn’t know what all exists, what each one’s capabilities are. The developer spends a lot of time trying to find these, raising tickets, waiting for responses,” Swapnil Deshpande, chief digital officer at Thoughtworks, said. Deshpande also found different Thoughtworks offices working on exactly the same problems, without realising it. So Deshpande’s team set about developing what they call an internal developer platform and a developer experience portal, and launched the beta version in July. Called Neo (network-enabled organisation), the platform connected all developers, became a repository for all knowledge in the organisation, enabled requests and approvals (it’s increasingly even automating provisioning once an approval is given). “Getting basic IT infrastructure now takes less than a day, compared to 7-10 days earlier; the average time between ideation and first line of code has gone down from a couple of weeks to a couple of days; building APIs is down to minutes, from days. Developers can discover all assets entirely by themselves by searching on the portal,” Deshpande said. Kant said developer effectiveness at Finserv MARKETS has increased 20-30% after his team improved tooling, automated processes, and built developer self-service capabilities. “I believe we can go another 2x, 3x on developer effectiveness,” he said. Previous Next

Innovation is almost non-negotiable for every company today. Its important aspect that ... < Back Innovation techniques – for the brilliant ideas in you Innovation is almost non-negotiable for every company today. Its important aspect that ... Innovation is almost non-negotiable for every company today. Its important aspect that every company should consider, if they want to sustain and thrive in this competitive market. And hinking of innovation, one of the most important aspect of innovation is the “Idea Generation”. Unless ideas are generated, innovation can not fly. There are quite a few idea generation techniques that would help generate large number of ideas to find new solutions and different ways of achieving the purpose. Here in this article, we are going to have a look at three common techniques of idea generation. Brainstorming / Brain writing For the brainstorming or brain writing session, we need to gather a group of participants who are familiar with the challenge statement. Create a challenge statement and the attribute list and make them visible to the team. For the purpose of brain storming, it is recommended that the group of participants is typically less than 7 people. If you have more than 7 people in the room, then you should go for Brain writing technique. Ideas should be put up spontaneously verbally during brainstorming session and written on a piece of paper during brain writing session. During the brain writing session, after each idea is written on a piece of paper, it is recommended to crumple the paper and throw in the middle and pick up someone else’s crumpled paper to write next idea. Ensure that some rules such as non-criticism of any idea, welcoming unusual ideas and encouraging other participants to build on other’s ideas should strictly adhered to. Encourage ‘quantity’ of ideas. For the purpose of idea generation, quality follows quantity. Overall ideas should be rated based on the benefits it can give and easiness of achieving them. All the ideas should be properly documented for future reference. Scamper SCAMPER is a checklist of lateral thought technique that can expand one’s creativity. SCAMPER is a acronym of the following words, Substitute – Try and see what can be substituted in the current situation in order to improve upon the scenario. Ask the questions on what can be substituted, how, when, why ? Combine – Try to enhance the synergy by combining, merging, attaching, adding and uniting separate attributes together for the issue. This might give a different solution altogether. Adapt – Try and make adjustments to certain aspects and attributes of a product or process Modify/Magnify/Minify – Try and change the size, quantity or quality of the attributes. Try to make things later or smaller, faster or slower and see what difference it can make to the situation. Put to other use – Try and change the place or purpose for which an object or a process is currently being used. Eliminate – Try and remove, omit or get rid of a quantity, part or whole object from the situation and see how it happens. Rearrange/Reduce/Reverse – Try and place attributes against each other, pit them opposite or contrary to, turn around; to change order or adjust, different plan, layout or scheme. Think like a child Whilst, I understand that changing the perspective from an adult to the child itself can be challenging but believe me it can be a fun. In order to try and generate ideas using this technique, make your mind set similar to that of a child by thinking of a children you know and you can anticipate the reaction of. Try and see the situation through their eyes and feel what they would like about the situation, what they would be proud of, what they would dislike, feel funny or useful about and note down the reactions. Consider the simple example of a muddy puddle. When we adults see it, we try and step over or step around it. We imagine muddy shoes, dirty clothes and filthy carpets at home if we step into the puddle. However, if you ask the same to kids, they would call it fun and imagine to build bridges and dams to cross it !! #generation #idea #mind #mindset #Innovation #techniques Previous Next

Kavitha is Head of Design with Digital Platforms & one of the best in visual design. Women leadership series - In conversation with Kavitha Thyagarajan 5 Mar 2022 Kavitha is Head of Design with Digital Platforms & one of the best in visual design. How would you introduce yourself? I am a multidisciplinary designer, enjoying my current role as Head of Design for TechOps Digital platforms, where I am surrounded and inspired by the most talented techies everyday. In my past life, I worked as an Architect and landscape designer. I believe in Mies van der Rohe’s motto “Less is more” and my work often reflects the same. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? I have extensive experience in designing digital applications for consumers and enterprise solutions. I manage an interdisciplinary team of designers and developers and deliver value across cross-functional, multiple stakeholder, and distributed environments working in a globally distributed team. I have helped organizations set up a User experience design team and UX practice and have led and mentored design teams. My first role as a leader was when I was managing a bunch of designers and developers working across different products and services. This was my safe and comfortable zone and I never felt that I was doing anything different. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? When you are leading a team that caters to different business functions that have its own priorities, it’s always a constant struggle to manage these priorities and at the same time delivering value. Initially this was a bit of struggle, but setting clear expectations with the global stakeholders, keeping them informed and making decisions along with them, helped me bridge the gap. I would always have an open and honest conversation with my stakeholders and would truly be invested in solving their problems. This gained me their trust and built a long term relationship with them. A leader must also know to navigate ambiguity and give a sense of direction to the team when they look up to you. I always believed that I needed to have answers for all the questions which would stress me out. I slowly realized that it was ok to accept that you don't have an answer yet and be transparent about it. This created a special bond and mutual respect for each other with my clients and team. What motivates you? I am a dreamer and constantly get inspired by numerous people around me. I love to experiment and I thrive on creativity. Mundane and routine bores me and hence I always find something that lets my creative juice flow. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? There are so many amazing people around me who I admire and follow. Couple of folks I get my inspiration from are John Maeda from the Tech and design leadership angle, Dan Norman - the design guru, Irene Au - for her amazing design leadership role where she has built and led design teams for some of the top companies. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership to me means leading by example and setting up a safe and fun environment for everyone to thrive. Investing in people's growth and achievement is a great asset to have as a leader. Being open, honest, transparent, approachable and having empathy for others has helped me grow as a leader. At the same time, it is important to have a clear vision and strategy, direction, staying calm and focussed during adversity. What would be your advice to young leaders? When you take up the role as a leader for the first time, don’t get overwhelmed with everything around you. Take it slowly but stay connected with the key people on the team. Empowering others to make decisions, sharing responsibilities and communicating constantly with your clients and team is crucial. Active listening is an asset that every leader should have. Things will soon fall in place when you have empathy for everyone. Another important aspect is to focus on your own personal development. Make sure that you allocate some time in a week specifically for this. This will help you grow as a leader you always aspired to be. Last but not least, make sure you have fun.