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IT departments are on the verge of being irrelevant to businesses. .. < Back Why IT departments must reinvent themselves - Part I IT departments are on the verge of being irrelevant to businesses. .. IT departments are on the verge of being irrelevant to businesses. Increasingly, there is a need to reinvent themselves and align better with the business. The industry is at crossroads, where they need to choose between being merely seen as a cost center in the organization, and instead, take the lead to be an important and influential partner in the business. At Thoughtworks, we have been thinking a lot about the direction that the IT team needs to take. In the last 4-5 years, we have been continuously challenging ourselves and evolving along with our changing business. In this blog, I elaborate on the thought process behind this change in direction and focus and hope that it will get you thinking about the opportunities that exist for your IT departments. IT departments need to reinvent and re-purpose themselves Let’s think of some factors that impact the direction of IT teams so much and so often: The nature of the business is changing, at a rapid pace - With the technologies in the space of Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning taking center stage, companies need to look beyond traditional ways of doing business. Technology adoption for business is no longer an afterthought, but a driving force. As an operations partner of the business, IT departments need to keep an eye on the changing nature of the business and be proactive to change and evolve along with the business. IT departments have an opportunity to drive future of business - By being a partner, IT departments have an opportunity to disrupt business processes through technology led innovation. They can work with the business to identify customer needs, market trends and help in developing the right capabilities through experimentation and application of technology to their internal solutions. With technology innovation disrupting more and more businesses, IT teams can play an important part to shape the future of the organization. The same work doesn’t give same value year on year - Doing the same work year on year, with the same people and teams offers diminishing returns for companies. As operating costs and people costs increase each year, companies cannot afford to spend more money for the same outcome. There is an increasing need to use technology in business and IT operations to reduce costs and bring in more efficiencies. Having said that, we should also keep in mind the current situation of IT departments and business. Finances will keep getting tighter – Just as customers ask companies to deliver more year on year with same costs, the same expectation is on IT teams as well - to deliver more without a proportionate increase in costs. IT departments need to be clever in cost optimization as their budgets do not keep up the pace with the growth and complexity of the business. Value first – While people are the most important asset of organizations, the outcome is always measured in terms of the value they bring to the organization and their users. The same goes with costs and investments too, as they are always evaluated in terms of the value they generate. Considering these situations, it becomes important for internal IT departments to continuously move up the business value chain. Workspaces at Thoughtworks Let me tell you what happened with my team at Thoughtworks few years ago (earlier known as the Offices and Devices team). We realized that the regional business paradigm is shifting and we needed to gear ourselves to support the future of business. The expectations from the immediate stakeholders were changing and the traditional way of working as support teams in isolation was no longer good enough. We needed to foster the true spirit of leadership, partnership and collaboration within and beyond our teams. To get there, during the last few years we have: Reworked our vision to focus on the ‘future of work’ and ‘strong regional IT partnership’ Rebranded ourselves as ‘The Workspaces’ team that allows us to go beyond previously established scope of work Created smaller region-focused product teams by breaking down one big global team On-boarded experienced and business-focused product owners to lead the teams into regions Evolved the structure of the team to ensure that decisions are made at region level Established a framework for team capability development that aligns with the vision of our team and the regional business Put in place a stronger governance mechanism with the regional businesses While there is still some way to go, these steps have helped us start moving from being a ‘business support’ team to being true business partners. What is the future? The next challenge is for us to think on “ How to move up from being business relevant to become business influencers? ” While business support work such as help desk and customer support, laptop and office support, client project and infrastructure support is important, we can’t move ahead without changing our approach holistically and making the IT department integral to the business. The transition has not been an easy one, but this change in approach has helped us make giant strides in redefining the future of this department. In Part 2 of this blog, I will share my thoughts and ideas on how we can transform from here to become real business influencers. Previous Next

There are two kinds of emotions that one can experience. Simple enough to guess ... < Back Learning Emotional Intelligence There are two kinds of emotions that one can experience. Simple enough to guess ... So, to start with, do you know what is an “Emotion”? It seems so simple, but when asked this question during the training, probably none could give an exact answer. The answers were such as, ‘ An emotion is a feeling.’ , ‘An emotion is a thought in one’s mind.’ . The answer that the trainer gave was ‘An emotion is an energy within the body that creates an awareness of its state through feeling’, which probably was a sensible answer! There are two kinds of emotions that one can experience. Simple enough to guess, they are Good emotions and Bad emotions. Good emotions (happiness etc) are the ones that the body likes to carry and the Bad emotions (fear etc) are the ones that the body does NOT like to carry. The mind is an invisible force that resides within the human body and assists the human being to experience various states of emotions. The mind plays an important part in managing the emotional state of a person. The equation is simple, Mind is a slate on which the external situation, understood by 5 senses (see, smell, hear, touch, taste) and governed by one’s intelligence, intellect, memory, beliefs & values create an emotion that is visible through the gesture of a human being. Now, what does EI tells us? EI has 5 basic competencies as follows, Self awareness Self awareness is all about being aware of the emotional state of oneself. It also extends to expressing the emotions at right time and not suppressing them within yourself. If you are getting angry, upset, disappointed or frustrated, then its essential to identify the state of emotion and take a corrective action immediately. Self management This is all about managing one’s emotions and how you appear to others. For example, if in a meeting, due to some lengthy arguments and counter arguments you are feeling angry, then its better to announce that I am getting angry, and I suppose I need to take a break. than continuing with the meting, which is likely to affect your judgment and might end into something you might repent ! Self motivation Self motivations tells you to have a passion in life. It tells you to discover your own passion and pursue it in order to keep you motivated in life. It suggest you to have a goal in life (personal & professional) so you can go all about pursuing the goal. Doing the job you love and loving the job you do is the mantra of keeping one highly motivated. Empathy Empathy is all about getting in someone else’s shoes and DO nothing ! Yes, do nothing ! It suggest you should empathize with others to understand what situation they are going through before taking any decision about anyone. It helps you to understand what pains or problems someone is going through and how it might affect someone’s performance at work. It also suggest that one should empathize with oneself. It helps understand what emotional state you are going through and what situation you are under. Self empathy is all about giving time to yourself every day to ensure you are in a good emotional state to realize your situation control limits. Effective relationships Effective relationships is the relationship that is Goal Oriented. In the discussion, after much debate, it was convinced that all relationships you can think of are goal oriented. An effective relationship is also one the one that comes with expectations and the one where the expectations are met. Its recommended that you have a clear understanding of emotions with whom you get into an effective relationship. Finally, in my own words, I would define EI as, EI is all about knowing and motivating yourself, controlling your behavior irrespective of situation type, understanding others better, relate to them for betterment of your social and work life that could translate into more happiness and help earn more money and growth. #personality #EQ #thoughts #emotions #emotionalintelligence Previous Next

Ying started her career with Thoughtworks and has played roles like Developer, Delivery Lead, Product Owner, Head of Operations and now playing the role of the Program Manager. Women leadership series - In conversation with Ying Fu 5 Mar 2022 Ying started her career with Thoughtworks and has played roles like Developer, Delivery Lead, Product Owner, Head of Operations and now playing the role of the Program Manager. How would you introduce yourself? Hello, I am Fu Ying and I would introduce myself as a program manager, as a driver to lead the team to move forward in the right direction. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? My whole career so far is within TW and the journey started as a developer, eventually, shifting the role to Delivery lead, Product Owner, Head of Operation, Program manager. Majority of my career is work under multiple culture environments. Which helps me look at things from different angles. The first time I got a leadership role is quite interesting, it is not an officially "assigned" leadership role. It was the 2nd year I joined TW. There is an NGO project which needs to work with clients from Africa and the UK, and with a group of people from TW Inida. From China, and it was just me and a new hire who have 10 years experience. Given I have longer experience in TW and know about the project, I start to take the ownership and drive the delivery of the work. Even providing suggestions to my teammate. I saw this as the first time I took the leadership role even though at that time, I didn't feel this way. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? My top challenge when I was in a leadership role was the balance of growing people and doing things by myself. As a leader, when I step into an area that I'm not familiar with, I need to build up the team to move things forward instead of doing things by myself (I even can't do it by myself). This will need me to better think about the impact of work and set the right expectations with the team. I'm not overcome them yet. Still working on it. But I'm more and more patient on this now. What motivates you? Ownership motivates me to keep driving the thing forward. Curiosity motivates me to explore different areas from PS to Operation. Willing to get things done motivates me to remove blocker and build connections. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? I don't have a specific role model. I do learn things from different people. For example: Matheus, he was a very supportive leader who gave space to team members to grow and provide support when they needed it. David, he is great at balancing different parties within TechOps. Jade, putting things better organized. Yuntao, think things from a balanced view, and care about people's career development. Xiaoli, be very clear about what is the target to achieve. Gao Li, very calm and easily takes up new roles. There are still more people I'm learning from. I can't summarize all of them. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership means responsibility, means good influence to others. My leadership style is more empowering, creating a safe space and opportunities for team members to leverage their strength and desire. Through supporting their success to make me and the team successful. What would be your advice to young leaders? People are always important. Always think about how to support your people's success and make the work successful.

In continuation from my previous blogs, here I write about the direction ... < Back Why IT departments must reinvent themselves - Part 3 In continuation from my previous blogs, here I write about the direction ... In continuation from my previous blogs, here I write about the direction we intended to take with Workspaces. In this part, I offer my thoughts on the perennial debate around what is BAU and what is innovation. I have recently been a part of several conversations that have led me to believe that confusion exists within a team like Workspaces where the majority of the work is BAU. I hosted a workshop on innovation at a team offsite sometime ago which was really useful in discovering what the team thought of innovation and some of the challenges and opportunities they perceived. Although the team has changed a lot since then, when I look at the notes from the workshop, I believe some of the perceptions about innovation remain same. How interesting! I have been recently interviewed on my thoughts on innovation and also took part in a global IT survey for innovation (hosted outside of Thoughtworks). It was a good time to reminisce on my thoughts on innovation. I present some of these thoughts to you: Innovation is a culture of thinking differently and challenging oneself to do things differently Failures in innovation is great learning and offers important lessons Successful innovations often result in reduction of time while doing the same work, reduces effort taken towards any task, saves cost or improves quality Innovation does not only mean building a product or an app or a software but also innovation in process, service or pretty much everything you see around Innovation doesn't only happen in the NASAs and ISROs of the world. It happens in smaller bits around you that will help you solve your daily problems and issues. We just need to build a curious mind and challenge status quo to think about innovation and ideas that can improve things for us and around us. With so much focus on innovation, does it mean the BAU is not appreciated? What about those of us who enjoy our work? Well, the answer to this is partly yes and partly no. Let me explain. Yes, because if we continue to do the same and routine work over and over again, the value of that depreciates over a period of time and we have to think of doing the same work differently or keep questioning why we are doing it. No, because there will always be some work that we will have to continue doing to keep the lights on. And let’s be honest, it’s a vicious circle. For things around you to change and become better, you need time and because you are so busy with day to day work, you just don’t have time to think or act or even suggest improvement. In my opinion, the change will not start unless we really want to change and think of getting out of doing ‘only’ routine stuff. In some ways, we have to push ourselves out of our comfort zone to think about and bring a change around us. Lots of us have ideas and most of them are really good. Talking about the idea in a social forum and within the team is the first step towards thinking about the change. Being accepting of someone else’s idea and contributing through discussions is another thing that helps us follow and think about the change. I also believe that the best ideas will come from people who are closest to the problems. The success of the idea will truly be dependent on how participative we can make it for everyone. I believe that with ‘Workspaces Global Ideas’, we have taken the first step to share our ideas.The showcases that we schedule have the potential to become one of the most important tech showcases within Thoughtworks, if we do them right. So, in summary, I feel that innovation will come from people around us, who are looking at the same things differently. BAU is important and so is innovation, but they are not mutually exclusive. You can not do one ignoring the other. For TechOps, 'innovation' means not accepting the way things are, especially if it can be better for our customers and ourselves. It could be an incremental improvement or a disruptive game-changer. Either way, innovation really should be our business as usual. We hope TechOps will increasingly incorporate a true learning culture where we are always observing and experimenting together. Previous Next

Every organization wants to innovate. Not everyone succeeds. .. < Back Innovate to impact framework Every organization wants to innovate. Not everyone succeeds. .. [ This article was originally published on Thoughtworks's Insights. You can see the original articles here . ] Every organization wants to innovate. Not everyone succeeds. And often, the reason for failure is that organizations are trying to capture lightning in a bottle. Good luck with that. Instead, we prefer to plan for success. In this article, we’re going to dive into the practical details of our fluency model — the Innovate to Impact framework — looking at each stage of the journey and outlining the steps you need to take to proceed to the next level. The framework relies on a collaborative approach to innovation — avoiding the pitfalls of both the top-down and bottom-up approaches that so often end in frustration (see article one for a fuller description of the collaborative approach). But success demands more than just setting up a team and hoping for the best. Let’s look a little closer at how your journey towards sustainable innovation can map out. It starts with a vision: how you see ways to differentiate yourself from the competition. Stage 1: Experimenter (Build the capability & innovation engine) The first stage of your journey is all about building capability and the innovation engine that will help you with experimentation. Your innovation team needs to understand all key stakeholders; the roles team members will play; how to source ideas from people across the enterprise; and how to establish communication channels and build a process that will allow efficient execution of the experiments that you’re going to conduct. Experimentation, however, needs to be aligned to a purpose: that of getting you closer to your vision for strategic customer differentiation objective. Successful experimentation will help you scale through the steps of this framework, and smooth the path towards sustainable innovation. As part of the innovation engine, your team needs to get accustomed to the discipline of sourcing ideas; validating them; ensure the focus is aligned to business priorities; and evaluate experiments’ success in ways that are tangible to the business. This helps the team to be lean in their approach of building an innovation engine for experimentation. As part of this stage, the following are the aspects you need to consider: Purpose To build the capability and set foundations to carry out experiments in the most efficient manner. What you need to do? At this stage, you will need to: Identify the purpose of your innovation programme and set a long term charter for the programme Identify the key stakeholders and team members Build relations and alignment with leadership and understand strategic objectives of the organization Generate, validate and select a set of ideas and experiments in collaboration with people across organization Prioritize a set of ideas and run experiments using the rapid innovation framework Review your process to identify the most efficient and impactful way to build experiments Repeat the process for different types of experiments to fine-tune your innovation engine Expected outcome This phase is all about building an innovation capability that turn your ideas into products, prototypes or some tangible results (success or failure) in the most efficient manner. Once you’ve taken the above steps, its expected that you would have: Built the team that’s capable of running experiments in the most efficient manner Understood the communication pathways and decision points within your organization Proven your capability that you can turn ideas into products, prototypes or some tangible results (success or failures) within a definite period of time This should invite more attention for you innovation programme and possibly enable you to secure additional funding. Possible risks One of the biggest challenges for this early-stage Experimenter team is that the projects may fail, or at least not produce the anticipated results. Maybe more experiments fail than succeed. This can undoubtedly impact morale. So you should raise this possibility with the team at the outset. Because at this formative stage, successful projects aren’t the only goal: it’s essential that your team learns to adapt and quickly identify when projects aren’t delivering. They’ll learn far more from projects that go awry than those that are plain sailing. Innovation in practice Google X is a great example of how experimentation-oriented innovation labs can be set up. X is a diverse group of inventors and entrepreneurs who build and launch technologies that aim to improve the lives of millions, even billions, of people. Its goal? 10x impact on the world’s most intractable problems, not just 10% improvement. It approaches projects that have the aspiration and riskiness of research, and tries to tackle them with the speed and ambition of a startup. Some of its best known ideas include Project Loon (balloons to deliver internet in rural areas) and Project Wing (Drones for good deliveries). Stage 2: Value creator (Build enhanced credibility and strengthen leadership support by targeting internal value creation) Once you have a solid engine that enables you to turn your ideas into tangible results and has proven its worth through a series of experimentation, you should then turn your focus onto building impact within the organization. This can be done through targeted value generation using your engine. As a part of value creator, your focus should now be to partner with important business functions within the organization, identifying opportunities where impact of innovation can be highest and partner with the users or functions to deliver those innovations to them. The important difference between the experimenter phase and value creator phase is that in the latter, you identify specific areas (such as recruitment, staffing or operations) and work with the end users to establish a hypothesis of value and agree on it before starting to work on solving the problem and delivering an innovation. In this phase, your working team becomes bigger as you welcome the potential users and functional people into your team and focus on co-creation to deliver impactful innovation through your engine. Purpose The purpose of this phase is to strengthen the partnership with the organizational leadership by providing direct and tangible benefits to the important business functions through your innovation engine. What you need to do? To prepare successfully for this stage, you should: Identify and partner with an internal business function, which is strategically important for the organization (say staffing, recruiting, sales) Talk to the users and understand their problems, as well as opportunities in the area Ideate within the context to understand the possibilities for innovation Map idea to potential value /outcome and target specific idea for experimentation Create a working group with users and functional people that would work with your team to co-create the solution Use your experimentation engine to build the solution/product/prototype and targetedly deliver the value Measure the value delivered Expected outcome Because your innovation team is now working with a target group within the enterprise, you can expect the team to hone their ability to generate ideas that solve specific problems for that team. This can help build the culture of purpose-led innovation. Innovation is driven by customer value and market differentiation. It's sustained with strategic alignment and people participation. The innovation efforts through this phase should directly help your organization achieve part of its strategic goals or push your functions closer to achieving their strategic goals. In a nutshell, deliver impact for an important business function within your organization. Possible risks The choice of targeted teams within your organization will determine your success. That’s because this needs to be a close working relationship. If your stakeholders can’t make time for, you can’t deliver. This can be a challenge. As we saw in the first article, when business-as-usual is the priority, innovation suffers. You can’t afford to be seen as a distraction, rather than a strategic enabler. Innovation in practice In a commercial aircraft’s galley, space is at a premium. And with hundreds of passengers to please, every square centimeter is precious. So when looking at how to maximize use of this space, Delta Airlines’ innovation team, The Hanger, came up with an neat idea to reclaim nearly two carts’ worth of space: turning the coffee mug handles to face each other . Sometimes, valuable ideas don’t need to cost the earth. Stage 3: Business enabler (Build customer-focused innovation engine to support sales and new client solutions) Once you’ve proven yourself to be a value creator for the business, it’s time to take the next step and start thinking of directly contributing to the business growth. As you start thinking of growing the impact of your innovation program, it’s important that you start thinking of impacting the sales and demand efforts of your organization and to an extent, your organization’s clients. This phase, the Business enabler, specifically targets value creation for the revenue-earning departments or in some cases, directly for the clients. Using the work done for building the delivery engine and value creation for internal functions, you’d have built a repository of innovations that could possibly be ready to be showcased to your clients as a part of your proposal, or a sales pitch. In some cases, there may be a need to do a targeted prototyping or concept designing for clients based on certain pre-sales activities. Your innovation team can partner with the client account teams or sales and demand teams to proactively identify opportunities to showcase your innovations to clients or create new innovations that will assist sales efforts with existing and new clients. This is where the focus of the innovation shifts from delivering targeted value to an internal function to target supporting business development efforts of the organization through innovation. Purpose The purpose of this phase is to directly support the pre-sales, client account teams and business development efforts by targeting specific client or market opportunities to help win more business. What you need to do? To prepare successfully for this stage, you should: Partner with the market-facing or revenue-generating departments within your organization to understand the opportunities Understand about the existing clients and potential clients that your organization wants to target Collaborate with client account teams and sales teams to identify opportunities where innovation bring an impact on business development Identify opportunities to showcase your innovations to relevant clients (existing / potential) as a part of sales efforts Deliver new innovations that would be relevant / showcaseable to clients (existing / potential) that would open up new business opportunities Continue aligning with the business functions within the organization to deliver concepts / prototypes / innovations relevant to the market Expected outcome As part of this phase, your team is now working with the direct revenue-earning (or maybe winning) departments of the organization, you can expect the team to contribute to winning more business for the organization. This is especially true when it comes to existing revenue-generating streams. You can do this by supporting the sales efforts by delivering innovative example PoCs, concepts, prototypes aligned with the clients or market you are targeting. The innovations that you deliver should be targeted to help open up new conversations with existing clients for more work, innovative work and help convince new clients about your capability of delivering work. By running experiments that are targeted towards customers, clients and the business, you should get quicker way at market and opportunity assessment. It should become second nature for your teams to know about market conditions and identify where opportunities lie. Possible risks The stakes are rising. You may need larger investments for the experiments you’re running — and that’s often a business challenge. Especially because you are doing a pre-investment into delivering potential revenue earning innovations that may or may not necessarily guarantee new business. There’s a danger that customers may still be thinking about yesteryear’s ideas and may not be really prepared for your innovation to drive their growth. So in many cases there is a likelihood that you may present a shiny new innovation to them and they may think: “This looks great, but probably we need time to be ready for this kind of work.” Innovation in practice At US insurance group USSA, business enhancements are achieved by going to its customers directly. It runs new ideas past its customers via USAA Labs, where members are invited to evaluate and test new ideas and concepts. For instance, members might be asked to evaluate the firm’s process for handling natural disasters or maybe a guide for managing debt. Through its innovation process, it can run experiments that target specific value and get to production through a targeted innovation process, where it has proven customer needs. Stage 4: Strategic differentiator (Define your own blue ocean and find your sweet spot, led by innovation) Now that you have mastered building your innovation engine, understood how to create significant value for internal stakeholders and the organization, and also mastered the art of building innovations for clients and help strengthening existing revenue streams, it’s time to take a jump and take the next step. To grow significantly faster, you need to create your own blue oceans and deliver differentiated value to clients through your innovation engine. You need to create a value proposition such that it differentiates you positively against your competition and potentially, makes the competition irrelevant. This is the whole point of innovation and through this phase, you should aim to create a strategic differentiation for yourself against your competition. Purpose The purpose of this phase is to use innovation to build a strategic differentiator for yourself against your competition and position yourself positively in the market you operate. What you need to do? To prepare successfully for this stage, you should: Invest in R&D to understand and spot potential new market opportunities that would provide significant new value to your customers Use your market research skills to come up with new offerings, services or products for your existing customers, or to spot an entirely new customer segment Understand how this could differentiate yourself against your competition and provide you an advantage in the market Invest in building a strategic capability to support the delivery of the new offering, services or a product for your customer segment Successfully delivery value to customers and run a full cycle of acquisition, retention and growth with your customer (i.e., acquiring, retaining and growing the customer) Think about building a strategic partnership with your customers and help them to graduate through their own innovation journey You can think of being successful if you are able to help customers draw significant value in the markets they operate through your new innovative offering Expected outcome As a part of your strategic investment in innovation efforts, you need to create a new product, service offering or a value proposition for customers that’s innovative and positively differentiates you against your competition. This can be done by establishing a strategic innovation partnering with your customers and help them shape up their own innovation journey and help them deliver significant value to their customers. Possible risks The biggest risk in this is the lack of belief of leadership in investing into R&D to create true differentiation through innovation. It’s often seen that the leadership prefers to take low-risk approach to exploring new opportunities and it may mean that they’d miss out on creating a significant differentiator for organizations through this approach. This phase requires organizations to take a radical new approach and may impact culture, people and the way the business is done etc. and it needs strong and visionary leadership to take this step. Innovation in practice Airbnb is a great example of how innovation has enabled an entire new business to be set up; one that’s disrupted the hospitality industry globally. Its unique rental platform lets people list, find, and rent short-term lodging in 65,000 cities and more than 191 countries across the globe. Innovation has proven to be a big strategic differentiator for Airbnb and allows itself to create a blue ocean for itself against the competition within the hospitality industry. In n ext part of this series, we'll explore how this fluency model has been implemented in practice. Previous Next

One of the core principles of our Innovate to Impact framework ... < Back Innovation in practice One of the core principles of our Innovate to Impact framework ... [ This article was originally published on Thoughtworks's Insights. You can see the original articles here . ] Making good on ideas Four phases of innovation One of the core principles of our Innovate to Impact framework is the notion that we’re creating something that adds new value to the business. And as we’ve seen, that value might be realized in new revenue streams, new customer services or internal efficiencies. As you move through the four-stage maturity model, the goal is to build out more impactful innovations. But as discussed, there’s little point in expecting the business to appreciate and support your efforts unless you can articulate the value derived. Validation and measurement are key. So the four stages of innovation throughout the Innovate to Impact framework can be summarized as: Ideate. Generate a backlog of ideas through voice of customers, crowdsourcing, hackathons, workshops. Your initial focus should be on quantity. Validate. Test your initial set of ideas against a defined set of parameters to understand the likely impact. Prioritize those with the biggest potential returns. Incubate. Build rapid prototypes, regularly showcase your work, co-create the product with your stakeholders to target value delivery Measure. How have you performed against expected targets? Measuring your impact. Let’s take a look at these phases in detail. Ideate The purpose here is to generate ideas. Every idea is welcome as long as it’s in keeping with the theme of the task. Whether something strikes you as a flash of genius or total clanger: park your judgement for now. You want to encourage your innovation team to become an ideation powerhouse. So gather up every idea coming your way. Some form of ideation workshop can be a great way to kickstart the process. Of course, not every idea has to be new. Your stakeholders are likely to already have their own ideas in mind, so you’ll want to ensure you involve them in the ideation process too. IT might also be necessary to do some for of discovery to identify what ideas are already out there. Another mechanism for encouraging the flow of ideas is by using the lens of the customers’ voice. What are their pain points or their needs? What are they telling you about potential opportunities to improve your offerings? Validate Here, your focus is validating your pool of ideas against predefined criteria to score ideas’ potential value. This helps us prioritize and identify which ideas bring the biggest impact. The validation process forms part of what I’ve dubbed the ‘ideas funnel’. Taking a set of ideas and narrowing it down through understanding which ones will offer you the most bang for your buck. When scoring, you may want to consider some of the following criteria: Commercial viability . Is the idea commercially marketable? Can it be showcased to, or used by, potential clients? Would this influence our clients or staff? Usability (Proof of value) . Is the idea usable in the current condition and within the existing context of your organization? Is it simple and intuitive to use by people? Is it easier to deploy and maintain? User adaptation . How easy would it be to get first 100/1000 etc. users to adopt this? Would they find it easy to get on board? How likely are they going to be repeat users? Strategy alignment . Is it aligned with the organizational strategy, vision and objectives? Does it help your organization achieve its goals? Feasibility . How feasible the idea is to qualify as incubator idea? Is it likely to result in a large programme of work? Can it be implemented in a definite period of time? What are the considerations for costs, efforts, team etc. needed to build this? Incubate Once you have validated your ideas, you’ll need to move fast to deliver a product or prototype. The incubate phase is based on high-touch engagement, high-speed decisions, intrapreneurship thinking and bringing a sense of urgency into the process so that we can meet the desired outcome with speed. To succeed here, your working team needs to be rapidly established. It should comprise of decision makers and people with domain expertise, so that they can collaborate with your incubator team. Their first task is to dive deeper into the problem at hand while developing a shared context within the working team so that they all coalesce around desired outcomes and possible measures of success. We advocate daily showcases to ensure everyone is aware of what’s coming up, how the solution is shaping up and what the early indicators suggest about chances of success. Changes is an integral part of incubation — you shouldn’t expect that you have the perfect solution from the get-go; but this iterative process should help you stay on track to meet your goals. Measure In some ways, measurements should take place at every stage of this incubation process. It’s essential to ensure you’re on the right track. But if you’re looking to create sustainable innovation within your enterprise, measurement comes into its own once you’re first solution is finished and you’re building a pipeline of ideas. You might start by measuring what I’d describe as targeted innovation. Make qualitative assessments on your impact on the business — as well as their perception of the incubator team. This enables you to track your overall success as an innovation engine. But you’ll also want to keep tabs on things at the initiative level. Can you show that your initiatives have saved money, time or effort? Have new market opportunities opened up? Has your organizational decision making improved? Can you demonstrate a return on investment? Ultimately, your success as an innovation team will depend on the number of ideas that you’ve turned into long-term products. So you should plan to track this from the outset.  Always learn, always The path towards sustainable innovation isn’t about producing the perfect solution. What matters is continuously measuring the impact of your actions and learning from that. As the diagram above shows, what this means in practice continually revisiting your backlog of ideas. Things that may once have seemed impractical might now look urgent. Likewise, if some ideas haven’t produced the anticipated results, can you identify why not and plot a course to success? By constantly challenging yourself and your incubator team you won’t just come up with one quick win, but a sustainable program of improvements over the long term. In Part Four of this series, we’ll take a look at how all these ideas have played out in practice. Previous Next

The LEAN framework originates from the manufacturing system developed by Toyota called Toyota Production System ... < Back Be LEAN .. this year! The LEAN framework originates from the manufacturing system developed by Toyota called Toyota Production System ... The LEAN framework originates from the manufacturing system developed by Toyota called Toyota Production System [TPS] that pursues the principle of optimum streamlining throughout the entire system through the thorough elimination of waste and aims to build quality in at the manufacturing process while recognizing the principle of [ongoing] cost reduction. It also includes all the accompanying technology & tools necessary to accomplish those aims. [Reference .. here ] The process that Toyota developed for Just-in-time production was called TPS until 1990. MIT researchers tossed the term LEAN in their 1990 book called “The Machine that Changed the World” to describe the principles of Toyota Production System. Thereafter, of course, the process was known to the world as LEAN Service Framework . In a nutshell, LEAN is an integrated system of principles, work practices & processes that empowers the operational users to drive the relentless pursuit of perfect customer value creation. Although LEAN was innovated and started in the manufacturing industry and especially at Toyota, it, over the years grown out of the manufacturing industry and into other verticals, not to mention the IT/BPO industry. LEAN underpins 5 principles in the framework as follows, Eliminate Waste – As per the LEAN principles, the waste could be due to the idle time spent by the employees waiting for work, or spending extra hours to exceed customer expectations (without customer asking for it), excessive testing etc., activities and all such activities that do not add add direct value to the customers. Eliminate Variability – This talks more about complexity of the work within the team. LEAN suggests eliminating the variability of work done by the employees so that activities & individual performances are streamlined to carry out typical activities. This also talks about the external work that comes within such as ticket trend, business requirements etc., and suggests to streamline. Eliminate Inflexibility – This suggest more about the resources capacity and the work segmentation and align the efforts and create skill pools so as to better utilize the knowledge, performance & work practices against repetitive / common tasks. Performance Management – LEAN suggests to compute the performance of the individuals as well as the team and making the results publish to the individuals / teams and discuss with them on a regular basis. LEAN recommends that regular performance discussions enhances the team morale, gives them goal to enhance performances etc., Involvement of workers – LEAN, more than a process is more of a philosophy and change in the thinking of the workforce and suggest to have the workforce participate and understand these principles so they themselves are aware of the waste being created around they can eliminate themselves. Many IT companies have implemented LEAN successfully. IBM has been doing the LEAN implementation for the customers since last 3+ years. Over the years, being LEAN organization has been a selling point for the IT vendors and equally the customers have been demanding. The benefits of LEAN include reduce waste, reduction of inventory costs, cross trained employees, reduced cycle time & obsolescence, high quality & reliability and may more. This, of course was a drop in the ocean of the knowledge of the LEAN framework, even for me. If you are interested in knowing more and reading more, suggesting the following reading Principles of LEAN Thinking Lean Manufacturing & Lean Software Development What is LEAN? Benefits of LEAN LEAN – The Machine that changed the world ! Previous Next

Sudeepa is an amazing photographer, likes to travel, has a great attention to detail and is an extremely hardworking individual. She works as the Techops Head of Finance with Thoughtworks. Women leadership series - In conversation with Sudeepa Ghosh Majumdar 7 Mar 2022 Sudeepa is an amazing photographer, likes to travel, has a great attention to detail and is an extremely hardworking individual. She works as the Techops Head of Finance with Thoughtworks. How would you introduce yourself? I am a Finance Professional with diverse experience in Controllership, Business Finance, Procurement, Revenue Compliance, Financial Planning Analysis and Asset Management software delivery over a period of 16 years. I feel I am in pursuit of challenges to keep learning. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? I started my career with IBM and then worked with ITC before moving with HP for a period of 7 years across various roles in country and region which help me understand the dynamics of a well oiled organization with process and policies. Joined TW back in 2014 as I wanted to apply my learnings to a growing organization. My leadership journey started in Thoughtworks as I navigated my own through limited processes and policies to a Public Company. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? One of my learnings has been that as Finance professionals we struggle to tell the story behind the numbers and make it presentable in a way that helps drive decision making by business leaders. How to present the technical information to business teams has been challenging and it’s a constant learning process. Over the period I have realized that understanding the Business basics is very critical for Financial story telling, If you don’t understand the business- the numbers themselves will not make any sense. Playing the role of a Product Owner to understand software delivery has played a crucial role in understanding the intricacies of the business and eventually helped me model financials in a way to invoke discussion and thoughts among the business leaders and also play the role of trusted advisor to business leaders. What motivates you? New challenges and learnings always motivates me. I am not afraid of going into a situation where I have no clue as that is the biggest opportunity to maximize learnings. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? My mother is one of my biggest role model. I saw her studying along with working and managing kids and family. It showed me at early age that if you are determined , disciplined ,have a passion and with planning and support- one can achieve anything in life. In my professional work I have come across some amazing leaders and peers – from whom I am always learning. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership to me means the ability to lead, influence and guide the business leaders with help of financial insights for decision making . For me leadership is also the way of building a strong autonomous team who are on a learning journey and able to grow. What would be your advice to young leaders? Embrace the unknown and always challenge yourself to learn new things. Build a strong diverse team which works on each other strengths and complement each other . A leader is indeed as good as his/her/their team. And lastly in all the crazy madness – always breathe – find something outside work which you are passionate about – which helps you to unwind .

Ganesh is a product manager of NEO with @thoughtworks. He considers his 14 yrs daughter as his role model and he proudly acknowledges she inspires him with her dedication, determination, firm decision making, and clarity of thoughts. Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Ganesh Kumar Balusamy 28 Jan 2023 Ganesh is a product manager of NEO with @thoughtworks. He considers his 14 yrs daughter as his role model and he proudly acknowledges she inspires him with her dedication, determination, firm decision making, and clarity of thoughts. How would you introduce yourself? My name is Ganesh Kumar (GK), and I work for the TechOps Digital Platforms team at /thoughtworks as a product manager. Having 16 years of professional background with a focus on analysis, product and delivery. Setting the right product strategy, leading the team with the right intent and goal, discovering the right problem by consulting with users and stakeholders, facilitating and identifying the right solution, testing and validating the identified solution, and delivering it as committed along with the team are all part of my day to day activities. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? I started my career with PTG (@Ebix) as a sales executive to sell CRM softwares to financial analysts all over India. Fortunately, I got a chance to transition into the role of Business Analyst for the same cloud product. With the foundation of four years in my first job, I moved to BNY Mellon to automate the Anti Money Laundering manual processes. After working for BNY Mellon for one and half year, I moved to Exterro, a leading e-discovery software product company, where I worked to define, re-define, enhance digital workflows. Additionally, it provided an opportunity to lead and learn the qualities that make an effective leader. I joined Harman as a programme manager after gaining significant expertise as a business analyst in product companies. This was my first exposure to the service company and I worked with numerous clients across different domains. This gave me the confidence to be agile by nature, deliver as a team, and be domain agnostic. Joined /thoughtworks back in mid 2018 to learn and grow in product and digital platforms. The journey of learning is still continuing (my first company where I stayed for more than 4 years). People around me and my leaders motivated me to take initiative, trusted in my approach and inspired with their actions which takes me to the leadership role. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? When I was put in an ambiguous scenario, I became nervous, but the revelation that it was OK not to know everything and the desire to quickly learn in those areas transformed my perspective on unknown areas. Even if I had solid conviction on certain topics, it was difficult for me to explain and persuade others. A detailed research, sufficient data points to support the issue, and assistance from the available support system enabled me to handle the criticism and communicate confidently. What motivates you everyday? An appreciation, a sense of accomplishment, when I make a positive change in the lives of others (however tiny), or a heartfelt greeting motivates me to run for the day. And, the little things I do for myself, and having my own ME time. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? Positive people around me always inspire me, and I admire them in various aspects. In my first job as a sales executive, I was good at prospecting, contacting, and offering, but I was not able to close the sales calls. Mr.Elango was my senior, and he went out of his way to help and protect me until I could close the calls on my own. Still, I remember his virtues in the manner he motivated and guided me in the beginning of my profession. When I first started working as a Business Analyst, Karina Shimomaebara was my first product manager. She taught me to be patient with my teammates and coworkers. She took an extra step to understand my personal side, hardships I was facing, and extended her help even beyond her limit. Many more people along with my professional life, now my 14 year daughter has recently been a role model for me. Her dedication, determination, firm decision making, and clarity of thought taught me what I had been missing out on all these days, and what I needed to focus on in my life. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? In my school days, I was the least favorite student to most of my teachers, until I met my physics teacher in my 12th grade. For him, all students are equal irrespective of how attentive in his class, or how much you score in his subject, but he does his duty every day day in day out. When I scored 17% on his subject on the first exam, he extended his help to guide me along with some of my classmates who scored less. He identified where I am lagging behind and taught me every chapter in detail in the extra classes. With his guidance and extra care I scored 94% in my final exam. That made Physics my favorite subject. I see my Physics teacher as a great leader. I see good leaders around who are “good mentors” and “Impartial” and I am striving to emulate them. After a small setback in my communication with my clients, my leader in Thoughtworks said “Ganesh, I trust you.”. This was when I joined his team, and that was the first time a leader said he trusts me. I respect his confidence and the way he still stands by his words to this day. My fear of failure might have stuck with me, if I didn’t hear this from him. That tells me “Trust” and “Trustworthy” are needed to be a good leader. I believe that I am following it too. What would be your advice to other leaders? Don't wait for others to name you as a leader; believe that you are already a leader of someone or something. Humility may always help you develop as a leader. Be patient, actively listen to others, set a good example by doing the same, and be open to feedback. Furthermore, continue your passion, and do what interests you.

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