See this popular video on driving in India http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM&NR=1&feature=fvwp
Looks chaotic - no signals , no traffic policeman or even a roundabout - but yet the movement is multi directional and goes on . Wonder how it happens ?
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The Facade of Jugaad
'Jugaad' has become a buzzword to indicate an Indian way of providing solutions .Management academics, the media and journalists now use it often with the Economist publishing an article on it .
For those new to it ,Jugaad (a Hindi word) simply means an improvised quick fix arising from ingenuity, just-in-time solutions , typically in a resource-starved situation and sometimes by bending rules or breaking the law . Essentially they are solutions for the short term and does not solve the problem permanently.
Innumerable articles and comments have been come out both in favour and against this 'Indian' trait . Some endorse it wholeheartedly as a method which is producing results while others have not taken it seriously treating it as the next new fad or as a hype .
How have Indians acquired this trait ?
Jugaad looks at quick fix solutions . First , Indians have become habituated to work in the short term and taking short cuts . This is often at the expense of other people or a permanent solution. This means that the problem could re-occur in which case you use the same Jugaad to re-fix the solution rather than looking for the root cause and solving it . One reason why people take to it is that a short term solution is easier to implement keeping in mind resource requirement , planning and getting approvals from higher-ups.
In general , Indians have been used to results , products or services which probably do not meet the expected quality. Often ,one is expected to adjust to these imperfections and get along . Of course , there are exceptions but these are fewer when compared to the majority .
Bureaucracy, complicated / impractical rules and an slow or unworkable legal system have only legitimized taking short cuts and it is little wonder that Jugaad thrived in it .Those who knew how to apply it were very successful and others emulated them .
The Jugaad mindset
Though 'Jugaad ' has a negative connotation can such a mindset be useful ? It can be - particularly in crisis situations . But we must understand that the outputs may not be of the best quality and the solution may not be sustainable in the long run .
The problem is that often 'jugaad' is being misinterpreted as a substitute for a systems approach and planning . Just because it ends up producing novel products or results it is confused with organized innovation .
Jugaad and Innovation
Jugaad is sometimes being used as term to denote the process for low-cost innovation or 'out of the box 'solutions . Consider these examples
General Electric - a hand held ECG which has reduced the cost to less than $1 per patient.
Tata Chemicals - a water filter based on rice husk - initial investment $24
There are many other examples quoted in the Economist including Tata's Nano car . These comparisons with Jugaad are misplaced and to do so will be belittling the planned effort that gone into these ventures . Some in India and also the west have simply found it convenient to romanticize the method and christening as then next new find from India .
From a manager's viewpoint , Jugaad can be considered a kind of 'workaround' . A workaround denotes the methods followed when events occur which has not been planned for - because of improper planning or are difficult to do so because outcomes are uncertain . Jugaad can never be a substitute for planning.
It is time to call a spade a spade . Let us relegate Jugaad to the rightful place where it belongs and not treat it as a panacea for all management problems . Surely , the Jugaad mindset is useful - in crisis management , during execution to take corrective action and in workarounds to solve problems . But , to equate it to organized innovation ,systems approach or planning will be a gross mistake .
Notes :
1 . First break all the rules- The charms of frugal innovation Apr 15th 2010 From The Economist print edition
2. Why praise jugaad? It's bleeding us by Swapan Dasgupta 29 Aug 2010
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/right-and-wrong/entry/why-praise-jugaad-it-s
For those new to it ,Jugaad (a Hindi word) simply means an improvised quick fix arising from ingenuity, just-in-time solutions , typically in a resource-starved situation and sometimes by bending rules or breaking the law . Essentially they are solutions for the short term and does not solve the problem permanently.
Innumerable articles and comments have been come out both in favour and against this 'Indian' trait . Some endorse it wholeheartedly as a method which is producing results while others have not taken it seriously treating it as the next new fad or as a hype .
How have Indians acquired this trait ?
Jugaad looks at quick fix solutions . First , Indians have become habituated to work in the short term and taking short cuts . This is often at the expense of other people or a permanent solution. This means that the problem could re-occur in which case you use the same Jugaad to re-fix the solution rather than looking for the root cause and solving it . One reason why people take to it is that a short term solution is easier to implement keeping in mind resource requirement , planning and getting approvals from higher-ups.
In general , Indians have been used to results , products or services which probably do not meet the expected quality. Often ,one is expected to adjust to these imperfections and get along . Of course , there are exceptions but these are fewer when compared to the majority .
Bureaucracy, complicated / impractical rules and an slow or unworkable legal system have only legitimized taking short cuts and it is little wonder that Jugaad thrived in it .Those who knew how to apply it were very successful and others emulated them .
The Jugaad mindset
Though 'Jugaad ' has a negative connotation can such a mindset be useful ? It can be - particularly in crisis situations . But we must understand that the outputs may not be of the best quality and the solution may not be sustainable in the long run .
The problem is that often 'jugaad' is being misinterpreted as a substitute for a systems approach and planning . Just because it ends up producing novel products or results it is confused with organized innovation .
Jugaad and Innovation
Jugaad is sometimes being used as term to denote the process for low-cost innovation or 'out of the box 'solutions . Consider these examples
General Electric - a hand held ECG which has reduced the cost to less than $1 per patient.
Tata Chemicals - a water filter based on rice husk - initial investment $24
There are many other examples quoted in the Economist including Tata's Nano car . These comparisons with Jugaad are misplaced and to do so will be belittling the planned effort that gone into these ventures . Some in India and also the west have simply found it convenient to romanticize the method and christening as then next new find from India .
From a manager's viewpoint , Jugaad can be considered a kind of 'workaround' . A workaround denotes the methods followed when events occur which has not been planned for - because of improper planning or are difficult to do so because outcomes are uncertain . Jugaad can never be a substitute for planning.
It is time to call a spade a spade . Let us relegate Jugaad to the rightful place where it belongs and not treat it as a panacea for all management problems . Surely , the Jugaad mindset is useful - in crisis management , during execution to take corrective action and in workarounds to solve problems . But , to equate it to organized innovation ,systems approach or planning will be a gross mistake .
Notes :
1 . First break all the rules- The charms of frugal innovation Apr 15th 2010 From The Economist print edition
2. Why praise jugaad? It's bleeding us by Swapan Dasgupta 29 Aug 2010
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/right-and-wrong/entry/why-praise-jugaad-it-s
Saturday, October 16, 2010
India Circa 1 AD
Are you surprised to know that India was the largest contributor to the GDP of the world in the year 1 AD ? - At least I was when I first read about it in an article. Not only that , upto about another 500 years , the subcontinent was at its zenith with regard to science ,technology , art and literature .
Let us go through a bit of history to understand the context . According to the calculations by Angus Maddison, from the beginning of the common era until the early 19th century, China and India accounted for around half of the global GDP. Starting from 4th and 3rd centuries BCE almost all of the subcontinent was part of the Maurya Empire . Much later northern and central India was united in the 4th century CE, and remained so for two centuries under the Gupta Empire which is called the Golden Age of India . During the same time, and for several centuries afterwards, southern India, under the rule of the Chalukyas, Cholas, Pallavas, and Pandyas, experienced its own golden age.
The high points of this period In India were considerable cultural creativity with magnificent architectures, sculptures and paintings. The Gupta period produced scholars such as Kalidasa, Aryabhata and Vatsyayana .Science and political administration reached new heights .Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural center and set the region up as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in Burma, Sri Lanka, Malay Archipelago and Indochina. The earliest available Puranas are also thought to have been written around this period.
For much of this period, China and India were independent countries and technological leaders.Until around 1450, China and India were technologically more innovative and advanced than Europe. Both the countries were very well knit with the rest of the globe .
So what went wrong ? Why did both economies go downhill between the early 18th century and the late 20th century ? Firstly , western technology was a factor . Once the industrial revolution came along, followed by the information revolution, mere size mattered less. First the Europeans, then the Americans leveraged technology to blow out GDP on a per capita basis. Steam engine, internal combustion engine, silicon made up for size. is the rise of Western technology at about the same time. It was for the same reason till about 200 years ago India and China could leverage their huge population and numbers determined output .
Secondly , both India and China were victims of colonialism? After 200 years of foreign rule, Indians were so afraid of neo-colonialism, that they kept their country closed to foreign trade for another four decades. However, it is to be remembered Western technology could only flourish because colonies provided cheap raw materials and labour and huge free markets (that were controlled by the West's millitary-industrial complex) Same for China, who kept China closed for three decades (since the end of Japanese occupation)
Friday, October 15, 2010
CWG New Delhi 2010 - was it a success?
All over - newspapers ,media and of course the officials are all raving about the 'success' of the CWG . Just 2 weeks ago they were all at it with daggers .What changed ? Actually , nothing ! The real problem is most people have no clue on how to define success , neither do they know what is required to make the games successful .
Let us start from first principles - in order to define success - what were the games expected to deliver ? What was the job of the Organizing committee along with the host govt with the support of the Intl federation ?
On all the above 3 areas - the only area which could be considered successful is the entertainment - Thankfully this was handled by professionals - who had history of conducting such events for the movie world and so it worked well.
What went wrong with the first and second category? they were not given to professionals - an event of this magnitude cannot be handled by bureaucrats and politicians ( more so with so much of opportunities for corruption ) .
Sadly project management took a back seat - obviously with vcry little processes in place . Instead of having professionals do the job - - it was mistakenly thought it we could pull it off by routine management .
There is no sense in falsely patting ourselves for our extraordinary ability to handle crisis and making 'jugaad' a practice for everything . At what cost , stress and quality ?(not to leave out bad publicity )
Let us start from first principles - in order to define success - what were the games expected to deliver ? What was the job of the Organizing committee along with the host govt with the support of the Intl federation ?
- First - to set up best in class facilities for conducting international level events in sports .
- Second - to provide comfort and ease for participants and spectators
- Third - to provide some amount of entertainment especially visitors to the host country .
On all the above 3 areas - the only area which could be considered successful is the entertainment - Thankfully this was handled by professionals - who had history of conducting such events for the movie world and so it worked well.
What went wrong with the first and second category? they were not given to professionals - an event of this magnitude cannot be handled by bureaucrats and politicians ( more so with so much of opportunities for corruption ) .
Sadly project management took a back seat - obviously with vcry little processes in place . Instead of having professionals do the job - - it was mistakenly thought it we could pull it off by routine management .
There is no sense in falsely patting ourselves for our extraordinary ability to handle crisis and making 'jugaad' a practice for everything . At what cost , stress and quality ?(not to leave out bad publicity )
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