Coke Studio Season 9 - Afreen Afreen - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

Coke Studio never fails to Amaze me..

This one with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is a few levels above AMAZING!!!

 

Listen to it and Thank me Later :-)

Innovation Sometimes Wind and Sometimes Rain…

    The blog title could be easily mis constituted that I’m talking about the amazing Pune weather. The Pune weather which is playing hide and seek with us with sweltering heat on one side and sweet rains on another, and really is the talk of the town now and is unpredictable as ever…

However, what I want to highlight via the blog title is that, this Children's Song written by Ford Madox Ford, way back in 1890s; still holds true for our Innovations even today.

Sometimes wind and sometimes rain,
the sun comes back again;
Sometimes rain and sometimes snow,
Goodness, how we'd like to know
why the Innovations alters so. 

As you would have seen the bold change in the last line, just like the weather the phases of our Innovations move from sunlight to rain in a sort of cyclic fashion.  

We are never at a peak in innovation. We try, we succeed... we fail... But we Never give up.

This is the gist of the whole story... To keep going... Giving our Best and leave the result to Him. As Simon Riggs always says Success is 99% Persistence. So we must persist and perspire but never Give up         

Whilst the changes, keep us occupied and drains our energy. If we look at it from a distance and unbiased view; we see a pattern wherein it helps us keep our sanity.

How is that?

Instead of rains and winds i.e. heavy pressure failures all along, we have sunny days in between to give us a much needed success. The success is needed to not just reenergize, but to sit back and introspect if we are going in the right direction.

I’m sure you all feel these changes, the most. If not, do reply and let us know your feelings too…

Would conclude by minor variation in the last stanza of same Ford Madox Ford’s song:

So, sometimes wind and sometimes rain,
then the sun comes back again;
sometimes rain and sometimes snow,
Goodness, how we'd like to know
If Innovations will always alter so.

 

Innovation and Six Sigma Journey was never such fun

 

I’m sure you would have read and liked my 1st blog in the series called “Process Inefficiency and Work Innovations”. This Blog is taking it to the next step to implement and act on process we found inefficient. And in the process having a lot of fun too.

Interested? Read On...

              Jack Welch once said: “The big myth is that Six Sigma is about quality control and statistics. It is that—but it’s a helluva lot more. At Six Sigma’s core is an idea that can turn a company inside out, focusing the organization outward on the customer.”

I have completed my Six Sigma Black Belt process improvement project, and contrary to the generic perception, it’s a lot of fun.

The journey started like a ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream' in May, three years ago when we had the 2nd batch of Six Sigma training. The training highly instigated my engineering genes as we as engineers have a natural inclination for Statistics. The next step was selection of a project for process improvement. It was surprising to find that so many of processes are not yet base lined (i.e. we do not know the average time taken for the activities).  So I selected 2 processes that were a pain point due to their inefficiency.

What follows after initial Innovation is action, the DMAIC rigor of Six Sigma which led to Statistical Analysis, Process Analysis, Brain storming and Solution implementation. DMAIC are 5 steps of Six Sigma being Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control.

In both Projects the DMAIC efforts crystallized together and the rigor worked as it should; leading to timeline gains. The outcome was the reduction in handling time of critical Items and risk reduction for the project. Since we need 2 projects for Black Belt, the 2nd project got me the Black Belt completion of the program.

Innovation is not a one time activity but a journey. I urge you people to identify an inefficient process and go for the Six Sigma approach to fix it. Rest assured that not only is it a professionally enriching experience; it’s a lot of fun too J

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Sudha Murthy and her 14 Beautiful Quotes

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Process Inefficiency and Work Innovations

       There has been many theories of how innovation can be brought about in the work place. An ideal innovation loving culture like Facebook or Google is often showed as an example. Of course a conductive, incubation like environment to think and innovate is an ideal case scenario. And we as Amdocs have taken a step in the right direction with Innovation labs and separate areas and competitions to facilitate the same.
       However, I feel the most Innovations comes from processes that are inefficient. Let’s take the basic example, Why was wheel invented? The person who got tired of carrying his wares by himself or on a sledge, felt it was grossly inefficient and he needed a better way to carry his ware.
       Professor John Atanasoff, who built the world’s first electronic digital computer, way back in the late 1930’s was asked  Why did he do this?
He said, “I was too inefficient to calculate and so I invented the computer.”
         So much is the power of inefficiency that I personally would not mind spending 2 hours refining a process that will help me do a 30 minutes task in 15 minutes next time I do it. Of course it has to do to a large extent with my Six Sigma Black Belt DNA too.
         I distinctly remembered being asked to write a set of rules when I joined the new team. A task of 5 days needed tedious replication of work and repetition of steps. My manager was amazed when I completed it in 3 days. The way was to automate the repetition and using http://www.shortkeys.com/ tool for replication and error reduction. The gist being, there is always a need for work innovation in case of process inefficiencies.
         Many people would classify the task improvement as shortcuts. Let me tell you from firsthand experience that, the process of simplifying task takes a lot of effort. However once you develop a new innovation, you get to leverage it over and over again. So in the long run, you are ahead of the curve.
        Leverage here is the key word. Innovation often involves the creation of something that results in exponential returns.  The development of the computer by Professor John Atanasoff certainly did this. So did my two Six Sigma process improvements which stream lined and removed inefficiency and in turn saved considerable money.
         So when you see inefficiency, do you grump over it or run away? Or Do you take it head on and improvise and innovate to make a better work environment? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Instant gratification and Innovation

     How many times have we left an idea mid-way because we did not see a result? How close were we to give up when we made a major breakthrough? In the current super-fast life of connected world we want everything now!!! This Instant gratification is the biggest killer of Innovation. How does it Impact? Read On…

     Innovation has two main parts, the ideation and the implementation and both cannot be done in a hurry. Any rush through either of the process has negative impact not only on the idea at hand but also on the long term final product.

    The ideation phase by design needs freedom of time expression and to fail. The ideas being generated and brain-stormed are to a large extent prone to multiple revisions. Most ideas are built upon the initial idea which were outright rejected. It is this refinement and improvisation that makes innovation so much appealing.

    The next step of implementation is just as crucial and time consuming. Being a new product, service or idea which is never implemented, its best to have an Agile approach of trial and error, till we reach a final agreeable product. This prototyping approach also helps us only saves money by allows us to discard unnecessary features. Also on the way, we might stumble upon a killer-app too.

    As is quite apparent from the above two items that no condition does the fast forward of the final solution help, so what is the solution?

   We can resist the urges in 3 steps

• Delay the urge to expedite
• Consciously decide not to give in to fast-forward
• Enjoy the decision and do not fret/guilt over it.

  I’m sure with these 3 steps you’ll be able to get over whatever difficulties for expedite you face.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy the Innovation journey to the fullest.

And do not forget to Deliver on Time!!! 

 

 

 

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