If you have been to Noida lately, you cannot miss the constant buzz of hectic development activity. The industrial town of yore is fast changing into swanky business offices district, as the old factories are being torn down to be replaced with modern office building with imposing glass elevations.
Day before yesterday, as I looked out of my first floor office window, I saw a team of construction workers working in unison carting the bricks. Forming a perfect human chain, the first guy would stack the bricks neatly on a wooden plank, the second guy would hoist the stack on a waiting courier’s head, and a new empty plank would be presented to be filled up with the stack of bricks. The couriers seemed to follow the just-in-time methodology to perfection, and there was always one guy present to take over the stack to be carried. Just as I was observing the whole scenario, marvelling at the use of so many management philosophies in a seemingly low end work, the “hoister” made a mistake and the stack came tumbling down – and the entire chain got broken resulting in a chaos for remainder of the task.
We often underestimate the concept of teamwork in our daily project work. Every project – be it transferring the bricks or designing a new public facing portal – is ultimately successful or unsuccessful based on efficacy, synchronisation and skills of the team executing the project. Any smallest component going out of sync is capable of sending the entire project execution into a disarray, as it happened that afternoon outside my office building.
Every individual in the team has to play their part, and play it to perfection with clockwork accuracy for a project to succeed. The swanky buildings that you see in Noida, were built brick by brick, and so was any successful IT product that you see around you. Each brick is important, and each brick plays it role. In isolation it is just a brick, but together as a team, it creates marvels of modern human civilization.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The beginning
As we go about setting up Niche n Agile’s new off-shore development facility at Noida, and the core technical team for one of our marquee clients in the UK, the last couple of months have been a blur of activities and there has always been more to do than what can be crammed in a day’s schedule.
The process has been exhilarating and, as can be expected, a roller coaster ride of highs and lows, triumphs and failures. The most interesting aspect has been dealing with people. From the youthful exuberance of a yet unmarried, happy go lucky, still living his college years, kind of candidates – to seasoned professionals, married with kids, trying to get the right combination of career and money – the journey has brought me in direct contact with people with varied contrasting personalities. The study of these contrarians is a learning by itself, in fact an ongoing learning process, and memories of these interactions will enrich my professional career for long.
The most common questions have been about clients, projects, locations, company, technology and of course, money. Very few people have taken their game to a higher level and really asked the question “What can Niche n Agile offer to me, which my current job cannot?” or “How can my experience add value to the Niche n Agile team?” or “Are my career objectives aligned with company’s values?”. It is important that when changing a job, we look for answers to these questions first. Money...projects… success will always follow, but what is more important is that one should be in a job which enriches the career of the individual - rather than getting stuck in a stupid job for more money.
Our collective aim at Niche n Agile is to create an organization which is higher up on the value chain. We strive to be a living, breathing company, where the leaders set an example by living the organizational values themselves – in their daily routines. Our team hence will be an extension of our organizational values and set us on the right path to realise our cherished goal of being THE best at what we do.
We continue to remain in a relentless pursuit of finding team mates who are better than the rest and would like to align themselves with Niche n Agile for the growth prospects it offers, and values that it believes in.
The process has been exhilarating and, as can be expected, a roller coaster ride of highs and lows, triumphs and failures. The most interesting aspect has been dealing with people. From the youthful exuberance of a yet unmarried, happy go lucky, still living his college years, kind of candidates – to seasoned professionals, married with kids, trying to get the right combination of career and money – the journey has brought me in direct contact with people with varied contrasting personalities. The study of these contrarians is a learning by itself, in fact an ongoing learning process, and memories of these interactions will enrich my professional career for long.
The most common questions have been about clients, projects, locations, company, technology and of course, money. Very few people have taken their game to a higher level and really asked the question “What can Niche n Agile offer to me, which my current job cannot?” or “How can my experience add value to the Niche n Agile team?” or “Are my career objectives aligned with company’s values?”. It is important that when changing a job, we look for answers to these questions first. Money...projects… success will always follow, but what is more important is that one should be in a job which enriches the career of the individual - rather than getting stuck in a stupid job for more money.
Our collective aim at Niche n Agile is to create an organization which is higher up on the value chain. We strive to be a living, breathing company, where the leaders set an example by living the organizational values themselves – in their daily routines. Our team hence will be an extension of our organizational values and set us on the right path to realise our cherished goal of being THE best at what we do.
We continue to remain in a relentless pursuit of finding team mates who are better than the rest and would like to align themselves with Niche n Agile for the growth prospects it offers, and values that it believes in.
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