A new tool in Project Management: S.H.I.T.

Though I am not associated with management, not even remotely connected to it ... still take this opportunity of bringing something to the light. Recently there was a new jargon discovered ... S.H.I.T. (no offences)

Now you would have heard of models like PERT/CPM and JIT, popular jargons among management scholars ...
PERT - Programme Evaluation and Review Technique
CPM - Critical Path Method
JIT - Just In Time

 You know we Indians have created another such word ... S.H.I.T.
SHIT - Some How In Time

It's not rocket science that you cannot understand, what I am talking about. CWG games, what else !!!

CWG THEME SONG !!!

Have you heard the CWG theme song? Music composed by A.R.Rahman. Now people have been blabbering about how he was paid Rs. 5 Crores, for this song and that the song is not worth the money he charged. I am not able to understand that whether these allegations are just because the CWG organization is in soup or whether actually there is some truth in those allegations. Personally speaking, the song is good, if not outstanding, but certainly not bad, as many people are indicating. Seems like people's liking depends upon the media frenzy surrounding.

What have we done to our IITs???

Don't be surprised, as I am again writing about almost the same topic, which I already have written about. I was surfing net today, when a news item caught my attention. To follow the news, click here. This news item has been titled "India out of global best campus list". Just to tell you the summary of it, in case you do not want to waste your precious time reading the news, as I have already read, this year's QS World University Rankings, 2010, has been published in London. Among Asian countries, Japan has 10 universities in the top 200; China and Korea have six and five respectively. India has one - IIT Bombay at No. 187, down from No. 163 in 2009. Now thats food for thought. Something wrong is happening. Now we people have a ridiculous habit of forming our own ranking systems, whenever globally our efforts are disrespected. Read on the article and you will find some excuses attributed to the reason as to why Indian universities don't figure in the top 200 universities in the world. Instead of analyzing the cause/causes, we have a brilliant plan. The UGC is all set to roll out its own rankings, I wonder the top slots will all be taken up by IITs, isn't that hard to foresee!!! While there is some good news too. Our honourable HRD Minister is leaving no stone unturned to revamp the Indian Education system. At least now Rancho (of 3 Idiots fame), will be happy, that someone in India, knows "ki padhate kaise hain" and will also be happy about the new grading system. Finally all boils down to just one thing, IITs are not doing what they are meant to do ... at least seems like this is true!!!

Multiplexes, breaking rules !!!

I hope most of us have visited a multiplex one time or the other. At least, I do, every weekend. Recently I went to watch an action movie with an "A" rating. To my surprise, I watched the movie, with a 10 year old kid, sitting next to me. Now "A" certification is given to a movie, if the movie contains stuff not suitable for viewing for kids and anyone below 18 years of age, as per rules in India. A movie having lot of blood shed, is also issued an "A" certificate. Here's my question - How many multiplexes actually follow  this rule of not admitting any person below 18 years of age, to a movie screening, with an A certificate? I thought that at least multiplexes, would be rigorously following all rules and regulations. A gross violation of rules, by most of the multiplexes, at least in Hyderabad. Seems like multiplexes have no respect for the Censor Board !!!

CWG: What the heck !!!

A couple of days back I was reading newspaper, when I came across an article written by Chetan Bhagat. Chetan Bhagat ... who??? He is the same guy, who wrote 5 Point Someone, One Night @ Call Centre, The 3 Mistakes of my Life and  Two States.  Remember him?

He wrote a quarter page column on why to boycott the upcoming Common Wealth Games. And actually I tend to agree to his arguments. He says that why should we forget about corrupt officers, corrupt politicians and corrupt bureaucrats, and support these CWG, just because its the matter of our nation's pride. I would also say that let's boycott these games. Who gives a damn about Common Wealth Group. Don't you think it has lost all its relevance in the recent times. If we keep for a minute our nation's pride, aside, and critically examine why I am asking to boycott these games, I will make sense to you (I presume). A lot of people, from the vendors, the organizers, the bureaucrats and obviously our innocent politicians, have made fun of these games and have made lot of money. Someone aptly named these games as  Corruption Wealth Games. This is our chance of asking the government to nab the culprits, whatever be his/her stature in the government, outside the government. If we think that just for the sake of our nation's pride we should support these games, and make it a grand success, then whom are we fooling. Once the games are declared successful (which they will surely be declared after their completion), no one is going to remember the huge amount of money misappropriated/ eaten away by non-deserving people. Ironically, the very set of people involved in large scale corruption, may also get pats on their back, for a successful show. And yet again, taxpayers money will change hands to  elite class people, with 100 % tax exemption. Talking of Our nation's pride, what great picture have we put up to the rest of the world, that we are now concerned about our nation's pride??? Worth thinking .. isn't it???

3 IDIOTS ... food for thought

No need to tell that 3 IDIOTS is an awesome movie ...

But it gives us an opportunity to think that is there something terribly wrong with Indian Education System?

After watching the movie 5 times in theatre (no its not that I couldn't understand it in the previous 4 attempts, its just that I liked the movie so much), I tried to ask myself the same question, what the movie posed.

1. Whether I wanted to become an Engineer or my parents pushed me towards this?

2. Whether I like the work I do as an Engineer?

Fortunately, I didn't know till 10th standard that I would like to become an Engineer. And most importantly my parents never forced me to become one. They just wanted me to study well and decide upon my future, that's it. I would like to thank my then school friends, who told me what to do of my grim future at that point of time. So can't really say that Engineering was my passion. Secondly, anyone who has a good aptitude and an understanding of Physics can be an Engineer. So the question that whether you like Engineering, boils down to whether you can understand it. In this respect, yes I fully love my work as an Engineer .... Now whatever, that might mean to you !!!

Wherever I go, students get enroll in an Engineering college, the completion upon which invariably go to a management college, later on to work in some financing firm or as an entrepreneur ... the list is endless. The point is, do we really need so many managers, marketing executives, finance experts ... etc AT THE COST OF ENGINEERS. I really can't appreciate people doing there engineering and finally ending up in a banking firm after doing a postgraduation in business administration. One of my bosses told it to me that in the future there will be a dearth of technical experts in our country. Why afterall does a mechanical engineer, for instance, does an MBA and ends up doing a job in a bank? Well, the reason that I can understand (many people doing MBA will not agree to this) is that doing an MBA will fetch much more money and an astonishing lifestyle than that doing an MS or an MTech. Moreover I have seen many engineers taking CAT because they feel that if one of their classmates who was considered to be a duffer in studies can crack CAT, why can't they? Whatever be the reason, there is a very small proportion of people (engineers) who have a passion for management.

Still not able to understand what I wanted to convey??? Then you better watch 3 IDIOTS once again, on my request !!!

IITs ... launchpad to IIMs !!!

I have been thinking about writing on this topic for quite sometime ... but neither had the courage nor the time to start it up. So here I am, with yet another question -
IITs were established in our country to be the pioneers in techincal education. But the recent trends show that students use it as a stepping stone to launch themselves either to Civil Services or for a career in Management. Should we now change the names of IITs to preIIM ...???

Its not that this question has just sprung off my mind just like that. I had the opportunity to study at one of the premier institutes of our country - IIT Delhi. During my 2 year stay in the campus, one thing surely caught my attention - almost all students want to make it to the IIMs .... Now saying that all students want to make to the IIMs is an overstatement. Of course there are some who like to stick to the technical area. The question is if the so called best techincal institute is producing management aspirants much more than engineers it is supposed to produce, is it fair to continue to pump money into such institutes.

What I feel is that the moment a student choses IIT Delhi over the other institutes, for a career in engineering, he is possibly not having engineering in his mind. Delhi is known for the coaching institutes,  for Civil Services, for Management and for what not !!! Even those people who are working with premier organisations of our country, when they get transferred to Delhi, one possibility is that he/she might be preparing for something like MBA or IAS/IPS kind of exams .... Well you can disagree with me on that note ... but these are my opinions ....

I know that you have all the tools which democracy has given in your hands ... like Right to profession, liberty etc etc .... and yes I know that no one can be and should be barred from making a career in his/her choice of profession. But the question still remains.

The only technical work that is done in these institutes are either done by PhD students or by MTech/MS students. Allow me to ask then, why don't we transform these premier IITs into institutes only for PG studies, by which way only those people will come who want to make a career in technical/research areas, rather than people who come to get hold of a degree from an IIT and utilize the resources to the fullest to become a Civil Servant or a Manager !!!