Sufi
All posts by haikvr
Chennai 2017
I am The Product Manager
Of the various hats I have worn all these years – founder, Sales guy, Deployment Specialist, Level 1 and Level 2 Support, DevOps, Cheque depositor – I have come to realize I was a Product Manager all along – right from the get go.
Putting a label on what you do is extremely important. It helps you define the job you do, appreciate it, read more on it and helps you improve on that particular skill.
If you are the guy/girl in charge of making the Product among the Founding Team – you are the Product Manager. Say it out aloud – “I am the Product Manager”. The fate of your entire Startup lies in your decisions.
All other designations – CEO, CTO, Director, Co-Founder all are important – for the outside world and your team-mates – but nothing is as critical as the “Product Manager” hat you are wearing now.
Strap the Product Manager Hat tight.
When I gave Sales demo – I was not trying to get a Cheque out of the customer. I was listening to their pain points, and my mind was frantically scanning to see how my Startup could alleviate those paint points. I was trying to find patterns among Customers – so my solution can solve them all. I was trying to see how much value we can give them, and price our product as a fraction of the value ( and not just features ).
When I was paying the monthly bill for AWS account – and saw it was increasing gradually, asked myself – Are such resource hogging servers really necessary – and promptly turned them off – and found better cost effective alternatives. Also when I plan a feature, I keep the cost in mind – I am not going to get sold on the hype of a technology [ NoSql I am looking right at you]
When I got a customer to go live – I realised how a few small features created some of the biggest headaches and heartburns. Promptly booted them off or tweaked them.
When I had to do Marketing – do SEO, or write content for Brochrures, or create Competitor analysis – I had to analyse inwardly as well as the competition and could identify the areas we were strong and weak. I knew what areas we could pull ahead of the competition – become more stronger, and what areas we had to improve – so we cannot be beaten down with.
If you are the Product Manager of a Startup – and working 9 to 5, doing a few customer interviews, talking to the CEO/CTO/Founder, browsing competitors website/Apps, STOP – you have to do more. [ ps : Startup founders, if you have hired Product Managers – here is what they have to start doing ]
1. Accompany the Sales guys in a few demos. In fact you should constantly do this – product keeps changing, market keeps changing, competiton keeps changing.
2. Get your hands dirty and deploy a few accounts – from start to finish.
3. Write the next set of marketing material, do the next Competitor Analysis document yourself – instead of just giving inputs.
4. Do SEO, plan the adwords campaign yourself.
5. Be the DevOps and/or pay the AWS bill from your pocket and get it reimbursed – and see for yourself that one cool feature which hardly anyone uses is costing a bomb.
And for my startup founders – Say it aloud. Stick it in big fonts right in front of you.
“I am the Product Manager”
Hi PETA – get your priorities right.
Dear PETA
Good job on creating a mass movement and uniting a fractured Tamil Kingdom ruled between a Dynasty and bunch of Film Stars. Thank you – no one could have accomplished what you just did.
I am not going into the merits of Jallikattu or demerits – but given the clout you posses – here are my humble requirements – so you will get your priorities right.
Poultry and Cattle Transfer
I wait on my bike in a traffic signal with the hot sun and exhaust fumes everywhere, sweat drips from the helmet harness on to the petrol tank and as I watch it evaporate – I hear a few bird sounds nearby.. turn to my left and see these white chicken all squeezed tightly – suffocating under the same sun and exhaust fumes – luckily their trip is only a few hours before they turn into a tandoori platter.
However, PETA – this is plain wrong. The poor souls deserve a decent journey the last few hours of their life.
Please get Supreme Court to pass an order to transport these poor souls in an AC vehicle – with enough space and feed. We should show these Chicken that we humans are not inhuman.
You saved a handful of Bulls from being subject to 30 odd minutes of hardship in a year – now it is your duty to save these billions of chickens that go through this daily.
Yes, the cost of Chicken will go up – so be it. The Non-Vegetarians will work harder to savour the chicken – they won’t complain. Just like they are not complaining now about the Jersey cow conspiracy, or the thousand year culture that has got destroyed with the Jallikattu ban.
Pet animals kept for Breeding
Just stand in front of any Pet clinic. On any day there will be an unkempt man who will bring 2 plump Alaskan Huskies, or Labradors, or Golden Retrievers – an Adam and Eve – who are obese and has sad eyes. He will shove them into the clinic with his legs and will ask the doctor – how many more years can they keep producing. Once the time is up – he will just dump them on the streets, or turn it over to CUPA ( if he is kind enough ) – and these poor souls might or might not get a lucky home. What a sad life these beautiful creatures had to go through.
These are the puppy mills – rampant across the country.
PETA – just STOP this madness. Please.
Just go to Quikr or OLX and you can find these culprits. Take them to court – confiscate all that they have got. Put stiff fines. Put them in the same cage for a year.
PETA – if you bring to halt a thousand year tradition – you can do this simple small thing.
Halal Cut
PETA, PETA – how can you stand this?
When you cannot stand 30 minutes of a bull run – how can you allow 30 minutes of a slow drip by drip death of a Goat or a Chicken. Yes the veins are cut and the bad blood oozes off – so the meat is fresh and pure – but imagine the torture the poor animal goes through?
Shouldn’t you ban this too? The last minutes of the poor soul – when all its life has seen just the animal factory doors or a cage with zero joy or laughter – at the least can have a quick fast death.
I have a better idea PETA.
Let us ban killing completely. We buy vegetables, wash and cut them. Why not the same with Chicken, Goat or Fish? The Great Emperor in the West – Mark Zuckerberg I heard does the same thing. If he can do it – so can Non Vegetarians in India.
Here is your requirement – ban all slaughter of animals. Animals can only be sold alive – it is upto the consumer to make the final cut.
You might ask – what about Restaurants. Yes along with Menu card, let the waiter parade the chicken and goat to the table. Like they do with Crabs nowadays.
Once the patron selects, can go to the back of the kitchen where he/she can perform the deed, come back and continue checking WhatsApp – while the food is prepared.
Use your clout PETA.
Beef Industry
PETA – gosh my blood is boiling thinking of this.
First the Cows and Buffaloes ( your special friends I believe ) are transported inhumanly to the Slaughter Houses.
There they are herded into a slaughter room where they are hit with a heavy metal rod – where they are stunned. Some lucky ones die but mostly they just pass out. And because the slaughters have to meet the daily targets – they do not wait for the poor soul to fully depart the body. While the animal is still dying and trembling – the insides are torn out and meat is cut.
PETA – you have to stop this. Monitor the industry closely. By now you should know how much time it takes for an animal to completely die. Let us give them the time – instead of being skinned alive. Reduce the output from these industries.
Let the price go up or if it is unsustainable let the business owner find something else to do.
Finally Economics
It is ok – let the price go up. Economics has a way of solving the demand supply curve – and which is sustainable for the environment.
Organic Milk from a Desi Cow is above Rs.100 for half a litre. Yes, that is the true price it deserves – I will switch to Green tea or Soy Milk. Price of a produce – says how scarce it is. Definitely we will switch to alternatives if something is not sustainable for the pocket.
Instead of keeping the price same, and still we try to meet demand by cutting corners ( adulterating or injecting steroids ) – or destroying the environment ( by using deadly pesticides and eradicating healthy but less producing crops ), or torturing poor souls and treating them like machine parts in an assembly unit.
Sigh PETA.
I honestly still don’t know why you will go after Jallikattu – while these other big issues are rampant and are far more deadly. I wish you will get your priorities right.
2016 Books Round Up
My first blog post of every new year is on the books I crunched in the past 1 year. Here is the list for previous years – 2010, 11, 12, 13, 14, 2015
For 2016 I had a target of 52 ( 1 per week ).
Science Fiction
Adventure stories on present earth life is boring. Drama is boring. Romance on Earth is boring. Only Science Fiction keeps me interested – it has all and much more.
1. Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
Remember Stephen Hawking? Recently he gave an interview in which he said something ominous – if Aliens contact us please do not respond – this book gives the why.
This is the 2nd part of the trilogy written by Chinese Author. Compared to first part it was a bit dull, and the story meanders through various attempts Humans make to fight with the advanced Alien species – through our primitive technologies.
Towards the end the story unravels beautifully.
2. The Heart Goes Last, Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood is a much acclaimed author who is good at painting Dystopian worlds. I heard her name mentioned during the US Election – on how a Trump world will be like Atwood’s so picked this one – was quite depressing at places, but loved the plot. Truly a great story teller. Regarding Trump’s new world – well even Atwood would not have imagined.
3. Red Rising ( Part 1 )
4. Golden Son ( Part 2 )
5. Morning Star ( Part 3 ) by Pierce Brown
Toooo good. As a Sci-Fi Lover lapped it up. The plot started like Hunger Games but got developed elaborately and loved how the story progressed. It is all about Strategy and how our Hero Darryl beats them all edging close to death all the time – everything is there betrayal, adventure,romance – heck they should make this as a movie.
6. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
This is the 2nd part of the Trilogy – the first part was Enders world which got made into a movie. Story starts with a mystery which gets unravelled at the end. Gripping through out – dull at a few places when the author takes pain to explain things in detail – but ending is really superb – how the aliens and humans come to an agreement to co-exist.
7. Survival Quest – Way of the Shaman by Vasily Mahaneko
In future prisoners are not put in Jails, but soaked in a virtual reality prison. And the prisoners have to mine day in and day out. Boring right – but they made an interesting story out of it. But you can skip.
Fiction
8. Animal Farm by George Orwell
Want to understand India’s Political Elite – read this book. I think when the Politicians kin enters politics, they present this book – on how to rule the masses.
9. Immortals of Meluha
10. Secret of Nagas
11. Oath of Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi
Somewhere in the middle of 2016 I acquired an Amazon Kindle and promptly signed up for the buffet plan. Read all these books in one trot. Superb imagination. Thoroughly Entertaining.
12. 2 States by Chetan Bhagat
The following criticism might apply to me when I write my own book someday. I once read somewhere that Jeffrey Archer rewrote his book 7 times before he was satisfied. He will also write his books double spaced, so he can make corrections below the lines. 2 States had a nice plot, but felt Chetan Bhagat could have rewritten at a few places. Felt as if the book was written in a hurried manner.
However, to give Chetan Bhagat credit – it was simple fast reading and entertaining. Can see why he is such a roaring success. Has created his own style – and it works pretty well.
13 Stranger by Albert Camus
Much acclaimed. Weird book. Man commits murder and what goes on in his head. Reason why I should stick to Science Fiction.
14. Colorless Tsukumi Tazoki by Haruki Murakami
Story moves slowly. The protoganist discusses Classical Music, describes the food in detail – typical Murakami fare. Interesting plot. Loved it.
Productivity
15. Mastery by Robert Greene
Wish I had read this in the early days of my career. Heck, I would be a writer giving Chetan Bhagat run for his money – if I had read this book some 20 years back. Book has many insights on how to become the master of any domain.
16. Deep Work : Rules for Focussed Success in a Distracted Word by Cal Newport
I had arrived at a conclusion that Social Media is useless. This book goes one step further and drives home the point that Social media is not only useless, but very much evil.
Point well made – this book is a must read for the millenails. – I am depending on you milenials to spend the last years of my life on flying cars, and visting Mars – but if you guys squander the time liking and retweeting inane things – I dread to think how my old age will be. Millenials – please log off Social Media – and go create something awesome.
Comics
17. Amar Chitra Katha’s Mahabaratha I,II and III
Superbly done. Enjoyed it thoroughly. It is such an easy way to read Mahabaratha. Do it.
18. Watchmen – DC Comics by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Had I been born in US, I would have been a nerd no doubt. And with dark rimmed thick glasses would have read all the comics. This one is dark, depressing at places, totally weird and didnt make any sense dialogues at many places – but gripping and held me glued to it. The book was written in the backdrop of cold war – and the influence of Super heroes on the outcome.
Now I am curious what the Batman, Superman comics are all about.
19. Perspepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Autobiography comic – depressing at many places. The author describes how she squeezes in happiness. We get a glimpse of how Iran went from a Great open culture to smithereens and how it is difficult for a open minded free bird like the author.
Sigh. Why? When we can use our collective intelligence to build space ships to go conquer the Galaxy – here we are mired in petty religious squabbles. Depressing really – how we are wasting the potential of Human brain.
Spritituality
20. Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma
If you are curious on the Spiritual stuff, but do not want to sign into the Art of Living, Isha, Iskon etc.. camps – then read and follow this book. Has good simple tips for leading a good happy life – without being branded as a Spiritual guy. Liked the practical suggestions in the book.
21. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Much acclaimed. Some of the truths we already know – nothing earth shattering for us Indians who are already half awakened. Some are true eye openers.
And for 2017 have again set a target of 52 – 1 per week.
I am done with Social Media
What was it 2008? When the unwashed masses were still in Orkut, I got an invite for a site called Facebook.
First look – thought Facebook was like Flickr – for sharing Photos. It had a weird kind of magic that kept me hooked. Then I got tied to Twitter.
Then bought my first smartphone – Samsung Galaxy S – and used a horrible app to access Facebook ( no it was not built by Facebook ). Later FB built its own hybrid app – on Phonegap which sucked – after which they released a native app which was damn slick.
Later I moved to iPhone ecosystem – FB and Twitter were my constant companions on my first screen.
Now, after almost 8 years – I have logged out – for good. In the new phone, I have not installed FB or Twitter.
Why?
I arrived at a conculsion by myself – that SM – Social Media is no good. For a developer SM is a huge time sink and also has stolen the ability for thinking deep and hard. I tried getting my head around Angular 2 – and found I was not being able to concentrate like usual.
About the same time – I read Deep Work by Cal Newport – what an eye opener it was. Had all the points to buttress my conclusion – SM is not only bad for you – but it is also evil!
I was able to get Angular 2 internalised, became an ionic developer ( my previous developer had quit, and I could not find a replacement ), crunched quite a no. of books, put my work stuff in order and had the most productive month in November.
Early days – hands did itch to open FB and Twitter – but had to distract myself in more work.
Now I spend the entire day oblivious to what is happening in the world. I wait for the morning newspaper – Economic Times – and I read all the pages.
I still have Flipboard – and access it once a day to read about new tech stories. I have Magnus Carlsen Chess app – I set him at 5 years and beat him every time ( I managed to stalemate once 🙁 ) . I have a sudoku app – sharpening my skills whenever I am bored.
For FB and Twitter – dont miss it anymore. Perhaps when I meet my old friends next, I will listen to their stories fully – instead of saying – oh I saw it in FB and stopping the conversation on its tracks.
Next on target is Whatsapp – our office fully runs on Whatsapp. Not sure how to wean away from it.
Yes, I am open for Coffee Meetings, Chai pe Charcha, short Phone calls 🙂
Lara Croft Go
I am a gamer who had lost his way.
6 years back I had logged out of TV and logged into FB, Twitter. Kept liking and sharing and tweeting the past 6 years or so. All this time I had not completed any game – other than the occasional try outs of Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga, Temple Run. Monument Valley is an exception – the first game I purchased and played to the end after reading rave reviews of this game.
It has been a month or more – since I logged out of Social Media. It was giving too much BP with zero action or outcome.
And to occupy the new found free time – gaming moves in. Idle brain is a devils worskshop you see.
I started on Lara Croft Go game – a 60 Rs. Download from App Store, and promptly got stuck at 3rd level or so – dont remember exactly. The game nudged me to buy a puzzle opener for Rs.160 – but I did not. Persisted and after lot of trial and errors cracked that level.
Then when I completed all the levels, they opened up one more level – I was both happy and angry…grr.. have to put up with more of these spiders and poison arrows – and man the final level was hard! And yesterday night I completed it.
The above screenshot is the final scene. All the lizards, snakes, spiders that tormented me throughout the game were coming to grab Lara – and Lara has no where to go but to walk till the edge and grab the magic immortal stone – which spits out a brilliant bright light and all the tormentors die.
Gives immense satisfaction after completing all the levels.
Beautiful game – graphics, animation, music – the works. Does not need fast reflex – it is a turn based game and you can take your time to make the move. You make one move, spider moves one space – and even if you die you get to try again.
Next on my list is either a racing game – not sure if my reflexes are still intact ( Horizon Chase ) or another Puzzle game ( Lumino City ).
The gamer is back.
Rebooting this blog.
Hi venkat2 – long time!
I am on a social media detox diet – has been a week since I bothered logging into Facebook or Twitter. I rely on good old newspaper for news and ask people around me what is going on in the world.
And during this week I realised – how the art of blogging is dead. Couple of weeks back I was researching on a trip to Pondicherry – and all travelogues were from 2013 or before. No one is blogging their experience any more – which is sad.
People are sharing on their Facebook page – that too just the photos – and get likes and the posts are lost. And the world cannot see it – this is lost for ever.
I can go to Team BHP or the thousand travel sites – but nothing can beat reading a blog post – no pesky ads or distractions – just the author and me.
Back to the topic – so I have made a resolution to revive my blogging. While my personal blog is still active ( http://kvrlogs.blogspot.in ) – this blog has been dormant for quite a while. Not any more – will be writing on my 2nd journey here – the one that feeds me – which has entered the 9th year.
Yes, I am still slogging like I was in year 1. I still earn lot less than what I made when I quit ThoughtWorks. My lifestyle is still the same. Loving the startup life even more.
But a lot wiser to how I was on running the company, building the product, handling angry customers, competition, hiring, firing, figuring out the time waster vendor/VC/partners… so on and on.
Till next time.
Ta.
Kitchdi
Well thats my mind right now! Have deviated from the path the last few months – inspite of knowing the beautiful serene feeling I could be enjoying now – my mind is agitated and is all over the place, plotting many an evil plot, vengeful, hurt – messy.
My mind is similar to the parable of the boiling frog. It does not know it is slowly sinking into a mess and does not jump out.
Time to jump out of this rut.
Here is my interview of my mind.
Are you happy?
Nope.
Why you are not happy?
I don’t know.
Are you happy at work and home?
Yes absolutely. At work – did I tell you I work on 2 large monitors now – one of the developers is on a long vacation and I have borrowed his. The apps are coming out good and some of the complex things we were doing all have been stabilised.
At home – have a beautiful dog to cuddle anytime I want. P got into a bout of sickness + injury – and is back to his usual self. Also had procured Kindle – and have an unlimited supply of books.
Then what is bothering you?
I want more. Like I want to go on a solo trip on my bike. I have been working constantly without a break for the last 6 months or so. Want to do something I have never done before.
But isn’t it dangerous?
Yes. Sitting at home I can contract dengue and die. Going around the layout on my bike, a water tank tractor can plough through me. Anything can happen any time – why stop from enjoying a long ride.
So, why don’t you just do it?
The powers who love me aren’t letting me to go on this. I had made all arrangements for any eventuality – getting a dog tag with phone numbers printed, installed and tested apps to transmit my location ( perhaps this scared the people around me ).
So that is frustrating you?
Yes.
So what are you going to do about it?
Going to reboot my life – yes lot of things are riding on me – so I cannot go riding on epic adventures. yet.
Like?
Going to embark on an adventure of my mind – go deep.
How?
Going on a Social Media diet. No more FB, Twitter.
Going to crunch umpteen books. My target for 2016 is 52. I have completed 24 books till now.
Going to restart daily Sudarshan Kriya by waking up at 5:00 AM.
Going to pick one game ( Horizon chase – World Tour ) and complete all levels.
Going to break the 30 min barrier for 5k, 1 hour for 10k and 2 hour for half marathon.
And this will make you happy once again?
Yes. I hope so.
What if it does not make you happy?
Will buy an iPhone 7 then. Hehe 🙂
Living in the Future!
Today while running I was listening to a Chinese Science Fiction ( The Dark Forest ), translated to English, and recorded as an Audio book in a Studio in some corner of the world, that I downloaded from Audible over airwaves using Cellular 4G – from a server in US or Singapore – to my iPhone.
And as I listened through my head phones, almost at the exact quality it was recorded, the phone was tracking my run with the help of Geo Synchronous Satellites far up in the sky orbiting earth – I was wondering – man how lucky I am.
This is like living in a Future I couldn’t have imagined 30 years back.
Humans have progressed from Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Medieval, Industrial to the current Information Age.
I can’t place if we are in the middle or just at the threshold of Information Era.
We were slowly cruising in the Information Age – from Mainframes to Laptops to mobile phones and having incremental improvements in every field.
Out of the blue, Steve Jobs, went ahead and revealed iPhone – 10 years back – and was a turning point in the Human History.
[ Stay low Jobs haters – Google’s Android did not look anything close to what iOS was. The day iPhone was released, head of Google’s Android project called his team on a Nokia phone ( or might have been Blackberry ) and told – scrap everything we are doing – we have to start over. And Nokia, Blackberry were just cruising filling up their coffers with incremental upgrades ]
Having portable computing power, with ability to communicate real time with anyone in the world – not just audio but pictures and video – has shrunk this world like never before.
Then Twitter got a new lease of life after it got into a Smartphone. Any event happening anywhere in the world is now just a tweet away. A Tsunami, a plane crash, Federer saving a Match Point, Messi missing the penalty – need not wait for the next day’s newspaper – it is right there for anyone in the world to read without a single second delay – they just need a Smart Phone with an internet connection. Meerkat and Periscope – lets anyone become a live TV reporter – unedited footage as and when it happens.
Then Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, ( damn I use all 3 – you Mark Z ) all these tools brought all of us closer and removed the physical distances between people.
Isn’t it amazing!
And you can summon a car with your watch. Google Car, Tesla – are making self driving main stream.
Perhaps in another 10 years – we will all be chauffeured by software. Who would have thought 10 years back – we will all be carrying a super computer in our pockets.
We are truly lucky to be living in the future!
