Category Archives: experience

experience

Sorry Chickens and Fish

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I have turned back to being a Non-Vegetarian after 6 or so years.

Somewhere in 2019 I decided to go back on my decision on being a Vegetarian.

Trigger came in the form of a weird Viral fever. I had joint points and that was the time I felt a chicken soup will do good.

Also I was feeling a kind of numbness on my finger tips. The Good Doctor Kamala Benson ( she passed away unfortunately ) – said – your body is saying it needs some Sodium. Can you prescribe some tablets? She said – just have some pickle. And yes, I was craving for some spicy pickles that time.

It was an ahaa moment. I shouldn’t put these unnecessary boundaries. The body knows what it wants.

Any food has some good nutritive elements in it. By rejecting particular food groups, we are depriving the body of important nutrition. I know it is a lame justification – if I put my mind I can find better quality nutrients in the vegetarian world. I did contemplate becoming a vegan when I did lot of research and it is possible to kick off meat completely without any compromise.

When we go out it is always a tense moment till the order is placed – I being the lone guy who is a vegetarian. When I announced my decision to accept non vegetarian food all where happy.

However I now brand myself a reducitarian. If I have a vegetarian option I always opt for it. I do not drink alone when I am out – similarly. Till date have not ordered non vegetarian when I am alone outside. I allow people with me to order chicken or fish dishes – I take the gravy, and a couple of pieces.

Yes I do feel guilty and feel like a hypocrite. There is conflict in me when I eat Non vegetarian food.

Last Sunday, after almost a month first time tasted chicken – AMma makes this delicious green gravy… she is very happy that I am eating once again – but I didn’t enjoy that much I used to enjoy once.

Perhaps I can never enjoy chicken like I used to.

Sorry Chickens and Fish.

apple, entrepreneur, experience, startup

Why any product needs “Mac Users”

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First the Disclaimer : This is not a mac fanboy post. I am loosely stereotyping the 3 kinds of users based on the 3 OSes – Mac, Windows and Linux. This is mainly to drive home the point of how an “ideal user” will help your product become better and better. The “Mac User”, who I call – can also be a Windows, Linux,BeOs,OS 390…. user.  OS X has been successful mainly because of their Users – look at the amount of podcasts, fan sites, hints sites, magazines for this platform alone. Apple listens to these feedbacks – and incorporates some into every release of their OS.

I am tending to call these “ideal users” as “Mac Users”. Had linux/windows had the same level of success – will be labeling them likewise. Shall we move on? 🙂

Here are some reasons why you need Mac users.

1. They demand Perfection

This is from my personal experience. Some of the CxO users, ex-Entrepreneurs who use our product – just cannot stand mediocrity or minor bugs. As developers we gloss over things and we fail to cross the ‘t’s and dot the ‘i’s. But this irritates the hell out of these high achievers. When I look things through their eyes – it does make sense. Any aberrations – big or small – breaks the flow and harmony.

Switch to Linux Desktop. The flow gets broken everywhere. The applications are not consistent – each one I have to remember where I should go to do a certain thing. There are KDE apps, and Gnome Apps – and some apps who do not follow any school of UI philosophy. It kills me.  Linux as a Desktop has a very long way to go.

Windows 7 has come a long way from the Windows ME days. Still there are certain things that does not make sense – like exporting an Excel file as a CSV file – you have to put up with 3 dialog boxes – twice. This is sheer madness.

2. They improve your Product

The best part of working with the “Mac users” is they give great ideas. We built the initial product based on our knowledge / creativity. After that the product has grown from these inputs given by our users. They bring lot of expertise and cross-functional knowledge to the table. The earlier you identify them it is better for the product. Any prototypes you are building, or just want to bounce an idea about a feature – these are the users you should call first. They have a big picture view of your product – on functionality / usability / and even marketability.

Then there are the linux and windows users. Linux users will be bent on functionality without any respect to the marketability of the feature. Stay away. The Windows users might want a feature that is there in an X ( eg. in Tally or SAP ). They will not understand that building it will flush the usability down the drain – or how it does not fit with the overall design philosophy. Give them a hearing, explain why you might not incorporate – leave it at that.

3. The Best Part – They pay you


These demanding users also pay you – ungrudgingly. They do not haggle with you, they respect your business model, they do not ask you to sell Pizza online and give the product free, they do not ask you to do what X is doing and follow their model and hence give the product free. They respect what you have built – and pay because they see value. If they are not paying – then there is no value in the product. Loud and Clear.

Now going back to the 3 OSes – OS X, Linux and Windows – see the kind of users / followers each group has. Apple is lucky to have the kind of crowd following them ( Power users, artists, designers… ). All apple has to do now onwards is to listen – the best ideas come from their users – not from 1, Infinite Loop anymore.

So – have you identified your Mac Users?

experience, setbacks

Setbacks are like Power Petrol

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My week is getting better and better – like the saying when it rains it pours – one challenge after another is coming my way. 

When you are living through one of these setbacks it sucks big time. You really wish it passes off fast and the proverbial bend around the corner comes so things suddenly become alright. From my personal experience I have started appreciating these setbacks. When I look back at all the setbacks I ever had – each one of them has helped me add an important skill/value.
I once lost a job interview, and I became good in Performance tuning. We goofed up in a UAT drop and that lead to a foolproof automated deployment system. I lost a lead but now I know why and I am working on filling the gap. Each setback teaches something new.  
How do we deal with setbacks?

1. Try to get to the bottom of a setback – I recently read about 5 Whys technique used in Amazon’s fulfillment center. An employee cut his finger and they asked 5 Whys to go to the bottom of the truth. Its not easy to find out the final why  – but it is a start.

“1.Why did the associate damage his thumb?

Because his thumb got caught in the conveyor.

2.Why did his thumb get caught in the conveyor?

Because he was chasing his bag, which was on a running conveyor.

3.Why did he chase his bag?

Because he placed his bag on the conveyor, but it then turned-on by surprise

4.Why was his bag on the conveyor?

Because he used the conveyor as a table

So, the root cause of the associate’s damaged thumb is that he simply needed a table, there wasn’t one around, so he used a conveyor as a table.  To eliminate further safety incidences, we need to provide tables at the appropriate stations and update safety training.  Also, look into preventative maintenance standard work.”

2. Try not to get depressed – I know it is not an easy thing. Even recently I went into bouts of depression but try to get out of it quickly. Try to do something fun – eat that 3 scoop Banana split of Baskin Robbins and brood why. You will be enlightened in the end ( and a little fat 🙂 ) 
3. Identifies the gaps in you – No one is perfect. Even the almighty iPod has some design failures ( when you use coverflow it stutters, videos take a long time to start) – but each revision removes these gaps. You might be an expert java developer but perhaps you do not know much about deployment and linux – It is a gap. Once you know it and you do something about it – you inch closer to perfection.
4. Negative feedback is extremely valuable – In Control Systems, positive feedback leads to an unstable system. Only negative feedback ensures system stability. There is mathematic proof for this ! If  you keep getting one success after the other, and everyone keeps praising you – start suspecting. There is going to be a mighty fall ( eg. golden peacock award year after year for one Mr.Ramalinga Raju of Satyam ). Start appreciating the negative feedback that setbacks give you.
So now do you agree with me that setbacks are like power petrol. They fuel you to great heights.