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Too much of a good thing is also bad...

I recently received an email from a consultant who services Banks, on the helplessness he felt with the use of technology. It was too much of technology which bothered him. If he could just speak with a customer service rep, he would be able to solve his issue. He was mostly frustrated in his transacting with Banks. That got me thinking.. are we really being inundated with technology?

Most friends that I know love Facebook. Google is a household name. And searching is not a difficult function. So what is so hard here about technology and why do businesses rely on it? I think in today’s age, technology has taken on the role of conducting a business. In what an eCommerce shop does for e.g. it will help notify your customers of a shipment, it will help them make a payment from the comfort and security of their homes and it will help you reach out to them as well.

There is room for more technology I feel.. cancel an order, reschedule it etc at the touch of a button. Maybe this is too cold and lacks the warmth a human voice echoes. But do you really want 10 calls indicating your order status? An SMS is less intruding and more easy to file away for your records.

Perhaps the key is in how the business is organized for the customer and how much importance it gives to their comfort. 

Make Your Enemies Your Allies - Harvard Business Review

Make Your Enemies Your Allies - Harvard Business Review

Awesome!

Office Neeti sez...

About time I wrote on office politiks and what Arthashastra sez on all this. Pick a small topic and rant on what we can :) It's definitely not a Dilbert but there is understanding of an approach to handle the madness. Write back with your views please.

Laws of our nature

A law or that "which will hold". In most cases unwritten, but practiced.

1. Basic questions center on 'What'. What is the purpose of the law being used? Did we have a Goal-Setting when this became one of our goals to reach for. Is there a Vision which we aspire to and this is for a broader purpose

2. Benefit for all. Let there be prosperity for all.. a law should help everyone in the organization

To start off as a leader one should've a basic sense for what he is enforcing and asking of his troops.

Chak De! - Motivating your team

On Motivation and Software Engineers
From an organization perspective, motivating employees is the art of getting them to recognize what needs to be done, and then getting them to want to do it. It’s getting them to apply their skills to do well, and to want to do things willingly and with enthusiasm. Motivation speaks directly to an individual’s needs. Needs represent the gaps between what is and what a person believes should be. An individual is motivated by the things within the gaps.

Needs → Behavior → Satisfaction → Needs 

I want to reflect on motivation amongst the software engineers and practices used in the industry to keep them motivated.

Key Motivation Factors
It is useful to understand what motivates employees. As per a survey (Strategic Rewards: The New Employment Deals, Watson Wyatt as reproduced in Success in Recruiting & Retaining), Desire to keep good work reputation, Importance of the work, Appreciation of others, Interesting work, Personnel desire to please supervisor and the Expectation of financial reward are some of the factors that motivates employees.

Motivation Theories base motivation on internal factors (including Needs and Motives) and external factors (including job and work characteristics). 

Motivation and Software Engineers
Over the years the job of software engineers has undergone significant changes. The job of software development increasingly involves:
1. Globally distributed teams
2. Agile approaches
3. More demanding users

The role of the engineers too has evolved and the stereotypical ‘introverted solitary programmer’ is no longer viable. Interestingly motivation has been found to be one of the most frequently cited causes of software development project failure and having access to competent, hard working and focused staff is one of ten success criteria for software projects.

Characterizing motivation sources for Software Engineers
Motivators for software engineers come broadly from 3 different sources:
1. Organizational Context e.g. Good Management, Sense of Belonging, Job Security, Work Life Balance, Successful company, Sufficient resources
2. The specific job being undertaken (Intrinsic Motivators) e.g. Career paths, Variety of work, Autonomy, Challenging work, Making a contribution, Employee participation, Equity
3. A sub-set of intrinsic motivators which are inherent to software engineering as a profession e.g. Problem-solving, Scientific, Experimental, Team working, Development practices, Beneficial

Typical de-motivators for software engineers would include Risk, Stress, Inequity, Lack of promotion opportunities, Uncompetitive pay, Unrealistic goals, Poor working environment, and Poor cultural fit.

Also it is easy to become “duped" into spending all our time and effort on demotivators. We should do what we can to minimize the negative effect of demotivators. However, we must also focus time and resources on the motivators which can help employees reach higher levels on the pyramid of needs.

As supervisors we try to understand employee’s motivation needs by establishing ‘Aspiration Matrix’. This matrix can track a Primary and a Secondary aspiration for an individual. This is a formal approach for ensuring employee satisfaction. Employee reviews serve as the ideal goal setting exercises where pertinent, difficult but accomplishable goals can be set for focusing and directing their efforts.

Some things as supervisors that we should keep in mind to keep employees motivated are:
1. Ask for performance
2. Use lots of positive reinforcement and personalize it
3. Build relationships
4. Understand other points of view
5. Refuse to accept poor performance
6. Work and set goals

Lets Rant on the Office Politics

Here's a one that's pretty close to our minds :)

http://www.management-issues.com/2006/11/1/opinion/office-politics-playing-the-game.asp

Home away from Home

Amazing! Astounding! Doesn't get better! Wow!

Sort of your average Indian reactions when they see US the first time. I had a repeat syndrome after I visited here again after 3 long years. Yes I had spent a long time here, 10 yrs to be exact and then it was time to go back home.

I think it's something special about the Northwest - the whether, the people, the place, the outdoors - that sums it up. And of course except the business, US changes very slowly. The same food joints, the same favorite places. Deja Vu written all over it.

I dont know if something quite describes this feeling of seeing a place where you grew-up, where you questioned so many of your internalized values and where you took a stronger footing in life.

All in all a mesmerizing vacation. I am sure the question rings on both sides - those that stayed and those that didn't - how come i did? We're indeed fortunate and lucky! We're expats.

It's the best of both worlds silly!