Everyday Agile

I experience Agile routinely as part of my daily life. Let’s consider a few examples.

Meeting changing demands

I was standing at a popular sweet shop, patiently waiting for my turn for the most sought-after item — samosas, a popular Indian snack — when a tall, burly man broke the queue and walked to the chef who was about to remove the cooked samosas from the oil pan. He authoritatively asked the chef to fry them a bit more, and stood in front of him while he waited. Meanwhile, people in the queue muttered under their breath, unhappy that their turn has been overtaken.

The attentive shop owner quickly walked to the impatient customer and politely engaged him in a conversation, asking him to wait his turn, and assured him that his serving would be extra fried, the way he likes them. Before the intimidating man could respond, the ready lot of the delicacy was already packed by the chef and handed over to the next person in the queue.

In Agile: A Scrum Master similarly protects his or her team from those occasional, unreasonable stakeholder demands so that the team can continue to take the agreed tasks to completion, while ensuring that the concerned stakeholders are accorded their due requests in a reasonable way.

Prioritizing items

My daughter was eating while watching TV. And as usual, her attention was on the cartoon instead of on the meal her mother had prepared with great care. Her mother asked, "How is it?" but my daughter wasn't even listening. Upset by the lack of response, her mother promptly switched off the "idiot box" and asked her to focus on the food, which was a priority.

In Agile: The role of the Product Owner is to regularly perform course correction to help the team maintain focus on the valuable backlog items.

Acquiring cross-functional skills

I usually wake up before six in the morning. Just about that time, the daily newspaper is delivered at my doorstep.

One day, I caught up with the delivery man and inquired about his daily schedule. He enthusiastically informed me that after delivering the newspapers, he works during the day as an electrician, and sometimes also as a plumber. He added that he learned these disparate skills all while on the job, teaming up with an experienced companion.

In Agile: The Development Team comprises cross-skilled members who deftly switch among varied tasks during the course of the day, week, or sprint.

We all can recount numerous such routine moments from our everyday lives. Even if unknowingly, we all are well accustomed to the Agile ways.

Let new adventures begin

I’ve worked in multiple Private sector organizations during the past 14+ years of my professional career, having played numerous roles from Technical to Managerial ones, also in differently sized organizations. On one side, it contributed in shaping my areas of knowledge and enhancing the collective understanding on groups of accompanying processes across the white-collar domain. While on the other, it slowly led me to resonate deep inside, more so recently, the Biblical feeling ‘I have seen all the things that are done under the sun’. Determined to consciously break the mundane and restore meaning, I chanced upon a job opportunity to work in Public sector with a leading Government of India program. It felt Good.

During the interview, with an intimidating Interviewer to Interviewee ratio of 7:1, I enthusiastically emphasized on my offering of a ‘fresh brain’ towards the program, with an aim to further highlight my credentials (albeit hesitatingly, of course!). Eventually, the stakeholder group sitting on the other side of the table saw merit in my proposition and offered me the Managerial role.

Honestly, I joined with anxiety.

In line with popular perception, I was expecting an aged project team comprising folks with IAS background, an office culture marked with ample re-delegation of ownership across departments – manifested via benevolent rotation of files, a relaxed delivery schedule mostly involving monitoring and control of related Fixed Price/T&M contracts, limited office facilities in comparison to the infrastructure an MNC provides, etc. Having never worked with a Public sector body before, my mind was filled with curiosity towards the ways-of-working at my new employer.

It has just been a few weeks since joining, and to be frank, the experience so far has been quite contrary to the initial expectation.

To begin with, I’ve been placed in their Headquarter office which is located in the heart of Delhi. This prominent location is sufficient to rival and exceed even the premium office spaces within Cyber City of Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi, where I earlier used to commute to. A huge National Flag is hoisted right across the road to the front of the office building, evoking a patriotic feeling within of doing my professional bit for my country.

At office, the peers and the team(s) comprise a mix of young and senior executives, across both sexes, drawn in from the wide array of Government Ministries, accumulating to a collocated repertoire of rich expertise.

As per what I’ve seen so far, however, things do move at a slower pace; but, there’s a fundamental reason to it.

Given the work is always in the public eye, it needs comprehensive vetting from multiple perspectives; to ensure it still stands its case tomorrow, when looked retrospectively. In effect, the activities are quite systematic with exhaustive documentation.

There’s a lot of digitization happening across Government functions lately to provide the required agility in functioning via ease of access.

It is never easy doing procurement of products and/or services for large programs and managing them effectively as well; as it requires an amalgamation of profound technical know-how together with an astute administrative mind. I’m learning my part from the multiple ongoing contracts, currently at various stages of their lifecycle; thereby keeping my hands full (and possibly overflowing!).

In hindsight, I feel I’ve made the right decision.

This feeling is aptly expressed by the English proverb: “Just when the caterpillar thought her life was over, she became a butterfly.”

Love daily

Wake-up to a silky Morning

find another day in nature's basket
filled with Love ready to trumpet

ride into the sunny Noon
Mind and Body enveloped in the chores
but crazy Heart busy in the croon

with Evening setting-in slowly

Moon returns and Stars shine
hold my hand and kiss divine

now its the turn of the Night
bring me closer, hold me tight

Let the senses relish sublime.

The growth that India is seeing…

A Mercedes Benz is parked in front of a garbage pond.
And this (luxury car and/or the smelly heap) is one of the many you could see around anywhere in the city. Take a small tour – and you got it.

Has life in India improved?
Yes, there’s the Mercedes. But, No, there’s still garbage all around.
Maybe (a work-in-progress…)?

It’s not an easy question to answer – given the many dimensions.

From childbirth to romance – life in the nation has changed. And so have employment opportunities of the young to the medical facilities for the aged.
This has transformed not just the poor, but also the rich. And mind you, their definitions are different now.

I love driving my own car early on in my career – something my father managed to realize for himself only near to his retirement. My wife enjoys painting herself with Revlon; while my tiny daughter is busy munching on the caramel-rich Lindt.

Okay, I belong to the humble middle class of my country. And yeah, that Mercedes Benz is surely a dream for us.

Now, coming back to the garbage, it’s still a part of the everyday mundane lives today, as it was yesterday. Not sure about tomorrow, though. Hope not.

With India’s economy opening-up some 20 years back – meaning foreign organizations allowed to set-up shop – lot of money has poured in since. It has been a win-win run for both; the salesman from abroad together with the customer back home.
And in this rush to relish the fruits of money, something has gone amiss.

While life has improved exponentially at an individual level, it has significantly lagged behind for the broad public – something which we all also belong to.

Most of the advanced countries today have been through this phase in their past, sometime or the other. Guess, they didn’t borrow God’s magic wand to take that leap to the next level!

Probably, we are yet to start thinking about how it would feel to be an Indian standing before the whole world?
How to distinguish ourselves from among the multiple nation states on this earth?
Meaning, like the Americans are known for their entrepreneurship (they don’t fear risking), the British for their authority – having ruled the world for centuries, the Chinese for their labor and perseverance, the Japanese for their ‘robotic’ inclination towards cutting-edge technology, the French for their expression of Love, ..
What is our identity among the humanity?
Is it that something which will bind us together as an Indian?

Probably, the next few years will see the Indian heart-and-mind opening-up to the world at large.
And I guess to begin with, the international events organized on home soil, be it Formula 1, Cricket World Cup, Commonwealth Games – recent ones to name a few, would help shape that.

We have a lot to learn to grow.

I know I sound a bit preachy here, but just think about it.
Do you want to improve the lives of fellow countrymen (and women, for that matter) together with yourself?
How to do it beyond our self with compassion?
Will it ever happen?

Let’s find those answers. But more importantly, execute them beginning from the individual-level.
Hope to see that Mercedes Benz minus the garbage in our home soon.

Romance

Romance is not something I identify myself easily with.
If it sounds like I’m killing all the fun; well, then let me explain.

They say Romance is a manifestation of Love.
It is Love that makes a boy gift a moist-petalled red rose to his girl while on his knees. Or, for that matter, a box of Rocher Ferrero; or even an Archies... to make her exclaim with joy.

I find it silly.
Probably, coz I belong to the more serious breed of humans.

I find myself very practical and realistic in matters of ‘Love’.

I believe Love is more about care. It’s not about the momentarily pleasant surprises; but, the happiness that lasts.

My girl would truly be happy when I share her load in the kitchen and household works; take our little kid to play in the park giving her some very valuable free time; let her decide on the travel itinerary we both long for; and above all, support in her shoppings.

Girls on their part have limited activity associated with Romance. On such occasions, they tend to talk their hearts out; which, I must confess, happens even otherwise!

Oh' I also gift her a bar of Lindt; help decide on her dress for the outing; pamper her with loads of garments (that were on sale); send SMS with my quirky ‘shayari’…; all this, but only once in a while.

Sometimes I feel I’m no different.
To realize, Romance is really one of the means of expressing Love. Just like taking care is.

I love the popular number from the Hindi movie ‘Sarfarosh’; sung by the legendary Jagjit Singh –
“Hoshwalon ko khabar kya, bekhudi kya cheez hai.
Ishq kije fir samajhiye, zindagi kya cheez hai..”

It is from the depths of the heart that passion emanates. And the mind, for all its varied realistic confinements, just plays along and conforms.
Be it in executing the most trivial activities pre-marriage; or, the more responsible sounding ones after.

I know I Love her deep inside.

Staying Alone

I feel Happy to be free.
This is something which I had been yearning for quite some time.
For a change, I feel un-shackled. Though temporarily!

About an year ago, I was delighted on being congratulated for becoming a father. That day, when I first saw my newborn daughter, I felt surprised! Unlike the Bollywood teachings, she didn’t cry when I held her in my arms. In fact, her eyes were rolling and exploring the ‘new’ world around her. When inside her mother’s womb, I suspect all her eyes would have seen were a closed factory of organs. Outside, in the open world, she must have felt surprised (before I did) when suddenly the world around her lit-up.

But she did cry. Later. And she cried a lot.
She’d cry when hungry. Also when surrounded by my friends and relatives eager to catch another glimpse of her. And also, otherwise.

Little did we realize that for her, crying was talking.
This was her way of communicating with her mother and the rest.

My world changed as well.
In her initial days, she was content suckling her mother and dozing-off when her tummy was full. I had limited role except to keep my wife comfortable. To ensure that she took proper diet and that our infant’s routine requirements were regularly procured from the market and readily available in the house.

Slowly, the demands grew.
Firstly, my daughter started seeking more of both our attention. She’d need a 24-hour escort right by her side for her varied necessities – feeding, cleaning, playing, photographing, phoning parents for advice, … and all.
Secondly, as we all know, in a nuclear family the Home Minister looks after the HRD department as well. And an increase in headcount did lead to the shrinking of her free time.

To help maintain the balance, I started participating more in the homely duties.

As it turns out, there are a 100-things to be done at home, daily.
And the list only grows everyday.

Working in a private organization also does have its commitments. And at times, it simply overwhelms the schedule.

Luckily, we found a dependable housemaid. This did help offload some pressure from the extended household chores.

Today, my wife, with our little daughter, has gone to visit her far-away native. And for me, being alone at home is bliss.
After a long time, I found myself humming a song to me!

Mixed in this happiness is the un-mistakable longing for my family. Have I started missing them already?

Finnish mosquitoes

by Jenni Liikanen
[She is a student in Keuruu, Finland]

FOOD

Karjalanpiirakka (Karelian pasty)
These are a traditional Easters' speciality but nowadays they are served at many hotel breakfast buffets. They are made of rye dough n filled with rice porridge or potato. They are normally heated and served with chopped eggs and butter.

Mustamakkara
This food is related to a similar kind of pudding served in England and Ireland. It´s colour results from the blood that´s it´s main ingredient. It´s especially popular in Finland´s third biggest town, Tampere, where people buy it from kiosks at market places and eat it with their fingers!

Mämmi
This food looks perhaps the strangest and most off-putting to foreigners. It´s made from rye flour, malt and water, seasoned with orange peel n baked in the oven. It resembles porridge or pudding. It tastes sweet, but some people put sugar on it before eating it with cream.

CUSTOMS
Here v have the custom to put our utensils at four o´clock on our plate when we are done. If we put them on each side of plate that usually means we want more food. When we go to visit some friend´s house we take our shoes off when we entering the house.

SANTA CLAUS
Lives in finnish Lapland near to Rovaniemi.

FORESTS
About 35% of all the EU´s forest areas are in Finland. The forests are a great natural resource and are used for commercial purposes like making paper, but protecting the environment is also an important question in the use of the forests. The finnish state owns large areas of forest and many of them are nature conservation areas.

SAUNA
Almost every Finn has a sauna about once a week and families go there together. First the sauna stones are heated and then water is thrown on them to create steam. The traditional Finnish sauna was in a small wooden building, close to a lake. The bathers first took a steam bath and then dived into the cool water of the lake or in winyer, rolled in the snow. Nowadays many homes have an electric sauna with a shower room for washing.

FINNISH WIVES & MOSQUITOES
There have also been world championships in mosquito killing in Pyhätunturi. The official world record from 1995 stands at 21 mosquitoes in 5 minutes. The very first games, if we can call that a game, were held in 1993. In the year 1996 it was impossible to hold the championships ´cos of the lack of mosquitoes!

Sonkajärvi has become well-known all over the world as the avenue of The Wife Carrying World Championships. The wacky idea is Sonkajärvi´s very own. The length of the course is 253.5 meters and it includes a number of dry and wet obstacles. The current record stands at 1 min 4.5 sec. The winning style was to carry the wife on one´s shoulders like a sack of rye. The winning couple won a stack of prizes including a mobile phone, a heap of rye bread and-most importantly-the wife´s weight in beer!!