On parties and things like that...

Sunday, November 2, 2008

This is one post that has been long overdue.

I promised to update you all on how my trip went.

Well..the trip went quite well. Thank you all for the words of encouragement after that last cribby post!

I was able to complete the task on time as per the plan. Thankfully, there were no glitches. This was only the first phase of the project...the rest would come some time in February or March once the customer is ready for the actual implementation. So, for now, it is waiting time.
There were no problems on the home front either...father daughter team managed quite well... even though the husband took instant revenge by taking off to China for 3 weeks(!!!) as soon as I got back!

This weekend,I arranged a birthday party for my daughter at home. She invited her friends from the school and the day care. We ordered a huge vanilla cake (she chose one that was shaped like a book!). I planned a few party games and ordered Happy Meals for the kids from Mc Donalds. I wouldn't have dared to do a party on my own while the hubby was travelling...but since the brother-in-law and the cousin brother were around to help out with the decorations, picking up the cake and the food and for general helping around, it was no trouble at all...

The party was sheer fun! I was a little doubtful about the games I had chosen...but I need not have been!!! Kids these days are so amazingly smart that they never fail to amaze us elders!

I realised that I had totally underestimated them while planning the games. We had a game where the teams had to pick a piece of paper in which an occupation was written...you know...like doctor, nurse, postman, policeman. The kids were divided into two teams and one person from the team had to do a dumb charade of the occupation he/she picks up. The others in the team had to guess! Being old fashioned, I had picked simple stuff like doctor, dancer, postman, teacher ...and the kids were making guesses like immigration department...banker...chef!!!! Oh dear....we adults were put to shame!!!

And how the kids talk!!! There was one little guy who wanted to win every game...by hook or by crook! He tried to bribe me...refused to have 'babies' in his team (Couple of kids had brought their younger siblings along)...blamed his team when they couldn't guess what he was doing in the charades game...made up brilliant stuff in the 'I spy' game...just kept shocking and amusing us elders in turns!!! We couldn't help but wonder how he would turn out in a few years' time out in the real world!

And there was this little 7 year old girl who, as she was leaving after the party, touched the chain I was wearing and said 'Nice pendant, aunty'...sounding so much like a young lady!!! It took me a few seconds to find my senses and thank her for her appreciation!

The end result of the party is a lot of yummy cake,chocolate milk and ice cream in my refrigerator... to test my willpower!!!!

Career Cribs!!!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

I have been doubting my abilities.

Ever since I started working some 10 years ago, my work has been appreciated. I have been told that I am sincere, committed and pay attention to detail. My superiors have always loved having me in their team. I have been given tasks with the confidence that I will complete it on time and with quality. The current job has been no exception. The latest compliment I received from my big boss, the VP, was that the company needs clones of me!!!

But recently, I started doubting if my way was the best way after all.

Like I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I have a challenging assignment coming up. It is challenging because it is outside the scope of my current profile and hence I have not been trained for it and I have not done it before. I know I can do it with some extra preparation from my side. But the problem is that for me to do my work well, there are some dependent tasks that someone else has to do. Also, even if not a formal training, I need someone to answer my questions and clear my doubts while I do my preparation. This has not been planned. No one has been planned for any of this. The reasons for this is manifold and not worth going into here... let us just say ignorance and a lot of politics!

So what has been happening is that I have to use my personal relationships with people and my inherent charm to get any help! I tell you, it is exasperating! It is just not fair that I have to be begging and waiting for the things that I feel is my right to have! But unfortunately, the other people are also justified in doing what they are doing...and me being born into this zodiac sign that stands for justice, cannot help but see that.

My experience has been that however tough is the task at hand, if you prepare well for it and remember God, you come out successful. This has been my experience right from school to this day. It is another matter that I prepare only just in time for the task. But I prepare all right! I don't know if I am right...I could just be very lucky.

But in this case, I had started feeling quite helpless! And if I am not prepared for the task, I get tense and worried. I am not one of those cool guys who just walk in ready to face anything that happens. I started thinking that I probably should be like that! My husband also said that sometimes you just have to be cool and stop wanting to be perfect in everything that you do. I felt that maybe he was right...maybe I should just stop worrying and trying to get help and do what I can with what I have.

But I was not able to stop worrying and so what I have been doing is to make the best use of what I have. Do whatever I can do on my own or get help from what little sources I have available.

But now things have slowly started falling into place. I have been able to get my hand on the product set up that I am going to use and do some testing on it. It will not be complete till the moment I start my work but still I have started feeling better. And yesterday the very people who were unable to help me were surprised that I had been doing my preparation with whatever limited resources I have and even paid me a compliment saying they wished they had more people like me in the team. It did not make me feel good but at least I was glad to know that my way is not totally wrong!

Personally also, I think this experience has helped me. I have found out who my real friends are. I know now who would help me for my sake and who would only do things if they have an advantage in doing it. Even when it comes to work, it is nice to have friends on whom you know you can depend.

It certainly doesn't help matters that to complete this task, I have to travel to another country and stay there for 10 days leaving my family to fend for themselves. I haven't stayed away this long before leaving the father and daughter alone. For all I know, though he doesn't lift a little finger when I'm around, he is going to do a better job than me when I'm gone. Men are like that! :) I hope they don't learn to manage without me... I like to feel needed and important!

So, finally, what all this rambling amounts to is that I'm off on this official trip starting next week...and will be away for a few days! Will let you all know how it went once I get back!

Just some random thoughts....

Sunday, September 21, 2008

I am so bored!

I have nothing interesting or challenging to do. In fact, there is a very challenging assignment looming ahead, but the dates are uncertain. The planned date for that work has been getting extended for the last 3 weeks and I still do not know when it will come. In the meanwhile, I have nothing to do but prepare myself for the task coming up....And it's so difficult to find the motivation for the preparation without a date or a deadline!

So far, I had been finding this job interesting. It had a little bit of everything in it. A little bit of business development, a little bit of presales, a little bit of administration, a little bit of consultancy, a little bit of project management. I usually stay motivated as long as I find myself learning something new. But suddenly, I find that missing. I'm not sure if it is just a temporary slowdown. I hope it is.

It also does not help in anyway that of my two best online companions, one is totally offline and the other is terribly busy!

So, I decided to improve my mind and do some serious reading. Business articles and stuff.

I really liked two of the articles I read in The McKinsey Quarterly.

One was on how talented women thrive in leadership or career. The first point the article spoke about was that we should try and make our work more meaningful. It said that we should be honest with ourselves on what we are good at and then build those things into our everyday activities. Sounded good, I thought.

So what am I good at? Honestly!!! Based on my experience so far, I think I'm good at dealing with people. I usually am trusted and liked by superiors, subordinates, peers and customers. I am good at communicating using different modes - emails, documents, conference calls, presentations. I prepare well and work hard. I am good at learning new stuff.

I need to improve a lot in terms of planning, handling commercial stuff, negotiation and a whole lot of stuff like that.

Considering these, I think many of my strengths do play a significant role in my current profile - like presentation, customer/prospect handling and communication. What I miss is just having lot of people around me.

The other article spoke about business technology trends to watch out for.

In the recent time, I think my attitude towards entrepreunership has undergone a change.

Having been brought up in a family with only 'working' people and no 'business' people, I have had this dread for anything risky that doesn't bring a regular monthly income. But now, I think I'm more open to the idea.

For one, I sincerely feel that one should make a career out of what one loves to do. And for another, I think that if the end is good, it would justify the means. What I mean is that if you are successful at what you are doing, no one would care how you reached there. And if you have great ideas backed by a solid plan of execution, why should it not work?

This other article spoke of how modern technology and communication would help new businesses to thrive. It spoke of co-creation of a product by people or teams that are geographically separated. It spoke of how a business can make use of freelancers anywhere in the world to get the work done.

There is so much more opportunity these days for people with innovative ideas and plans. Wouldn't it be so thrilling to have one of your pet ideas succeed!!!

So how would it be if I went into freelance software development???

All in a day's work!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Phew! I feel like I've been running a relay where all the four runners are me! The last two weeks have been such that before I complete one task, I need to pick up the next and run! And each task required lot of preparation! So after lot of sleepless nights, neglecting the family and not blogging, I have finally got a small respite.

The trouble is there is nothing to show for all this work that goes in. Except the back and shoulder pain, of course! You get a prospect that looks good. You work day and night trying to answer all their questions, give several demos, study their requirements, work on the estimates, make a proposal that you think will suit them. Finally, they look at it and say 'too expensive'! Just like that!

You must remember that right from day one I’d have requested them, cajoled them and begged them to give me SOME idea of their budget. At least if their budget is low, we can avoid doing all this work! But no! Nobody tells their budget! They think that their budget is going to be higher than what we would quote and we will get a good deal out of them. Finally what is their budget? Some one-tenth of the price of our software! People here think ERP product can be bought like potatoes and tomatoes across the counter!

Well, it sure feels good to crib!!! Thank God my salary is not linked to the sales I make!

On top of all this, I go for two days to another country on an official trip, secretly wanting the hubby to realize all the work I’ve been doing at home while he sleeps in the mornings. I come back expecting him to throw up his hands and say, ‘oh, you superwoman! How have you been doing all this work all these years?’ And what do I find? Father and daughter content and happy in each others company! And the daughter shamelessly even says she didn’t miss me!

‘Kya family hai’….as Juhi Chawla says in one of those ads!

Summer showers!!!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

I feel like I have been drenched in a cool shower of summer rains!!! You are wondering how I can feel that way at 2:00 pm in May in Dubai???? No.. no... it is not another experiment conducted here by the Met. department that gave us some artificial rain a few days back! This is different... this is of the mind!!! This has come about as a result of a one-to-one rendezvous with a very handsome guy! Ah!! Now you all understand! At least the ladies do, I bet!!!

Hey, no! Don't raise your eyebrows at me! It is only fair!!!

Imagine roaming around in the scorching desert sun wearing a black blazer meeting strange people and convincing them to buy a software product. Imagine reaching 15 minutes late for meetings, thanks to the Dubai traffic and having to smile and apologize and tell them why they still need to like you and your product. Imagine keeping a sympathetic face while listening to them pour out their budgetary troubles and reasons why you should give them the 'best' price...while all the time your poor brain is working hard wondering what points to put forth to the boss and the sceptical people in India who give the estimates.Imagine working as a sales person who needs to give a good price to the prospects and win orders while actually you are a techno-functional person who knows what the product can (and cannot) do and how the same begging user would change colours and become absolutely demanding during the implementation phase!

So even though I am not young any more, on the wrong side of 30 and rushing at break-neck pace towards 40 (as PS put it in one of her posts)...I think it's okay to feel good about having a young, good looking guy listen to what I have to say with rapt attention for 2 whole hours, even though I was only talking about Master production schedules, chart of accounts and warehouse management!!! What do you say????