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Life Coach - Kaikaku - 17 - Bargaining power

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:58:00 +0000

Again a blog that starts in different directions only to merge later. Sometimes I feel this is a pattern of my life too. I dabble in completely unrelataed things and somehow, somewhere they are all related. Seems like there is a unseen coordinated pattern running the show and I am only the player acting it out.

1. I drive an Altima Nissan. It is a lower end car which serves my need of transportation. One good thing about this car and many other cars in the same class is their ability to inform the driver of any possible malfunction in addition to service reminders - misfiring, my battery starting to die down, seat belt not fastened, doors not shut completely and things of such nature. All I do is take it to the service center where they connect a meter which reads the code and I know what exactly needs to be fixed. Expensive cars come with more functions / alerts / warnings.

2. Wal Mart exerts a lot of influence over its suppliers. If it says that they should introduce RFID on the pellets for easier stock taking and inventory control, they do it. If Wal Mart wants sandwich bag makers to sell their stuff unbranded, they do it.

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2010/02/score-another-one-for-the-good-guys.html If they want cereal makers to drop their prices due to recession, they do it by making the boxes smaller removing the excess volume of emptiness that make the boxes bigger and occupy shelf space.

3. I recently had the opportunity to try a Kevlar bullet proof jacket. It was so light. I remember my RR bullet proof of ceramic plates. It weighed around 16 kg including the groin guard and patka and we had to walk the hills of Doda with it. Kevlar was so light in comparison - around 6 kg and flexible too.

4. I recently purchased a jacket to face the Canadian winters. It had pockets in the right place - a pocket on the arm sleeve for my keys, a slant pocket for cell phone, a pocket for wallet, Ipod, camera, internal chamber for Ipod wires so that they do not dangle around. It was a well designed jacket apart from the fact that it was water proof, warm for temperatures upto minus 30 C, machine washable and so light. Then I remembered my RR jacket and parka - heavy, voluminous, pockets ill designed.

5. I purchased a hat - it fits snugly on the head and has floppy sides with in built detachable parka, has a mesh for breathing, chin strap, it protects the forehead (rigid flap) as well as the back of the neck from the sun (floppy flap), etc.

6. I buy an item in Wal Mart, Target, Kohls or any big super store. If it does not work the way it should be, I can return the item to any of its branches across US - unconditionally. Now consider our Canteen Stores Department - I bought a heating pad and the element failed, a food processor whose bearings wore out within 3 months. I had to take it to the service center for repairs. In case of the processor there was no service center in Mumbai.

Defence services are a big market to any supplier. It is sometimes a wonder what our bargaining power is. Is it just in getting items cheaper than the market rates? Why do we not use our bargaining power for insisting that manufacturers provide us features that we need. Could an air bag have saved Jitender Pandit's life? I dont know. But I have seen at least 3 army jeep accidents that have been fatal wherein an air bag could have make a difference.

The more I browse through stores both virtual and online, the more I see and relate to what we can do better with our bargaining power. Let me blog top of the mind things.

1. Vehicles with options of seat belts, alerts, air bags, service reminders

2. CSD - unconditional return of defective items

3. Clothes well designed, hats, jackets, trousers, pitthu- functional and utilitarian

4. Tents, bivouacs, store tents, pandals for mandir/gurudwara parades/langars/raising day that are light, easy to install and durable and keep sun and cold out depending on what you want

5. Tools for tradesmen - for example pneumatic drills, nail guns, laser levellers, spray painting guns, tons of tools that I can think of

6. Bullet proofs - Kevlar based http://www.ktsm.com/news/bulletproof-clothing

7. Air proof coffins / body bags- sorry about that, but we do need it if we want the body to reach the home with least deterioration

8. Fuel pumps for pumping fuel fast and without leakage

9. Electric meat cutting slicers, coconut scrapers, electric knives and other kitchen equipment http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1835665&cp=2568443.2568448.2626057.1259989

10. Steam press http://www.unbeatablesale.com/re114.html?srccode=cii_11138&cpncode=23-75314384-2 Most of the commerical operators use such kind of press. It takes 30 seconds to press a trouser and maybe a minute for a shirt at the most.

And I repeat that we can get them at the same price as before, if we only ask for them. Or we can build a business case of efficiency and hence total cost of ownership if needed.

The issue here is not whether we need these features or not, but more about do we really know our bargaining power and are we making use of it.

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 16 - Innovation Center continued

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:32:00 +0000

The following edited comment from Rajesh Snehi is precisely what makes it important to create an Innovation Center.

"Due to the steep hierarchy, there is a problem with the ideas reaching the right person for further action. In the IAF an officer is required to submit a service paper along with his AR mandatorily. If he so desires, he may choose to put up a service paper every week. But the problem, in my opinion lies in the focus shifting from the merit of the idea to the quality of service writing. Secondly, most of the time no feedback is received of those papers that are forwarded up in the chain. Thirdly, in today’s fast paced world, it takes a long time..."

There will be problems that we have to handle - how to motivate people to contribute, what should be the reward and recognition policy, how to ensure quality over quantity, but these are normal with every organization and easy to overcome. First comes the intention, next the desire and lastly the plan to execute.

So what should be the plan to move this forward?

Establishment of an innovation center

The establishment of an innovation support structure has two phases

Elaboration of strategic directions; and
Operational planning and implementation.

Elaboration of strategic direction

The elaboration of a strategic direction for the innovation support structure would comprise the following activities:

identify a possible general manager or coordinator;
define objectives of center (with general manager or coordinator);
define the center’s corporate structure;
define participants (stake-holders) in innovation structure (network) or innovation center;

identify government agencies (departments of industry and technology);
identify universities and other public R&D organizations;
identify banks and other financial institutions;
identify private persons and organizations;

define the board membership;
define the activities of the innovation support structure;
innovation awareness advertising;
training and awareness seminars for inventors/researchers/associates;
invitations to inventors/researchers/associates to submit proposals;
evaluation of project potential of submitted inventions/innovations (technical & commercial);
selection of projects with success potential (and rejection of non-viable projects);
development of commercialization strategies (business plans);
management advice for project development and commercialization;
internet site with information on center and links to other relevant sites;
technology to enable idea capture, collaboration, records management, work flow documentation, approval process, project management

Operational planning and implementation

Operational planning and implementation of the plan for establishment of the innovation support structure (network, center) would include the following activities:

recruitment of Innovation Champion by the Board;
identification of site/premises for offices of the Innovation support structure
formulate policies and procedures for operations;
policy relating to initial free consultation (e.g. 1 hr. duration);
policy on further support (e.g. project equity, note fee by Center);
produce a check-list to assist Inventors/Researchers to submit proposals;
produce a score sheet to facilitate project evaluation;
select local advisers to innovation support structure;
select project assessment panel and seek views on checklist and score sheet;
select accountants and auditors for Innovation Center;
select legal advisers for Innovation Center;
identify technical experts to assist in project evaluation;
develop and apply pro-forma and model agreements;
pro-forma confidential disclosure agreement;
pro-forma supply of materials agreement;
pro-forma assignment of rights;
model R&D, license, and joint venture agreements;
create and publish internet site with information on innovation support services and links to other relevant sites;
engagement of business development executives

Typical list of policies and procedures (not comprehensive)

Innovation policy
Innovation center vision document
Innovation center handbook
Innovation framework
Innovation training policy
Idea approval process
Budget approval process
Innovation project management process
Kill gate criteria
Rewards and recognition policy
Intellectual property management
Third party vendor involvement
Non disclosure agreements
Security policy
Business continuity and disaster recovery policy
IT Infrastructure and management policy

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 15 - Innovation Center Framework for the Defence Services

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:16:00 +0000

Just 2 examples

DCB - Ditch-cum-bund defence was a master stroke in warfare planning. It was innovative thinking when it was first thought of and put into practice. We still rely on it decades later.

Clearing of mines and obstacles by air delivered explosive is another innovation that would be appreciated by Corp of Engineers

Innovation is what separates the winner from the pack. It is all about constant rethinking - redesigning - rebuilding and back to rethinking. Invention is about -ideas made manifest - cash into ideas. Innovation is about - ideas applied successfully - ideas into cash

While in Satyam (now Mahindra Satyam) we used a tool called Idea Junction wherein associates were encouraged to submit ideas. Tons of ideas were generated and each was useful in its own merit. I was involved in setting it up in two ways - defining a framework for proactive continuous business improvement by setting up a six sigma channel and managing the framework for reactive business improvements via the employee suggestions.

While in Army, I used to think of crazy stuff all the time - product innovations, service innovations, process innovations and would keep sending my ideas to what I thought was the correct authority. For example if an officer gets a Charlie grading in the course, he pays for the costs incurred. Attendance for PT is voluntary as long as you have excellent gradings in quartely BPET and PPT tests. Using civilian mechanics for painting a water trailer than sending it away for 3 months to an Army Base Wksp. Everyday I would come up with an idea and send it to the respective authority. I never received any confirmation on what happened to my ideas. I hope that some day we have an Innovation center for the defence services that taps the amazing potential of the soldiers and officers.

This blog is about setting up of an Innovation Center. Why do we need an Innovation Center?

Problems encountered while handling innovations

Lack of right incentives to contribute
A significant work needs to be done to refine the original idea
Lack of methods of socialization of the idea to a wide audience
Lack of availability of experts to vet the ideas
Lack of structured processes in place to drive transparency, metrics and collaborations
Long lead times

Is there any way this innovation activity can be accomplished in a practical manner. Innovation is not about one crazy scientist slogging away in his lab and emerging years later with a revolutionary product. Innovation is about constant improvements big and small as a result of a focused effort.

Innovations could be

Incremental
Emergent
Radical

And innovations can affect

Products
Processes
Paradigm
Position

The life cycle of an innovation starts with an idea and flows through the following phases

Strategize: Origin of an idea
Capture and Publish Idea: Preliminary review and categorization or re-categorization
Evaluate: Detailed review and creation of a business case
Define: Creation of a project based on the business case
Execute: Successful execution of the project or proof of concept
Transition: Transition of the project into mainstream
Review and closure

Origin of the ideas: Ideas for innovation / innovation pipeline can emerge from two sources

Proactive - formal business planning system as a result of a business plan or a strategic innovation strategy
Reactive - suggestion scheme - which generally is a part of the continuous business improvement schema

The proactive sources are

Formal R&D planning
Annual business planning
Periodic / quarterly / six monthly innovation workshop
Continuous improvement programme
Customer insights
Employment strategy

The reactive sources are

Competition analysis
Market benchmarking not necessarily competition
Employment suggestion scheme
Customer feedback

Review - preliminary and detailed: Ideas are reviewed for merit

Preliminary review and forward to appropriate department
Detailed review by the appropriate department followed by a decision

The decision could be

Idea is rejected because it is not valid
Idea is rejected because it has already been implemented
Idea is rejected because it has been suggested already and is in implementation state
Idea is waiting on clarifications
Idea is accepted and taken to next step of project initiation

Business case creation: An accepted idea should meet the following categor

Valuable - it should add value to the organization
Feasible - it should be within means or doable
Acceptable - should be in line with the organizations' objectives
Worthy - sustainable over long term

An accepted idea could fit into any of the below categories

Doing what we do better

Business as usual
Business process improvement
Existing product improvement

New to the enterprise

New product development
New market development

New to the world

New business development

Project implementation: This is where the rubber meets the road. Or this is where the idea falls apart or makes it through to success. Based on my experience I developed a 30-20-10 % rule. Out of every 1000 ideas, 300 ideas were selected. Of these 300 only 60 made it to prototype level and only 6 were highly successful. Truly transformational ideas were very rare. Most were at incremental improvement levels.

Till now I was talking of the Ideation Management Life Cycle. Let me take a step aside to define the framework. To enable the innovation circus to function seamlessly (circus because there are are so many events happening simultaneously and seamlessly transitioning from one act to another) we need a framework. The framework should address the 4 questions

Are we doing the correct thing? - strategic alignment
Are we doing it the correct way? - architecture
Are we getting them done well? - delivery
Are we getting the results? - value

The Innovation framework should support the enterprise goal of

Creating optimal value from innovations at an affordable cost, with an acceptable level of risk
Guided by a set of principles applied to the innovation processes
Enabled by key management practices
Measured by performance against goals and metrics

There are 4 levels at which this framework needs to be built

Innovation Governance
Portfolio Management
Investment management
Delivery management

Innovation Governance

The goal is to ensure that innovation practices are embedded in the enterprise.

Establish the innovation governance framework that is fully integrated with overall enterprise governance
Provide strategic direction for the investment decisions
Monitor the effectiveness of the overall innovation governance framework and supporting processes and recommend improvements as appropriate
Integrate the innovations across the enterprise

Portfolio Management

The goal is to ensure that innovations are treated as portfolios for example incremental / radical / revolutionary

Establish the strategic direction for investments, the resources and funding constraints within which decisions must be made
Evaluate and prioritize programs within resource and funding constraints, based on their alignment with strategic objectives, business worth and risk
Monitor and report the performance of the overall portfolio
Optimize

Investment Management

The goal is to ensure that the investments contribute to optimal value

Develop and evaluate the initial innovation business case
Understand the candidate innovation idea and implementation options
Develop the plan
Develop the full life cycle and benefits
Develop the detailed candidate innovation idea business
Launch and manage the program
Monitor and report
Close the program

Delivery Management

Once the innovation program based on an idea is launched it will fall within the ambit of Delivery Management. This is about managing scope, quality, cost, time, resources, integration, etc. Typically the processes fall under 4 domains

Plan and organize
Acquire and implement
Deliver and support
Monitor and evaluate

What the framework assists is in

Discipline based innovation - merit, transparency quality, impact and urgency
Optimize R&D by spending and incubating investments
Culture of innovation
Increased speed of innovation process
Enable collaboration

Most of the blogs in this Kaikaku series seem far fetched. For me I am using most of this knowledge almost on a daily basis due to the nature of my job - enabling clients to serve their customers better. Knowledge is useful irrespective of its origin. Our defence services can leap frog the process by tapping into such knowledge.

Life coach - Kaikaku - 14 - Numb3rs

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:20:00 +0000

This blog starts on 4 different tracks only to merge on the intent of this blog.

President Obama in his recent press statement said India and China are fast covering the economic ground because they are good at Maths and Science.
My favorite shows on TV are House, Medium, Numb3rs apart from History Channel and Discovery Channel. Numb3rs is about a mathematician named Charles who uses maths to help FBI to solve cases.
In CME Professor Mohanty was teaching us summation of an infinite series that randomly either increases or decreases. I stopped him and asked him where is this useful in real life. Everything that I learnt had to be related with real life or it meant I simply did not understand it (my mental block in learning). He explained it in simple terms. An electric fuse is designed to work within a range of varying voltage. The fuse should trip between a set of values to avoid damage to the equipment. The voltage at any time is a random fluctation around the mean of 230V. The series will help to identify the lower and upper ratings and design an optimal fuse.
Geographic profiling is an investigative support technique for serial violent crime. The process was developed from research conducted at Simon Fraser University, and the methodology is based on a model that describes offenders' hunting behavior. The patented criminal geographic targeting algorithm produces jeopardy surfaces, which are 3-D probability surfaces that indicate the most likely area of offender residence.The models are displayed through 3-D and 2-D color isopleth maps that provide a focus for investigative efforts. Read more on http://www.txstate.edu/gii/geographicprofiling.html

The ability of maths to solve problems in business and defence is well known. We use standard formulaes for statistical sampling, confidence ratios, rejection of hypothesis, EOQs, trajectory paths for missiles, etc. But I haven't seen the defence forces using them to solve the problems which could make our life easier and effective.

Let us take a simple example of militants in J&K. There are so many groups operating in J&K and each group has teams of various sizes. The areas for operation are roughly well defined between the members of a particular group. Based on the interceptions and intelligence gathered from the locals / informants, using mathematics we should be able to create geoprofiles of the various groups and the exact areas of operations. Groups typically stay within their areas due to availability of local support and familiarity of terrain. If I were to add the factor of voice recognition to the intercepted calls and the geoprofile of the group, I can come up with 90% confidence interval of the group operating, the number of members and other sundry details. Will it help me catch militants - that is the point of doing all this? Maths wont catch the militant but will increase the probability.

If I can match the geoprofile with voice recognition and triangulation of the origin of voice, I can cordon and search the areas in a focussed manner. It is no wonder that most of our cordon and search operations end up busting the knee grease especially if we are in a place like Doda - all mountains and valleys.

Extend the logic of numbers and I could predict which vehicles or weapons will fail inspection. The power of mathematics is amazing if we learn to apply it to our daily life duties. Sometimes I feel that what we lack is the awareness that we can use knowledge that we have.

Life coach - Kaikaku - 13 - IT Vision 2015 for Defence Services

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:17:00 +0000

Information technology and its consequential transformation of organizations is here to stay. It is only a matter of time before our forces climb aboard the bandwagon.

At the minimum - nothing transformational just incremental improvements in efficiency

No longer does the clerk have to submit the Part II orders by post to CDA or the various Regimental HQs.
No longer does theQM / MT / Tech clerk need to submit demand through IO mail or there is no printed IO mail. Auto update of demands that have not materialised.
Precourse training for various courses can be online and course notes / manuals are available on demand. YOs handbook, D&M, RSO, whatever be the course - there is no need to take notes
Clothing for soldiers is managed electronically irrespective of which units they are located when the due date arrives
Weapon inspection, vehicle inspection, document inspection - all records are electronic, reminders auto generated, escalations automatic - but someone does need to do the inspection manually
The list could go on and on, but back to my vision

In next 5 years, I foresee the start of the transformation. And I hope that we are ready to get it right the first time. Hopefully if any of you are involved in any manner with the IT transformation, I would be honored if my focus areas pave the road-map. Each of the focus areas is an areas of expertise in itself and would need highly specialized skills.

These are my top 10 2015 focus areas

Client - server / thin - client / zero client architecture: All the terminals in the individual companies / platoons / offices will be dumb terminals. The main computing will happen at the server which would be housed in a secure environment - maybe near the Quarter Guard.
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI): An extension of point 1 where the technology virtualizes a desktop and stores it on the remote central server. By making desktops and data more uniform and available, its possible to weather a natural or human disruption with minimal downtime or loss in productivity.
Mobile enterprise - mobility, telecommuting and virtual meetings: Many of you use blackberrys / iphones and it is so easy to get work done. In my previous engagement I was travelling from Baltimore to Phoenix a 5 hours flight with 1 hour early checkin, I was getting 5 hours of work done before reaching the destination. With netbooks becoming ubiquitous managing mobile devices and ensuring tight security would be a major concern.
Private cloud computing: Due to security concerns public cloud computing is not feasible, but private cloud computing is possible
Software as a service (SaaS) strategy: This would include selecting the right provider, draft the contract, having an exit strategy, managing the relationship, interoperability and integration, etc
Right sourcing and vendor consolidation: With most of the IT work being performed by vendors due to obvious reasons like expertise and economies of scale and scope, right sourcing is critical. And the ability to maintain security with use of vendors needs to be managed right. Again the right mix of vendors to prevent dependency on few as well as to encourage competition is a challenge
Green data centers with scalability and flexibility options : If we can start on the green note the very first time designing for a scalable and flexible architecture, we will do the right thing
Business intelligence and predictive analytics: With the enormous amount of data that is available, it should be easy to predict failures of machinery, planning for trainings, economic order quantities for supplies, linear programming that generates optimum correlation for depots and units, etc
Business continuity and disaster recovery transition from peace to war: The ability to operate in Peace as well as War zones and maintain a predetermined standard of services
Information security: Training, policies and audits - automated and physical is the way to go

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 12 - Checklist for whether the defence forces can be a super power

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:45:00 +0000

When I was 10 years and Chandamama used to rock, I read a story of a King whose general retires. He has to choose between two equally good deputies. He decides to rotate them for a year each in the post of the general. General A brings around innovation in training, tactics, improvises and improves weaponry - does everything possible. General B takes over the command and restores the army to its golden era to what existed before General A took over. The enemy king attacks and General B defeats the enemy - it is a sounding defeat though a few lives are lost.
Betal asks Vikram "Who does the King appoint as the General and why?"
Vikram answers "The King appoints General A because during his one year tenure, the enemy dare not raise its hood".

The best defence forces are those who the enemy fears even to tread on their toes.

I guess this 10 things in my checklist capture every possible dimension of whether we are that defence forces - politics or not, corruption levels or not, lack of attracting talent or not - if we set our minds we can achieve it.

Are we passionate and confident of taking on any adversary in any theater? Apne gali mein to kutta bhi sher hota hai.
Do we focus on maintaining a competitive advantage in whatever gives us that necessary confidence? Be it telecommunications, weaponry, training, tactics, experience - whatever be the case.
Do we pursue operational excellence? A minute spent that does not build the competitive advantage is anti operational excellence.
Do we ensure rapid and sustained cost management? A rupee spent in pursuit of endeavours that do not help is a rupee lost from pursuing point 4. With budget constraints and more important with World Bank and IMF dictating how much percent of budget should be spent on defence, every rupee matters.
Think outside the box to ensure point 3 & 4? We have to think beyond the normal to harness the respect that is ordained for the great.
Look for unprecedented opportunities to build ourselves.
Remember that training is the king. We can fool ourselves by being the most trained army on paper (as my company commander used to say).
Focus on long term perspectives and keep the end in mind always.
Take our understanding what can make the enemy lose to new levels. If we have to fight them in air, water, land or in mind or in UN or in relationship to their allies or morally - what will ensure that we will win. The war is often won even before it is fought physically.
Build leadership and organizational capabilities to ensure all the points above. A wave of leaders after leaders who can ensure that no one dares even raise an eye on us.

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 11 - Roti, kapda aur makan

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:48:00 +0000

In my previous blog I spoke about kapda via the waterless washing machine. Let me address the roti (literally) today.

In my langar with a dining strength of 80 troops present at any time (our company strength was 216) we made roughly 600 chapattis for every lunch and dinner and 200 puris for every breakfast. A total of 4+1 people would start 2 to 3 hours earlier to get the meals out in time. Of these 2 would be cooks and balance would be the combatant soldiers from the platoon rotation and they would be assisted by the langar commander. A huge number of man-hours spent in making puris and chapattis. If we multiply this number by total number of units in peace ...

Krispy Kreme is famous for selling donuts. What they are more famous for is their automatic donut machine. Their donuts go very well with cold full fat milk. Watch this video for the donut machine.

Back to rotis. I buy rotis from Costco and came across a program "How things work?" in Discovery channel where they showed how these rotis are made with machines - kneading the dough, rolling them out, roasting them. Compared to the rotis made in langar these are quite good - not dry, soft, do not become rubbery after a few hours. And I keep them outside for a week without them going bad.

So why cannot each unit be provided such an automatic roti maker - it can make 2000 rotis per hour. In 2 hours we can have rotis for the entire unit ready. Add a fryer machine at the end and puris are a breeze. We go back to hand cooking once units are in field / exercise areas. But during peace posting spending those valuable hours on cooking food is wrong focus.

I have seen GOC asking for innovations - I hope that someone among you can point this innovation - I had not known about it till I saw Krispy Kreme and then the Discovery programme. Is it costly? No, not at all. And on a volume scale the prices could be driven down further.

It is important that we place the value of time or more important the opportunity cost associated with every soldier.

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 10 - Value conversations

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:55:00 +0000

Everything that we do revolves around value. Either we are adding value, maintaining value or destroying it.

For e.g. our time has value. If we do not use it correctly we are destroying its value. If we use it operationally we are maintaining value and if we use it strategically or in a transformation we are creating value.

As a CGEIT (Certified in Governance of Enterprise IT) I consult in value governance. Recently CIO of CISCO Rebecca Jacoby spoke on her interactions with CEO John Chambers on the topic of value conversations.

In many of my projects the five value conversations that we have revolve around

Strategic alignment - does each group understand its objective partnership, what are the strategic imperatives of each group (do we know what is the right thing)
Portfolio planning - given a choice of options available are we selecting the correct one based on costs, risks and change management (are we doing the right thing)
Operational efficiency - audit of cost, quality, impact (are we doing it in an optimal manner)
Continuous improvement - how do we ensure 1 to 3 steps over and over again constantly improving with time

What I and my group do is create a system of processes and metrics that enables the client to understand where they measure - baseline existing reality, identify the gap with respect to the vision and define the roadmap to get there.

And all these conversations is what you should have with your reports and your IO should have with you. Imagine yourself as your Brigade Commander and formulate these questions for your Commanding Officers? What answers do you expect out of them? What do you see you need to educate the COs on?

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 9 - Live free or die hard

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:49:00 +0000

Firesale - most of us would associate this word with Bruce Willis in his Live Free or Die Hard movie. Incidentally Baltimore where all those scenes - freeways falling, F-35 plane chase, electricity hub - is where I live.

I was fascinated by the idea of the firesale comprising of 3 steps and have come up with a slightly different firesale than the movie on what the defence forces should be ready to deal with.

Step 1: Destroy telecommunication. If people cannot communicate with each other, you have got the first strike. Look at all the coordination, sharing of information, planning that you can deny or make it difficult with destroying telecommunication.

Step 2: Destroy public utilities. Electricity, MRTS (mass rapid transit system), water supply, whatever you can get your hands on - strike two. How long can morale be up when core utilities are destroyed.

Step 3: Destroy places of strategic importance - parliament, historical places, government offices - strike 3. These are institutions that people have faith in or are proud of. Once the pride collapses, defeat is near.

This brings up two questions:
1. Are we equipped to do so, do we have a plan and the ability to execute?
2. Are we equipped to prevent our adversary from doing so to us?

Many of you in future would rise in ranks and become Generals. I hope that you put into execution this idea, if someone has not thought of the firesale till then.

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 8 - Think in mind maps

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:12:00 +0000

While I was ISB I was introduced to mind maps. We had mind map training videos and it helped me jump start the learning. Now it is my favorite tool for brain storming, planning and execution. Mind map is a way I guess most of us think. Where it helps us is in able to capture the thought process visually.

Have a look at this mind map

http://www.mindmeister.com/34704025/a-career-in-software

or

http://itservicemngmt.blogspot.com/2007/10/itil-v3-mind-map-download.html

These are just samples.

So what is a mind map? I have lifted this definition from Wikipedia.

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.

The elements of a given mind map are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts, and are classified into groupings, branches, or areas, with the goal of representing semantic or other connections between portions of information. Mind maps may also aid recall of existing memories.

By presenting ideas in a radial, graphical, non-linear manner, mind maps encourage a brainstorming approach to planning and organizational tasks. Though the branches of a mindmap represent hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts the prioritizing of concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more linear visual cues. This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to enumerate and connect concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular conceptual framework.

The mind map can be contrasted with the similar idea of concept mapping. The former is based on radial hierarchies and tree structures denoting relationships with a central governing concept, whereas concept maps are based on connections between concepts in more diverse patterns.

I have used mind maps extensively in my consulting assignments - to understand client requirements, define scope of project, document limitations, execution, etc. I have used them to plan major disaster recovery exercises.

And since I detest information overload, I insist on one slide mind map presentation from my reports. Whatever you have to say, say it in one slide only.

I have used both paid and free version. This is my favourite free version from sourcforge.net

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/

I also came across this free version

http://vue.tufts.edu/index.cfm

I recommend using mind maps and asking your reports to use them to. A mind map can be made on a piece of paper - no need for any software. Try it once - u will luv it

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 7 - Leadership check list

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:39:00 +0000

Are you truly a leader? Here is a simple checklist that validates whether you or. I trust your honour code as you do not have to share your answers.

You have a vision - the vision for the COAS will be different from the vision for the CO. So how do you define what your vision should be? The vision is nothing but the reason for your existence.
You have a strategy to achieve the vision - most of the time I have no clue on the strategy, but what I do is start out on my perceived correct strategy, open myself for feedback and constantly course correct and at times give up my perceived strategy completely
You can evaluate talent with respect to implementation of the strategy - right man for the right job
You are able to mold your team to fit the roles - hand holding, micromanagement, mentoring and empowerment - whatever works
You are able to motivate your team - sam, dam, dand, bhed
You dont give up - persistence and patience

You are either a leader or are not. Whether you succeed or not is never the parameter of success. As Bill Gates in his recent interview said the he was simply at the right time and right place with right skills. Success was the mere outcome of the above 6 points.

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 6 - tastebook

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:46:00 +0000

I read that mixing 3 parts of wheat flour with 1 part of rice flour makes the roti soft for hours after preparation.
I did not like the rotis made in langar - they were not fully cooked or if cooked has black spots on them. The reason for this was the number of rotis that were to be cooked plus the scarcity of time to do so. I decided that instead of 6 inch rotis, we make 12 inch rotis and focus on cooking them properly.
Just 2 instances that made rotis of my langar palaptable.

Most of us have made some improvements in the langar house. For example Col Deshmukh tiled the walls, the floor and the ceiling of the butchery. A rotating shower at the top with a sloping floor and drains all around ensured cleanliness in minutes.

So if we could share our improvements in the cook house - an army marches on its stomach, we would all benefit.

Imagine feeding an army of 12 lacs strength at one go and the options available to meet the taste buds given the resources. We do actually feed an army of 12 lacs at one time, since most of us eat at the same time though we are separated spatially.
And it is a wonder that we still have the same menu that were there maybe 50 years back or at least 20 years when I ate the first time in an officer's mess. It means that in 20 years we have not evolved much in cooking.

I cook due to necessity. Indian food is costly in US, my wife works full time and we want our daughter to like Indian food. So I end up cooking at least a meal a day for the family. I frequent cooking blogs and search recipes. If I find a good one, I try it out and if it works out well, I store it for repetition in future in tastebook. com.

Imagine a repository of recipes used by various cook houses with the additional information on innovations. We can ensure good taste from the same ingredients. Will we need to teach our cooks to browse - why not. Will they learn - you will be surprised? I gave my RR cook a recipe book in Marathi with 500 recipes and asked him to make one daily with whatever was available. He put it to good use. In our 67 mess we sent our cook to work in a popular restaurant in the evenings. 2 weeks later he surprised us with his new found skills - the first dish we had from him was sizzler - I guess none of you have ever eaten this in the mess. The idea of the cook being sent out was of my CO. But it opened my eyes, that do not accept the mediocre. If officers feel that the hotels make better food then something is wrong with our cooks or us.

If we can create a similar tastebook.com for our cooks, the options are endless, decide what you want to eat, and it will tell you the exact raw materials, the calorie content, etc etc.

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 5 - Kindle

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:21:00 +0000

From my YOs till the time I left army, I attended a lot of courses and with each course added to my collection of notes. I had a trunk for my course notes. Add to it books from my IGNOU MBA and later ISB MBA, also my various certifications and now I have a closet of books. Do I need them? I dont know, but once in a while I come across some material and I know where to exactly find it.

Most of us go through YOs, two odd courses, JC, Staff College, SC, if in technical arms then degree courses and MTech. And we carry around books everywhere. Not to mention the fact that every institution needs to keep books, maintain physical inventory, repair them, discard them, etc.

Add to it the subscriptions for Defence Journals, IDSA, Part B and Part D exams and then sundry readings. Most of the time we dump the magazines and move forward. As a weapons officer I recollected an article I had read about an EME officer coating the weapons with a chemical that reduced carbon deposits. But I had read that article when I was a YO in a magazine that I failed to recollect. So my knowledge was wasted.

What could be a Kaikaku solution?

Enters the Kindle. I was travelling to Phoenix and my co-passenger had a Kindle and he was browsing books and magazines. I was intrigued and started researching on Kindle. So what is Kindle?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015T963C/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=4421533945&ref=pd_sl_19calxq4k4_e

Say Hello to the Newest Kindle

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
3G Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle
Global Coverage: Enjoy 3G wireless coverage at home or abroad in over 100 countries.
Paper-Like Display: Reads like real paper without glare, even in bright sunlight
Carry Your Library: Holds up to 1,500 books
Longer Battery Life: Now read for up to 1 week on a single charge with wireless on, a significant improvement from the previous battery life of 4 days
Built-In PDF Reader: Your Kindle can now display PDF documents natively.
Read-to-Me: With the experimental Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you
Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy
Large Selection: Over 400,000 books, including 101 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs.

Look at the implications for us. If every officer is issued a Kindle when he is commissioned there is no need to issue books, write notes, carry them around, etc. An officer attends a course, the books get downloaded to his Kindle. He can read them. They can be downloaded even before he starts on the course. He can use the Kindle to highlight points, make notes. About 25% of the time spent in making notes can be spent on understanding them. Where ever the posting the officer has his notes with him, easily accessible. Any improvements in say mine laying drills can be posted as RSS feeds. The whole concept of studying would be different.

What do you think?

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 4 - Washing without water

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:30:00 +0000

I came across this machine is one of my research projects. I hate cleaning though I love cleanliness. Everything should be clean, have its own place and be ready to use. Things deteriorate with time and need to be spruced again. As a MTO CEME inspection was a necessary pain. It was the only time we focused on the priority of maintaining the vehicles. It is a shame when fear of inspection becomes the way to ensure what we should do otherwise. And one of the most difficult thing during vehicle inspection is repainting the vehicles and pontoons. Using spray guns is easier, the difficult thing is removing the earlier paint. And rarely did we ever scrub the earlier paint, it was just one coat over another and I know that a rust will spread internally even when newly painted on the outside.

My research was on identifying a mechanism to scrape the paint of the vehicles. Consider the impact for all vehicles in the Indian Army, the amount of time save that could be used productively, the value add, blah blah blah. Where else could I use the machine, how about scraping walls during annual adm inspection.

My search is still on - I came across sand blasting techniques, using explosive paint to remove old paint - paint explosive as a thin film on the walls and blow it up. And usually my search leads to new paths that I had not planned on. I came across this washing machine. Imagine its potential, we could use the machine in our field stations and use it to wash the laundry. Every company could have one or two. It not only saves time, but also water. Connect it to the vehicle and run it and presto you have a washing machine in field - does not depend on where you are - desert, mountains or forests.

Someday one of you will be in a position where such decisions could be made and I hope you make a Kaikaku decision. Think big and achieve it.

http://www.gizmag.com/xeros-washing-machine/12088/

A washing machine that cuts water usage by 90% is due to hit American shores next year. The Xeros washing machine, which takes its name from the Greek word for “dry”, cleans clothes using reusable nylon polymer beads with an inherent polarity that attracts stains.

The beads are added to the wash along with as little as a cup of water and a drop of detergent. After the water dissolves the stains, the beads, which become absorbent under humid conditions, soak up the water along with the dirt. The dirt is not just attracted to the surface, but is absorbed into the center of the beads.

The beads are removed automatically within the machine at the end of the load so there’s no need for the user to worry about separating the beads themselves. They also don’t require cleaning and can last for about 100 loads or laundry, or about six months of average family usage.

Since the Xeros doesn’t require a rinse or spin cycle the it uses just 2% of the energy of conventional washing machines, cutting CO2 emissions on top of the water savings. The energy savings are further enhanced by the fact that the clothes come out nearly dry, meaning no power-hungry clothes dryer is required. Xeros claims that, taking all these factors into account, its machine achieves a 40% reduction in carbon emissions over conventional washing and drying.

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 3 Evernote

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:58:00 +0000

Ideas strike me anytime - while I am reading a magazine, while surfing the net, reading a book on a flight, watching a soap or discussing with a colleague. The problem is that if that idea is not captured at that time I loose it. So I got into the habit of grabbing a piece of paper - back of the magazine, delicious on internet, my notebook or whatever I can lay my hands on and well I loose it.

So what tool can I use that I can use to ensure that irrespective of where I am I can pin the idea and retrieve it irrespective of where I am.

Enter the Evernote
This is an application that I use.
https://www.evernote.com/about/learn_more/

If I am reading an article while surfing, I grab the URL or clip the entire article and store it in Evernote adding tags to it for enabling to search later on. I can store it in a folder depending on the content.
If I am reading a magazine I can photograph it using the evernote application on my google phone and I can upload the photograph to my evernote account and append the tags and store it in the relevant folder. The OCR feature enables me to search on a photograph too.
If I am reading a novel or a book I can do the same, photograph the page and upload it.
If I am talking to a colleague, I can record the conversation and upload it to evernote.

I have evernote installed on my phone, my PC and laptop. All I have to do is sync the devices and does not matter where I am, I have access to the information I need. Going further all my information is also on the web in my account.

As a Commander at a Strategic Level I guess most of the time you should be thinking, talking to reports, giving suggestions. You must be reading books that make your mind think. You are on the move in the field and get ideas, you record them in your phone and upload them. What makes a great commander is ideas and implementation. Ideas strike all of us, it is only about recognizing them and acting on them.

Most of you must be thinking - we do not have the technology right now. But as I see it, it already exists elsewhere and many are making use of it. It is only a matter of time that it comes to a place near you. But that is the beauty of Kaikaku - thinking beyond the daily increments and living a multiplier effect.

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 2 - Google Goggles

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:25:00 +0000

Most of love cars, especially those that make a statement. Having worked in Michigan the home to the auto industry in US, I am always curious to identify a car, its manufacturer, the customer segment it exists for, the competition in that segment, etc. I am walking down the street and I come across a logo that I havent seen before. I am not sure whether it is an American or European car. Maybe it is the Japanese who have launched a car for the luxury segment, a separate brand altogether. How do I find out?

Enter Google Goggles
All I do is use my google phone and start the google goggle application. Using the camera it captures the logo and compares it against a database and returns the search - it is able to search an image and provide me the answer. This is cool.

Where can I use it if I have been able to create a database with the information that I need? The information that we need is already there, it is just not ready in the digital format that I can search for.
I am walking in a workshop and see a vehicle and need to recall its past history of repairs. I am on firing range and need to recall the zeroing details of the weapon. Or in a cordon and search operation I have rounded up the suspects and need to know their past history and need to search the photographs of earlier suspects.

In short if I can snap it and the image is uniquely standard (it has been stored earlier)- it could be the tag number of a vehicle, the face of a person, a product number, I can retrieve information about the image and be on my way,

Life Coach - Kaikaku - 1 - Augmented reality

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:24:00 +0000

5 months back

I got down at WTC station in New York and was searching for Standard and Poors office building. I had a google map printout in my hand with directions. But having got out from the metro and taken a shortcut (following others), I was outside the station clueless. As per the map I should have taken the proper exit and be somewhere else.

I also had a satellite photograph of all the streets and how the buildings look like when viewed from the top, but I was at ground level and view from top did not matter

1 week back

I was equipped with my google phone Mytouch with Layar app installed. All I did was aim the phone camera at the street with the app being launched and it gave me a map superimposed on the camera screen. This is augmented reality at its very basic.

The mapping of data to image is done by using the phone's GPS data to pinpoint the location, coupled with its on-board accelerometer and compass to figure out the phone's orientation and the direction in which it's pointing. In the future, the mapping can be made more precise and personal by factoring in the user's identity.

Augmented reality is a coalescing of technologies that promises to create a new interactive relationship between mobile users and their surroundings. It's easy to make augmented reality sound like the latest technology in search of an application, but an analogy with jet fighter pilots might help.

Pilots look through the cockpit window, or a helmet faceplate. The inside of these surfaces is treated to display transparent images of cockpit controls and navigation data, a technique called "head-up display." Data, images and text overlay a view of the real world.

Smartphones now can apply that basic concept using very different technologies and take it to another level: adding data about the phone's location and orientation to relate the data overlays to the actual objects you can see onscreen through the phone's camera: buildings, streets and monuments.

Read more real life examples on the following link

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/121609-augmented-reality.html?fsrc=netflash-rss

How is it useful to us?
It is amazing how much such kind of technology could help us. Consider counter insurgency operations. In any cordon and search operation based on accurate information with very less time on hand to mobilize additional support the positioning of the few soldiers makes the difference between whether or not the militant gets away. If I could create an additional layar based on my earlier study as to where the place the troops, not a single militant would get away through the cordon.
Consider recce - hitting the 8 figure grid reference is really difficult when the area is new. And if my bridge head depends on an 8 figure grid reference every second counts.
In one of our operations we had called attack helicopters to fire upon gwadis where militants were harboured. Being broad daylight and us being downhill with no protection it was difficult to approach the gwadis. What if we could share what we were observing with the ones in the helicopters. No collateral damage and helicopters attack would be accurate.
Imagination alone is the limit to what such augmented reality can do.

In the url there are many examples which apply to us and I did not want to repeat. Do read them and share what other applications can you think of.

Life Coach - 82 of 100 - Lean Management techniques

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:58:00 +0000

While implementing the Lean Enterprise framework the following techniques are critical.

Ability to diagram the work processes: Every person in the organization exists to serve a purpose. He has an output he is responsible for and uses processes to convert an input into output. Many a time I have observed that the top management is clueless how the work gets done as long as it gets done. But then that is what exactly attracts inefficiencies and buffers. Does the top brass need to know how everything works - no, but there is a need to have the employees map every value stream. Having done that it is easy to identify and erase any steps that do not add value. Just because it works does not mean that is should not be understood

Dig for root causes: Identifying a bottleneck isint the same as understanding it. We need to dig into details, go to the root to weed out the issue. Generally what is seen is only a symptom of an underlying malaise.

Develop standard procedures: Once the team has figured out the most efficient method of handling a process, it must create tools - checklists, templates, escalation levels - so that employees follow the same steps every time. Consider the actions taken on the firing range - all established procedures to ensure that no one gets hurt and firing happens in an efficient manner

Keep taking small steps: Employees practice continuous improvement, cutting waste where ever it appears. And one has to empower the employees the front line folks, the ones in the trenches to get involved because they alone know where the waste is.

Life Coach - Kaikaku

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:10:00 +0000

My exposure to IT consulting has one advantage that I cherish - I come across high tech stuff that makes we go "WOW". I seek to share those experiences and how I feel that these could transform the defence forces. I have been lucky to have used some of the technologies; the rest is something that I have knowledge of but have not used them. Yet with a little foresight the technologies could be extrapolated.

This new series Kaikaku that I am starting is in parallel with my Life Coach series. Life Coach series was based fundamentally on Kaizen - constant improvement. I strongly believe in not re-inventing the wheel. Though at the time of my usage I was not aware of Kaizen in detail, now that I understand it, it seems easier to use Kaizen principles to explain what I was doing all the time.

So what is Kaikaku?
http://www.timebackmanagement.com/blog/you_dont_need_to_hit_a_home_run

In lean terms, there are two kinds of improvement. The familiar one is kaizen, which refers to steady but incremental improvement. The other is kaikaku, which means revolution, or radical improvement.

Kaizen is boring and laborious. Kaikaku is sexy and exciting. Kaizen is your spouse of 15 years. Kaikaku is the smoking hot blonde on the barstool next to you.

Kaizen is sorting through the piles of paper on your desk, throwing out the garbage, filing away the stuff of value, and actually taking care of the rest of it (filling out expense reports, or completing performance evaluations). Kaikaku is installing a new $1.5 million centralized database where you can scan, store, and search for all the crap that used to fester on your desk.

Kaizen is investing the time and effort to establish service level agreements within your organization, so that people don't feel compelled to respond to every email within one minute of its arrival. Kaikaku is establishing "email-free Fridays."

Kaizen is creating standard work for meetings -- and following it. Kaikaku is installing $250,000 worth of videoconference hardware to enable people to attend meetings without the risk of being late.

Watanabe's comment reminds me that the difference between kaizen and kaikaku is a false choice. Done long enough and consistently enough, kaizen actually becomes kaikaku.

Take a look at your own work: what incremental improvements can you make today? What small change can you make to help you gain control over email? What small change can you make to reduce interruptions from co-workers? You don't have to find a complete solution to your email problem, nor do you have to completely eliminate interruptions. Rather, you should look to make a small improvement. And once that takes hold, look for the next small step you can take.

It's the difference between hitting a sngle and hitting a homer. They'll both get you a run, but singles are a lot easier to come by than homers. And you're less likely to strike out.

Life Coach - 81 of 100 - Critical Success Factors for a Lean Enterprise

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:40:00 +0000

In the book "World Class IT" Peter High mentions the core principles for IT Leadership.

If I were to use the same logic and extrapolate his core principles, these are the five ingredients in the order of importance that are needed to ensure a Lean Enterprise.

People - Recruit, train and retain world class employees - goes without saying that this is the most important ingredient. When I say people I imply their ability to think, to execute, to innovate and to motivate others.

Infrastructure - Build and maintain a robust infrastructure - the next important thing is the availability of a world class infrastructure - need not be cutting edge, but should be reliable, scalable, flexible and evolving. By scalability I suggest the ability to ramp up and ramp down operations. By flexibility I suggest the ability to combat diverse situations. By evolving I mean the ability to improve with changing circumstances.

Processes / Training - well established processes that are baselined and constantly improving with time - be it PT, drill, ordering of inventory, supply chain management, conduct of classes - everywhere and everything

Alignment of goals with strategy - Goals that are well defined, unambiguous and SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and target bound

Development of collaborative relationships with external partners - this are the external interfaces that the organization depends on. So it could be the politicians, intelligence agencies, railways, the citizens, and all other things that we depend on for executing our work

Please comment as to what you think the ingredients should be and their order of importance

Life Coach - 80 of 100 - Lean Thinking - Working Backwards

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:57:00 +0000

For each and every aspect of what we do or are responsible for what our reports do, work backwards by asking the following

Define the customer experience: The service that any of us performs has a customer. The first thing to do is to define the customer experience. If I am a mechanic, I put my self in the shoes of the driver who has brought the vehicle to me for repairs and think about the customer experience. So let us visualize what it is when you take your vehicle for repairs. I expect an accurate diagnosis of what is wrong in a reasonable time, a reliable estimate of the cost involved, an update if repair is getting delayed or new defects have been observed, delivery of repaired vehicle on time and courteous service. So the Lean thinking for the mechanic is to evaluate the vehicle, depending on the priority forecast the time for repairs, get the vehicle back on road at the earliest and being courteous
Baseline the customer experience: Having define the customer experience it becomes important to what exactly each aspect implies. What do we mean by courteous service, what do we understand by prioritization of repairs, etc. Are these aspects clear to the customer and the service provider. Unless both of them are on the same page, problems could arise. And who resolves in case of mismatch.
Analyze the existing processes for meeting the required customer service: There is no need to reinvent the wheel. In my observation most of the processes are already mature to an extent. However what needs to change is the emphasis on key processes and fine tuning. For example troops on a firing range - well established drill. What needs fine tuning is the emphasis on ensuring zeroing of weapons and weapon handling procedure.Hitting the target will be a natural consequence of the above two processes. In this case the emphasis on the firing procedure is redirected to something other than ensuring that the bullet hits the target. We only changed the focus.
Innovate continuously / continual service improvement: In firing rarely would a situation arise when the target is stationary. All my firing in live situations has been on moving targets and I have found that our training is ill equipped to shoot targets when both the shooter and the target are moving continously and the target is also firing back. Innovation or continuous service improvement is the need. A trench warfare World War II may have called for the firing drills that we still use. But we certainly need to improve and innovate.

In case of firing on the adversary the customer is the bullet or the anti-customer is the enemy. Introspect what the customer need is (for the bullet - hit the target) (for the anti-customer avoid being hit)

Irrespective of where you are - commanding a battalion or a staff officer the first step is to define who the customer of your service is and then going through the four steps over and over again.

Life coach - 79 of 100 - LEAN Thinking

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:42:00 +0000

Jitender Pandit - I can still remember your smiling face as if we met just yesterday.

Lean thinking is when I am able to think what my boss wants before he evens think of it and have it ready when he thinks of it. Which in other words means perfection a good goal to aim for.

A Lean organization is similarly a perfect organization - one which is able to produce a service or product which meets the customer needs (what my boss wants since he is my customer) and is able to do say better, faster, cheaper and simpler.

Is this possible? Does not better quality mean higher price or faster means complex technology. It need not be so. In US I am able to buy a Japanese Toyota Yaris which is made in Japan, shipped to US, have to pay duty on imports and yet the car is cheaper than the US cars - GM, Ford, Chrysler. And when I say cheaper it is the TCO - total lifecycle ownership - maintenance, repairs, spare parts, etc. My earlier Toyota Corolla survived 13 years without the need to ever take it to a dealer, gave me a mileage of 30 mph till the last year of its service (before it got totalled in an accident - a five car pileup).

No wonder Toyota is the solid example of lean thinking.

Is Lean thinking possible? Yes it is and it does exist because there are smarter people than us, so all we need to do is tap their potential. The MTO who is able to ensure that all needed vehicles are on road is a lean thinker. If in my tenure I never hear of shortage of vehicle, lack of drivers, lack of spares means there is a MTO who is a damn good Lean Mean fighting machine.

The IO who keeps my map up to date before even I feel the need for it it a lean thinker.

A payroll commission which is able to anticipate all possible issues that may crop up and cater to all demands (not satisfy all of them of course) would be the output of lean thinking.

A company commander who knows exactly which soldier is due for promotion, which ones need to be groomed in next 2 years for promotion and plans for their training is a lean thinker. And when the officer is on his way out, he should be able to hand over notes to the new officer of the detailed plans. If the soldier is being transferred to another battalion he should be able to send a letter to the new Adjutant about the details related to the soldier - that is lean thinking.

Is lean thinking possible and how does it happen. My balance blogs will deal with this aspect.

Life coach - 78 of 100 - Enterprise wide improvement framework

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:43:00 +0000

I dedicate this series of blog to Jitender Pandit. Most of us remember is as a gentleman to the core. Need I say more.

I remember him from my degree days as a person who used to stay up at night making notes for the various lectures attended. He would willingly hand over his notes to all so that the rest of us could xerox (photocopy) them for our studies. I actually gave up making notes in the class after this. His notes were so detailed and clean that he could put a textbook to shame.

And once we had a bitter argument and he just maintained his cool throughout despite me blowing my cool. What a guy.

Enterprise wide improvement starts with the goal of being a LEAN ENTERPRISE.

The four goals of a Lean Enterprise are to improve quality, eliminate waste, reduce lead time and reduce total costs.

Quality: how well the customer needs are met

Waste: activities that consume resources, time, space but do not add value or are necessary to customer needs

Lead time: total time for completion of series of process steps

Costs: direct and indirect costs

Let me use a training battalion as an example of enterprise.

Quality: what is the level of trained recruits I am sending to the battalions. Are they physically fit, motivated, well drilled, do they know the skills of their trade corresponding to their level?

Waste: did I over train them (over training also has a cost), were there failures in the platoon who needed extra training (we have delayed platoons by 2 weeks due to poor drill), did we waste their training time in inventory (spending the entire day on firing range just to fire 8 rounds), recruits fracturing the legs and getting relegated. There are 7 types of waste - overproduction, waiting, transportation, inventory, over processing, motion and defects

Lead time: I took 2 years to train recruits before sending them to the battalions, can I reduce it. If I can do away with 3 years of NDA training and replace it with 1 year without compromising on the quality I can do a lot better in the balance 2 years

Costs: I am paying stipend to the recruit during his training, their is a cost involved with staff, food, indirect costs, etc

Let me take another example your intelligence officer. We needed maps for are area of responsibility. Maps available with us were not up to date.

I wanted a quality map which gave me travel directions to my primary and secondary AOR with all details - road width, culverts and their bearing capacity, road speed, number of traffic lights, police stations enroute, market areas, roads where civilian traffic would need be to stopped, bridges where my Kraz could get stuck below.

I wanted this map at the earliest before we went for our exercise, so that I could base my travel on this input and if needed improve it on return.

My needs is what the Intelligence Officer should exist for. If he cannot give me my map, he is not doing his job and his enterprise is not LEAN.

Conference open for papers

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, India, takes pleasure in inviting you to contribute papers and participate in International Conference on Strategy and Organization (ICSO 2010). The conference shall focus on exploring challenges and opportunities that the organizations face, and their strategies, systems and processes to effectively build up global competitive advantage. It would also provide a platform to deliberate upon organizations’ initiatives in building entrepreneurial and innovative capabilities to sustain business excellence.

Objectives:
The conference aims to provide a platform for academicians, research scholars, practicing managers and students of management to develop, contribute and present papers on Strategic management and organization theory to specific business situations The practices and abilities that help organizations attain leadership position How organization’s competencies and shortcomings translate into strategic challenges and opportunities Organizational structure and culture for competitive edge Global leadership competencies for business excellence Managing change through human process interventions Developing sustainable organizational learning culture Building a knowledge generating enterprise Strategic commitment for innovation and change
The conference will help in bringing together academicians and industry practitioners to meet, discuss, exchange views & experiences, and encourage collaborative research on various critical issues of decision making in global corporations. It will lead to designing organizational architectures – strategy, structure, culture & technology – for competitive advantages. http://www.imt.edu/icso2010/Index.aspx

Life Coach - 77 of 100 - Core values of defence forces

noreply@blogger.com (Sandesh Sheth) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:59:00 +0000

One IT company I admire is Amazon.I recently was evaluating their core values and then as is my habit extrapolated them to defence services.

If I were to define the core values of defence forces this is what it would be. Why should there be core values in the first place - I feel they define what we are and what we do, what we exist for

Enemy Obsession / Protection of the country: We start with the enemy and work backwards in everything that we do. Everything that we do is geared towards that

Innovation: If we don't pay attention to the changing circumstances, we will fail. US war on terror in Afghanistan, suicide bombings in Pakistan, use of drones, everything will matter to us some day. Hence the obsession in point 1. But mere understanding of circumstance is not sufficient. The enemy will attack continuously in forms that we wont be ready for. And hence we need to constantly innovate, refine our doctrines. Innovation in processes and technology is a must.

Bias for Action: We live in a time of unheralded revolution and insurmountable opportunity and threats – provided we make every minute count. If we work for only 8 hours everyday, make every minute of 8 hours matter to make a difference.

Ownership: Ownership matters when you’re building a great defence force. Owners think long-term, plead passionately for their projects and ideas, and are empowered to respectfully challenge decisions. Army is not a promotion seeking career. It is a love of a lifetime. At any rank and any post I am an owner of those tasks delegated to me.

Promotion criteria / Building future leadership: When making a promotion decision we ask ourselves: “Will I admire this person if I were to work for him? Will I learn from this person? Is this person an asset?”

Frugality: We spend money on things that really matter and believe that frugality breeds resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention!

Discipline: It is not blind obedience, but obedience based on trust and faith that our superiors are doing the right thing.

I have not stated patriotism as a core value. I have my reasons. What do you think?