I'll come to Finland tomorrow. I'll spend 20.12 - 23.12 in Tampere and the rest in Pori, and I'll return 27.12.
Why am I announcing it so late? Because this gig may end in January or in March, it is still being negotiated. I'd gladly skip a week of ice and cold should the gig end soon.
When coming here, they announced five (5) different dates to fly to India. Only the last one realized. Now they have announced 2 "final" dates when we should have hear how long this gig lasts, and neither has realized. Constant insecurity about future is one good reason to say no to offshore assignments. 80% of the announced dates won't hold.
perjantai 19. joulukuuta 2008
torstai 18. joulukuuta 2008
Work culture 3: GTD in India
For the first time since I read the GTD book, I have been unable to use it. Our work here is managed by a senior developer named Ajay. Typically, he delegates us tasks which take 1 - 3 days to complete. We have 1 - 3 tasks, we aim to close tasks which are not waiting anything.
Ajay actionalizes tasks for us, often giving very specific instructions on next actions. This reduces the need for to-do lists. We are also not supposed to remember much. My time perspective is usually 2 - 4 days forward. There's no point in maintaining to-do list, when I know that after completing the few actions in the list Ajay may tell me to do anything between heaven and earth.
This may sound stressful, but it's actually quite relaxing when you don't need to actionalize and prioritize all the time and you're not blamed for mistakes you forgot to fix a month ago.
First I had trouble adapting to this work culture and got some blame. Once I stopped caring everything started to go smoothly. Then Ajay delegated me two larger modules, which took weeks to complete. While writing those modules I was able to use GTD. Ironically, it was those periods which restored my reputation to normal levels.
Ajay actionalizes tasks for us, often giving very specific instructions on next actions. This reduces the need for to-do lists. We are also not supposed to remember much. My time perspective is usually 2 - 4 days forward. There's no point in maintaining to-do list, when I know that after completing the few actions in the list Ajay may tell me to do anything between heaven and earth.
This may sound stressful, but it's actually quite relaxing when you don't need to actionalize and prioritize all the time and you're not blamed for mistakes you forgot to fix a month ago.
First I had trouble adapting to this work culture and got some blame. Once I stopped caring everything started to go smoothly. Then Ajay delegated me two larger modules, which took weeks to complete. While writing those modules I was able to use GTD. Ironically, it was those periods which restored my reputation to normal levels.
Work culture 2: GTD and Finnish laissez-faire
In high school psychology books, they told about 3 management style:
In Finland I've seen many projects run in laissez-faire mode. The boss gives a high-level goal, and his underlings tell how their next actions help reach the goal. As long as the boss sees progress instead of slack, he doesn't interfere. There are two scenarios where this is especially common.
Firstly, trainees who do demos or tools are often left to their own devices. Especially if you are second year and know the habits of the house, the order can well be "Build a graphical user interface. Write a design document on how you would do that." When you submit the design document, you are told to implement it.
Secondly, in two late projects with a tight deadline the project was split into a well-run core and laissez-faire run perimeter. I was placed to the perimeter. The core employees had enough challenge doing their own work, and they appreciated that support tasks just got done and they could put full attention to the stuff that matters.
Laissez-faire requires that people are college educated, because that's pretty much the only environment for masses to learn laissez-faire. Also, people who pass the college filter tend to have enough future time orientation to understand the link between freedom and personal responsiblity, and to choose freedom and responsibility over slacking when they can.
When I first met laissez-faire, I found it confusing. I had just arrived from high school and army and a family where parents had unquestioned authority. I was unsure about myself and what was expected from me, and found lack of direct negative feedback (or any feedback) to be distrubing. Only after reading GTD I learned to love laissez-faire. With GTD, all you need is the high-level goal and you can actionalize the rest yourself. If you are unsure, just ask if the next actions on your list are what they should be. Running GTD is also enough to fill all reasonable productivity expectations that others pile on me.
- Hierarchical:The boss tells you what to do.
- Democratic:Workers discuss how to reach the goal of the team. Boss decides in absence of consensus and enforces consensus.
- Laissez-faire:Boss doesn't interfere as long as things go on.
In Finland I've seen many projects run in laissez-faire mode. The boss gives a high-level goal, and his underlings tell how their next actions help reach the goal. As long as the boss sees progress instead of slack, he doesn't interfere. There are two scenarios where this is especially common.
Firstly, trainees who do demos or tools are often left to their own devices. Especially if you are second year and know the habits of the house, the order can well be "Build a graphical user interface. Write a design document on how you would do that." When you submit the design document, you are told to implement it.
Secondly, in two late projects with a tight deadline the project was split into a well-run core and laissez-faire run perimeter. I was placed to the perimeter. The core employees had enough challenge doing their own work, and they appreciated that support tasks just got done and they could put full attention to the stuff that matters.
Laissez-faire requires that people are college educated, because that's pretty much the only environment for masses to learn laissez-faire. Also, people who pass the college filter tend to have enough future time orientation to understand the link between freedom and personal responsiblity, and to choose freedom and responsibility over slacking when they can.
When I first met laissez-faire, I found it confusing. I had just arrived from high school and army and a family where parents had unquestioned authority. I was unsure about myself and what was expected from me, and found lack of direct negative feedback (or any feedback) to be distrubing. Only after reading GTD I learned to love laissez-faire. With GTD, all you need is the high-level goal and you can actionalize the rest yourself. If you are unsure, just ask if the next actions on your list are what they should be. Running GTD is also enough to fill all reasonable productivity expectations that others pile on me.
Work culture 1: Background - Getting Things Done
Getting Things Done (GTD) is a systematic way to maintain to-do lists and to bring clarity to work. The system was first described in David Allen's book and it enjoys legendary reputation in self-help circles. The difference between Indian and Finnish work culture crystallizes in GTD, so I'll describe it in detail.
Suppose you need a doghouse to your summer cottage. You write a to-do list about things to remember next weekend when going to there:
GTD has some simple rules for each to-do item, and this list violates them all. First of all, you must list actions which you can execute. How do you "doghouse"? Same in the action form:
Secondly, GTD aims at closing to-do item by finishing them. It also wants to make it easy to start activity by forcing you to think difficult questions beforehand so that all you need to do is to execute. That's why each to-do item must have first action and end criterion:
At this point you remember that a friend of yours has a shed and construction equipment, and a hardware store near you had exhibition of playhouses. You have more options:
This illustrates the division actions into subactions. Actions get split into smaller and smaller pieces until the goal is reached or abandoned.
GTD also classifies the actions. Pending actions are something you can do anytime. Deferred actions require that something happens before you can do them. Non-actionable items lack either first action or end criterion. They need more thinking before they can be done. Delegated actions are given to someone else to execute. GTD also recommends dating actions, since it's quick and can prove useful:
Why do we have category non-actionable for badly thought to-do items? Because there is one more rule above all: The to-do list must contain everything you need to do to achieve the goal. If your relative has an unused doghouse outside his home and you consider asking him, then the list is incomplete. You can to desribe actions on high abstraction level where you know they need to be split - for example, building a doghouse - but it is not ok to leave actions unlisted. Getting a doghouse for free is not included in any of the actions in the prevous list.
GTD brings clarity to work by enabling you to concentrate fully to the task at hand. When reading assembly instructions you don't have a lingering doubt that maybe you really should just visit Bauhaus or ask your friend. You know that visiting Bauhaus and asking your friend stay in the list and you'll remember them because the list reminds you about them. So just keep reading the instructions so you can close one item from the list.
Action item: Something you can do and which contains the first action and the end criterion.
Actionable: A goal is actionable for you if you can affect it by executing or not executing action items. For example, "prepare for depression" isn't actionable for me at work, because my actions don't have any effect on my employer's abiliy to weather depression.
Actionalize: To split a goal into actions.
2-minute rule: If it takes less than 2 minutes, do it immediately. If it takes more, write it to the to-do list.
Time management Far too difficult...everything takes twice the estimated time (at least), deciding your next actions with GTD is easy and usually enough, and someone else sets the schedule anyway, so why bother.
What are the next actions? A question which you will start asking more often if you use GTD - non-actionable or non-actionalized goals become bullshitty and suspicious.
I've found GTD to be indispensable at programming work. When I don't quite know what I should do next and feel irresistible urge to procrastinate by browsing web, it's usually time to fire up GTD list and split the goal into more specific actions.
Often I have quite a lot of freedom on how to do my area of responsibility. Very often when programming, I notice that some spot of code is suspicious, looks potentially wrong or has far-reaching implications to other parts of the program. With GTD I no longer face the choice continuing what I'm doing or interrupting it. I simply list all things I need to revisit later, and I never forget them because things don't drop from GTD lists before I consciously remove them. Usually I have 20 - 50 actions, but once when I also was responsible for other people's work I had 200 items.
GTD's way of thinking fits perfectly to my analytic and textual mind, but it's not for everyone. Some people who have natural ability to get much done consider it snake-oilish. But I know that it struck straight to the weaknesses of my mind, and my reaction was "Why didn't anyone tell this before?"
Another crticism is that it doesn't matter how much you get done, since your wage depends on years of service, and your productivity only benefits people who do 6-hour work day and get paid double for it. This is a matter of attitude. Do you believe that the skills you develop at work will prove valuable to you? Answer no and GTD is a miserable and miguided effort of lifeless fools. Answer yes and you see productivity as the derivative of your skill (the more you get done, the more you see and learn) and with GTD you get more out of the time you have to do anyway.
Basics
Suppose you need a doghouse to your summer cottage. You write a to-do list about things to remember next weekend when going to there:
- ...
- Doghouse
- ...
GTD has some simple rules for each to-do item, and this list violates them all. First of all, you must list actions which you can execute. How do you "doghouse"? Same in the action form:
- ...
- Buy a doghouse if you find one
- Build a doghuose if they are expensive or hard to find
- ...
Secondly, GTD aims at closing to-do item by finishing them. It also wants to make it easy to start activity by forcing you to think difficult questions beforehand so that all you need to do is to execute. That's why each to-do item must have first action and end criterion:
- ...
- Find out how to buy a doghouse. First action: Search online for doghouse providers. Finished when you have a chart which lists most important sources (hardware stores, Huuto auctions, etc.) and their addresses.
- Find out how to build a doghouse. First action: Search for assembly instructions for a doghouse. Finished when you have read and bookmarked a page.
- ...
At this point you remember that a friend of yours has a shed and construction equipment, and a hardware store near you had exhibition of playhouses. You have more options:
- ...
- Buy a doghouse
- Find out online how to buy a doghouse. First action: Search online for doghouse providers. Finished when you have a chart which lists most important sources (hardware stores, auctions, etc.) and their addresses.
- Visit the local Bauhaus. First action: Get there. Finished when you know what's available in the doghouse section.
- Find out how to build a doghouse.
- First action: Search for assembly instructions for a doghouse. Finished when you have read and bookmarked a page.
- Ask Pekka how he would build a doghouse. First action: Raise the question next time you go to beer. Finished when he answers it.
This illustrates the division actions into subactions. Actions get split into smaller and smaller pieces until the goal is reached or abandoned.
GTD also classifies the actions. Pending actions are something you can do anytime. Deferred actions require that something happens before you can do them. Non-actionable items lack either first action or end criterion. They need more thinking before they can be done. Delegated actions are given to someone else to execute. GTD also recommends dating actions, since it's quick and can prove useful:
- ...
- Buy a doghouse [19.12.2008]
- Find out online how to buy a doghouse. First action: Search online for doghouse providers. Finished when you have a chart which lists most important sources (hardware stores, auctions, etc.) and their addresses. [19.12.2008] (pending)
- Visit the local Bauhaus. First action: Get there. Finished when you know what's available in doghouse section. [19.12.2008] (pending)
- Find out how to build a doghouse. [19.12.2008] (deferred until you have concluded that buying one isn't easy and cheap)
- First action: Search for assembly instructions for a doghouse. Finished when you have read and bookmarked a page. [19.12.2008] (pending)
- Ask Pekka how he would build a doghouse. First action: Raise the question next time you go to beer. Finished he answereds it. [19.12.2008] (pending)
Why do we have category non-actionable for badly thought to-do items? Because there is one more rule above all: The to-do list must contain everything you need to do to achieve the goal. If your relative has an unused doghouse outside his home and you consider asking him, then the list is incomplete. You can to desribe actions on high abstraction level where you know they need to be split - for example, building a doghouse - but it is not ok to leave actions unlisted. Getting a doghouse for free is not included in any of the actions in the prevous list.
GTD brings clarity to work by enabling you to concentrate fully to the task at hand. When reading assembly instructions you don't have a lingering doubt that maybe you really should just visit Bauhaus or ask your friend. You know that visiting Bauhaus and asking your friend stay in the list and you'll remember them because the list reminds you about them. So just keep reading the instructions so you can close one item from the list.
Fundamental concepts
Action item: Something you can do and which contains the first action and the end criterion.
Actionable: A goal is actionable for you if you can affect it by executing or not executing action items. For example, "prepare for depression" isn't actionable for me at work, because my actions don't have any effect on my employer's abiliy to weather depression.
Actionalize: To split a goal into actions.
2-minute rule: If it takes less than 2 minutes, do it immediately. If it takes more, write it to the to-do list.
Time management Far too difficult...everything takes twice the estimated time (at least), deciding your next actions with GTD is easy and usually enough, and someone else sets the schedule anyway, so why bother.
What are the next actions? A question which you will start asking more often if you use GTD - non-actionable or non-actionalized goals become bullshitty and suspicious.
GTD and me
I've found GTD to be indispensable at programming work. When I don't quite know what I should do next and feel irresistible urge to procrastinate by browsing web, it's usually time to fire up GTD list and split the goal into more specific actions.
Often I have quite a lot of freedom on how to do my area of responsibility. Very often when programming, I notice that some spot of code is suspicious, looks potentially wrong or has far-reaching implications to other parts of the program. With GTD I no longer face the choice continuing what I'm doing or interrupting it. I simply list all things I need to revisit later, and I never forget them because things don't drop from GTD lists before I consciously remove them. Usually I have 20 - 50 actions, but once when I also was responsible for other people's work I had 200 items.
GTD's way of thinking fits perfectly to my analytic and textual mind, but it's not for everyone. Some people who have natural ability to get much done consider it snake-oilish. But I know that it struck straight to the weaknesses of my mind, and my reaction was "Why didn't anyone tell this before?"
Another crticism is that it doesn't matter how much you get done, since your wage depends on years of service, and your productivity only benefits people who do 6-hour work day and get paid double for it. This is a matter of attitude. Do you believe that the skills you develop at work will prove valuable to you? Answer no and GTD is a miserable and miguided effort of lifeless fools. Answer yes and you see productivity as the derivative of your skill (the more you get done, the more you see and learn) and with GTD you get more out of the time you have to do anyway.
Indian work culture and GTD
The next 3 posts compare Finnish and Indian work culture. To sum it up, GTD is necessary in Finland but impossible to use in India.
keskiviikko 17. joulukuuta 2008
Movie review: Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is a romantic comedy where a dancing competition (Dancing Jodi) play a big role. Surinder Sahni is a regular guy who works for Punjabi Power and leads monotonous life, a stereotypical beta male. Taani is a young woman who faces hardship as his prospective husband dies and his father gets a heart attack.
In his deathbed, Taani's father tells Taani and Surinder to marry, because Sur is the only man he can entrust Taani. Taani agrees, but tells that he can never love Sur. It's a romantic comedy which happens inside an arranged marriage.
Taani wants to join a dancing course, and Sur gives him the money. On a whim, Sur also goes to the dancing course but only after his friend Bobby talks him around to dress with a new haircut, fashionable clothes and playboy attitude, completely changing his outlook.
When dancing course participants are paired for dancing competition, Taani and Sur happen to get the same number, but Taani doesn't recognize him because of the vast difference in dress and flirty alpha male behaviour. This goes on and is the central tension of the movie.
In Western movies, there's no way a boring, hesitant 40-something beta male could marry a young dancing girl because of the difference in sexual market value. In this movie, Taani hates both "beta Sur's" lack of initative and atttitude, and also "alpha Sur's" pretentious macho role. The message of the movie is that a good Indian man should be a balanced combination of provider beta and flamboyant alpha roles. Women like men whose personality works for them in a wide variety of situations.
The movie is driven by the personalities of Shahrukh Khan (a huge star in Bollywood) and Anushka Sharma. The cinematic storytelling was great, the film was comprehensible despite being a Hindi movie without English subtitles. Dancing scenes were great and they expressed the joy of love and the tension of sexual market value difference better than any amount of Western-style close pictures about faces can. Western movies miss a lot by not including dance scenes. It could have been shorter though.
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