Today was an interesting day at the NASSCOM HR Summit 2008 in Chennai.

There was a session on HR Leadership: Paradigm shift from process recruiters to business leaders. When the Chairperson of the panel, Mr. Pratik Kumar (EVP HR, Wipro) asked the speakers as what would they like to request from their business leaders, we had some *really cool* answers (read: CEO bashing)!

Nandita Gurjar (VP & Group Head, Infosys) would like to see a recession, so that things cool-off a little bit, giving her the most deserved respite from managing change and pushing growth initiative at the same time - definitely not an easy job by any standards. I understand that she said it on a lighter note, but if you have a serious thought on this issue, it is actually not a bad idea!

Elango R (Chief HR Officer, Mphasis) in his witty style wants CEOs to stop reading books and attending conferences. He feels that there is a new "clone it" idea brought in by the CEO everyday, which makes life really difficult for the guy. I know he does not mean it. But does it really matter. It is not going to change anytime soon.

CEO’s: Are you listening?
It just resonated in my own ears! After all, I am also one of the culprits.

Just wanted to share some light moments (read: CEO bashing).

I regularly hear about terms like Manager, Managing, Management, Management Team, etc. The dictionary term for manage is "cope: come to terms or deal successfully with" and "pull off: be successful; achieve a goal"

In my opinion, the word ‘manage‘ makes me think about:

• Control,
• Status Quo,
• Monitoring
• Come to terms

Somewhere it reflects a sense of compulsion, where someone else is setting the goal for you. It sounds like "ensure that it stays on track". I somehow find managing limits a person and his role to retain the lead.

Therefore, to get the lead, you need leaders!
Leaders are a different breed. They manage less. Instead, they lead.

The word ‘lead’ makes me visualize

• Energy,
• Execution,
• New,
• Inspiration.

When I think of a leader, I visualize someone who:

• Set the vision and inspire people.
• Set long term goals.
• Does not control the outcome.
• Trust people around him.
• Win trust of team members by setting examples
• Manages less.

So, to build / grow a company, you need leader(s). And to manage one, you need managers! Mostly, leaders are not good managers and they should not overstretch themselves for that role.  

Leaders are like creators.
Managers are like Accumulators.

You cannot run a company without either. So make sure that your company has both!

Proper project management is key to a successful project. To manage multiple projects and teams which are geographically spread across the globe, you need a quality project management tool.

As a medium sized web development company, we looked around for some quality software which suits our requirement and does not burn a hole in the pocket. Here is our pick!

Basecamp HQ:- A nice, minimalist simple to use software true to the philosophy of 37signals, the company which built it. This software is only available in a SaS (software as service) model. IMO this software best suits small projects which are communication centric. It lacks version control, task management, project tracking along with cost-benefit analysis.

Overall, very easy to easy and adapt, but reporting is not up to the mark. If you are a small business and you do most of your project management yourself, this can be a good choice for you.

Intervals:- It seems to have picked up the baton where Basecamp HQ has left. It also works on a SaS (software as service) model. It has more features (specially in terms of reporting and role management) than Basecamp HQ, thus making it suitable to manage complex projects across a large organization.

Overall, it is a good attempt to overcome the shortcomings of Basecamp HQ. However it needs to improve on its usability. It also needs to provide staged progression in terms of features and complexity so that small businesses can adapt the system. I am sure that this software will become popular as they keep improving and become old. For a SaS model company, time-tested reliability is more important than anything else.

Ace Project:- A comprehensive project management software with user friendly interface and short learning curve. It has different licensing policies and therefore you can rent or buy off (with our without source code) the software to suit your organizational needs. This software is around for quite some time and therefore seems to be reliable.

It has decent reporting capabilities, but not as good as what Intervals claim to have!

Dot Project:- The best free open source project management software that I have come across. This software looks flexible and extendable. You can plug in various modules, including Mantis (for bug tracking). The usability and reporting leaves much to be desired. So if you are looking at free project management software with access to source code, Dot Project is a good choice.

Conclusion:

There is nothing called a perfect project management software. The usage, the users and the desired result determines the one which suits best for a given organization. So take your pick from the above mentioned toolset.

I was trying to think out - What is the most important soft skill in life?

Some options I came across:
Communication? Public speaking? Problem solving? Team management? Time management?

The list was getting too long!

I tried to find a common thread which underlines several soft skills which came to my mind. I zeroed upon something which can be described as - "ability to take neutral view-points" to be the most important  of all. Communication is an integral part of our personal and professional life. To interact and understand the communication and to respond in an appropriate way, it is most important for a person to be able to see things from various viewpoints and understand the reason behind an action. Only when we understand the reason behind someone’s action, we can modify our approach to get the desired result from the person we are dealing with.

A person should be able to put himself in place of the other person and see how will he feel or how will he react to a given situation. This skill can be very important for people who work in communication-centric jobs like sales and marketing, public relations, teaching, project management.

The root cause of all problems and disappointments is that we see things the way we want to see it. We all do this mistake conciously or unconciously.  However whenever we interact, we can try to remind ourself - "Step in his (the other person’s) shoes".

Happy changing shoes!

We work in a knowledge economy and it is very important for a manager to classify people around us to know what are their capabilities.

This classification can help in identifying the right person for the right job. Again the same can be used by an individual to plan a career -

What to do?

People who know “what to do” are the “heart and soul” of an organization. They can see the big picture, set the vision and direction for the organization and motivate team members to achieve the goal. They think beyond the obvious and are extremely passionate about the end result.

Generally these people leads an organization, venture or play a pivotal role in a project which needs the team to innovate or invent.

How to do?

People who have good expertise in their domain and have a good idea of the internal workings of a given area can precisely guide a team and get things done. These are managers who know “how to do” a task.

Most project managers, consultants, team leads and technical experts They solve problems, create tasks for subordinates, track progress and put the vision in reality.

To do

They make the biggest chunk in any organization and of course the most important one as well. They implement the vision of the “what to do” visionary by following the “how to do” leader and do the ground work which is most important for real life implementation of any project.

A successful person need to move up the ladder from
“To-do” -> “How to do” -> “What to do”

An individual need to traverse them in order and by mastering each class as they need to set an example for his followers to get their trust and respect, which is most important for the model to survive.

Notes:

1. There must be a proper ratio of “how to do” and “to do” team members.

2. It is advisable to limited (if possible ONE) “what to do” visionary in a team working on one project / venture to ensure that there is one set “goal”

3. For a diversified organization, there must be several “what to do” type leaders, else there will be an environment of chaos and confusion.