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Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Abdul Jeelani 1 Feb 2023 Abdul is a passionate techie with good interpersonal skills who understands business and tech equally well. He is of a firm belief that strategy without execution is hallucination. How would you introduce yourself? I am a passionate techie with good interpersonal skills who understands business and tech equally well. I am a firm believer that strategy without execution is hallucination. My strength is in the execution, While I employ different methods of execution cutting the unwanted and getting the job done worked out very well. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? I started back in 2008 as an Assistant Software Engineer and in fact I got to play a leadership role right from my first opportunity. During the crisis of 2008 my campus offer was canceled so I joined a service Org as a trainee and then after 6 months I became a trainer there. With a couple of months into training, an opportunity arose where a local client needed to build a MLM website, but the Org did not want to take it up as they only welcome US and UK clients. For me it's a clean chance to prove so I went to the MD and said I will take it up and do it and for the team I can work with other 2 trainers. This negotiation went for like 1.5 hours, I narrated 50 different ways how I can make this happen to sell the idea, and finally we came to an agreement that If I deliver this website as promised then I will be promoted as an Engineer and can move on to client projects. And that is how I started my Dev / Leadership Journey as a Tech Lead from Day 1. Then I moved on to begin a startup but it did not go well. Then I joined a product company where I lead a product (that is sold and a big revenue stream even today!)After a short stint in the next company as a Senior Software Engineer I joined my previous Org a Product company as a System Analyst and moved on to the System Architect role in a few months. This is when I realized the importance of business, domain knowledge and started learning Domain Driven Design etc. This is the moment where I took the leadership role more seriously and led the team to convert a 25 year old legacy enterprise system to a then Modern system in 5 years. I am a leader because I am a people person and want to solve real world problems with pragmatic evolving solutions. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? Thoughtworks is the first Corporate for me. After the first couple of years in /tw during my leadership journey I found the decision making was totally different. I required multiple rounds of conversations with too many people to convince. The way out I figured is to first know who has the stakes and just get their buy in and rest is informed. While this had its pros and cons It worked well for me. The next big challenge is working with a diverse team especially from different cultures. The solution for that is to accept first that there are multiple ways to get things done, and find a common ground for win-win. There were a couple of health issues I faced and I had the right leaders along with me which helped me overcome them in the workplace. What motivates you everyday? Of course My kids, I wanted to provide the best I can to them, that is the driver. Apart from that whenever I see a problem / issue that is a motivation you have an opportunity to make someone happy 🙂 Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? Yes, The role models do change as you mature, And in recent years I look up to Khabib Nurmagomedov , MMA fighter, the journey he went through, His humility and how he carries himself and so on. One quote that I love from him is "When difficult decisions appear in my life, there are difficult questions to answer… I consult loved ones." What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? For me Leadership is taking people together towards the vision without losing interest and ensuring people around you are happy. For that the first step is to identify the right people for the right job. ⅓ of the problem is solved once you understand the problem better and clearly, ⅓ is solved once you have the right people, the remaining ⅓ is about execution. It is really really hard to fail in the last phase if we get the first two phases right. What would be your advice to other leaders? Put people first. You can be an Elon Musk or Nelson Mandela. Make the decisions, It is okay to fail trying rather delaying forever Always stay relevant - When we feel don't it's the time to retire !

< Back Why IT departments must reinvent themselves - Part 2 In my last blog, I tried to explain the factors that impact the direction .. In my last blog, I tried to explain the factors that impact the direction that IT departments need to take to stay relevant in the current business scenario. In this edition, I share my thoughts on the change in the culture of work within IT departments. We believe that our IT departments should deliver the same way that Thoughtworks delivers to its clients. - David Whalley, Thoughtworks CIO Traditionally, IT departments operate differently from the ‘delivery’ teams within the organization. This happens due to the nature of work, which in most cases is dominated by support and maintenance. This excuses them from being seen through the same lens as the delivery teams. However, this is no longer an accepted excuse. In the last few months, we have moved towards restructuring our teams along the lines of how businesses operate. With the current focus on ‘value first’, it is no longer okay to operate differently from any other product team. The expectation is that IT departments transform themselves into a ‘delivery focused’ team. Does this mean they are no longer a support/operations team? Yes. It may sound strange, but I advocate for IT departments to turn themselves into an innovation led and delivery oriented organization. Even though the primary focus of IT departments is on operations and ensuring that the business systems are running smooth, we need to constantly question the way we work. While it is important to keep the lights ON, IT departments need to lead the way by bringing business insights to their stakeholders, not just take orders. Here are some simple things these teams can do: Have a strong governance framework that helps prioritize your work along with your stakeholders. Make all your work visible to key stakeholders so that right prioritization can be done Let the work be driven by the value that it generates for its users. If you are doing any work that does not offer value to the stakeholders or the team, question why you are doing it Host internal planning meetings with the teams for weekly prioritization and to track the work progress. Define clear milestones and stick to them Host regular retrospective meetings for continuous improvement Establish proper communication channels for sharing your work and communicating with stakeholders. Establish a fast feedback mechanism that allows mid-way course correction and altering of priorities as needed Host regular showcases for your work and allow teams outside IT departments and immediate stakeholders to give you feedback With the focus on value creation, ask more questions on bringing efficiency, automation and self-service channels to the users And, most importantly, empathize with your stakeholders and partners, understand their needs and talk to them in the language that they understand Internal IT teams have a unique advantage within organizations because they know the internal business processes, know how the systems act and manage their infrastructure. This makes them best placed to understand the impact of changing business scenarios than anyone else in the organization. If you think of any business vertical, any technology or innovation/ideation that happens within an organization, you would find that IT teams play an important role in them. This makes me believe that with the right focus, internal IT departments can really make a difference in the way organizations operate and do businesses. Considering how important it is for T teams to work like delivery teams, there are some aspects of work and team culture that needs shaking up. From my experience of leading teams across multiple organizations, including Thoughtworks, I have found that changing the culture of the team, is not easy: However, to start the change, you can: Ask yourself if you are working on the most important task of the day Check the value of your work and the outcome you get out of it, repeatedly Share and communicate your plans to a wider group Ask if there are any alternatives to the repetitive stuff that you are doing? Is it delivering enough value to justify it? Can it be automated? Can it be done by users themselves? Can it be stopped? Think of ideas that can help you improve your own workplace and office and help you learn more skills Learn to co-create and collaborate across offices, across regions and teams The team first, always! Don’t limit your ideas to what only you can deliver. Learn to harness the power of collaboration and join people with different skills Tell yourself and your teams that it’s OK to fail as failing early and failing faster and changing course is better than failing too late into the cycle Turn your organizations into a continuous learning organization While aiming to change the culture of the team, IT teams need to be able to cover the entire spectrum of scope that includes ‘Create / Build / Configure / Implement / Roll out / Own and Support’ of their infrastructure and products. When the focus is shifted from BAU and maintenance to innovation and value creation, the work becomes more interesting and challenging. This allows IT teams to start making an even bigger difference than what they have been thus far. Previous Next

Women leadership series - In conversation with Kavitha Thyagarajan 5 Mar 2022 Kavitha is Head of Design with Digital Platforms & one of the best in visual design. How would you introduce yourself? I am a multidisciplinary designer, enjoying my current role as Head of Design for TechOps Digital platforms, where I am surrounded and inspired by the most talented techies everyday. In my past life, I worked as an Architect and landscape designer. I believe in Mies van der Rohe’s motto “Less is more” and my work often reflects the same. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? I have extensive experience in designing digital applications for consumers and enterprise solutions. I manage an interdisciplinary team of designers and developers and deliver value across cross-functional, multiple stakeholder, and distributed environments working in a globally distributed team. I have helped organizations set up a User experience design team and UX practice and have led and mentored design teams. My first role as a leader was when I was managing a bunch of designers and developers working across different products and services. This was my safe and comfortable zone and I never felt that I was doing anything different. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? When you are leading a team that caters to different business functions that have its own priorities, it’s always a constant struggle to manage these priorities and at the same time delivering value. Initially this was a bit of struggle, but setting clear expectations with the global stakeholders, keeping them informed and making decisions along with them, helped me bridge the gap. I would always have an open and honest conversation with my stakeholders and would truly be invested in solving their problems. This gained me their trust and built a long term relationship with them. A leader must also know to navigate ambiguity and give a sense of direction to the team when they look up to you. I always believed that I needed to have answers for all the questions which would stress me out. I slowly realized that it was ok to accept that you don't have an answer yet and be transparent about it. This created a special bond and mutual respect for each other with my clients and team. What motivates you? I am a dreamer and constantly get inspired by numerous people around me. I love to experiment and I thrive on creativity. Mundane and routine bores me and hence I always find something that lets my creative juice flow. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? There are so many amazing people around me who I admire and follow. Couple of folks I get my inspiration from are John Maeda from the Tech and design leadership angle, Dan Norman - the design guru, Irene Au - for her amazing design leadership role where she has built and led design teams for some of the top companies. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership to me means leading by example and setting up a safe and fun environment for everyone to thrive. Investing in people's growth and achievement is a great asset to have as a leader. Being open, honest, transparent, approachable and having empathy for others has helped me grow as a leader. At the same time, it is important to have a clear vision and strategy, direction, staying calm and focussed during adversity. What would be your advice to young leaders? When you take up the role as a leader for the first time, don’t get overwhelmed with everything around you. Take it slowly but stay connected with the key people on the team. Empowering others to make decisions, sharing responsibilities and communicating constantly with your clients and team is crucial. Active listening is an asset that every leader should have. Things will soon fall in place when you have empathy for everyone. Another important aspect is to focus on your own personal development. Make sure that you allocate some time in a week specifically for this. This will help you grow as a leader you always aspired to be. Last but not least, make sure you have fun.

< Back Be LEAN .. this year! The LEAN framework originates from the manufacturing system developed by Toyota called Toyota Production System ... The LEAN framework originates from the manufacturing system developed by Toyota called Toyota Production System [TPS] that pursues the principle of optimum streamlining throughout the entire system through the thorough elimination of waste and aims to build quality in at the manufacturing process while recognizing the principle of [ongoing] cost reduction. It also includes all the accompanying technology & tools necessary to accomplish those aims. [Reference .. here ] The process that Toyota developed for Just-in-time production was called TPS until 1990. MIT researchers tossed the term LEAN in their 1990 book called “The Machine that Changed the World” to describe the principles of Toyota Production System. Thereafter, of course, the process was known to the world as LEAN Service Framework . In a nutshell, LEAN is an integrated system of principles, work practices & processes that empowers the operational users to drive the relentless pursuit of perfect customer value creation. Although LEAN was innovated and started in the manufacturing industry and especially at Toyota, it, over the years grown out of the manufacturing industry and into other verticals, not to mention the IT/BPO industry. LEAN underpins 5 principles in the framework as follows, Eliminate Waste – As per the LEAN principles, the waste could be due to the idle time spent by the employees waiting for work, or spending extra hours to exceed customer expectations (without customer asking for it), excessive testing etc., activities and all such activities that do not add add direct value to the customers. Eliminate Variability – This talks more about complexity of the work within the team. LEAN suggests eliminating the variability of work done by the employees so that activities & individual performances are streamlined to carry out typical activities. This also talks about the external work that comes within such as ticket trend, business requirements etc., and suggests to streamline. Eliminate Inflexibility – This suggest more about the resources capacity and the work segmentation and align the efforts and create skill pools so as to better utilize the knowledge, performance & work practices against repetitive / common tasks. Performance Management – LEAN suggests to compute the performance of the individuals as well as the team and making the results publish to the individuals / teams and discuss with them on a regular basis. LEAN recommends that regular performance discussions enhances the team morale, gives them goal to enhance performances etc., Involvement of workers – LEAN, more than a process is more of a philosophy and change in the thinking of the workforce and suggest to have the workforce participate and understand these principles so they themselves are aware of the waste being created around they can eliminate themselves. Many IT companies have implemented LEAN successfully. IBM has been doing the LEAN implementation for the customers since last 3+ years. Over the years, being LEAN organization has been a selling point for the IT vendors and equally the customers have been demanding. The benefits of LEAN include reduce waste, reduction of inventory costs, cross trained employees, reduced cycle time & obsolescence, high quality & reliability and may more. This, of course was a drop in the ocean of the knowledge of the LEAN framework, even for me. If you are interested in knowing more and reading more, suggesting the following reading Principles of LEAN Thinking Lean Manufacturing & Lean Software Development What is LEAN? Benefits of LEAN LEAN – The Machine that changed the world ! Previous Next

< Back The path towards technology transformation can be very long, says Swapnil Deshpande, Chief Digital Officer at ThoughtWorks This is an exclusive interview conducted by the Editor Team of CIO News with Swapnil Deshpande, Chief Digital Officer at ThoughtWorks. Technology leaders need to be able to adapt to the constantly changing environment around them, sense the change early, and be ready before the change becomes a problem by responding to the change appropriately How did you plan your career path to be a successful technology leader? Let me break down this question and answer it in two parts. First, “how did I become a technology leader?” and second, “how did I become a successful leader?” For the first part of the question, let me admit that my journey of becoming a technology leader has grown from many small career dreams I had at various stages in my life. My very first career dream as a child was to grow up and be a teacher. Being the son of two teachers, I have always had a great admiration for teachers, their knowledge and wisdom, and their ability to impart knowledge and build the characters of hundreds of students. Growing up further, when I was in my pre-teens, I developed a passion for reading, and I would spend hours and hours reading various kinds of books and novels. Reading would not only broaden my knowledge and understanding of various subjects, but it would also foster a deep respect for the authors’ creativity and story-telling abilities, and their fantastic ability to take readers on a journey through their stories was something I was eager to learn. So, my second career dream was to become an author or storyteller. Later in my early teens, I got introduced to computers, and it unlocked a completely different world for me. I was fascinated by the abilities of computers and the possibilities they could unlock for the world. Computers allowed me to be creative, abstract, and structured at the same time, and I knew that this is what I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life. So, my next career dream was to make a career in computers and technology. Thankfully, I stuck to that for the rest of my life. After completing a formal professional education from NIT Allahabad as a Computer Science and Engineering student, I had work tenures with Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, and Amdocs before taking the plunge to be an entrepreneur and setting up two start-ups. My most valuable lessons about the corporate world came during my days as an entrepreneur. Now, I have almost 10 years of working experience with Thoughtworks. For the second part of the question, I do not know if I am successful or not. The definition of success is different for different people, so I cannot say generally whether my career is successful or not; I will leave that to others to decide if they think of me as successful or not. For me, “career” is a long-term and evolving part of life. A successful career includes great learning as well as using that learning to help build a positive impact on others. For the first part (my professional life), I believe I have had a reasonable amount of success because I have had numerous opportunities to continue my learning over the course of my two decades of experience. For the second one, I would leave it to the people who work with me to tell if I have been successful in delivering a positive impact on their life and helping them grow. What challenges you faced in your career path and how did you overcome them? I have a comprehension issue with the word “challenge.” I find it difficult to treat a specific situation as a challenge; I would rather think of it as an “opportunity” to make an impact or make life better for someone. A couple of examples I can give are: some people think of the “rapidly changing technology landscape” as a challenge; I think of it as an opportunity to continuously learn and expand the horizon. Another example could be the “constrained financial situation of companies and departments” post-COVID, which may be a challenge to deliver impact, but I think of that as an opportunity to “innovate” the business models. Looking at any situation as a challenge makes your brain think of it as a problem to be solved or mitigated and responds like that, possibly in a constrained way where the focus is to avoid loss or issues or risks. However, looking at the same situation as an opportunity makes you think across the horizon to find the best solutions, innovative solutions, and sometimes those that do not exist today. The emphasis then shifts to value maximisation and impact maximisation rather than risk or loss avoidance. Having said that, the real challenge comes when you deal with people and their emotions at work. Understanding human nature and behaviour is indeed challenging, yet an important aspect of leadership. I am pretty sure I have made mistakes in my leadership career; however, it remains a journey of continuous learning. What are the challenges faced by technology leaders today while implementing digital technologies? Continuing from the previous theme, rather than outlining the challenges that are likely to be faced by the technology leaders, I would like to outline the situations that the technology leaders are likely to face and in which they will play an important role in steering the organisation forward. Technology leaders will face increasing pressures from managing and navigating industry and business model disruptions. They are not only expected to react to disruptions, but also to anticipate and prepare for them in many cases. Markets are evolving fast, and the technology landscape is evolving even faster, so navigating this will be a big thing on the minds of the leaders. On the other side, this presents a wonderful opportunity to disrupt yourself and get ahead of the competition. Aside from the topic of disruptions, technology leaders will increasingly face constraints on the investment dollars at their disposal. In the post-pandemic, recession-hit world, investments in building new technology or in the use of new technology are getting harder scrutiny. The technology leaders will need to learn how to manage experiments, innovations, and using new technology for generating tangible value without touching their mainstream businesses (that earn money). The third and perhaps equally important conundrum that the technology leaders will face is to manage the timing of their key investment decisions. When should I invest in developing or deploying technology for commercial purposes? Should we buy technology or build it ourselves? The right decision always lies somewhere in between “opportunity cost” and “cost of missed opportunity.” If you invest too early, you may not get the right value (because the use cases have not matured), while if you invest too late, you may have missed out entirely. Technology leaders will need to always balance their decisions between these two poles. How can technology leaders overcome the challenges faced? While technology is important, the people and leaders of the organisations that drive tech initiatives and business transformation play a larger role. For an effective outcome, they need to have the right mindset and be “transformation ready.” I would advise the technology leaders to focus on the following key aspects for preparing themselves and their teams to respond better to challenges and unpredictable situations: How to think? The technology leaders need to see possibilities and opportunities beyond the current problems and situations they are encountering on a day-to-day basis. Being buried in today’s problems does not help people have the right mindset to imagine a better future. How to act? Because things can get unpredictable along the way and decisions could go wrong along the way, it is important for the leaders to be tolerant of an environment that seems ambiguous and often contains risks. Since the path for each company is unique and unexplored, the teams and leaders need to show a high level of resilience in the face of constant change and constant ambiguity along the way. How to react? The path towards technology transformation can be very long, bumpy, and full of unexpected surprises and blockers along the way. Leadership changes, organisational direction changes, business model changes, organisational politics, shifting powers between teams, and the ability to influence are some of the key reasons why the path can be bumpy. The technology leaders need to be able to adapt to the constantly changing environment around them, sense the change early, and be ready before the change becomes a problem by responding to the change appropriately. Any best practices, industry trends, or advice you’d give to fellow technology leaders to help them succeed professionally? Technology is transient and ever-changing, while the business value paradigm is permanent. While some businesses develop new technologies, the vast majority of businesses use technology to deliver business value. I would strongly advise the technology leaders to take a keen interest in understanding the business model of the organisation and the associated nuances. Knowing how the company runs and generates profit or grows is very important knowledge that the technology leaders should possess. Keep your curiosity quotient high. Go back to the fundamentals and apply first-principles thinking to bring more innovation and impact to your business. Do not be satisfied with the status quo and challenge it continuously. Finally, taking inspiration from the most successful football teams, another message I would like to give to the technology leaders is to forget about the past achievements and successes and focus on delivering future value. What you did in the past is over and should be forgotten as soon as possible, and your focus should be on the next target. A technologist’s true joy comes from the journey of learning and creating value. Any other points that you would like to highlight? Some tips that have helped me along the way are: Try not to overinvest emotionally at work. Invest in people, not work or products. Your career and journey are much larger than the project or team you are currently on. So, invest in long-term relationships and help each other grow. Have a passion (or a hobby) outside of work that you are willing to burn your nights for. For me, watching Manchester United play football is one such passion. I tell my team not to be surprised if they see me responding to some chat messages or emails at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. India time. It’s possible I might have been awake watching football. Take time off. Do not just book time off to fight stress and refresh your mind; take time off to experience new things too. Take care of your physical and mental well-being. The pandemic has taught us how important it is to take care of mental health. Take it seriously and take good care of it. Previous Next

< Back Learning innovation ! – Part II– Incremental & Radical Innovations The Incremental & Radical innovation techniques are most commonly used .. Last time I wrote about one of the techniques of learning Innovation called Innovation by Subtraction. This time, I would be trying to explain one more type of Innovation viz., Incremental & Radical Innovations. The Incremental & Radical innovation techniques are most commonly used across the world for innovation. They are also called Sustaining & Disruptive Innovation techniques. Incremental innovation generally relates to enhancements or small improvements in the existing products or services, whereas the Radical innovation brings a significant improvement in the product or the service. One of the most common examples of the Incremental innovations are the early Pentium chips developed by Intel. From Pentium I to IV, they were generally based on the similar pattern however as the new version came out they brought out newer technologies & innovations in their chipset, which could be attributed to the Incremental innovation. Moving from a single core to dual or quad cores in their latest processers could be termed as a Radical innovation though. Another example of Incremental innovation being Microsoft’s Windows 98 operating system, which was an enhancement over the Windows 95 operating system. The Windows 95, however was a Radical innovation over the previous Windows 3.1 operating system interface. Now you may ask me how to differentiate between the Incremental innovation from a Radical innovation or you may even ask, what should be the degree of deviation between an innovation to be considered as Incremental vs Radical? The answer to this question was defined by a team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute . They recommend to consider an Incremental innovation as a Radical if it meets one or more of following characteristics, The innovation provides entirely new set of usage features and experience In terms of statistics, it provides about five times or better performance Or it provides more than 30% reduction in the costs of the product / service Normally the Incremental & Radical innovations go hand in hand. If you see my previous examples you would see that the Radical innovation has followed after one or more Incremental innovations. So you would relate to the fact that the Radical innovation is characterized by a long period of Incremental innovations before and after it. The important benefit of the Radical change is the fact that it can potentially and significantly change the basis of competition in the favour of the innovator. Incremental innovation is relatively easy to obtain than Radical one and I am sure by now you would have understood pretty much of it. There are significant examples of where the Radical innovations have given great advantages to the innovators. Some of them are as follows, IBM Introduction of electronic typewriter, nearly wiped off the manual type writers form the market and gave IBM a significant business advantage. Wal-Mart Innovated a radical process change in the way the supply chain was managed throughout its stores in the US that gave a significant advantage in terms of time & cost and helped it cement its position as No. 1 in the retail market. Incremental Vs Radical – Which one to choose? Radical Innovations are significantly risky, take more time to develop and are more expensive to obtain in nature, whereas, the Incremental are significantly less risky, relatively cheaper & based on a proven product or a process and are more likely to produce results in a shorter time frame. The Incremental innovations provide the businesses with a steady stream of enhanced and improved products / processes or services, but due to relatively simpler nature of these innovations it is required to keep in mind the following, Ensure that the innovations are focussed around the market demands. Since the nature of innovation is such that you would eventually keep on developing new enhancements, small features, there is a danger that you might do something which the customers would not want and may not need in their product. If you continue to churn out the improvements or new features that the customer does not want, the customer eventually might look for alternative products. Don’t forget Radical innovation! Incremental innovations do not necessarily envisage the future technology and attempt to provide a bridge between current and future technologies. Imagine what would have happened to iPhone if Apple would have used the traditional keyboard design of the phone !! Also, remember that its on Radical innovation that changes the business game in your favour !So when you look around next and do a brain storming about innovation, you might want to start with an Incremental innovation and who knows you might bring out a Radical innovation in your product / process or your service! Good Luck! #Softwareengineering #Innovation #productivity #learning #techniques Previous Next

Strategy. Digital transformation – 8 inside characteristics of the modern & digital organizations The pandemic has changed the dynamics of almost every kind of business. . Read more .. Why IT departments must reinvent themselves - Part 3 In continuation from my previous blogs, here I write about the direction ... Read more .. Why IT departments must reinvent themselves - Part 2 In my last blog, I tried to explain the factors that impact the direction .. Read more .. Why IT departments must reinvent themselves - Part I IT departments are on the verge of being irrelevant to businesses. .. Read more .. Managing risks in operations & production support environment Tips on managing the risks on production environment Read more .. Be LEAN .. this year! The LEAN framework originates from the manufacturing system developed by Toyota called Toyota Production System ... Read more ..

Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Sujana Arul Selvi Alaguraj 1 Feb 2023 Sujana is a natural leader. She enjoys helping others learn new things and realise their full potential. She also thinks that's a great way to learn and realize her own potential. Being a mother of two, staying on top of her game has been one of her top challenges with its own highs & lows. Sujana considers Jesus Christ as her role model continues to learn everyday from the way He leads with humility, love and integrity. How would you introduce yourself? I consider myself a natural leader. I enjoy helping others learn new things and realise their full potential and that’s one great way I learn a lot and realise my potential. I am driven by purpose and passionate about the principles and values I hold near and dear Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? I started my career as a developer and then moved on to playing different roles from being a business analyst to VP delivery, product owner to Head of Products. To be honest, I’ve never sought after a leadership role, but I am passionate about my core craft and rendering it with commitment inspires people and helps me evolve as a leader during each phase. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? Being a mother of two, staying in the game has been one of my top challenges with its own highs and lows. But the legacy I want to leave behind for my children, family and society continues to motivate me to stay on. What motivates you everyday? By doing things right or at least making an earnest attempt, you get an inch closer to fulfilling your life’s purpose. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? Yes I do. Jesus Christ is my role model in life. I continue to learn everyday from the way He leads with humility, love & integrity. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership to me is all about helping people and organisations realise their full potential and build them up. I would describe my leadership style as a mix of charismatic & transformative leadership What would be your advice to other leaders? Identify your style of leadership that is very unique to you. It doesn’t really have to be one of those styles the books define. As long as it inspires and develops people motivating them for a greater cause you are on the right path towards becoming a successful leader.

< Back Learning innovation ! – Part I – Innovation by Subtraction Many years ago I always used to think that innovation is ... Many years ago I always used to think that innovation is something that can never be taught on the job and I thought it must come from within individual to break the mould and find out better ways of doing the job. I never thought that you can actually teach someone to think innovative and come up with innovative ideas, implement the innovation concepts and practice innovation techniques. How wrong I was to think that! I have been part of the Innovation Sessions in my organization and the experience there has been nothing short of great. Not only these sessions have given me a direction to think different on innovation, but also to learn more on various innovation techniques and processes. With this post, I would starting a new article series Learning Innovation based on my own learning and my thoughts on the same. I hope this first post will give you few leads to help yourself learn more on innovation techniques and processes so you can also try them in your organization, Innovation by Subtraction Innovation by Subtraction is a bit uncommon process but might yield surprising results. To use the IbS process for doing an innovation in a process, we are expected to make a list of components of the process. The list should contain the MUST have components of the process. Now, as a part of the IbS, you are expected to brainstorm on how the process would still function without each of the components. We are expected to innovate the potential value or benefits would be without the components. However, the most important part of the solution must be the fact that the solution should not compromise the business value or benefits coming out the process. It should sound like a workable business idea ! The examples we discussed within our session were very interesting and the ideas that came out were even better. Have a look at the following example which might give you an idea on how radical can your thinking get when you remove the most essential part (you thought) from your process, service, product. Product / process - Mobile phone Most essential part of your product / process to remove - Battery charging Innovative Solutions when you remove the most essential part Can the phone use solar energy? Can the phone use bio cells? Can the phone breath? Self sustaining power? IbS has been a catalyst for many great innovations over the year. Most notably of them were, Phone call with IVR (Interactive Voice Recording) The most important thing when you deal transactions on phone, are of course the people. You need someone to listen to you and act on your instructions or help you in dealing issues. Now when you apply the IbS rule to this process of a phone call and remove the most important part of the process, the listener (person) and replace with an automated solution, what remains is an innovative solution of IVR. Business benefits – Significant reduction of costs, reduction in errors, more customer satisfaction in general. Client server technology The most important part of the computer functionality was the business processing and the subsequent hardware that is consumed by desktop PCs do support the business processing. When you remove both 1. an ability to compute itself and 2. CPU unit, what remains is an innovative solution of Client server technology. The server controls the business processing and has significant CPU power while the clients are more of dumb terminals with only monitor & keyboard as significant hardware. You can still perform full tasks and can add more terminals with less costs. Business benefits – Significant reduction of costs, space & consistent performance Touchscreen Did you ever think of any computing device until last few years with no keyboard to interact with? Calculators, mobile phones, notebooks, desktops were all having dedicated keyboards for users to interact with them. You now take out the most important part of the device interaction i.e. keyboard and the innovative solution is to have a touch screen interface. Touchscreen technology has been touted as one of the most popular device interaction technology now a days with more and more devices giving option of touch screens. Business benefits – Style factor, bigger screen areas, better interaction techniques So, think on you can use the IbS technique for finding out innovative ideas and solutions for your processes, services. #Innovation #productivity #Softwareengineering #techniques Previous Next

Women leadership series - In conversations with Caihong Liu 5 Mar 2022 Caihong is one of the best at organizing and executing all kinds of work and is absolutely super efficient to get stuff done. Almost relentless! How would you introduce yourself? Hi, My name is Caihong Liu. My husband, me and our 11-year-old son live / work and study in Chengdu, China. My husband's biased description of me is that I am good at organizing and executing all kinds of work and is super efficient. My son doesn't have a mature description of me yet, sometimes he calls me the best mom in the world, sometimes he is not very happy with me because I am firm on his study and can be pushy in order to keep his time management on track. One common description of my colleagues towards me is that I am very good at getting things done. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? I majored in Computer Science for both of my Bachelor and Master degrees in a good university (University of Electronics, Science and Technology of China) in Chengdu. After graduation I joined Motorola, and worked there first as a Developer / QA and 3 years later my first Project Manager leadership role. I started to interview candidates, managing teams and teams’ delivery. Motorola passed the CMMI level 5 certificate back then so I was educated in the way of following the process in every step of the software development lifecycle. The 5 years working in Motorola led me into the TeleCOM industry. After Motorola I worked in Nokia (later changed to NSN) and TietoEnator (later changed to Tieto), with the role of Project Manager, R&D Manager, Networks Director, Site Manager, the size of the teams under my management grew to over 1000 people. I was in the leadership role for another 7 years. Within this period, I was the first batch of scrum masters and started to use agile and lean practices in our daily deliveries. Then my experience of growing a new site for a foreign invested company in Chengdu got noticed by a headhunter and after the interviews I took the position of the site manager for the Bleum Chengdu office. That is the time I transferred from the TeleCOM industry to a software consultancy company and started to learn to provide the service for all different industries. Over 7 months in Bleum, the typical conflict between being a “2-year-old’s mom” and a “full time working mom” reached to the peak - My constant traveling and my own mom who took care of my son at that time had to leave us to take care of my brother’s baby. So I had to stop my “full time work” and be the “2-year-old’s mom” temporarily until he was old enough to go to kindergarten. I created an Elance (it is a freelancer platform) account at that time, doing research, translations, writing articles for my clients in parallel with taking care of my son. My husband complained a lot because most of my clients were from the US and I had to work till very late hours and my husband was concerned about my health and did not think it would be sustainable. Fortunately 1 year later, my son started kindergarten and I joined ThoughtWorks as a staffing manager first, Later community manager, project manager, I will be with ThoughtWorks for 8 years this June. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? One of the top challenges I faced during my journey is things can always be more complicated than they seem to be and I don’t have all the answers, but teams are counting on me for. What I usually do in this scenario is to organize the people who have the best knowledge to break down all the problems, get them analyzed, prioritized and get them tackled one after another. Explain as much and clearly as possible, and be the first person to take responsibility, walk my talk to move the whole team forward together. The other top challenge I face is to find the balance of my focus and time spent among context analysis, planning, operational and administrative tasks, managing team(s) deliveries, managing up, cross teams’ cooperation etc. The context is changing so flexibility is always required. When I first stepped into my leadership role, I made the mistake of still taking all the difficult tech tasks with me (Because I did them very well in the past), which left the other team members less opportunities to grow. What I do after I realize the problem is to adjust my focus according to the context and support people to own the tasks which could build their expertise and help on their growth. What motivates you? Making people’s lives better, it doesn’t matter if it is via Tech or not, I feel achievement when a problem is solved and people benefit from what I do. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? My mum is my life long role model, she did not receive much education, but she is the best at everything she does and is usually super fast at everything, plus she is always kind to all people, even the ones who are mean to her. Oprah Winfrey (An American host) and Echo Chen (A Chinese writer) are also my role models, I admire their storytelling talents, their energy and interpretation of making the world a more interesting place, and their courage to move on when the world is not so beautiful. I wish to be more like them to tell stories and influence people positively. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? To me leadership means a good facilitator and a transformer, sometimes you need to be a beacon, sometimes an architect, sometimes a catalyst, sometimes just a person. Being a good facilitator helps to put everything together and being the transformer helps to roll in different roles when context changes, with the goal to organize a group of people to get things done. My leadership style (or my goal) is pretty much the same. I’d like to borrow the words I heard before “We play to win, or we don’t play” as my leadership identity. What would be your advice to young leaders? The best lesson I learned from my experience is leadership is about creating conditions that enable others to be at their best. It is easy said but can be hard to do. I find running rehearsals in my head beforehand can help me practice from different angles. It is like playing chess, I get to think forwardly what are those conditions, how they will help other people, from what ways and what are the best shots; Also young leaders might feel embarrassed to reach out for help and support at the beginning, but what I learned is that it is absolutely OK to do so, other people usually would love to offer you the needed help and support, so don’t lose the opportunity to learn from other people.

< Back How would you define leadership? On the face value of the question, it looks very simple to everyone, however ... What do you think leadership means to you? How would you define it? I was part of a discussion with the new joiners to talk about the leadership and one of the question I asked them was the above. On the face value of the question, it looks very simple to everyone, however what surprised me and probably others was that everyone took a pause and thought for a moment before answering the questions. Few interesting answers that came out of the discussion were, – Leadership is all about getting things done on time within budget & costs – Leadership means helping your team grow – Its about people management – Its about how you handle issues and the pressure cooker situations – Leadership is how you motivate people to do their jobs – Leadership is about managing the work and team – Leadership is controlling the behaviour and emotions of self and influencing in others – Leadership is all about setting the rules and helping the followers follow them! and the answer I gave was “Leadership is all about taking risks and making key decisions that help you grow your team”. However, after the session is now complete, I would redefine leadership as, Leadership is not a science, its an art. Its an art on how you understand the mindset of individuals as well as groups, connect with people of various styles and patterns and still form a successful team and achieve a common goal of growth & success. However, none of the above is possible, without yourself making a conscious effort to understand yourself, your own emotions and learn to control and channelize them to create positive energy around. Leadership is demonstrated by various people and they have unique style of executing leadership within the group. Previous Next

Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Ganesh Kumar Balusamy 28 Jan 2023 Ganesh is a product manager of NEO with @thoughtworks. He considers his 14 yrs daughter as his role model and he proudly acknowledges she inspires him with her dedication, determination, firm decision making, and clarity of thoughts. How would you introduce yourself? My name is Ganesh Kumar (GK), and I work for the TechOps Digital Platforms team at /thoughtworks as a product manager. Having 16 years of professional background with a focus on analysis, product and delivery. Setting the right product strategy, leading the team with the right intent and goal, discovering the right problem by consulting with users and stakeholders, facilitating and identifying the right solution, testing and validating the identified solution, and delivering it as committed along with the team are all part of my day to day activities. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? I started my career with PTG (@Ebix) as a sales executive to sell CRM softwares to financial analysts all over India. Fortunately, I got a chance to transition into the role of Business Analyst for the same cloud product. With the foundation of four years in my first job, I moved to BNY Mellon to automate the Anti Money Laundering manual processes. After working for BNY Mellon for one and half year, I moved to Exterro, a leading e-discovery software product company, where I worked to define, re-define, enhance digital workflows. Additionally, it provided an opportunity to lead and learn the qualities that make an effective leader. I joined Harman as a programme manager after gaining significant expertise as a business analyst in product companies. This was my first exposure to the service company and I worked with numerous clients across different domains. This gave me the confidence to be agile by nature, deliver as a team, and be domain agnostic. Joined /thoughtworks back in mid 2018 to learn and grow in product and digital platforms. The journey of learning is still continuing (my first company where I stayed for more than 4 years). People around me and my leaders motivated me to take initiative, trusted in my approach and inspired with their actions which takes me to the leadership role. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? When I was put in an ambiguous scenario, I became nervous, but the revelation that it was OK not to know everything and the desire to quickly learn in those areas transformed my perspective on unknown areas. Even if I had solid conviction on certain topics, it was difficult for me to explain and persuade others. A detailed research, sufficient data points to support the issue, and assistance from the available support system enabled me to handle the criticism and communicate confidently. What motivates you everyday? An appreciation, a sense of accomplishment, when I make a positive change in the lives of others (however tiny), or a heartfelt greeting motivates me to run for the day. And, the little things I do for myself, and having my own ME time. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? Positive people around me always inspire me, and I admire them in various aspects. In my first job as a sales executive, I was good at prospecting, contacting, and offering, but I was not able to close the sales calls. Mr.Elango was my senior, and he went out of his way to help and protect me until I could close the calls on my own. Still, I remember his virtues in the manner he motivated and guided me in the beginning of my profession. When I first started working as a Business Analyst, Karina Shimomaebara was my first product manager. She taught me to be patient with my teammates and coworkers. She took an extra step to understand my personal side, hardships I was facing, and extended her help even beyond her limit. Many more people along with my professional life, now my 14 year daughter has recently been a role model for me. Her dedication, determination, firm decision making, and clarity of thought taught me what I had been missing out on all these days, and what I needed to focus on in my life. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? In my school days, I was the least favorite student to most of my teachers, until I met my physics teacher in my 12th grade. For him, all students are equal irrespective of how attentive in his class, or how much you score in his subject, but he does his duty every day day in day out. When I scored 17% on his subject on the first exam, he extended his help to guide me along with some of my classmates who scored less. He identified where I am lagging behind and taught me every chapter in detail in the extra classes. With his guidance and extra care I scored 94% in my final exam. That made Physics my favorite subject. I see my Physics teacher as a great leader. I see good leaders around who are “good mentors” and “Impartial” and I am striving to emulate them. After a small setback in my communication with my clients, my leader in Thoughtworks said “Ganesh, I trust you.”. This was when I joined his team, and that was the first time a leader said he trusts me. I respect his confidence and the way he still stands by his words to this day. My fear of failure might have stuck with me, if I didn’t hear this from him. That tells me “Trust” and “Trustworthy” are needed to be a good leader. I believe that I am following it too. What would be your advice to other leaders? Don't wait for others to name you as a leader; believe that you are already a leader of someone or something. Humility may always help you develop as a leader. Be patient, actively listen to others, set a good example by doing the same, and be open to feedback. Furthermore, continue your passion, and do what interests you.