All posts by Chinmoy Panda

About Chinmoy Panda

Founder and CEO of Mindfire Solutions. Interested in all things tech. Building the greatest team of developers in India. A-players only. Author - Chinmoy Panda

Thoughtful Programming Can Save Days. But Do You Have Time For It?

Software Engineering, Software Industry, Thoughts,

 

Today I will share an experience in the effects of inflexible software, actually caused by hard work!

We use a SaaS service for our payroll process. Last month, we needed to add a salary component for selected people. We decided that instead of adding it as the pre-defined “Bonus” component, we would name it “KMBonus”.

All good till now. The payroll system allows addition of custom components. Then you download a blank Excel file and upload it back after inserting figures.

We downloaded the template which had a column for KMBonus, along with columns for every other component. This sheet was filled for KMBonus and uploaded back. It failed. No error message, nothing – the page just refreshed silently.

What was wrong? Was it a problem with file format? File size? Number formats? Did columns or sheets or anything get rearranged by mistake? This took a couple hours. When nothing worked, a support issue was filed. It was a weekend.

On Monday, support tried to understand what was wrong. After few hours, and with the file being analyzed, support figured out what was wrong – the uploaded file couldn’t have empty cells/columns while being uploaded back! So, although you wanted to update only KMBonus column, you had to either insert zero into every other cell everywhere, or delete all other columns.

First I was upset – that a simple error message, or documentation on expected file format, would have helped avoid this. Then I realized something else.

Entire payroll for hundreds of people got stuck for a couple days, because the programmer had worked hard – but harder than necessary.

Think about code structure. It would have taken more work, more effort, to put in all this validation – “Check all cells have numbers, ensure none are blank!” Sure, requirements may not have covered this case, so as a programmer I am free to do anything. But if I am free, do I do things after thinking about it – being thoughtful about work? Do I do things for the user – being thoughtful about users? Or do I do things that are just technically correct? Instead of tightening by validation, a simple conceptual foundation would have reduced the programmers’ work and rendered flexibility to user!

Imagine if the conceptual foundation had been: any blank cell means nothing is to be done. If something has a number, update component to that number. Simple.

So when you get a sheet with many cells blank, entire columns blank, ignore the blank ones. And process only the ones with numbers. Did I say simple?

Think of code. This is actually less work, is conceptually clear, and means much more to user! Smart work versus hard work. Saves days of effort for the programmer. And, in our example, a difference of days in payroll processing!

Thoughtful programming is based on common sense. Thoughtful programming reduces work. Thoughtful programming can save the day. Days.

 

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Entry-level/Fresher Salary at Mindfire Solutions

Mindfire Solutions, Software Industry,

 

(Update Sep 20:

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT FALSE CLAIMS IN HIRING:

Mindfire Solutions does NOT employ services of any external organization for our recruitment process, in any role at any stage. We do our OWN hiring COMPLETELY and nobody else – no placement consultant, no recruitment agent, no headhunting firm, no campus coordinator, nobody else at all – is involved in any way at all.

Please do not believe people making false promises to place you at Mindfire Solutions, or to get you an interview slot, or influence hiring in any way – and definitely do not pay anything for such claims. If you do believe and interact with them, it is at your own risk and loss. Mindfire Solutions is not responsible in any way for such interactions.)

 

Quietly.

Quietly, Mindfire has created one of the best packages for freshers, nationwide.

At Mindfire Solutions, we have always believed in providing industry-leading packages for talent. We have raised the bar in 2014 with a lucrative pay package and other elements that will surprise you.

1. Salary
Our uniform entry-level salary for all 2014 technical freshers is Rs 35,000 per month (Rs 4,20,000 per annum). All fixed, all guaranteed. This in itself is perhaps in the top 90%. Whoa! But wait – this is just salary. We have more!

2. Free Tablet
On the day you join, you take home a gift of a tablet (Apple iPad mini 3G or Samsung Galaxy Note 8) worth about Rs 30,000. It belongs to you. A nice little welcome to a new life.

3. Free Insurance
You and your parents/family are eligible for medical insurance, with annual premium up to Rs 6,000 paid by Mindfire, which generally gives you insurance coverage up to Rs 3 lakhs.

4. Free Lunch
For past 8 months, we have had free lunch at all our centers. We do not foresee discontinuation of this facility – people have been thrilled!

5. Zero Bonds
Mindfire is against bonds of any kind. We do not bind you with any bonds, disguised as “service contract” or any clever words. You can walk out at any time if you get a better option for your career/life (with a month’s notice). We wish you well.

6. Zero Deposit
There is no financial deposit of any kind. Neither a bank guarantee or anything. The only thing you need to give is your talent, your energy, your dedication. Everything else is for you to get.

7. Zero Bench
We will get you real work within 6 months of joining. You don’t have to sit idle on bench for 2-3 years, destroying your long-term career and future.

8. 100% Learning
You will learn by doing practical work. You will have active guidance and help and resources, and you will learn by doing and reading and discussing – not by being taught by someone. Being taught is passive, learning yourself is active – the chosen path for winners.

9. 100% Job Security
Mindfire has not had layoffs at any time in its history. Neither in the mega recession of 2000-2002, nor 2009-2010, nor at any other time ever. People are asked to leave only due to individual performance problems, and at 2% it is the lowest in industry. OK, let’s be direct: yes, if you have no interest in work and tech, we will ask you to leave.

10. 100% Stability
Mindfire is a self-funded organization with no bank loans or external debt or borrowing of any kind. We have hundreds of clients spread all over the globe in various industries, which diffuses risk factors and renders us an enviably strong and stable foundation. We have been continuously and comfortably profitable since 15 years.

11. 100% Software Development. Only.
Mindfire is a place for pure software development, nothing else. We do not do production support, technical support, and a zillion other types of work. We take up only work which is software development (programming and testing), so you will always get hardcore tech work only.

 

To Mindfireans: 11 is an odd number. Which item above should we cut (unimportant for freshers) so that it becomes 10? Or which other item can we add to make it a dozen?!

To Software Freshers: we love you if you love tech. As you can see above, Mindfire will give you a lot. The only thing you need to give is your talent and time. Do come on over and apply for the best IT/software jobs at http://www.mymindfire.in/AddMyProfile.aspx!

But shh, quiet. Don’t tell your friends where you found the best opportunity. Don’t tell them about Mindfire.

Shh.

 

 

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Thank God It’s Friday – Mindfire Style!

Organizations and Leadership, Software Industry, Thoughts, ,

 

At Mindfire, we recently had a proposal to have one day of the week as “Work From Home” (WFH) for everyone.

A day working at home would allow a day’s escape from the commute. It would enable flexibility in planning personal stuff, including spending time with family.

The ideal day was Friday. Practically, it would mean Fridays blending seamlessly into the weekend, and undiluted weekends. People with family few hours away could travel overnight on Thursday, work from home on Fridays, and have two full days at home. And it would make Fridays a little more fun and a little more free!

Awesome! Doable? Hmm.

We shared the idea with people at our Bangalore center, to gauge response and interest. It quickly became obvious that people loved it! Given Bangalore’s epic traffic and commute problems, it was not surprising that most people preferred to avoid the roads.

Of course, there are some problems. Some people may have connectivity issues and actually prefer to work in office. Some people may have hardware or device-dependent work which cannot be taken home. Some work may need bandwidth which is not available at home. And certain work (such as Hiring) simply has to be done at office.

But there are enabling factors. First is our 100% laptop environment, which allows both mobility and reduces power-cut issues due to battery backup. Second is availability of cheap and reliable Internet connections. Third is the Mindfire culture – of being outcome-oriented instead of needing to see people sitting at their desks.

There is the gnawing problem of unfairness for people who cannot enjoy Friday WFH because their work cannot be done from home. Will they enjoy the joy of others? Or will they hate a facility they are excluded from?

It is a balanced risk. People understand if they have work issues at home, they need to rush to office. People also understand that freedom and flexibility come with responsibility. And that good things come hard, but go easy!

To test the waters, we are rolling this out at our Bangalore center from August 22, Friday.

This is a trial, an experiment in Work 2.0. If there are problems with work, it will have to be discontinued. If it works, it will be rolled out at our Bhubaneswar and Delhi centers as well. Helping positive ideas succeed enables us to do more, to move forward, while failing takes us a step backward.

 

Will it work? I will update what we find out! Life is discovery.

 

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Pre-paid Salary: The Shocking Result of Our Poll

Organizations and Leadership, Thoughts, ,

Few days back I wrote about salary traditionally being paid after work is done (end of month), and how it could possibly be paid in advance of the month as pre-paid salary.

After that, we ran a poll with 600+ people inside Mindfire. This was not an academic poll – it was an actual serious offer to change salary to be on pre-paid basis. The result was pretty much certain – people would obviously always want salary as soon as possible, and before the month – before work is done – is sweeter than honey. Obvious, right? Right?

Wrong!

The results are an absolute surprise.

About 70% people voted. Of those, 60% people voted for salary at end of month – same as today! 7% voted for salary in middle of the month, and 33% voted for salary before the month begins. If you regard the 30% absentees as voting in favor of status quo, it is a straight majority for post-paid salary, at 72%!

I have no idea why people do not want salary before work is done. Maybe it is self-respect. Maybe it is maturity. Maybe it is to be in sync with rest of the world. Maybe they trust Mindfire and salary is not an issue. Maybe people see no reason to do it, and no benefit of doing it. Maybe there is no need for (earlier) money.

One thing I do know: thankfully we didn’t just start pre-paid salary without asking people for their choice. It was dead simple “obvious” and “certain” that people would like it, so we could have just rolled it out in the comfortable assumption that people would appreciate it. But asking people allowed us to get true pulse. And now we know better – people don’t want it. And there ends this adventure!

Lesson learnt: it is dangerous to assume, even on seemingly “obvious” things. The world is full of surprises!

 

PS: It would be interesting to run similar polls in different organizations, and check what patterns emerge. If you happen to run it in your team, do let me know how things go!

 

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Why is Salary paid after Work is done?

Organizations and Leadership, Thoughts, , ,

Since my first job a couple decades ago, I have always been intrigued by a tradition in the world of work. It is so embedded in our minds and expectations that we don’t question it.

Salary for a month is always paid at end of that month. Sounds simple, right? But my question is: why?!? Why is salary paid after work is done? Let us look at this from various points of view.

 

Unknown Amount
In case of electricity, water, phones – you have to pay based on consumption. These have to be paid after the month, because it is not known how much you will consume during the month. Makes absolute sense. But salary for the most part is known and predictable – correct?

Trust
In real estate, you pay rent before a month begins. It may seem like the owner is trusting you with his house, so they expect pre-paid rent in exchange of that trust. In reality, it may just mean that the owner doesn’t trust you. In case of organizations and people working in those organizations, sure the organization is trusting you with its work. But aren’t people trusting the organization with their skills/energy/time? What if the organization shuts down, or willfully defaults on paying salary of people? Did that one month of work go waste? Should the organization have a larger heart in trusting people, or should people be required to trust the organization?

Risk
Sometimes, organizations delay or do not pay salary stating that customers have not paid yet. True, possible, and sad. But should business risk be transferred on to people working with the organization? Unless I am an owner, why should customer and business risk be forcibly transferred on to me? How does it matter to my effort-salary expectation, if customers have not paid?

Economics
A month’s fixed-deposit gets you about 6% annual interest, or 0.5% monthly. By paying salary at end of month, an organization gains 0.5% of the month’s salary. On a salary of Rs 40,000 a month, we are talking about Rs 200, which doesn’t sound big. But look at it two other ways. One, take 500 people, and we are looking at Rs 100,000 as the financial benefit, which doesn’t sound low any more. Second, from a person’s individual perspective, Rs 200 has tangible value. So the question is: should the organization be enjoying this economic benefit, known as the “time value of money”? Or should people be enjoying it?

Power
In business, power play dictates timing of payment. At one end, large companies put smaller vendors on net-30, net-60 days payment as a signal of power. At other end, suppliers insist on advance payment when they know their stuff is selling like hot cakes and demand is greater than supply. It is a power game. In today’s world of work, especially in industries that are people-heavy such as IT/software companies, do organizations have more power or do people? All such organizations profess a philosophy of “people first” – shouldn’t they put their money where their mouth is?

Need
Organizations need money for ongoing operations. This is known as “working capital”. Well, do people not need money for ongoing lives? Who needs it earlier, who needs it more? Who has the wherewithal to raise required finances easier? By paying for work at end of month, an organization successfully delays its need for finances (for salary) by a month, easing its working capital requirements. But whose need should have higher priority?

History, and Everyone
The human mind is trained by history. We do not question practices when “that’s how things always have been” and “that’s how everyone else does it”. We know in our gut that if there were only one way to do a thing, the Kamasutra would never have been written. And we know in our gut that if things were always done how everyone else does it, Apple and Steve Jobs would have never thought different. But both these things afford a sense of comfort, of familiarity, like an old warm blanket on a cold wintry night. Isn’t it safer to just stick around, than to stick out? Why question and rock the boat?

 

Conclusion
Someone asked George Mallory – “Why do you want to climb Mt Everest”? And he replied – “Because it’s there”. Some things don’t have rationale, you do them because you WANT to do them.

Similarly, some other things don’t have rationale, you do them because you CAN do them. I will leave you with this depressing conclusion: there is no logic or rationale. Organizations pay salary after work has been done simply because – Because they can!

Opinion
Personally, I believe that if a person is contributing his or her time and energy and effort to a greater group (the organization), the person has more at stake than the organization. And if you see my thought process on each point above, I am obviously in favor of salary being paid before work is done.

 

What do you think? Is it time to change this practice, to establish a new order? Is it time for salary to be pre-paid?

 

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Who Should Software Developers Care About?

Software Engineering, Software Industry, Thoughts, ,

Manager/Lead or Client – who should developers care about?

Neither.

Software developers in outsourcing companies are a harried lot.

Demands come from multiple quarters – Lead or Manager, Client, Colleagues – to name a few. Sometimes a CEO and other random people are also part of the group. In large organizations, Marketing, Interaction and other teams join the party. And often there are multiple people of each type above. Time is always running out. And sometimes none of these people agree among themselves! What is a software developer to do in such a situation? Who should s/he care about? Who is most important?

None of them.

Software is made for a purpose.

That purpose is to be used by people for something. The only thing that matters in making software succeed, is whether Users will use it. If Users use your software, everyone will be happy. If Users don’t care, everything is wasted.

All the people above – Lead, Manager, Client etc – are representatives for the User. They are people with good intentions, but they are maya – illusion – from the software’s perspective. The only thing that software cares about is whether Users use it or not.

Software that is used is happy software. Software that is unused is grumpy software.

It follows logically that if software cares only about its use, the developers of that software should primarily care about the User. Generally, Client and Lead and others are also doing the same thing – they are planning and prioritizing and designing and doing everything for final User.

But!

Your Lead may find a short-cut that ignores user. Your CEO may want something done that is good for your company but bad for user. Your Client may prioritize something where user is short-changed. On top of this, ego and personal views may come into play.

In short, sometimes (although rarely) these other players may not have user in mind. In such situations your duty is to ignore them. If you can make them see reason, good. If you cannot, you still know what is right and wrong, because you know who to focus on – the User.

Your final responsibility is to the User. Your job is to make good software that Users love.

As a developer, your User is unknown, faceless and often doesn’t exist except in the future. It is easier and tempting to think of the representatives as real, and the User as maya. At core, it is just the opposite.

But my Client pays my company! But my Lead decides my salary!

In the place-time continuum of life and careers, you will find that the experience of making good software is what you will carry forever. Everything else will float away. Your Company will change, your Colleagues will change, your Client will change, your CEO will change, your Lead will change. But that experience of making good software that users use and love and you are proud of – that experience of exhilaration, that pursuit of excellence – that  will never go away.

As humans, we sometimes do what our head tells us, and sometimes what our heart tells us. But through it all, our conscience guides. Think of Clients and Leads as head and heart, and User is conscience. Client and Lead may tell you what to do, but let User be your guide throughout. As in life, so in work.

Use Users as your yardstick in all situations.

When in doubt, think of Users. When not in doubt, think of Users. Everything and everybody else is maya.

 

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A Glass of Google, Anybody?

Software Industry, Thoughts, , , ,

Alternatively called revolutionary and creepy, Google Glass has cyberspace up – up in arms and up for it. Hate it or like it, you can’t ignore it.

There are social, privacy and etiquette implications. Not surprisingly, places where privacy is paramount (such as dive bars), have banned Google Glass. This makes headlines because…nobody knows!

And then there are positive applications such as surgeons monitoring indicators without having to look away. This makes headlines because…nobody knows!

Nobody knows what will happen to Google Glass.

You can’t even put it in any one slot. Is it technology? Is it fashion? Is it vanity? Is it utility? Is it the first attempt at mass wearables? Is it the advent of the cyborgs? It doesn’t end.

The best way to think about Glass is by closing your eyes.

If the downsides are mostly about inappropriate use or privacy concerns, the assumption is that wearers will never take them off. Given that it is easy to take off, it is is easy to see that people will just adapt and remove them at inappropriate places.

The question is: what utility can it provide?

Consumer uses are highlighted by Google. However, I feel specific work applications will come up as developers and organizations re-imagine the possibilities. You can use live-streaming for experience-sharing among friends, or field support personnel can use live-streaming to transmit a malfunctioning machine’s innards to an expert. You are an augmented human being with capability to see additional relevant information to the task at hand.

How can custom software development be impacted? One idea: a constantly recording Glass app with N-recent-minutes recording will mean that testers always have access to what they just saw – elusive bugs which cannot be reproduced will always be captured.

Every industry will have ideas of its own on what Glass can do for them. If Glass can make nurses more accurate, real-estate agents more responsive, students more attentive – you will use them.

Will you look uber cool or downright stupid wearing them? Will you care, if it helps you do things better and faster?

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Celebrating Awesomeness

Mindfireans, Organizations and Leadership, Thoughts, , , , ,

Microsoft MVP


Let us meet someone interesting today.

One of our software engineers at Mindfire, Tadit Dash, was recognized by Microsoft this week as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for South Asian region. His Microsoft MVP profile is here. You can read about Tadit’s journey here in his own words. On tech side, Tadit does his stuff on ASP.NET web development and Dynamics CRM.

It is wonderful to observe Tadit’s enthusiasm and vibrant participation in the global developer community – mostly at CodeProject and also on StackOverflow. Excellent.

Tadit has done all of this while being on projects constantly, and with continuous happy delivery for all projects he has worked on. Brilliant.

When desire and direction combine, time bends to the will.

Tadit is a great example of the type of people we want and love at Mindfire.

People who love technology, people who want to connect, people who want to carve an identity for themselves, people who are responsible, people who are passionate. People who are bound to their own work and talent and reputation and identity – not within the boundaries of an organization or role, but floating on the unchained melody of the unbounded universe.

People who intuitively understand the obvious – things like companies and designation and salary and teams and projects will come and go – what stays with you for your life is the knowledge you gain, the reputation you build, the well-wishers you have, the abilities you possess.

People who see beyond, and rise above. What fate and fortune give, they multiply.

I have never met or spoken with Tadit.

His story inspires me. Coming from the small town of Nayagarh, Tadit joined Mindfire at Bhubaneswar 3 years back. After proving his worth at work, his voluntary energy led to  responsibility for “extra non-work stuff”, and subsequent awards, at Mindfire. He moved ahead to receive a CodeProject MVP award few months back, and now he has received the Microsoft MVP recognition. That’s not all.

He is not only Mindfire’s first Microsoft MVP, but also the first Microsoft MVP from Bhubaneswar, a city with 10,000 software engineers! Wonderful.

If Tadit can do it, so can you and me.

Be awesome. Be Tadit. Look beyond today – build a brilliant tomorrow using today.

Let us think about this story over what is, hopefully, a happy and inspiring weekend.

Cheers!

 

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It isn’t Hard to Hard-code!

Software Engineering, Software Quality, Thoughts, , , ,

Recently I came across an interesting programming situation.

Parts of a web-based system stopped working suddenly, with nothing significant having changed. After some finger-pointing and accusatory guessing, it was discovered that some scripts on server side had been shifted from /root/1level to a deeper nested folder, let’s say /root/1level/2level. So far so good.

What happened next? Why would that make a system stop working?

Code needed to find path for some processing. The code split on first backslash to find file name, implicitly assuming that the file would always be one-level deep from root. When the file was shifted into a deeper folder, the path extraction stopped working.

There can be arguments about whether the admin should have shifted files into a deeper folder without informing developer, or why this should not have been done at all, and so on. But I consider this a clear elementary programming mistake of the hard-coding variety.

Hard-coding does not mean just typing in numeric or string literals into code, although that is the obvious college-level hard-coding. X = 420 or sEndDate = “1/1/2022”. It also means any type of inflexibility embedded right into the code and program. Hard-coding means not understanding the need for flexibility and not writing elegant code that can adapt to its surroundings.

Hard-coding is called “hard” coding because anything hard cannot be molded to suit the need at hand, because it is inflexible. Like when you put in an assumption that your file is one-level deep,, which makes it inflexible to run when its level changes.

What would be the right way to deal with this?

Step 1: extract path in a loop, so that you can handle any level of folder-nesting. You don’t assume you are N levels deep, because folder-level is not something that can be assumed! Instead you traverse the path to find how deep you are.

Step 2: Back-slash? Welcome to multiple OSs! The file-separator character itself is hard-coding. In every language worth its salt that runs on multiple OSs, you have operators to find environment variables including file-path separators. On Unix/Linux you are “/”, on Windows you are “\” or “/”. On Mac you had “:” long back during MacOS, and now you have “/” on OS X with its Unix core. And then I was on some Solaris/RISC machines decades back which used “.”.

Should you hard-code assumptions about N-level nesting and separators? Absolutely not.

Does it need extra time to write flexible code? Absolutely not. The amount of time you spend later in not writing tight right code in the first place, so much of debugging and frustration and rework – it would all be avoided if it were first-time right. And to write above path-extraction code in a loop with separator detection rather than hard-coding – you are talking about couple extra minutes. Take one less leak and you can find time to do the right thing!

Is it rocket science that an average programmer cannot do? Absolutely not. Once you decide to do things like this, it is pretty easy actually.

Then why do people not do it?

Because of mediocrity. A mediocre mind is happy with sub-standard work that somehow passes through. Because of lack of involvement. When you are pushed into a “career”, you are least concerned with your quality of work. As long as the next raise comes around, who cares! You are not a craftsperson to take pride in work, you are just a code jockey.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference between a good software engineer and someone who just gets things to work. A good software engineer anticipates need for change and does things first-time right. A good software engineer thinks ahead and does things in flow during first-code which take very little additional time to do. A good software engineer does not hard-code, either directly as literals or indirectly as implicit assumptions.

Someone who is just a programmer does not do any of the above, and just somehow gets things to work – never sure when it will fall apart.

Now you decide what you want to do.

 

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Reflections on “Queen”

Organizations and Leadership, Thoughts, ,


QueenMoviePoster7thMarchAs with every good movie, the story and characters of “Queen” have subtleties you can reflect on, in different contexts. If you have watched the movie, read on!

Right Person in the Right Place
Whether it is casting Kangana Ranaut as the innocent yet liberal Rani or Lisa Haydon as the wild yet affectionate Vijaylakshmi, or Rajkumar Rao as the suave yet creepy jerk – each actor has been hand-picked to fit their role perfectly. This meticulous job at casting does half the director’s job, with each actor naturally cut out for their character. Actors can adapt, but with natural fit one can get a sense of comfortable flow.

The Past Casts its Shadow
We come across characters whose thoughts and behavior today are driven by their past. Rani goes into her own past often, and learns about past lives of several characters. Taka’s attempts to forget, Oleksander’s desire to do his own bit, Rani’s suppressed self and the joy of new-found freedom – characters perceive and respond based on their past. The past is a prism on to the present.

People and Circumstances
While going to visit Roxette in a shady area of Amsterdam, Rani comments that this is perhaps the wrong place – obviously a little unsettled by the environment. Once she meets Rukhsar (aka Roxette), she recognizes a person making a living the best way she can. And in that moment, she understands in her liberal mind that the person and place are different. Circumstances are not the same as a person.

Life has to Go On
An individual, a family, a team, an organization, a country – every now and then each of these have to leave the past behind and move on. The plastered hostel walls are a way for residents to leave a piece of their soul behind when they vacate, so that they may move on and renew their soul without any baggage of the past. You have to respect yet bury the past when it is time to change.

Accepting Differences
Rani meets people who are very different from herself. The bohemian free-wheeling Vijayalakshmi, the pole-dancing Rukhsar, the male friends who live with her and accompany her to a kink shop – these are all new people from a very different world than hers. Yet she connects with them at a deeper level. The people she rejects are the socially acceptable superficial people she knows since years – Vijay and the rest of his clan. Shared human values triumph over language and nationality and other artificial differences.

Craftsmanship
The Italian chef, Marcello, treats his food as his creation, one that has his spirit and soul. It is work born out of love, not for money alone. Rani’s attempts to change it to suit her taste causes him to react strongly – he loves his creation so much that he cannot tolerate disrespect or disfigurement! You react only when you are emotionally invested in your work, else you are indifferent to opinions. Craftsmanship and pride go together.

Money and Value
Marcello does not want Rani’s money for food she didn’t like and didn’t eat. He tries returning it right away, unsuccessfully, but remembers and returns it next time he meets her. Money that comes without any value being delivered is just money, not worthy money. Whereas money is just money when it is used (as Roxette expresses about the money she sends home), it may or may not be worthy when received. To desire only money we are worthy of, and truly earn and deserve, is character.

Quality Speaks for Itself
When Rani’s gol-gappas become a hit, one can trace it to one individual asking for a trial. And while the immediate reaction was disappointing, he goes on to enjoy it – so much so that he asks for repeats. Quality speaks for itself, and is helped along by word-of-mouth, and soon her stall is thronged by customers. Sounds far-fetched but anyone who has had gol-gappa/puchka/gupchup) will agree whole-heartedly! Good stuff can stand its ground.

 

Now let us take our musings one more step. If you were leading an organization, a team, a mission, yourself…
How would you ensure people are in just the right role where they can bloom and flourish?
How would you appreciate people better based on their past life experience?
How would you separate your view of people from circumstances?
How would you shed the past when moving in a new direction?
How would you recognize and accept people very different from yourself?
How would you build a desire for, and a sense of, pride in work?
How would you create a sense of self-respect – money is to be earned not received?
How would you make quality stuff the world wants more of?

And if you could succeed at the above, wouldn’t you have built a superlative unit?

 

Enough said, hope you just enjoyed the movie!

 

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