Software Maintenance: a perspective from Mr Baru Rao, CEO Cap Gemini

Meet Mr.Baru Rao, CEO Cap Gemini, India.

He was in campus yesterday evening and shared his views on "Software Maintenance" in a simple and unjargonish way as possible.He started off the session telling us that he was an engineer and not an MBA , and we were not to expect words like 'leveraging' or 'core competency' from his session. Considering that there were many engineers in the batch , he made an instant connection.

The session was interesting and insightful. Probably,the best so far ,this year at SP.

Nuggets from the wise man:

"Don't get 1 year experience 15 times , try to get 15 years of experience"
( software enginers should relate to this!)

"Outsourcing to India happens because we are cheap,cheap not as a derogatory term,but
as lowest cost suppliers"

"Companies come to India for cost and ,of course, quality"

"Managing indirect costs in software industry will be the greatest challenge for future managers"

"India's cost advantage could start eroding after 5 years if the manpowers costs continue to rise "

"IT pros like technologies,be it cobol or java,because of the opportunities that exist "

" A devt company in Hyderabad has a swimming pool in campus,some other company has basket ball court ,a meditation room ..., very soon software companies will be doing everything but software development."

"When employees ask for hike , you can't tell them to go to hell,because they will ..."

The Q&A that followed was even interesting ,here are some of them i remember

Student1: Is Cap Gemini into consulting , 'proper consulting' ,now that you bought off EY?
( obviously 'proper consulting' was a slip of tongue from the student )

Ans: Cap Gemini is definitely into consulting (16%of revenues) , i don't know if it is proper or improper.


Student2: Cap Gemini ,off late,is talking about RightShoring ,you have nearshore centres in Polan and offshore in India and China ,How do you plan to balance ?

Ans: We hope to balance it in favor of India.
(as you can guess , a thunderous applause followed ,btw, student2 was me)

SPJIMR presents The Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2005

SPJIMR is organizing the annual “SPJIMR Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2005” to recognize the significant contribution made by companies in the field of Supply Chain Management.

Cases short-listed for final presentations:

1. Asian Paints Industries Ltd.
Demand Planning for Business Advantage
2. Cummins Diesel Sales & Service (India) Ltd.
80:20 not always enough!
3. Hindustan Lever Ltd.
Building a Responsive and Cost Efficient Supply Chain
4. Maruti Udyog Ltd.
Achieving 30% Cost Reduction in Three Years turns Maruti Supply Chain lean and more responsive than ever
5. Tata Motors Ltd.
Early Vendor Integration
6. Trinetra Retail Pvt. Ltd.
Process Reengineering of Supply Chain


The presentations will be adjudged by an eminent jury panel consisting of:
Mr. Ramesh Srinivas, Partner, IBM
Mr. Shrikanth Balachander, VP- Commercial, HLL
Mr. Hemant Pariawala, Sr. Director, i2 Technologies
Mr. Kaustav Mukherjee, Senior Principal, AT Kearney
Prof. G. Raghuram, IIM Ahmedabad
Prof. Rajesh Tyagi, Kelloggs School of Business
Prof. Suresh Mony, SPJIMR

AASARA

Not just another Independence day

How is your independence day celebration usually like?
Let me guess , flag hoisting,a classical dance , throw in a few patriotic bollywood songs , smattering of green and safron to add to the hues , chocolates and disperse..... It's probably no different than what we've been seeing for the last 20 years , maybe a different organization ,different school , or undergrad college , the theme is same and the events are the same , and this one event is supposed to inspire us and keep us going till the next independence day celebration !

This time around we did it a bit different.Yes,we did have the usual formal and official events.There was one addition ,absolutlely unofficial, initiative from first year MBA grads.

We approached an organization called AASARA, a small time NGO which works for street kids in various areas of bombay like - New Mumbai/Kurla/Thane/Neral, one of our batch mates had worked with them earlier. We asked their requirements and came up with a final list of food grains ,books,sports equipment for kids etc.The entire 1st year batch chipped in and our collection was three times our initial expectation and add the invaluable, enthusiastic support from volunteers at every stage, the execution had to be perfect and flawless it was.

Frankly,i don't remember what i did for indep' day last year or the year before or the year before ... This time it was not just another Independence day for me.

This one I'll remember for years to come .

Imagine a million flamingos : the greatest bird spectacle on earth

I just finished watching 'Out of Africa' and the movie brought back some lovely memories of Lake Nakuru , my last destination in kenya. After masai mara ,i was not really interested in going to nakuru,didn't sound like an exciting place at all. However, Nakuru proved to be a pleasant surprise,the weather and sceneries were stunning.If you love birds then probaly nakuru should be top on your list of must do things before you die.Imagine a million flamingos on a serene blue lake,and from a distance like a painting on a lake ,and as if the artist ran out of blue and used pink to finish the painting. Locals say there was time when the entire lake was covered by flamingoes,now that sounded like a fairy tale,that would mean easily 10 million more No wonder the famous ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson called it "the greatest bird spectacle on earth".

This scenery was used in the movie "Out of Africa". Remember the scene where Robert Redford is flying over vast flocks of Flamingo, the rumor goes that it was shot here at Nakuru.Sadly, along the past years flamingos have vanished sporadically to reappear later in a similarly weird way, but flocks are now greatly reduced.You can see literally thousands of flamingoes and pelicans and many other beautiful birds,most of them i don't even remember the names. The guide was just chattering throwing out names for each of the bird. I can't tell the difference between impala and a tommy gazelle,how can i remember the names of birds ...

Well, yes….in modern history

"Well, yes….in modern history”
- J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1952, at a meeting at Rochester University answering the question if his bomb was the first nuclear bomb to be detonated in history.


Manhattan Project chief scientist Dr J. Robert Oppenheimer was known to be familiar with ancient Sanskrit literature. In an interview conducted after he watched the first atomic test, he quoted from the Bhagavad Gita: "'Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.' I suppose we all felt that way."

blunders in Financial Management

Mid-term Financial Management exam yesterday and the day before our 'guru' (Mr. Sandeep Gokhale) had one piece of advice for us.

"If you do any of the following blunders i will personally ensure that
you get a grade 'D' in FM:
1.Giving tax shield to equity source of funds, when calculating cost of capital.
2.Showing depreciation in cash flow statment.

For those into fin or accounts , you will agree with him.

Luckily , the exam was , relatively ,easier.

Guess i'll die another day. It's not my time to go !

Hyderabadi Classic

Enjoy this..it is really funny if u know Hyderabadi Hindi
slang. One of the classic hyderabadi jokes. ( Non - Hindi speakers , forgive me )

In Hyderabad we have our own little Johnny. His name is Chotu. His father is ambitious to educate Chotu.
Chotu goes to school located in Tappachaputra. Its principal is educated in Urdu high school and claims
that he passed tenth class! There is a school inspection thenext day and the conversation is as follows :

Teacher: Kal inispector ayinga. Kochchanaa (questions) puchinga. Sab achchaa padkey aau. Koi galath answer deengaa naa tho main uske pairaan thodtoon.

Chotu: Iski maakki. Kyun aara inispector? Kaam nai hai usku? Kya kochchanaa puchta kathey?
Teacher: Abey tereku kaiku re, tu kal school aanaaich nai. Tu tera moo khola to gaaliaan nikaltay. Tereku main absent nai daalthaun. Ghar pe baithkey gotiyaan khel. Tu school aayingaa to inispector ke saamney mere izzat
ki biryaani karke khaaingaa tu.

So our Chotu is excited, goes home and tells his father that he is not going to school the next day.

Father: Yeah kyaa hai..ischool hai paan dabba hai? Gaand pay maartoon saale tu ischool nai gaya to.

Chotu: Arey Bava, mera teacher bola nakko aao bolke.

Father: Usku akhal hai! Begum suno! Chotu ischool nai jayinga kathey kal. Agar ino ischool nai gaya to
kaise padhinga? Chotu, agar tu kal ischool nahin gaya naa, tere haathan pairaan thod daaltaun.

So Chotu cries and finally agrees to go to school. Next day at inschool,

Teacher is very upset to see Chotu back:

Teacher: Arey teri maakki. Nakko aao bole to bhi kyun aaya re?

Chotu: Mera bava gaand phodtaon bola ischool nai gaya to.

Teacher: offo?! Tera bava bola? Theek hai chal. Last bench pe baith aur inispector aya to chup jaa. Dikhnaich nai. Kuch bhi gadbad karinga naa meri noukri gaand lag jayingi.

So Chotu goes to sit in the last bench hiding behind a tall guy.

Inspector comes for the visit.

Inspector: Adaab.

Teacher: Adaab saab. Bachen acha padrain saab. Kochchanaa puchey to answeraan yun bolte.

Inspector: Abaa? Offo! Ithney kilever(clever) hai aapke bachchey? Achchaa, ek bahuth easy sawaal -
Hamarey body mein sab se nazook cheez kaun si hai?

Teacher: Arey Imtiyaz tu bata rey!

Imtiyaz: Saab, Kaleja saab..

Inspector: Aisa! ...... woh kyun?

Imtiyaz: Saab, kaleja hai to sab kuch hota. Agar woh gaya naa, kuch bhi nahin hota saab.

Inspector: Abaa, kya tez potta hai rey! Aur koi?

Teacher: Arey Akram, tu bata re.

Akram: Saab bheja saab. Bhejey ku khuch bhi hua to kuch yaad nahin rehta saab. Haathaan pairaan kaam
nai karthey,iscooter ku kick bhi nai maar sakthey saab.

Inspector: Abey Teacher, kya kya padaaraa re inku tu. ****iye ke jaiseich answeraan bolrai naa!!

In the meantime Chotu is trying very hard to hide but Inspector sees him. He thinks Chotu is hiding
because he does not know the answer.

Inspector: Woh last bench pe yun jhuk ke baithaa naa woh pottey ka naam kya hai?

Teacher: kaun saab? .......Woh! (iski bhain ku, kaiku dikhaa re tu) Woh Chotu hai saab.

Inspector: Chotu? Ye kya naam hai? Kahan-kahan se lagaathey re bhai naamaan! Chotu, woh lambu ke peechchey kaiku chchup raa tu?

Chotu: Saab main moo khola to teacher maaringi saab.

Inspector: Tereku yaa mereku??

Teacher: Arey kya baath kar reh saab, main kaiku maarthaum aapku. Ye potta ekdam badmaash hai saab, jhoot bolraa. Abey Chotu, answer maloom hain to bol nai tho khaamoosh baith jaa mere baap tere pau padthaum.

Chotu: Saab answer Gaand hai saab.

Teacher: Allah!! Ino moo khola to meri gaand lag gayi re!!!

Inspector: Abey kyaa to bhi bolra re! Sharam kar badon ke saamney aisaich baathaan karthey! Yeich
sikhaaye tumhaarey amma-bavaa? Gaand kahaan kaa answer hai re?

Chotu: Hau saab, gaand ich sabse naazook cheez hai. Kaiku boletho wahaan pe dilli mein baamb
phata....Yahan Hydrabad mein apni gaand phat thi....Yahaan old city mein gadbadaan shuru
hothey....wahaan new city mein sabki gaand phat thi gadbadaan wahaan phailtey kyaaki bolkey. Uttaa kyoon
saab,main yeh answer bolraun naa, mere teacher ki gaand phatrai dekho!

Darkest thing about Africa

Darkest thing about Africa ........................ is the ignorance of Africa

Every time there is a discussion on Africa, i find myself in a 'one man army' struggle trying to convince / inform my friends,batch mates that africa actually has airports, roads, cars, etc and most importantly that Africa is not a village but has 53 countries…and i was fortunate enough to visit 4 african countries ( unfortunate enough to miss others )

Africa does have it's share of problems,in fact,more than it's share of issues,more than it can handle,but ignorance of africa is not the way forward.I met Asians who can tell the cities on US east coast from west coast , number of presidents of US or some obscure statistic about europe , but show complete ignorance of bare basic facts of other third world regons ,especially Africa !

Here are a few facts to get you started:

1,000 ++ languages are spoken in Africa

The world's biggest hospital is in Soweto , South Africa

Somalia is the only country in the world where all the citizens speak one language, Somali

Lake Victoria is the world's second-largest freshwater lake

Lake Malawi contains the largest number of fish species of any lake in the world

The Namib is the world's oldest desert

Smallest African country is The Seychelles Africa, second-largest of the Earth's seven continents

The world's largest diamond was the Cullinan, found in South Africa in 1905.

Rain Gods are angry over mumbai !!

As Bombay recovers from the heavy rains of 'terrible tuesday' ,areas like kurla kalina and bhandup still under darkness ,water shortages in navi mumbai and thane,disturbed train services (bombay's lifeline as you know is the local train network),delayed flights thanks to paralysed airport , the odd unclaimed corpse floating , overloaded garbage cans - ticking time bombs for mass epidemics and we get the news of predicted downpour for the next 48 hours which goes like this

"VERY HEAVY RAIN WITH STRONG WINDS FORECAST FOR MUMBAI, KONKAN AND GOA"

I'd say the gods are not just angry but pissed off.

As for our college , they cancelled Fin Mgmt session (taught by Mr.Sandeep Gokhale , more about the gentleman later on , you can always google for "sandeep gokhale vedanta" ) , postponed mid-term test in oper. mgmt , as for me ,am tuned to techno mp3's in the morning :) , what a way to start your day !@#$ , is it that i can't tell the days from the nights anymore !!