“Beyond Bullets” by Cliff Atkinson offers a powerful technique to improve powerpoint presentations. The result of a long frustration experienced by author on exposure to a lot of meaningless presentations in his career led the author to pen a technique which can make any presentation interesting, stimulating. The motive behind this book is to enable the readers to inform, motivate and inspire the listeners. The book takes inspiration from Hollywood and adapts the content-to-production cycle to producing a informative powerpoint.

The history of poisson distribution is an interesting case. It was simultaneously discovered by 2 people. One was Polish Mathematician who tried to explain the incidence of deaths from horse kicks amongst the Prussian military. He did so from his university office, with out the slightest knowledge of German army training

The second person who discovered was a man by name William Gausset , who went by the pen name " Student". He was an employee of a Guinness beer company and came up with statistical methods to enable the quality of brews to be monitored in a cost effective manner. Unknowingly Gausset using his articles, has made a significant contribution to the field of statistics

If a man does not know what port he is steering for, no wind is favourable to him.’ - Seneca (1st Century Spanish-born Roman Statesman, philosopher)

“There’s a crack in everything and that’s how the light gets in.” –Leonard Cohen

So, if you think you’re different–if you worry about whether there are too many “cracks” in your behavior–don’t change. That’s how the “good stuff” gets in.

I was reading Chetan Bhagat’s new novel - " One night at the Call Center" the other day , to relive some of my experiences in  a BPO outfit 2 years back . In a way the author had covered some of the issues dealt / seen in a call center in a pretty amusing way. The book is about 6 different people and the events that unfold in their lives on a specific night.It end with a bollywood style where 2 people out of them , a guy and a girl live happily ever after. The book clearly thrives on the outsourcing focused entertainment content that has started hitting Indian media consumers few months ago. Star One has launched a new soap - " India Calling" , Business non fiction writers have begun understanding the various aspects of the impact of call center/ outsourcing on the economy. It was a matter of a time when a fiction writer picks up this topic and thrashes out a new story. The author as he proclaims has spent researching on the language, style and the call center working environment for about a year and then put the same in to words. The groundwork is evident in a quite a lot of places. Though this book doesn’t come close to the author’s first book - " Five Point Some one " , this book is recommended for people who want to get a glimpse of the call center life. For seasoned call center executives, Mr. Bakshi, one of the six characters in the novel serves as a reminder about how a boss should not be.

Kerala , a state in my country India is called “God’s own country”. A little history about the phrase - God’s Own Country as a phrase was often used and popularized by New Zealand’s longest serving prime minister, Richard John Seddon. He last used it on June 10, 1906 when he sent a telegram to the Victorian premier, Thomas Bent, the day before leaving Sydney to return home to New Zealand. “Just leaving for God’s own country,” he wrote. He never made it, dying the next day on the ship Oswestry Grange.

“There’s a crack in everything and that’s how the light gets in.” –Leonard Cohen

So, if you think you’re different–if you worry about whether there are too many “cracks” in your behavior–don’t change. That’s how the “good stuff” gets in.

Kenneth Cole , the founder of the successful shoe company in USA says :

Eighteen years ago, I wanted to open a shoe company with limited money. From experience I knew one had to get in quickly because so often new companies run out of cash flow before they get the chance to conduct business. I also knew it was easier to get credit from factories in Europe who needed the business than from American banks that didn’t. So I lined up the factories, went to Europe, designed a collection of shoes, and returned to the states to sell them.

I chanced upon an autobiography of Joseph Abboud , the story of a designer turned entrepreneur. Needless to say , I picked it up as I believe that every entrepreneur’s venture story has some hidden leanings which can be applied across industries, contexts and business opportunities.
 

The book , to begin with tries to remove some of the false notions about the fashion business. I had this notion that fashion entrepreneurism is nothing but cashing on a trend that’s in the market and keep moving on. Another notion that fashion biz personnel are more market driven rather than self driven. These and couple of other notions were thoroughly dispelled by charming , witty and an informative description of the world of fashion by Joseph Abboud.

I was reading Chetan Bhagat’s new novel - " One night at the Call Center" the other day , to relive some of my experiences in  a BPO outfit 2 years back . In a way the author had covered some of the issues dealt / seen in a call center in a pretty amusing way. The book is about 6 different people and the events that unfold in their lives on a specific night.It end with a bollywood style where 2 people out of them , a guy and a girl live happily ever after. The book clearly thrives on the outsourcing focused entertainment content that has started hitting Indian media consumers few months ago. Star One has launched a new soap - " India Calling" , Business non fiction writers have begun understanding the various aspects of the impact of call center/ outsourcing on the economy. It was a matter of a time when a fiction writer picks up this topic and thrashes out a new story. The author as he proclaims has spent researching on the language, style and the call center working environment for about a year and then put the same in to words. The groundwork is evident in a quite a lot of places. Though this book doesn’t come close to the author’s first book - " Five Point Some one " , this book is recommended for people who want to get a glimpse of the call center life. For seasoned call center executives, Mr. Bakshi, one of the six characters in the novel serves as a reminder about how a boss should not be.

“Why Business People speak like Idiots” - Brain Fugere , Chelsea Hardaway and Jon Warshawsky is a thorough fast paced book about the extent of bullshit that one comes across among management folks. A lot of times, be it presentations, be it in discussions , be it in seminars, mails etc , one does come across a lot of management jargon which comes in the way of clear communication. In the book authors cautions about the four traps that makes people get in to bull speak.

Kerala , a state in my country India is called “God’s own country”. A little history about the phrase - God’s Own Country as a phrase was often used and popularized by New Zealand’s longest serving prime minister, Richard John Seddon. He last used it on June 10, 1906 when he sent a telegram to the Victorian premier, Thomas Bent, the day before leaving Sydney to return home to New Zealand. “Just leaving for God’s own country,” he wrote. He never made it, dying the next day on the ship Oswestry Grange.

“Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them”

“Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them”

Ruby is an object oriented programming language which has grown in popularity mainly because of its association with the rails framework for developing web applications. In this entry, I intend to summarize some of the basic syntactical rules of Ruby.

1. Firstly everything is an object in Ruby
2. Local variables, method names start with small letters and the ones which have more than one word have underscore separating both the variables
3. Each method name starts with def and ends with end. If the method does not have any reference to the attributes of the class, then typically the method syntax has a self word to describe the nature of the function
puts is used to invoke a ruby function where the purpose is to print something on to the screen
4. Classes : They start with a keyword class followed by classname, module name and its relation to the base class
5. Getters and Setters in a class can be written by one single line instead of the traditional method definition . Use attr_accessor / attr_reader / attr_writer to understand them
6. Private and Protected can also defined in the same way
7. Modules are defined with the keyword module and are generally used as helper classes for various parts of application
8. _Arrays and Hashes :_One can define an array as a collection of different objects. Hashes are the same as Java hashmaps, except that the way to pass a hashmap to a function is slightly different
9. Control Structures :These are used to put in place a do end logic or while end logic
10 . Blocks and iterators are used immediately after a function call as means to invoke the function multiple times
11.Exceptions: use raise function, or begin-rescue-end structure
12.Marshaling objects is possible as it is needed to store session variables
13.irb is a way to play with ruby in an interactive way

" Silicon Valley is being syndicated " :
This term is used to denote the growing phenomenon of other startup epicenters in USA (other than Valley) and other parts of the world.

" Silicon Valley is being syndicated " :
This term is used to denote the growing phenomenon of other startup epicenters in USA (other than Valley) and other parts of the world.

This books is all about, as the title suggests, randomness, It’s manifestations in our lives, the way we approach/escape it, and the consequences of the same. Here is what I have learnt from the book :

Who are fooled by randomness ?
There are a lot of us who make the mistake of thinking in probabilities of events alone , and not looking at the expected outcome of the event. The author makes a strong point that we must start thinking from a payoff point of view rather that toying with mere probabilities. There are umpteen number of cases presented in the book, which gives a reader a chance to profile the nature of the person who is fooled by randomness. The following are some of the behaviors of such a person

Ruby is an object oriented programming language which has grown in popularity mainly because of its association with the rails framework for developing web applications. In this entry, I intend to summarize some of the basic syntactical rules of Ruby.

1. Firstly everything is an object in Ruby
2. Local variables, method names start with small letters and the ones which have more than one word have underscore separating both the variables
3. Each method name starts with def and ends with end. If the method does not have any reference to the attributes of the class, then typically the method syntax has a self word to describe the nature of the function
puts is used to invoke a ruby function where the purpose is to print something on to the screen
4. Classes : They start with a keyword class followed by classname, module name and its relation to the base class
5. Getters and Setters in a class can be written by one single line instead of the traditional method definition . Use attr_accessor / attr_reader / attr_writer to understand them
6. Private and Protected can also defined in the same way
7. Modules are defined with the keyword module and are generally used as helper classes for various parts of application
8. _Arrays and Hashes :_One can define an array as a collection of different objects. Hashes are the same as Java hashmaps, except that the way to pass a hashmap to a function is slightly different
9. Control Structures :These are used to put in place a do end logic or while end logic
10 . Blocks and iterators are used immediately after a function call as means to invoke the function multiple times
11.Exceptions: use raise function, or begin-rescue-end structure
12.Marshaling objects is possible as it is needed to store session variables
13.irb is a way to play with ruby in an interactive way

If I don’t practice my Piano for a day, I will know.
If I don’t practice my Piano for 2 days, My Critics will know
If I don’t practice my piano for 3 days, My audience will know

I stumbled across a very interesting book at Crosswords, the other day . A book by Ray Bradbury, titled " Zen in the art of writing" . It is a 150 page easy to read book which talks about the experiences of an author, story teller who listens to his heart and subconscious mind for writing stories.

One of the first things which the author strikes a chord with the audience is that he explains most of the stuff as a result of the sub conscious mind working on his childhood and adolescent experiences. In that context, the author suggests that any writer should have Zest and gusto for life, which are the prime driving forces to a good story.

If I don’t practice my Piano for a day, I will know.
If I don’t practice my Piano for 2 days, My Critics will know
If I don’t practice my piano for 3 days, My audience will know

I stumbled across a very interesting book at Crosswords, the other day . A book by Ray Bradbury, titled " Zen in the art of writing" . It is a 150 page easy to read book which talks about the experiences of an author, story teller who listens to his heart and subconscious mind for writing stories.

One of the first things which the author strikes a chord with the audience is that he explains most of the stuff as a result of the sub conscious mind working on his childhood and adolescent experiences. In that context, the author suggests that any writer should have Zest and gusto for life, which are the prime driving forces to a good story.

Via evhead :

#1: Be Narrow

#2: Be Different

#3: Be Casual

#4: Be Picky

#5: Be User-Centric
#6: Be Self-Centered
#7: Be Greedy
#8: Be Tiny
#9: Be Agile
#10: Be Balanced
#11 (bonus!): Be Wary

Some powerful presentation techniques :

 Lessig , Kawasaki , Jobs , Atkinson , Tufte , Sierra , Takahashi

Common sense is nothing but a collection of misconceptions acquired by age 18
- Albert Einstein

Common sense is nothing but a collection of misconceptions acquired by age 18
- Albert Einstein

Via evhead :

#1: Be Narrow

#2: Be Different

#3: Be Casual

#4: Be Picky

#5: Be User-Centric
#6: Be Self-Centered
#7: Be Greedy
#8: Be Tiny
#9: Be Agile
#10: Be Balanced
#11 (bonus!): Be Wary

 This weekend I had a chance to attend a wonderful seminar hosted at IISC Bangalore , titled ’ Nanotechnology - Is your Business Ready" . Out of the 4 speakers who enlightened the audience, Dr. Rudra Pratap was the best speaker amongst all, as he spoke on the technology, the challenges and the future ahead in a very candid manner.

This is what I learnt from the seminar :

What is Nanotechnology ? Nanotechnology is any technology which exploits phenomena and structures that can only occur at the nanometer scale, which is the scale of single atoms and small molecules.
Why is it important NOW? Top down approach to manufacturing has been for years and has started reaching a stage where further miniaturization will not be possible. The most popular example that comes to one’s mind is the CHIP where the number of transistors have been increasing at a tremendous pace and will hit a saturation point very soon.

Some powerful presentation techniques :

 Lessig , Kawasaki , Jobs , Atkinson , Tufte , Sierra , Takahashi

“In Science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurred. "
- Sir William Osler (1849-1919) Canadian physician.

“In Science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurred. "
- Sir William Osler (1849-1919) Canadian physician.

This weekend i ended up reading another book referred by Zhao ( “art of profitability”). The book " A technique for producing ideas", may seem more like a business book which makes a reader pump up his creative juices, give zillions of examples of how people are creative.

Surprisingly, this book does not tread that familiar path. Its a 48 page mind blowing book, where author James Webb Young with out adding an iota of pomposity, lays down 5 step approach to producing ideas.

" Well. Sometimes you have an instinct  . You see something in a fighter . You dont even know it is real You are looking at it so bad, Can’t have any hope at all.But you still go for it "  - “Cindrella Man”

Via Gates,  Jobs, & the Zen aesthetic :

Here are some basic ingredients of any good prez

• Simplicity
• Subtlety
• Elegance
• Suggestive rather than the descriptive or obvious
• Naturalness (i.e., nothing artificial or forced),
• Empty space (or negative space)
• Stillness, Tranquility
• Eliminating the non-essential

Estimation skills are very important for any person. What I mean by estimation skills is the basic numbercrunching ability. In the recent months, I have realized (thanks to my work I am involved), that few people take care to understand, develop and use the estimation skills. To make it more concrete, if one were to estimate the time and effort for an IT Project, how does one do it ? There are various standard models available and one of them is cocomo.

Guy Kawasaki :

Blogging and social media are forms of evangelism. The goal of a lot of online marketing is to get bloggers and networks talking about a product.
The best way to do this remains creating a great product. Ninety percent of evangelism is finding or creating a great product. It’s very hard to evangelize crap.

One of the most popular learning techniques for reading books and understanding the content is the MindMaps Technique. Developed and Popularized by Tony and Barrry Buzan, it urges the reader to use right and left brains for note-taking / note-making. In umpteen situations, we take notes / make notes and in all such instances, the mindmap offers a technique to understand, retain, recall and communicate effectively.

For example , if one was about to read a book, the Mind Map technique urges the reader to go through the following steps
1.  Browse the Book and create a mental image of the book and place the image at the center of the MindMap ( 10 Minutes )
2.  Set time and amount of material that one wishes to read ( 5 Minutes)
3.  Draw a quick-fire mind map on your existing knowledge on the book (10 minutes)
4.  Defining and MindMapping the goals ( 5 minutes)
5.  Overview  : Add main branches of the tree
6.  Preview : First and Second Levels
7.  Inview : Fill in the map details
8.  Review : Complete the MindMap

Transaction Scale Profit talks about the importance of big transactions which result because of big relationships.

**Value Chain Position Profit :**If one observes the user experience from the product / service and traces back the value added by each player in the making of the product , it is clear that there is generally a lumpy distribution of profit at one place, an enormous concentration of profit and power at a few points. These are called control points in the value chain . Whenever one analyzes a business , it is important to note the pre existing control points, radical shifts that have happened among control points and future shifts in control points , so that one can clearly see the profit potential.

Today I used Skype after almost an year. I was just amazed at the price rates and various discounts being offered to select destinations. 0.017 Euros per minute to New york equates to 91 paisa per minute, which is much cheaper than calling any location in India. The voice quality is also pretty good , all in all fully justifying the valuation that eBay put on Skype

Why do banks jack up prices when reverse repo is increased by RBI ?

Reverse repo: When the RBI borrows money against its securities, the interest rate at which it does so is known as reverse repo. In other words, this is the rate the RBI pays banks when they lend money. This rate has gone up from 4.75% to 5.25%(Recent Credit Policy announcement)

Repo: When the RBI lends money to banks against their securities, it is known as the repo rate. This rate is 6%. This is what the banks pay the RBI when they borrow money. This rate has not changed.

A wonderful article on the evolution of BitTorrent and where its heading

My problems with blog writers seems to be never ending. Just when I thought Zoundry was doing well, the new version that I had downloaded from the site seemed to be malfunctioning. I tried out flock ( looks good, but would it eats up a lot of browser space) and temporarily gave it up.I stumbled on to Qumana, which seems to be a good editor. Hope it doesnt through any surprises when I upgrade in the times to come

My weekend essentially involved reading the various profit models that Adrian Slywotzky had put forth in his best selling book. It clearly mentions that not more than one model needs to be digested in a week.

What is Local leadership profit ? This involves firms taking up strategies that clearly leverage the leadership position at the regional level and then scale up in a tactical way. A few examples to kick off the understanding are walmart, starbucks who started in a small location, built up the leadership at each of their respective locations and then used it as a weapon to expand to other locations. At the same time, there are umpteen examples of local leaders who find it difficult to scale. What could be the reason ? Is it purely a matter of luck, or are there are operational issues, strategic issues that entail the success of a small local leader firm to take on the world ? Let’s explore

Creating Passionate Users :

Its very important to recognize edges and cultivate them, for with out them, there can never be breakthrough products and services

Price gouging is the raising of prices 1) far above one’s costs and far above competitors prices, 2) far above what many people think is just, 3) during a human crisis. I disagree with those that state that PG is a non-concept. It is an intentionally vague and deceptive, morally abstruse, and economically harmful concept, but for those very reasons, it must be taken seriously.

“The combination of curiosity and lead time can convert any chore in to a delightful exploratory puzzle. Puzzles solved have far more penetraction and staying power than chores completed” - Adrian Slywotzy

A wonderful article on the evolution of BitTorrent and where its heading

My problems with blog writers seems to be never ending. Just when I thought Zoundry was doing well, the new version that I had downloaded from the site seemed to be malfunctioning. I tried out flock ( looks good, but would it eats up a lot of browser space) and temporarily gave it up.I stumbled on to Qumana, which seems to be a good editor. Hope it doesnt through any surprises when I upgrade in the times to come

We might think we would be seeing a certain thing , but we end up seeing something else . Ok instead of explaining it over…just see this link Dots

This applies to a lot of business situations. We might read a lot of hype of Indian middle class and there is a host of untapped potential waiting for every entrepreneur to capitalize on. But the truth is actually a different one .

The same is happening in the nanospace also. The VC funding has actually gone down this year compared to the yester years , but the hype has reached stratospheric proportions. Who is to see the reality ? What is reality ? Are the high profile professors who are on the anti-nano bandwagon to be believed ? It seems to me that no one can be sure about anything and it holds well in the business of anything , be it in selling (All marketers are liars ), predicting the stock price ( Innumeracy : No stock analyst has ever said that stock has gone up / down on a particular day becoz of some random movement inherent in the stock market movements)