There are two unused laptops at home – one quite old with Windows 2000 on it & another not so old with Windows XP on it. Both of them work but don’t recognize the home network and so don’t connect to Internet. I could’ve searched for drivers or tried to debug but the pseudo-geek in me overtook my senses and I decided to install one of the Linux variant. I thought, it will be a latest OS, so will detect all the hardware devices. I finalized on Kubuntu & downloaded the latest version.

Installation went smooth. As I rightly predicted, it detected all the devices and I was able to connect to Internet. Wifi didn’t work, but I decided it can be fixed later.

I did a quick test with the essential applications – Konqueror, Spreadsheet and Word. I even played a bit with the default games. It felt good.

It was time for some ego-boosting.

Only it was not.

When I observed her using the laptop and looked at Kubuntu from her eyes, I realized that the user interface isn’t polished; menus, buttons and dialog boxes appeared scaffolded rather than complete.

She didn’t like what I gave her.

I had overlooked an essential aspect through this entire process. My wife is a normal computer user and she doesn’t care if it is a superbly engineered, open-sourced, freely distributable, community developed OS (or apps for that matter). She expects a smooth experience from the time she opens the lid of the laptop to closing it. She will hardly spend more than half hour daily. If she gets frustrated at initial tries, the laptop will remain closed.

With that realization, I apologized.

She was happy to leave the laptop. She went back to cooking lunch.

Then I took the laptop where Windows 2000 was installed and tinkered with it. Soon it connected to net, in a wired mode. When I gave it to her, she was happier.

But she could be even more happier.

She had used my Mac time-to-time and that is how her desire for a laptop started. It was cruel of me to introduce her to Mac and then relegate her to Kubuntu.

“I want a Mac”, she said without saying it.

That is when the ‘feelings-side’ of my brain, which is punctured for a man by default especially when it concerns his wife, woke up with a point:

If I’m callous, I will dump her with Ubuntu; if I’m indifferent, I will give her Windows; if I’m in love, I will gift her a Mac.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to the Mac store.

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An User’s Perspective on OSes: Horrible, Bearable and Adorable is post from finally{}.

Author Bio : Joseph is an independent consultant helping organizations to achieve their business objectives through IT investment. You can follow him on twitter @jjude

I could have asked any of my friends in the US to buy me an iPad 2 and dispatch via someone returning to India. But too much of ‘I-want-to-help-Indian-economy’ ideology prevented me from doing it.

So I decided to buy an Android based tablet.

But there was no Android tablet available in the market. There was Samsung Tab, but it wasn’t really a tablet since it was running on Android OS meant for phones. Samsung Galaxy Tab was announced but not yet released.

So here I was in India waiting for a real tablet. Then something unexpected happened.

There is a reason Apple is the most celebrated brand now. They beat their competitors in every factor. Not only they create smooth and beautiful products, but they also devour their competition unexpectedly. One such move was their introduction of iPad in India.

Apple announced that iPad 2 will be available in India by first week of May.

Unlike the US there were no long queues in India to get an iPad. Even the shortage of iPads were attributed to shops ordering just few units.

When I went to Anything Mac for servicing my MacBook, I casually asked, if they had an iPad 2. Since I didn’t see any crowd and also the shop itself was so small, I had assumed they won’t have one. But I was wrong. They had iPads. The receptionist apologetically said they had only the wi-fi ones, which was great since I wanted only wi-fi ones.

So there I became the proud owner of iPad 2.

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Author Bio : Joseph is an independent consultant helping organizations to achieve their business objectives through IT investment. You can follow him on twitter @jjude

I have my own experiences of bad customer service. But we need to differentiate between bad customer service and annoying customer demands.

I remember a scene from my favorite romantic comedy – Notting Hill. In that movie, William Thacker – the protagonist – runs a travel book shop. One day a well dressed customer walks into the shop and the conversation goes something like this:

Customer :  Do you have any books by Dickens?
William :     No, we’re a travel bookshop.  We only sell travel books.
Customer : Oh right.  How about that new John Grisham thriller?
William : No, that’s a novel too.
Customer : Oh right.  Have you got a copy of ‘Winnie the Pooh’?

What is expected of William Thacker? Should he do something to attract this customer again? Should he send his assistant to get the latest John Grisham thriller and hand it over to the customer as a show of exemplary customer service? Isn’t that what we – customers – demand so often?

Before you complain next time about a bad customer service, think again. Were you an annoying customer?

Image courtesy: Webshots

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Are we demanding too much out of customer service? is post from finally{}.

Author Bio : Joseph is an independent consultant helping organizations to achieve their business objectives through IT investment. You can follow him on twitter @jjude

Whether lucky or smart, I’ve always worked on challenging, well-paying and emerging concepts & tools. Having reached a certain stage in my career, I’m preparing for the next stage. I’ve followed ‘learn-do-refine’ model which has worked pretty well so far. With that foundation, here is my learning model for the next stage.

My learning model is of two layers – a core layer, domains in which I want to be an expert and a support layer, domains which will help me to practice my expertise effectively.

Enterprise Architecture

Many-a-times, those in software industry asks, ‘I have an answer. Do you have a relevant question?’. But successful (read profit making) companies are those that solve a business problem by engaging technology. EA brings this success story as a practice. I’m excited to learn about EA and possibly apply those concepts in the coming years.

Customer Relationship Management

CRM covers topics such as finding new customers, selling more to existing customers, and retaining customers. Now-a-days, CRM is considered relevant even for government organizations. I’ve been in CRM domain for the past 8 years and I’ve enjoyed both functional and implementation sides. I would like to continue to learn how CRM concepts help companies (and even governments) to be profitable.

People Skills

Executive educator, Marshall Goldsmith, says in ‘What got you here won’t get you there‘, that most of executive’s challenges are ‘people related’. To achieve anything significant, there needs to be a team (composed of seniors, peers, and juniors) and it is important to develop people skills to work with and with-in teams. Having been a asocial introvert, I find that this part of the pie is the most frustrating and emotionally draining; yet a critical part to be successful.

Project Management

I would broadly term this part as ‘Getting things done’ – the execution part of the deal. I’ve worked with some of the brilliant minds who are able to place best ideas on the table, but lack what it takes to get it done. Though I like to conceptualize a solution and communicate it with enthusiasm to others, I find it satisfying to get it executed – not really bothering about who gets the credit. You know what? When you get into that attitude, you almost always get the credit!

Financial Management

This is one area where I need to start from scratch. Executives translate every action in the organization into numbers – either profit or loss. It is poor financial management that has gotten the erstwhile famous companies into bankruptcy.

…and some fun

Another critical piece to continue enjoying other pieces. Though I don’t expect to be Ansel Adams or Mark Twain or Michael Phelps, I like to pursue photography, travel, writing and swimming as they joyfully refresh the soul.

Do you have a learning model? Do you think it is worth having one and pursuing it? Feel free to share your comments.

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What is your learning model? is post from finally{}.

Author Bio : Joseph is an independent consultant helping organizations to achieve their business objectives through IT investment. You can follow him on twitter @jjude

He is so popular in Tamil Nadu that you can stop anyone, anywhere in the state and they will know about Rajini Kanth.

Never mind that his dance sequences are not elegent; never mind that his voice variations remain the same in every movie; never mind that he wouldn’t be praised for his acting; but every movie of his is a sure success (okay, most of them) in both rural and urban areas – now-a-days even in Japan!

How did he do it?

I was constantly reminded of him, as I read through ‘Simply Better‘, where the authors argue that providing “Core Category Benefits” is the sure path to long-time success than providing differentiation.

Evaluate the Super-Star on that – he has mesmerized the audience with his fighting sequences, punch dialogues and most importantly style and he has stayed within that boundary. He has not differentiated himself with directorial ventures; method acting and so on and so forth. He provided just the core category benefits of the entertainment industry and reaped the huge rewards in return.

If I could think of one fine example of ‘Simply Better’ entertainment experience it is none other than, Rajini Kanth.

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Simply better entertainer is post from finally{}.

Author Bio : Joseph is an independent consultant helping organizations to achieve their business objectives through IT investment. You can follow him on twitter @jjude

You better listen when a million dollar consultant speak.

From opening a bank account to steering a challenging project can be tough, especially when you are starting out as an independent consultant.

So how do you get through?

Motivation is a big part in getting through tough challenges. I draw motivation from family, friends, colleagues, popular icons. Even events can be source of motivation.

Paraphrasing Sir Issac Newton’s words, “If I’ve succeeded, it is because I stood on the shoulders of the giants.

Standing on giants helped me so far; will it get me further? Only time will tell.

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Standing on giants is post from finally{}.

Author Bio : Joseph is an independent consultant helping organizations to achieve their business objectives through IT investment. You can follow him on twitter @jjude

I agree.

Taking parallel from the book, what are the ‘category benefits’ (those expected out of a category or class of products or services) expected from a consultant, as a product and as a service?

I could think of these two:

Domain Expertise: This is the only reason a consultant is in the room. They are expected to be a master in the domain – whatever be the domain – CRM, Project Management, Process Re-engineering, Peoplesoft.

Appreciation of business reality: Usually consultants have to deal with dilemma on the ground and steer their clients to a solution. The problem in hand will be a product of people and process. Yet, consultant should stay focused and find or create a path forward.

Domain expertise can be learnt. In fact, during their life time consultants achieve mastry of more than one domain. However the other skill is hard to learn and judge. But it will be needed in almost all of the assignments. Without it, it is hard to be a consultant.

Do you agree?

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Simply Better Consultants is post from finally{}.

Author Bio : Joseph is an independent consultant helping organizations to achieve their business objectives through IT investment. You can follow him on twitter @jjude

Would you return to a restaurant that has an impressive interior and calming music but serves absolutely tasteless food?

This is the theme of ‘Simply Better‘, a book that, Gary Silverman calls, “… a book about marketing for people who have read too many books about marketing”.  Drawing upon experience of Tesco, Toyota and similar companies, Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan, authors of the book, argues that, customers expect a predictable and reliable delivery of category benefits, every time; all the time. Differentiation does not matter to customers when category benefits fail.

The authors also emphasize the marketing principle put forwarded by Peter Drucker, ‘Marketing is not a specialized business activity…it is the whole enterprise seen from the customer’s point of view‘. Companies should spend their resources on improving customer’s experience at every point of contact  – be it marketing, sales, delivery or post-sales support.

These are simple yet fundamental concepts for any company’s success. Fact is, simple concepts are easy to be missed.

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What do customers want? is post from finally{}.

Author Bio : Joseph is an independent consultant helping organizations to achieve their business objectives through IT investment. You can follow him on twitter @jjude

Those were some of the questions on my mind when I decided to quit the corporate world and be on my own. I googled and understood that they are not the same.

Generally, creative artists – like photographers and journalists – like to retain their creative freedom and they equally dislike being constrained by the company rule books. They prefer to roll their sleeves, get the work done and be paid; and not bother with other overheads. So they sign-up for specific assignments and if they like the company (the team, the work, the money), they continue to work with the same company; else they go with another. There is another group of people who prefer freelancing – those who can’t commit to a full time work schedule, primarily due to their personal commitments. In both categories, freelancers need not visit client office on a day-to-day basis.

Consultants are a different breed. They are (considered to be) experts in a specific domain and they advice their clients in solving problems in those domains. Their service will significantly influence the policies and projects of their clients. While freelancers are their own bosses, consultants need not be; they could be employed. It is common for employees in an IT firm, to have job roles as consultants. However, realizing their self-worth, some consultants quit their employers and take up independent contracts. It is expected that these consultants visit client office regularly, even on a daily basis.

Considering that I’m my own boss but work from client site, should I call myself as a freelance consultant? How about Independent Consultant? It sounds fancier, right?

Ref: http://freelance.geekinterview.com/42-Difference-Between-A-Freelancer-And-A-Consultant-.html

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Freelancer or a consultant? is post from finally{}.

Author Bio : Joseph is an independent consultant helping organizations to achieve their business objectives through IT investment. You can follow him on twitter @jjude

I wanted to be a freelancing consultant six years back – when the markets were high and CRM (and ERP) consultancy was hot. At that time I was posted in Belgium and most of my colleagues were freelancing. But for various reasons, I couldn’t get into freelancing.

Now, there is a widespread pessimism in the market and I got a freelancing contract! How ironic is that?

I took more than a week to debate with myself. The boss, the team, the work and the clients made the work environment one of the best I ever had; but having already handled series of roles that were available, I was running the risk of becoming complacent.

On the other hand, the freelancing contract is on e-governance. With increasing economic growth in India, e-governance is becoming prominent; and with tech savvy Barack Obama taking control in the US, I believe, many countries will embrace e-governance. Downside? I’ve to move to Delhi, learn Hindi and probably understand ‘red tape’, ‘bureaucracy’ and ‘politics’ in their real terms.

Having debated with myself, the pros and cons, I discussed with the family. Honestly speaking, I expected resistance from them. Because, for the past three years my sister and I are settled in Bangalore and our parents are with us. We were able to take family trips and have quality time together as a family. To my pleasant surprise, they were extremely supportive. That gave me the confidence to take it further and discuss with friends. Finally I took the decision to be a freelancer.

Slowly things fell in place – resignation was accepted; last date finalized; contract was signed; and joining date accepted.

I’ve been preparing myself by reading a lot about freelancing (and e-governance); yet I’m sure there will be plenty of things that I’ll have to work out as I continue through the freelancing world. I’m also convinced that the thrill of being a in a new place, meeting new people and learning new things will keep me motivated to continue the journey.

For now, I’m looking forward to Jan 1st. Because on Jan 1st, 2009, I am becoming a freelancer.

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New year brings a new challenge is post from finally{}.

Author Bio : Joseph is an independent consultant helping organizations to achieve their business objectives through IT investment. You can follow him on twitter @jjude