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Tribute to a legendary software engineering guru
As a tribute to the ‘legendary’ Frederick P Brooks Jr., who passed away on the 17th of November 2022, I have started re-reading his classic “The Mythical Man-Month”. The book amazes me every time I read it and I keep learning new things. #SoftwareEngineering #projectmanagement
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Companies are bad if they don’t provide unsubscribe
📧Companies that send their customers’ marketing emails and WhatsApp messages with no unsubscribe option are Bad. 🙈Those that include unsubscribe links that don’t work are Evil. 😈Those who provide a page that works but prompts for your email id or mobile are Wicked. I am not talking about random messages or spam. Many a time, companies with whom we have a relationship or have done a transaction are the culprits, they automatically opt you in and keep sending unsolicited messages. And in general, when it comes to spam, SMS messages are the worst, receivers get zero control over them, and there are no ways to block or report or mute…
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Ten things not to learn from Big Tech on customer support
TEN things every #SaaS founder should NOT be learning from the #BigTech & other popular apps. The bigger firms have great tech stacks and scale, but their DNA was never created for supporting individual consumers – they may have a good heart, but their size makes it impossible for them to care for a single consumer. #saasboomi #not_to_be_learned 1️⃣ Don’t publish contact details, no phone numbers & definitely no email. 2️⃣ Have support forums answered by the community. Give them stars (save $$$). No usable Search, better a broken one. The genuinely interested can use Quora and Reddit, with no liability to the product owners for the accuracy of the…
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The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
I first heard the name of Naval Ravikant in Tim Ferriss‘s Podcast, where select episodes can be fantastic like the one with the AirBnB Co-Founder Joe Gebbia, or the one with the Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin. So, when I saw on social that the foreword for this book is given by Tim Ferriss, I got curious and bought the book “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” by Eric Jorgenson from the Kindle store. I discovered later that the full book was available for free on their official website, after I read the book I realised why the publishers had chosen the dual pricing model – reading my review below will make…
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How to solve the talent crunch, my quote in BBC News Tamil
சில நாட்களுக்கு முன் நண்பர் திரு செல்வ முரளி, பிபிசி இந்தியாவில் தான் எழுதும் ஓர் கட்டுரைக்கு என் பேட்டியைக் கேட்டார். தலைப்பு கணினி துறையில் இன்றைக்கு இருக்கும் ‘வேலைக்கு சரியான ஆட்கள் இல்லை’ என்கிற நிலையைப் பற்றி. “இஞ்ஜினியரிங் படிக்காமலேயே சாஃப்ட்வேர் இஞ்ஜினியர் ஆவது எப்படி?” என்றத் தலைப்பில் முழுக் கட்டுரையும் இன்று வெளிவந்தது. திறமையானவர்கள் சம்பளம் அதிகம் கேட்கிறார்கள், இன்னொரு பக்கம் கல்வித்தரம் குறைவாக இருப்பதால் பல்லாயிரம் பொறியாளர்கள் படித்து வந்தாலும், அவர்களில் பலர் நிறுவனங்களால் தேர்வு செய்யப்பட முடியாத அளவுக்கு இருக்கிறார்கள். உண்மையில் என்னதான் நடக்கிறது? இதுதொடர்பாக சென்னையை சேர்த்த மென்பொருள் ஆலோசகரும் மைக்ரோசாப்ட் நிறுவனத்தின் கௌரவ மேலாண்மை இயக்குநருமான தி.ந.ச.வெங்கடரங்கன் கூறியதாவது: இனி எதிர்காலம் ‘No Code Low Code’: “கொரோனா காலத்தில் இரண்டு வருடமாக பல தொழில்கள் முடங்கிவிட்டன. ஆகையால் ஒட்டுமொத்தமாக பார்க்கும்போது பல்வேறு துறைகளிலும் புதிய வாய்ப்புகள் குறைவாக இருந்தன. இப்போது கொரோனாவின் தாக்கம் குறைந்துவிட்டதால் எல்லா நிறுவனங்களும் இயல்பு நிலைக்கு திரும்ப தொடங்கிவிட்டன. ஆகையால், நிறைய…
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In 2022, what do the scarce talent look for in a company?
Today, I happened to see this video from Walmart advertising their Chennai office to attract #talent. While I was happy to find my city being promoted by the Fortune #1 company in the world, the video set me thinking to write this brief note. To me, the message in the video comes out outdated, when I say that I don’t mean to single this video out or #Walmart as a company (which is a fine company that has brilliant technology teams, and I am a huge fan of Mr Sam Walton as well) here but to use the opportunity to share my thoughts on the general trend of #hiring in…
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New Skills for the 21st Century Students
Celebrating the 90th Birth anniversary of former President of India, Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the international foundation in his name had organized a virtual event. The topic was “New Skills for the 21st Century Students”, a relevant one for the times. The organizers invited me to deliver a brief address on the topic to the students from around the country who will be participating live and watching the recording in YouTube. It was a honour for me to share the virtual stage with Dr Y S Rajan, Padma Shri awardee, former Distinguished Professor at ISRO and a friend of Dr Kalam. Before the live started, Dr Rajan shared…
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Tech startups from India now want to be more Indian, less American?
In the 1990s and 2000s, tech start up founders from India advertised their belief in American values through their marketing material, website and interviews. They copied the iconic companies like GE, IBM & Google on how to run their companies, treated their employees, evaluated them, build the office space and so on. American business schools’ methodologies were followed to the dot. In the last two years, I see founders on social media are eager to proclaim their Indianness (or Tamilness or Socialness, etc). The Americanness has taken a back seat. Is this to stand out from the crowd or to communicate their authenticity or something else I am missing? My…
