Sad Day in the history of Myspace

Wow. I am back on my blog after a year..

Today we lost 500 of our colleagues to a mass layoffs. Its a sab thing as it disrupts lives, its sad to see colleagues you have worked with let go, its sad to realize you wont sit with them in cafe anymore. However its a hard reality that eventually comes around once in a while.

I have seen many restructings at Myspace now but this one was big. But there is one thing which probably no one wrote or talked about. Hope.

People who remain have hope at least in an uncertain, nervous way. People who left had sad eyes but I there was a hint of something bigger and better out there.

Hope is a big word. Out of 20000 articles written about Myspace layoffs seems everyone is hoping this site dies ..Hope...

Every person in this company hopes to turn the ship ...gradually, slowly, small but certain steps..Hope...

At least one thing is certain with continous effort, hard work, consistent improvement and contious focus of making a product better things will look good.

Computer center in Uganda is up and Running

Success in Uganda (One of the projects we were running)

One of the projects through Nabuur was to set up a computer center in Uganda.

Its been a long journey and kudos to local facilitator and team who struggled to make this happen at every step of the way.

Intro of Project from Fred Obala, president of group there and a passionate driver of change.

Project Management 101 (new tips in bad economy)

Economy is bad, company is not doing good, I am a project manager what do I do.

Since all the above are true for now here are a few things that I feel should be done:

- Things change, processes change, people change, as a Project Manager your primarily responsibility is to execute there is no excuse. Continue to deliver even if it means repeaable process or duplicated work.

- If you are working on one project and you have some badnwidth e.g. you are tasked at 70% on one project. You should go and look for another project and assignment. Net effect will be that you might be able to support both at 50%. Why change from 70-50% ? Because you might become more efficient. If you are forced into a situation you will be forced to make changes, you wil be forced to thing better ways. Moreover the more work you have on your plate the better.

- In a bad economy its always good to be on 2 boats. One things gets impacted other will save you. Always be on the lookout for health of the boat. One Sinks move to another and look for another boat which is on growth path.

- Being on mulitple projects will only give sense of security, it will expand skill in working in mulitple areas, it will win you new contacts and more mouths to cheer you.

- Never rest in an easy sitation, look for the hardest part and try and figure out the best solution and present it.

- There are always 2 sides of a coin, 2 parties in opposition, dont take any side, do the right thing. If they are leaders, do what it takes to give them both what they want even if it means duplication and multiple deliverables.

- No matter how process changes, never never let that impact execution. I know a specific instance where project was halted and a new process was being discussed. Net Impact to project loss of 1 month, it could have been avoided had we not stopped.

- Always double check your work. Before pubslishing important information which goes out to exec's etc.

- Always be open to criticism. Someone might know a better way, best to take the better way and not continue with the old approach.

- Always worry about your project and think something might go wrong. Its called risk. That is how you identify Risks and dont trust that everything will work out. Dont loose sleep over it but while you are at work, keep thinking of ways your project can be impacted.

- Think of way your can overdeliver. Thats what makes you better than the rest.

How panic changes work culture

Its old and sad and painful reality that US economy is doing bad.

For people in who are working in companies which are not doing good fear is doubled. "Economy is not doing good dont know how long my company will survive". Then there is a third kind. When economy shrinks, it forces companies to take drastic steps. When company takes drastic steps (cost cutting, freezing projects) it creates panic in employees. What usually follows is layoffs and its seen so people know the effect of layoffs. However I wanted to write about a situation where layoff's have not happened (but are waiting to happen) third kind.

This period of uncertainity creates panic, makes people become deperate and brings out their survival instincts. Usually net effect of all the above is not good.

Some take it responsibly and say and do their best to adjust and make the most of the sitaution yet keeping their abilities and qualities intact. Some however loose it.

There have been instances where a great team questions, threatens, challenges, argues and shouting matches over silly things haopen simply because pressure has been created from the top and there is a unknown fear as to what might happen. if there is a great team who has worked well in the past and knows exactly where boundaries are for each, know the work done by each and results delivered, till now this team has been on same page untill now when all hell broke loose i.e. changes have been made and more will be made.

Because there is pressure on one person he stops trusting the judgement of the other person and starts asking dumb questions rather than trusting the colleague, it becomes a challenege at every statement made. Questioning the deliverables presented and doubting the quality of deliverables at every step. This becomes so much that they stop focusing on their job and spend a lot of time questioning and challening others and their motives. net result frustation and strained relations. This is no longer a dream team because it has lost trust.

While it is dangerous to trust blindly and questions should be asked, it should not become a pranoia.

This is only a small instance and can be dealt by doing what is right and ignoring the noise. There is no other way.

One of the sad outcomes of bad economy.

SPWR is Rocking !!!! Woooohoooo

SPWR hit 20% up in one day. I had started looking into solar stocks around 1 yr back. Oil rising or not, its imperative that alternative will be sought.

In Solar stocks First Solar, Sunpower, suntech and LDK are some of the notable stocks. FSLR seems the most promosing one, however Sunpower (SPWR) is the second best alternative if you are looking for something not as expensive as FSLR.

Note: I own SPWR.

EMC rocking up 10% today

On June 27th I had posted my views on EMC. I had predicted buying EMC is a good idea. Valuations are good and future looks bright.

In a followup post I had cautioned that VMware could be problematic and with the founder CEO exiting without much explanation there could be cause of worry.

However overall EMC looks strong and their quarterly results prove that.

Market responded with same enthusiasm and gave it a 2 thumbs up. The stock is up 10%

Ps: I own EMC stocks.

Buy APPLE now

I know its a bad market and Apple stock has suffered lately on economy slowdown cues and news of Steve Jobs not well and no successor finalized.

However the product iPhone to too superior to be affected by this. Moreover $199 iPhone is going to bring in buyers which were not there before, its getting released this Friday already there is buzz around this. Also there are talks of iPhone without contract in other countries thats going to help. What happened to ipod is going to happen to iPhone is my take.

Moreover with iPhone who is going to need all the other features.

From Apple.com "Introducing iPhone 3G. With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping, support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more features at your fingertips. And like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one — a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device with rich HTML email and a desktop-class web browser. iPhone 3G. It redefines what a mobile phone can do — again."

BUY APPL.

ps: I own APPL

BAD news about EMC

Just heard and saw a 10% decline in EMC stock today because VMware stock fell drastically almost 30% today. Reason: CEO exit.

While some are saying its a good thing that the CEO exit other are worried VMWare would not be a spin off hence putting the weight on EMC further as EMC owns 86% of VMWare. When it was time to buy VMware I did not i went for the safer option of buying EMC, thankfully so.

I look at EMC stock, fundamentals and valuations again and I like what I see. although challenges like slowing economy and competition will still be there. Is it a good time to buy then?. Probably not but its definitely wait and watch. See what the new management does. The new CEO is Paul Maritz who rolled out exciting stuff like windows 95, NT etc. Is experienced at delivering excellent results at such operational levels.

Ps: I own EMC

India is rocking (NOT) ....and here's proof

In my last post "India is Rocking and here's proof" I had listed few instances to prove India is rocking and I immediately felt guilty.

Here's why ?



The above highlighted video is just a brief glimpse of the other side of India Rocking. No doubt India has grown by leaps and bounds but I think its back to a place where moving ahead is going to be challenging.

For foreign investors this is a Yellow flag. Yellow because I am still bullish about India (most of the challenges India is facing rite now is Infrastructure based or are historical reasons which have tried to make India's pace go slower and slower). India's rate of growth was touted at 10%, sure thing but inflation has started biting into this. Oil situation is not helping. And a substantial portion of India's GDP is going to be spent on subsidies (Fuel, farming etc.).

Agriculture has been the livelihood of majority of Indians. Guess what rapid growth and lure of fast money has made people (farmers, govt's) convert agricultural land into real estate for building more malls, businesses and what not. Where will that lead to rising commodity prices. Moreover the bottom of the pyramid (India) is made of the majority of poor people who struggle to make a livelihood. They need a mechanism to lift them from there, they need resources and someone needs to think about them before declaring India on a whole is winning. Rich are getting richer and poor are finding it hard to come out poverty. Its much better than it was 5 or 10 or 20 years back but India is not there yet. Much to do ..much more to do..

Infrastructure is still years behind. Who's going to push it. With this govt, I doubt. China has made legendary strides in Infrastructure but India is lacking there. Without Infrastructural support it would be difficult to maintain this growth rate.

Government has been pretty much dysfunctional in reforms area. There have been little or no reforms in India for past 4 years. Its a coalition and all the energy (after looking into personal interests and corruption) goes into maintaining a governing body. No work though.

Communists would be a challenge. Nuclear energy is curcial for progress, no progress made because no consensus reached.

And then there is that milestone. Elections. When all hell breaks lose. Agreed this is a victory dance for Democracy but India's is more of a chaotic democracy. With 100 languages , 30 official, several casts (and politicians ready to do every thing to please the castes), such diverse landscape who has time to think of progress.

Stocks: India's market have been a darling of emerging markets but how much of it was driven by valuations ? How much was bubble ? Need to be cautious there.

Overall still a Yellow Flag.

Ps: I own IFN to invest in India. IFN's top 5 holdings are:
1: Reliance Industries
2: Infosys Technologies
3: Bharti Airtel Ltd
4: Housing Development Finance
5: Reliance Communications Ltd.