3 Easy Steps to Communicating Accumlated Negative Emotions

There are two types. Ones who are able to communicate any negative emotions or anger immediately and others who tend to accumulate. Everyone has different level of tolerance. It's debatable as to which one is better. Some habits are hard to give up.

If you are accumulating type you absorb lot of things you don't like and don't convey immediately. You think, Its not good idea to keep cribbing. It builds up the baggage. There on a very trivial scenario at some point breaks you down. Other person involved might see it as overreaction. Its not. It has built up over period of time.

On such trigger occasion control your emotions. Dont spoil the relations that you have built for long time and never burn down the bridges of the communication. Most of issues can be sorted out. If you are of the accumulating type read the 3 simple steps of how to communicate them when it goes beyond your tolerance point. 

[1] Notice: Communicate your negative emotion in written communication 

It's important to start the initial communication in the written form after final trigger. This allows other 

party to think about it and prepare for the discussion. Its something similar to government  organizations sending notice prior to action. Allow the other person to prepare. Communicate clearly each of the major instances which had upset you and what was your expectations. 

[2] Discussion: Bring it now to Face to Face over a table

Agree, written communications cannot convey all the emotions. But just emotions of triggering moment can be very destructive. So if you were to take up the discussion at the trigger point you would startle the other party. It might seem like overreaction and might put other person in defensive position. It would not lead to resolution of the issues. Instead it can blow out of proportions.

If you do it after the notice,  other person is prepared with arguments and his side of the story. So it becomes relatively easy to express your  negative emotions more constructively. It also has likelihood of closure on the resolution.

[3] Agreement: Close the resolution and move on

After its closed, write it down and pass it to other party to convey what was agreed. This ensures that it gives the fair chance to other person to correct something if there were any mis-interpretations.

After this step move on. Genuinely clear yourself off and continue to build your relationships further.

5 Task Management tips to Minimize Fire Fighting

Last moment blasts in unexpected areas and working late to extinguish the fire in those areas, is probably not a new experience for many. Its so popular that some take pride in being called as a fire fighters. Bottom line is people get hurt during fire fighting and quality of products suffers.

Its a challenge to completely prevent it but it can be reduced. There are multiple aspects that needs to be worked on to prevent it. One of them is doing the right tasks management.  Following are 5 tips to manage the task lists to ensure fire fighting can be minimized.

[1] Tasks list & Priorities

First step is to have the tasks lists. If you don't have a proper task tracking system you are at very high risk and more prone to get in to fire fighting situations. So establish one first. Let me tell you,  Its very easy to create one. Its more like saying, It easy to quit smoking, I have done it many times. Challenge is to keep it alive. By alive, I mean keeping it current. There are loads of tools out there that can help you manage the tasks lists. Most of them are good. 

All cribbing about them is really failure to  religiously believe in them and putting effort to manage the task lists. It does take effort. Its extremely important to keep the task lists classified, actionable and assigned to right owners. Remember ABC of good tasks management, inspired from movie glengarry glen ross, is "Always be Closing". 

Before picking the tasks for execution understanding the priorities is a key. After you have the prioritized list ready in your hand watch out for the following. 

Tasks that must be done for core functionality are generally well defined and will normally be done in time. Well defined tasks generally do not contribute to fire fighting situations. Following are some of the types of tasks need a special attention. If not watched out, can lead to fire fighting situations. 

[2] Ambiguous tasks

Tasks that have high level of ambiguity needs to be kept under radar all the time. Keep working on these to get to next level of clarity. Ambiguous tasks have ability to topple all your plans. These are like black holes. Can suck everything in them. Leaving them unaddressed for long is a big risk. Sometimes it can mean whatever other things done around it may become useless or may need significant rework. Deal with the ambiguity and take it to clarity. If you have delegated it, you must also act as catalyst to accelerate the process of getting to clarity. 

[3] Stinky tasks

Someone's got to do the dirty job. Don't just keep procrastinating these. If it means getting into manhole then do. If you don't do it in time, its going to flood and make things more messy. Its normal that if you have delegated such tasks you need to put in little extra work with the stakeholders to make these happen. Stinky tasks are not always bad. Some times while digging in the manhole you may discover the  hidden treasure and it may turn out to be an opportunity in disguise. Bottom line is irrespective of whether it turns to treasure or dump it should be dealt with in time. 

[4] Weed in core task lists

Even the core tasks that are well defined and generally get done may not happen in time, if weed is not trimmed. Like weed in any fertile land, even in the well defined tasks, have a weeds growth. Weeds grow because of additional requirements discovered, change in requirements, implementation issues, tasks switching hands are some to quote. Sometimes these weeds may mask the primary task itself. Watch out for them and clean them up periodically. Cut the weed tasks and keep the core tasks list focused on the real primary tasks. 

[5] Strategic tasks

These tasks do not provide immediate benefit. These are like sharpening the axe before cutting the trees. Effectively it won't give you immediate productivity but in the longer run you might benefit exponentially. So do pay attention to strategic tasks. Take some risk or hit to get some of such potential benefit tasks done. Balance between the priority and potential. These tasks have to identified and have to be executed among the priority tasks. 

5 Mind Hacks for Cracking a Winning Solution

Process of finding right solution to a problem is like reaching trans through meditation. You need to focus on body, breath and mind  step by step to reach the trans. Its not easy. At every step there are distractions. So are distractions in the process of finding solutions. You cannot resist them. They are natural. You can only observe them and understand them. Its only that understanding that sets you free.

Here are 5 hacks to train your mind to deliver winning solutions. Its mostly thought out with software development background but it does not contain anything very specific about software like architecture, design or programming language etc Its meant to be set of generic principles.  

[1] Problem x Space (Present): Immerse yourself and get intimate with problem  

Can you Feel the breath? Breath of the problem and problem only. 

After you hear word problem, its tough to resist the word solution flashing in your mind. They are like twins. I know its hard to resist both. 

Wait..Hold that thought right there. Thinking about both at same time is like having both of your girlfriends visiting your house at same time !!

That says it all. While you are thinking about problem, focus only on problem. Build the intimacy with the problem to understand it completely. Its very natural to have thoughts about solutions come running while you are thinking of problem in your mind. Make a conscious effort to not let them in. Block them.

Why? What happens if I let thoughts about solutions come in during the process of problem understanding?

Lets say you have only understood part of the problem and you also start multi-task thinking about the solutions as well. The solutions you are thinking can by themselves have some implementation level problems.  Now you have risk of mixing the core problem with implementation issues of the solutions. This can misguide you as to what is the definition of the primary problem. This can potentially leave you with incorrect understanding of the problem.  Don't let the solution space bias your understanding of the problem space.

Also do not worry about how this problem could evolve. Future is imaginative. Its like imagining the trajectory. The accuracy of the predicted trajectory improves if you locate the starting coordinates accurately. Just stay in the moment and understand the problem at this moment.  Just that. 

Remember: The simplicity of solution is directly proportional to the intimacy with the problem. 

[2] Problem x Time (Future):Imagine it over the Lifecycle

Now that you have understood the problem at moment correctly, Don't just fall for looks at the moment. 

Imagine how your problem will be evolve over the entire lifecycle. At different phases the problem will evolve and morph itself into something  different. It may not become totally different but slight variation. Try to visualize and understand it. This helps you to identify those small tweaks and those little additional features that can make a big difference in usability of solution. It also helps to future proof your solution.

Imagine simple TODO list tracking problem for a management team. Lets say you are expected to solve tracking problem by showing total tasks and total completed tasks for a project.  Lets visualize how the definition of this problem could change over a period of time. 

At the the beginning of the project, leaders are interested to look at the total count of tasks at project level to get sense of overall effort needed. But after intermediate milestones are defined, Leaders are interested in knowing how is project doing on next milestone rather than complete project level details. Now the todo tracking solution should be capable of showing total tasks and completed tasks for a complete project or per milestone to be effective over project life cycle.  Problem definition has changed slightly over a period of time. Modification in original solution to support such requirement is simple tweak, if its thought out upfront.

Remember: Imagining problem over its lifecycle allows your solution to stand strong through the test of time. 

[3] Solution space: Enumerate Theoretically and Execute Practically

After the problem has been completely and clearly understood in space x time, enumerate all the possible solutions. While thinking about solutions do not worry about the priorities, resources, how to implement it, what has been precedence etc. These are secondary parameters. First, just focus on defining solutions with all its possibilities for primary problem without writing anything off.

After you have enumerated all the possibilities, start thinking about secondary parameters during the selection of the solution.  Now bring in priority, resources, precedence, process or any other secondary parameter that you care about in the play and select the solution that is practical for execution. This allows you to make a very informed choice. Right solution gets selected. It also allows you to switch to different solution easily in future if any of the secondary parameters change. 

Remember: Never allow premature rejection of possible solutions based on the secondary parameters.

[4] Solution review: A round in Boxing ring  

Now that you have a solution, How do you check if your solution is ready for implementation? Take it for a round in the boxing ring. 

For any completely and clearly thought out solution, It must be possible to communicate it to any one in 10 minutes. May not be all parts of the solution, at least the core theme or the core essence of solution should be communicable in 10 minutes.

Even if you are not expected to review  your solution with anyone, force yourself to do that. It forces you to organize your thoughts. It brings out any weak links. It makes sure the solution is coherent. It allows you and your team members to question it. It allows any weakness to surface and hence get addressed. Also make effort to focus on anything that you are not comfortable during debates. Expose its weakness. Let it take some blows especially in the weak spots.  

Remember: Do Not hide weakness in solution. Let it take some blows early to stand stronger in finals to win it.

[5] Solution implementation: Balance ease of Developer vs User

 Both developer and user are people. Both are real humans. Have empathy for both.

"Build highly user friendly solutions" has been pounded in to our head. While I am not denying that but its worth noting that there are people on both sides. You cannot totally ignore the people who are building the solution under given time and resource constraints. If you tax developers unreasonably to build a highly user friendly solution they are going to do a poor job out of it. Thus its good for no one. 

Once you internalize the fact that there are people on both the sides you will surely be able to  balance it. Initially it may seem counter intuitive. But you have to trust in it and make sure you balance it. Attempt win-win for both the user and developer. It's possible. 

Remember: You take care of your developers and your developers will take care of your users.  

All of it might sound like lot of work, potential "Paralysis by Analysis". I hear you. You are right it might sound like it. Come on, think yourself. If that's reality of the problem why run away from it. You can make conscious decision to do it over a period of time. That's fine. But do not hide it under the rug and forget about it. If you do  that, it's anyway going to pop out. It will pop out when you least want it. When that happens you can't blame it on Murphy's laws. He will say, I have already told you so. 

Doing anything worthwhile is going to take time. Prioritize but do it well. 

The structures were austere and simple, until one looked at them and realized what work, what complexity of method, what tension of thought had achieved the simplicity. - Ayn Rand - Fountainhead

5 Tips to Stay Sane in Knowledge Industry

In general society thinks, Knowledge industry workers job is best. They are earning and enjoying so much. While I completely don't deny it but it has its own challenges. These guys face their own problems. With the sedentary lifestyle and excessive relying on their mind to deliver everyday they face tremendous stress. These guys carry their work everywhere and find it hard to relax. Although software industry might look very soft for outsiders but inside its real hard nut.

One needs to give some serious thought to stay competitive & sane in this industry over a sustained duration of time. There is no one single list for everyone.  Everyone has to work out their own list of practical N items to do everyday. Following list is reminder to figure out one for yourself and give some ideas to get started.

Lets jump in to the list:

[1]  Exercise 10 minutes
Exercise as simple as walk for 10 minutes in morning can keep you alert and positive for the full day. It clears up your mind. Its totally understandable that taking out 10 minutes in highly packed morning times could be a challenge. No, I am not going to ask you to get up early by 10 minutes. If you can afford buy a Treadmill and do your brushing of teeth on treadmill. It will make sure that your teeths are getting enough attention as well as your body.

[2] Yoga 10 minutes
One might ask why is yoga needed ? Exercise such as walk will not be able to provide benefit to all the parts of body. Yoga focuses on each each part of the body and allows you to focus on it. Especially this is important for all the joints of the body. With long drives, long hours of typing and stiff  posture will make your feets, palm, neck and shoulders looking forward for some focused movements to relax them. There are good number of simple yoga techniques to relax these parts of body. Overload your morning tea session with the yoga. Along with sipping your favourite morning beverage do some simple  yoga posture. A very simple yoga called PavanMuktasana can be incorporated as everyday lifestyle.

[3] Prayers 10 minutes
We all know if anything needs to be run well there needs to some active person managing it. So assuming that this complicated world is running all by itself is biggest lie we can tell ourselves. We need to understand we cannot control everything. We believe it or not there is higher level being running this world. More we connect with that higher level power the more harmony we can experience in our life. It will take off the loads in all areas where you cannot absolutely do anything. So pray to whatever form  you believe in for 10 minutes everyday. It will eventually connect you to yourself.

[4] Inspire 10 minutes

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.
- Zig Ziglar.

So to keep your morale up do something inspiring everyday or if you cannot, read something inspirational. With the growth in social media its very easy to find the type of content that inspires you daily. Use them wisely. Use the mediums like Twitter and Linkedin well. Follow some right set of people to keep finding something inspirational. Don't just stop at finding the insight, share it with others as well. It extends the joy and allows you also do more firmer commitment to apply and try those insights in your own life as well. Improve together.

[5] Reflect 10 minutes
This is tough one. Its most important. Start off with very simple way of just reliving the day by just recalling all the things that you could remember at the end of the day. Slowly you will start identifying what thoughts need more focus and what to filter. Slowly you will able to connect these to your longer term goals and see if you are going towards achieving them. Its difficult to control the mind from just wandering away. Its practice. The more you practice the more you will be able to do it well and benefit.

One more...
[6] Reality 10 minutes
Being part of knowledge industry good part of our day, we stay in virtual world created by our mind. Even most of the work we produce gets confined in some form thats not clearly visible. A civil engineer can showcase the building he has been working on but for many software engineers they cannot directly showcase what they are working on. This sometimes can lead to self doubts about the skills we possess and what we can produce. Periodically engage in something physical and concrete. Do some regular errands very consciously well or pursue some hobby that produces results that can be easily perceived. Get in touch with reality periodically, come out of your virtual world. Stop and smell the roses.

I call this sum of 60 minutes a "Golden hour". I hope that this inspires you to think about your golden hour to stay sane. I wish you that you find what you are looking for. Do share your thoughts and lists.

How to empower your work to achieve highest possible impact?

We all know, we have limited time at our disposal. So we better invest our time in such a way that, every moment of it can achieve the highest possible impact it can.

Let me tell you don't need to sweat it out to do that. There is very simple principle involved behind it.

Principle of highest impact:

That principle of empowering maximum impact for your work can be easily incorporated by doing following:

Whenever you encounter any problem or solution, you need to answer following two questions:
[1] What is the maximum theoretical scope for it ?
[2] What is the maximum impact practical application for it  ?

These two questions have to be answered in the order listed. Answer of the first question helps establish the boundary by listing options.  Answer of second enables the choosing the right application area from the list of options.

"Principle of Highest Impact" in Action:

Lets do that with small story.

Lets say you have joined this new high potential startup and busy coding. You start noticing recently your computer has started hanging frequently. The curious you, takes a plunge. You google around. You spot some utilities. You run them on your computer over a weekend. Results of full analysis are ready on Monday.

With your favourite cup of tea you scan those reports. You figure out that the hard disk is showing some problems. You google about the hard disk model in your computer. You spot in hard disk vendor hosted discussion forums that this particular hard disk has known issues. It starts showing the degradations after a usage over a couple of years.

Now without knowledge of this principle of highest impact, you would get a new hard disk, copy the data from your old hard disk, plug it in and get started. Problem solved, back to coding.

Now equipped with this new principle, you decide to apply the principle and see if it works:

[1] What is the maximum theoretical scope it ?

Simple answer in this case is, wherever machine of the model you are using is being used.

You start bit of spying around the cubicles. In the close vicinity around your cubicle you spot three more of your  colleagues are using the same model type. Now you don't stop there and continue your exploration.

You ask yourself where are most of the computers located on your campus? You find out its that corner room where all the server machines are stacked. On your next tea break you look around the server room and to your surprise you do find that your startup tool cluster contains some of those models as well. Now equipped with this new information you jump to second question.


[2] What is the maximum impact practical application for it ?

Simple, which affects many people and which affects  your company as whole.

Where will you apply the solution first ? Also it would be safe to assume that  your company will have limited funds, which machine will you replace first?

Maximum impact practical application would be : Server machines - Right ?
Now when you suggest that to the management with all the data, think of the impact you have had on the company and your career.

Little additional effort coupled with the application of this principle you are able to achieve the maximum impact for your solution.

Sounds interesting, Is it possible every time?

Good question. Finding answer to the first question of this principle may not be easy all the time or some time it may not even possible to find complete answer.

Agreed. In those cases the extent you can apply this principle will vary but still it ensures that proportional to that impact can be achieved.

In essence for given scenario you always can maximize the impact.

You are responsible for giving your work platform to achieve highest impact it can. Empower it.

Are you Procrastinating your Relaxation & Happiness?

Why is our life filled with so much of Anxiety and Stress these days?  Where are we going wrong? When I looked deep in to it,  I could trace one of the reason to be connected to our childhood habit. I hope that understanding it will help overcome it.

Childhood: Relaxation tied to completion
As a child I never worried about how much can I do today. There were no limits set on anything. Just jumped in and started doing it. Continued doing it till I can. Considering the fact there were always limited things I did, Could always finish them, most of them. Had the satisfaction of completing everything before calling it a day and slipping myself in to relaxing.

Leeser responsibilities as well. There were not many tasks that I did not like.  Even sometime when I skipped doing something I did not like, the impact was not of any  serious consequence. Worst was getting punished for not doing homework or even worst was getting lower grades or failing in some examination. Nothing beyond that which really scared me.  Hence many times afforded to complete all the tasks before relaxing.

Completed the homework for today nothing more to do, start relaxing. Studied hard and completed examinations. Here comes Summer vacations or semester breaks. Nothing more to do. So now relax. So relaxation almost always got associated with when you had nothing more to do or you completed most of what you had do. This lead to sort of reinforcement of concept that finish everything before you relax.

Adulthood: Completion is mirage

As I grew up to the adulthood and started growing in terms of responsibilities, number of tasks that needs to be performed kept on increasing. In fact I was always on lookout for adding more tasks in order to grow professionally as well as personally.

It was not always possible to complete everything everyday. There were only very few days the satisfaction of completing most was achieved.  It ended up restricting the real sense of relaxation to only those days. Also some of tasks if not performed in time, had bad consequences. Hence the choice of not being able to perform them reduced. Total time I had still remained to same 24 hours. This lead to developing the constant anxiety and stress. Constant worry about things to do became part of life.

It started affecting the days even when I was off from work or even when I am on my vacation. Top it up, today's technology enables you to carry your work and worries wherever you go.

Don't Procrastinate your Relaxation and Happiness
It took me some effort to realize that one cannot tie the relaxation to completion. Although to an extent its positive but when overdone, it has negative impact on the performance.

Planning and prioritization helps significantly and cannot be ignored. Set reasonable goals and find happiness and satisfaction in achieving them. How to go about doing planning and prioritizing right there is quite bit of help out there. Seek it.

We are all warriors who have to fight lifelong battles. Hence need to pick the right battles and learn the art of relaxing and being happy even in the battlefield. Good luck fighting anxiety and stress.