Part of the Problem !

When i was in my early years of my IT job, there used to be a forward which was supposed to illustrate the difference between being a part of the problem and being a part of the solution. The story goes like this -> US and then USSR were in a race to invent a pen that would work even in zero gravity . USA used the latest techniques to invent an ink that worked, while USSR just used a pencil to write in space ! This was given as an example , where US was thinking about the problem and not the solution.

To put it bluntly, this example sucks big time. Not only is this example bad, but also is inappropriate. The above example at best could have been fit for lateral or concept-fan thinking , popularized by edward de bono. Concept-fan , because instead of asking ' Whats the ink that would work in a zero gravity?' , the russians asked ' what is that which would help me write in space '?

Being a part of problem , i believe is something else and i felt it quite recently. Recently it so happened that one of the servers that my Tech support manages was shut down without any prior notice. Due to this , we did lose couple of days as the App servers got corrupted. Now the problem is two-fold ,

1) How do i compensate for the days lost ?

2) How do i solve this problem in future ? Who can solve this ?

But the problem became multi-fold , when somehow , without my conscious effort my mind started pondering over other things . Im not the reason for the problem in the first place and im just supposed to solve the problem by assigning it to a competent fellow. But , what happened is this -> I approached the issue with a perception of ' Im responsible for everything and i made a mistake ' . As a result , all the interactions i had with the team members were tainted by this perception . I failed to think to solve the problem , but started thinking about how my supervisors would assess me . So apart from the original problem , my mind augumented it with its own , due to its desires, perceptions, fears , feelings , past impressions . In the end , the problem became bigger and i was part of the problem .

Plain stupid !

Six Thinking Hats - u can wear it !

Im don't think i had that crush on reading books - it was never a palatable activity , except for the Kalki's ,sujatha's novels. All these changed when my visited my boss' house. He was almost conducting an orchestra of books and had an experience of ' Life on Mars'.

Among all the books , i consider edward de bono books to be excellent. It is indeed a apity that a book on creativity is written in a linear, boredom inviting way . But if you are used to his ways of writing (better read Das Kapital by Karl Marx), then you have a stuck gold, provided you use your eyes and brain simultaneously.

One important breakthrough in forms of thinking is Six Thinking Hats thats very popular in lot of corporates. Even INDIA team used it , albeit nothing happened . You can't expect INDIAN cricket team to hatch out of their shellso soon !

The essence of six thinking hats is to have parallel thinking . Contrary to the brainstorming sessions where ideas are fought out , this attempts to have parallel thinking . That is everybody participate with one perspective at a time. If you are thinking of ideas , then you think about through that perspective, not about the disadvantages of ideas. The whole team does the same.SO as the perspective changes you think through that perspective.

I found it difficult to use this , but the concept of parallel thinking is very important to shepherd the discussion. Setting an agenda alone ensures nothing.

You can read more about edward de bono here

Neeya Naana -OK

I have been seeing Neeya Naana for quite sometime. It has been a puff of fresh air in the domain of debates in Tamizh channels.The discussions are shepherded well , people given sufficient space to express their opinions. Generally these sessions are organized well furcated into different points of discussions. Gopinath does well to start with particular view points of individuals to general causes /reasons- This is no easy task to do .

But i have a few scratches regarding the program.

1. Most of the times gopinath is too over powering that guys mostly talk to satisfy him, rather than talking about their view point.

2. Sometimes, gopinath launches a personal attack against individuals that sometimes it is irritating.

3. Since it is Neeya naana , guys siting at one end don't have the space to accept other view point. There is no environment for that .

If you want to decide on how to conduct discussions , read this out.