Week 8 - Project Presentation

One week after the exams, and I'm just itching for my final year project presentation to get over, so I can get started with my awesome holiday plan! Dragging my feet on the prepping of the presentation is driving my co-presenter nuts, God bless him for being so patient.

This post you're witnessing here is unique, for it's the only one of its kind on this blog. I won't be doing any more projects to claim credits, so take ten seconds to absorb the magnitude of this event. (You see the IIMB student halo shining, you see? You see??)

For certain reasons that can not be disclosed, we're doing a project for an organization who's name I cannot disclose, the subject of which can not be disclosed. Yes, I'm feeling so much better after this claim for transparency. But what I CAN tell, is how we get these projects, and what it involves. Essentially, there are three ways of choosing a project, one- you go out, find a topic of interest, approach a prof who thinks its interesting too, two - you approach a prof who's subject you like and ask him if you can help in part for your project requirement, and three - you wait for companies to drop projects in your lap, and you propose your potential study to them and go ahead if they accept it.

We chose option number three, as there were a couple of organizations that approached us with a set of projects. We picked one that we thought we'd like to work on, and wrote out a proposal for them. They seemed to like our approach, so we got the go-ahead on this. The next step was to find a prof who'd be interested to guide us on this topic, and we had one in mind... luckily, the prof was free enough to allot us some time. As part of the requirement, we were to spend atleast 6 hours each week on the project. Now, this happens in bursts here and there, maybe three hours this week, twelve the next etc. But you're constantly in touch with your prof to find out if you're approaching the solution properly. In our case, we sync-ed up once a week. Both with our faculty guide, and the guide from the project sponsor. Why do we sync up? It's not that you're doing something wrong, it's more like the road ahead splits into so many directions, and you're trying to find where the company wants to go, and what the literature suggests to go down through.

So eleven weeks later, we had our presentation today to an external project evaluator. Apparently profs at IIMB have a huge contact base, so they're able to identify an appropriate evaluator from a field very relevant to your topic, who will look at your findings objectively and rip it apart. IF he can. (Muahahahahahaaah!)

Things went well.

I must say, I'm feeling content.

I'm done with two years. It feels.... peaceful.

Quarter 8 - Week of Exams

When you just have two subjects per quarter, you'd have had enough time to read them well in advance of the exam. Which means once the exams come up, you don't need to study. I now have an idea what the studious types in school and college felt like when exams were around. Unfortunately for me, doesn't look like the next couple of quarters will be as easy.

Ethics in Business Management

A case-based exam. One of the cases right out of our book, about an age-old conflict between a game studio and a game publisher. Interesting case, most of the frameworks seemed to apply them (or rather I made sure I fit it in somehow!). It's intriguing how a one-and-a-half page case can really keep you thinking for over an hour and a half.

Managing Offshored Software and IT Services

Yea, I don't want to talk about this one. We knew it was a multiple choice based exam, and therefore assumed that it would be easy-peasy. Let's just say the prof has seen enough batches come and go, and he knows how to set a picnic where you really feel lost.

I'm looking forward to the one-month-holiday we get now. No waking up at 6 AM, sleeping at 12 AM, worrying about how to finish the next assignment. It'll be a reminder of how life was, two years ago.

Two years. Just another six months to go, but I can't help feeling... sad and relaxed... all at the same time.

Quarter 8 - Week 9

The anticipation of the end of the quarter coincides with the realization that we're THIS close to completing two years at college. We've already spent more time here than a full-time student would, atleast in terms of calendar days if not man-days. It's like a half-baked sense of accomplishment.

Ethics in Business Management

The first session had some light reading associated with it related to guidelines with being on a board. Better put, I ignored a couple of the heavy-read articles due to the mountain of piling assignment and project (Read the singulars there? Yes, it is a great day for sloth and excuses). The prof seems quite enthusiastic about the role directors play in setting the path for the company and for monitoring it. He strongly believes that ethics starts at the top, and just one person who thinks in a particular direction sets the direction for the entire behemoth. In fact, he says that you can see a change in the company within a couple of months when a new CEO or board comes into play.

The next session was one for reflection (I love these reflection thingies... you listen to what others think, you spout what you think, and the prof spouts what he learns... and we all have tea.) The prof took us through a summary of all the topics we had visited over the last nineteen sessions, and encouraged the class to come forward with any learnings they'd want to share with the class. He even showed us an oath that is being taken voluntarily by a few MBAs once they graduate, much like the Hippocratic oath, about how they'll do what's best for society, their company, their families and themselves. Interesting how things begin, no?

Managing Offshored Software and IT services

The last two sessions of the quarter were completely dedicated to presentations. We presented our findings from our individual projects to the rest of the class, and showed the connect that we were able to observe with our learnings from class. It was a brilliant way of seeing the kind of projects and experiences we go through, in a very academic way.

Of course, NOBODY managed to finish in time, so everyone takes 15 minutes when we're allotted 10 minutes each. The result? On the second day, we were there for a full extra 45 minutes, listening to the last three projects. In the last half-hour, people started really getting fatigued, and due to the overwhelming need for lunch before the next class in 15 minutes they excused themselves... one by one. Till there were only a couple of students left with the prof listening to the last guy.

Once that got over, even the prof heaved a sigh of relief. As it turns out, this was his last set of sessions here at IIMB for quite some time as he's leaving for the US on an assignment. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but this was the prof who helped start the PGSEM programme and was its first chairperson. Listening to him talk of how the industry reacted to the programme was a revelation in itself. It became so much easier to understand how the programme evolved till its present state. It's so inspiring to see him visiting different places around the world at his age.

I'd probably be playing Farmville if it's still around in another 30 years.

Anyway, we're off to do our final project which we can tick off our list of things-to-do before we graduate. And then, it's on to the final exams...

Quarter 8 - Week 8

Two assignments and one quiz, reasonably less of a load when you consider what we typically have to do over most quarters. But then again, it may be because I've only taken two courses this quarter. The weather seems to make things slightly better too. Heavy rains over the last day made things a lot cooler, and you're thinking 'It's a beeeeeautiful day, to be in campus'.

Ethics in Business Management

The first session was around a case about the Ford/Firestone debacle. Apparently these guys released an awesome SUV onto the world, but because of the design, it's centre-of-gravity was high, and so when people take steep turns, it tended to roll over. So, while trying to figure out where the problem lay, they may have stumbled upon the fact that the tires were also contributing to the issue due to poor design and assembly. As things transpired, the reason there was an increased quality issue was that the general workforce was on a strike for two-and-a-half years, and contractors with much lesser experience were hired to keep the factory going. Turns out that over thirteen years, around 200+ people lost their lives, many more were injured due to inaction on the part of the corporations. So the class dealt with the aspects of the problem that were systemic/corporate/individual, and who COULD have done what, who SHOULD have done what, and thereby one more case to apply a framework to.

The next session was related to the role of a director on a board, and how boards can influence the strategy of the company. More or less, the gist is that it's the board's role to protect the interest of stakeholders. So it's important to stop looking only at short-term quarterly results, but look at the long term and try to create actual value for society. The board's in a perfect position to do that, as they are wise,old(mostly) men who've been there, done that, and are on the board because of their experience (preferably). Hence, they need to set the direction for the company, but leave the day-to-day execution of the direction to the CEO. It's a very interesting piece of info, that I sure wasn't aware of. I did keep wondering what the board does, now I know...

Managing Offshored Software and IT services

Laid back week if u ask me. The first session had a lot to do with game theory, and the prof's take on it. So a lot about how one player's action is dependent on that of the other, and that your relationship is very instrumental in defining where you go with your outsourcing partnership. There was also some interesting talk on how you should chart your payment plans. At the beginning of an outsourcing relationship, you charge fixed-price. Once you're reasonably comfortable with their skills, you take it as time-and-material, so that you show an incentive for the person that you trust their expertise, and after a reasonably long duration, you go back to fixed-price. Why would you do that? Because by now, the party would have built up capability and reusable components, and if you charge time-and-material, your work is supposed to get over a lot quicker... AT THE COST TO THE SUPPLIER! So you basically want to encourage quicker delivery at regular prices. So be using fixed-price, you encourage them to use reusable components to get the product out faster, at a price acceptable to them. A very interesting scenario!

The second session revolved around the Bharti Airtel case of outsourcing. Everyone agrees it's a brilliant plan. I mean, you don't have to worry about tech, just your marketing strategy and day-to-day operations. It's like letting the experts do what they do best. But through the entire case, there was one question that kept bugging us. Great plan, nice follow-through, amazing growth. But how long will it last...? The outsourcing game will be fruitful for as long as Bharti grows, but once it stops that growth, will the suppliers still be in a weak position as they might have been at the start? They do control all the infra, and how heavy will that weigh against Bharti? In ten years, when they renegotiate their deal, since they're going with only one supplier for IT (IBM), what's the chance that they'll be holding a higher power in the equation? In any case, was an interesting discussion, and something that left us thinking for quite a while later.

Now, we're on for the last week, a bunch of assignments and the final project submission. Wish us luck, as we go into the eye of the storm.