weekly notes - wk 21 / 2024

1.

It is permanently dark under rain clouds. Low lying areas are flooding. People are complaining about road work everywhere combined with rain making traffic difficult. How things change from two weeks back when it was extremely hot to now summer rains causing floods. It is not yet Monsoon. 

2.

We attended a wedding engagement function. I watched the series “Made in Heaven” which was a story of wedding planners coordinating luxury weddings last year. It was curious to see the wedding planners in this function prepared with remote control to trigger the sparklers when bride entered, cannons that shot out rose petals and photographers instructing the father of the groom and groom to talk to take candid pics. Wedding functions have become elaborate affairs - maybe that industry needed to employ people who will invent more. 

3.

Finished reading Book 9 of 2024, “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Greene. It was a difficult read, but insightful nevertheless. I can identify the behavioural patterns of a few after this. Rules like “Never put too much trust in friends, learn to use enemies”, “Conceal your intentions”, “Guard your reputation”, “Learn to keep people dependent on you”, “Never appear too perfect”. I listened to a podcast interview of Robert Greene (how cool is it that in this day and age, one can read a book and listen to the thoughts of the author directly) - he did lot of research for this to collect stories in last hundred years or so to illustrate how people obtained, grew, retained and consolidated power. He says upfront that power is amoral. I initially thought this was a parody, but it is not. I think if nice guys can finish first, I hope so, but what about the machiavellis and chanakyas of the world? Social engineering is used to effectively brainwash entire societies with propaganda, can nice guys win straight in such environments? 

4.

Couple of interesting reads (came across through Hacker News) - 

Inner ring - CS Lewis - that there are unofficial hierarchies in any social group and when we are outside one, we pine for entering it, but it is like peeling an onion with many inner rings. By spending our energies in entering these inner circles and keeping others out, we lose some of our identity over time. Instead focus on our craft and form genuine friendships with other craftsmen that are not about excluding others. 

Corporate Ozempic - Prof Galloway - that AI is like Ozempic (weight loss drug that controls craving for food) for corporates, aiding them in reducing hiring while growing profits. Large companies are reducing jobs, but profits and stock prices are continuing to increase. Is it really AI or the over hiring and inefficiencies that crept up getting cleaned up now? 

weekly notes - wk 20 / 2024

It started raining daily now. Sky is dark most of the time. After maybe the hottest summer, it feels good to not sweat all the time and sleep better.  

Acquired a new customer last week, after a pursuit of more than a year. The ups and downs, working with new people, trying different things, bouts of inspiration, thrill of doing something new. Building new teams is a tough challenge ahead, but for the moment it feels good. 

We watched a movie, Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil (Malayalam) in the theatre on its first day, among cheering fans. We don’t normally do that, but this was an impulsive one. Its story had something new, but then it felt like they didn’t know where to take it. Few good laughs and loud and jarring music. 

Finished 8th book of the year - “When we cease to understand the world” by Benjamin Labatut. It was a good read, in a new genre that is retelling the life of few scientists as a mix of fiction and nonfiction, with a touch of fantasy and philosophy. I hope to write a bit more of my takeaways from it later. 

Watched Jurgen Klopp’s final football game as Liverpool manager. His clarity about his energy level reflecting on others, suffering with the losses, trying again, keeping high standards, loving people, developing young talent, being himself, speaking plainly, being humble - all these are the reason why I watched Liverpool games more than my first favourite Manchester United which seems to be going in opposite direction, through nightmares in all departments.

Nobel prize winning author Alice Munro passed away last week. I had read many of her short stories a few years back. I had an aversion to short stories since I felt that this format cannot explore characters and story in enough detail and it gets over before I am satisfied, but Alice Munro’s stories pack a lot and these stories changed my perception forever. When I read something, sometimes I wonder “If only I can write one sentence like that” - Alice Munro’s stories are full of such lines. In her memory, read the story A Bear Came Over the Mountain. New Yorker archives have some of her best stories. 

yesterday

"Yesterday, all my troubles seems far way" is a favourite song. 

"Unsociable hours" waking up around 3 am for something, remembering that brain on less sleep might be like a drunken zombie. 

"Anger is a secondary emotion - root is fear or hurt" was the takeaway from a podcast I listened to on the way to the office. 

"I am going to take things easy, I am stressing out too much, it may impact my career, but it is ok" was a friend's take from yesterday's breakfast where we gossiped and cribbed to heart's content. I can understand why gossip is the reason language developed and having a friendly shoulder to lean on is necessary.

"Seeing a smiling face gives energy to go on" was a comment to a colleague, in the virtual world talking to a couple of hundred people with only a handful on video. It is far more refreshing than talking to a computer.

"Feeling restless" I said to a friend and he said "I could sense that". Easy understanding between people where one can sense things is a blessing.

Looking outside and not able to see anything, it was dark like night, in the middle of the day. It lets forget the misery of the hottest summer. What is the name of the feeling when you see such dark clouds about to burst open?    

Listening to daylist on Spotify and doing something creative which gives satisfaction. 

Calling for help from people whom I have helped in the past and getting reciprocation. Give more without expectation and ask for less - it works.  

Talking to people who are making earnest effort in what they do gives so much positive energy.

Dropping in at parent's home to pick up some bananas that they grew in their backyard and playing for a few minutes with an excited, hyperactive, jumping, yelping Brownie who licked me clean wherever he could. 

Deciding not to let go of something I consider my own, which was weighing heavily on my mind. At least for now.

It feels good when I feel so confident to explain anything ambiguous, when the brain is firing on all cylinders and giving confidence to others. 

Watched a movie, as a spur of the moment decision, letting go of some work things which could wait, first day second show, among cheering fans. 

Finding something valuable I thought I lost, which also nagged at the back of my mind.  

"Uyire" when every song that comes on the radio is something I want to listen to. 

weekly notes - wk 19 / 2024

 

1.

I travelled to Pune for a few days this week. I was recovering from the cough, cold and headache during the first couple of days, with a runny nose and runny eyes as well. Got better through the journey and healed by the time I got back. Pune was hot, it was 40 or 41 degrees. When I landed in Pune, I felt the color palette of the whole scenery was light brown, like the filters used in some western movies to get a dull desert like color. Irony was after we finished, return flight from Pune was delayed due to thunderstorms. Rain water was falling in sheets not drops from the airport roof. It was worth the trip though - to meet a lot of people, get a sense of what is going on and orient myself. A few vignettes from that travel and conversations as notes this week. 

2.

“If I get to know people, they will come to me with their problems too, which will increase my workload” 

“Oh, you are also from the same project? I had seen you around, but never realized”

Current hybrid work is a mess. People come to the office, but are not working together in solving a common problem. They are not learning from each other. Communication is fragmented and formal. It is individuals, not communities with a common purpose. Associations are by factors like college alumni, from the same state/district or such, rather than a shared journey on which people travel for a few years. 

It is going to impact career of new people coming to the industry, with less rigorous training during covid years, setting lower standards of excellence, incomplete understanding of the overall picture of why we do what we do, not being able to learn from seniors, setting them on confused path of how to get work done without understanding the right way and why it should be so, focusing on wrong incentives since they do not know what else should they care about. 

Managers are overworked since they need to spend more effort in repeating messages for different people, in different formats and follow up more to get things done since motivation and ownership is low. This stress and isolation is leading to mental health issues. Need to figure out how to fix and try whatever is in our control.   

3.

“Procurement processes are light, it is easier and quicker to start a new project and they follow light software development process”

I met someone working in Consumer Technology and was discussing the procurement, vendor management and deal consultants complicating the contracting and governance in big enterprises and how Big Tech is different. They understand software development more fundamentally and don’t have to apply the procurement processes for the larger business to the software as well. They understand the right questions to ask to govern software projects and rely on just enough engineering metrics. 

4.

“He was able to lay down the strategy and follow through with execution as well.”

We were comparing leadership styles of different leaders we had come across. We have seen leaders who are exceptionally brilliant, but neurotic in ways which makes them difficult to work with. I felt it is the basic, simple processes and ideas that are difficult to implement in large organisations and the ones who are able to cut through the red tape, keep it simple and be relentless in execution succeeds. 

5.

“Business users can create a user story directly from the Business Intelligence dashboards, complete with solution options”

Generative AI hype is at peak. I attended demos from Nvidia and Amazon and this was one of the demos - to generate a user story to improve a business process after identifying an opportunity through review of a business metric trend. It seems the number of proof of concepts being done is huge, but the number of production implementations is less. Concerns on security, scale, cost, vendor lock in and data are yet to be solved fully. It will be interesting if the experiments succeed in the next one year. 

6.

“What is the package? What is the take home per month? Is there overtime pay?” 

This was a conversation I overheard in the return flight, from two seats back. An “uncle” was quizzing a helpless seatmate who he just met, after telling her about his multi crore building projects. These status games played by the “uncles” and “aunties”, along with the lifestyle changes have made it difficult for youngsters. Aspirations of generations should change and companies shouldn’t exploit youngsters by underpaying, but the type of work, need to find a lifelong passion and finding an environment that is stimulating have taken a backseat.  

The Second Coming

 

Couple of weeks back, few of us were walking out for lunch. One person was talking about a detailed assessment done for a product and asking someone if she was confident to present it to a customer. It seems she showed absolute confidence, but when she started speaking, those were incorrect or meaningless statements which the speaker doesn’t seem to have any awareness about. I said something like “The wise are full of doubts, but fools are full of confidence” - I had been seeing more of these happening of late. I didn’t remember where I had heard this phrase before and exactly what it was. Someone remarked that as we learn more, we also come to know the gaps in our knowledge, hence when we speak we are cautious. But if someone doesn’t know at all, they can be confident. 

Last week, I saw this quote in a tweet. 

"The folks who know the truth aren't talking...The ones who don't have a clue, you can't shut them up!" - Tom Waits

Then this poem (The Second Coming, W B Yeats) came up in the Poem A Day feed last week, which carries the original quote. I read up on the analysis of the poem, context in which Yeats wrote it (First World War, Irish War) and how the phrases were adopted in culture (Things Fall Apart, Centre Cannot Hold and such). It is relevant right now when the world seems to be at the edge of some chaos.  

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.

In the past week, I was in an intense discussion about Generative AI. I felt there was a lot of noise, but no substantive arguments. I was looking at one person in the room who has spent a lot of time learning Generative AI in the past year and she appeared disinterested. Afterwards I asked her why she didn’t speak up, she said she did in the past, there was no change and hence she is saving her energy. 

If in major debates that affect us, when people who know shuts up or are silenced or their voices drowned out, what would happen?     

ഉരുക്കുദേവൻ

 

"മൂളിക്കേ ഒന്നൂടെ"

ഏതോ രണ്ടു വരി പാട്ട് നാക്കിൽ കേറിയതാ. അതു കണ്ടുപിടിക്കാനുള്ള ശ്രമം. 

ഞാനിങ്ങനെ ഏതോ പാട്ടിൻ്റെ എവിടുത്തെ എങ്കിലും രണ്ടു വരി ലൂപ്പിൽ ഇട്ട് മണിക്കൂറുകൾ  ചിലപ്പോ മൂളും. ചിലപ്പോ ഏതാ പാട്ടെന്നു എനിക്ക് പോലും അറിയില്ലായിരിക്കാം. താളവാസന ഇല്ലാത്ത കാരണം ചിലപ്പോ പാട്ട് ശരിയും ആവില്ല. എവിടേലും എപ്പോഴേലും കേട്ടതാവാം. അതു കണ്ട് പിടിക്കലാ ഒരു വിനോദം. 

രണ്ടു ദിവസം മുന്നേ ഇത് പോലൊരു പാട്ടും കണ്ടുപിടിക്കൽ ശ്രമവും നടന്നതാ. പണ്ടു പുതിയ അല്ലേൽ പരിചയമില്ലാത്ത നല്ല പാട്ട് എവിടേലും കേട്ടാൽ സൗണ്ട് ഹൗണ്ട് എന്ന ആപ്പ് വച്ച് ഓഡിയോ സേർച്ച് ചെയ്തു നോട്ട് ചെയ്തു വയ്ക്കുമായിരുന്നു. ഗൂഗിൾ അസിസ്റ്റന്റ് വന്നപ്പോ, അതിൽ പാട്ട് സെർച്ച് കണ്ടു പിടിച്ചപ്പൊ മുതൽ അതിലായി പരീക്ഷണം. സാധാരണ വീട്ടിലല്ലാതെ, പുറത്തെവിടെയും, അതിനി ഗൂഗിൾ ആയാലും, മൂളാൻ പോലും മടിയാണ്. എൻ്റെ താളമില്ലാത്ത, ചിലപ്പൊ തെറ്റായ വരികൾ വരെ, ഗൂഗിളിനേക്കാളും നന്നായി കണ്ടുപിടിക്കും എന്ന ധാരണ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. പക്ഷെ ഇത് എന്തു ചെയ്തിട്ടും കണ്ടു പിടിക്കാൻ പറ്റുന്നില്ല. 

പിന്നെ spotify തുറന്ന് തൊട്ടു മുന്നേ കേട്ട കുറെ പാട്ടുകൾ  ഒന്നൂടെ കേട്ട് നോക്കി. ഞാൻ കൊല്ലാക്കൊല ചെയ്തതായിരിക്കും - ആ പാട്ട് “നീ കവിതൈകളാ” ആയിരുന്നു എന്ന്  തോന്നുന്നു. പല വരികളും ചേർത്ത് തിരിച്ചറിയാൻ പറ്റാതെ ആക്കിയതാവാം. 

പക്ഷെ ഇത് എനിക്കുറപ്പായിരുന്നു. മൂന്ന്‌ പ്രാവശ്യം മൂളിയിട്ടും ചക്കിക്ക് കിട്ടുന്നില്ല. 

“ഉരുകി, ഉരുകി പോഗുതെടി.. ആണ്” ഞാൻ പറഞ്ഞു 

“ചുമ്മാ ഉണ്ടാക്കുവല്ലേ, അങ്ങനെ ഒരു പാട്ടില്ല” 

അതിനു മുന്നേ വരെ എന്നെ “ഉരുക്കുദേവൻ” അഥവാ “തൂക്കുദുരൈ” എന്ന് വിളിച്ചതാ (വിശ്വാസം സിനിമയിലെ അജിത്തിൻ്റെ റോളിൻ്റെ മലയാളം ഡബ്ബിങ്‌) . ഞാൻ സുഖമില്ലായ്മ അഭിനയിച്ചു സിമ്പതി വാങ്ങിക്കുന്നു എന്നാ ആരോപണം. അപ്പൊ കിട്ടിയതാ “ഉരുകി, ഉരുകി” നാക്കിൽ.

“അല്ല, ഉണ്ട്, നീ സെർച്ച് ചെയ്തോ”

സെർച്ച് ചെയ്തു, കേട്ടു നോക്കിയിട്ടു പറയുവാ “ഇത് 11 മാസമേ ആയാലുള്ളല്ലോ റിലീസ് ആയിട്ട്” 

ഇതിപ്പൊ രണ്ടു പാട്ടായി ഞാൻ കണ്ടു പിടിക്കാൻ പറ്റാത്ത പാട്ടുകൾ പാടുന്നു. ഞാൻ സാധാരണ അത്രേം അപ്ഡേറ്റഡ് അല്ലാ എന്നുള്ള ധ്വനി.   

weekly notes - wk 18 / 2024

 

1.

I spent two days in bed over the weekend, with a terrible headache and cough. Even the fever bouts in the past did not flatten me totally like this for the last few years. Even though there wasn’t any fever this time, the kind of “fever dreams” of scenes that run in a loop adds to the disorientation. Recovering now. 

2.

Watched two movies in the past week. Chamkila (Hindi) - story of Amar Singh Chamkila, a Punjabi musician and his wife Amarjot Kaur, who were both killed at the peak of their popularity. Some of their songs were suggestive about extra marital affairs and drug use and they got caught up in a web of professional jealousy and militant uprising in Punjab. What is right or wrong in such - but solution wouldn’t have been shutting down voices. This was well acted, liked the music and the slice of life from Punjab.  

Watched Oppenheimer (English) finally. During the Barbenheimer, I had watched Barbie (which was boring for me), but kept this for later. I won’t be able to digest killing and maiming generations, even if the creator of that was tortured soul and had moral compunctions later. I was trying to second guess what might be whitewashing in the story. As a movie, it was an interesting watch. 

3. 

Listened to a podcast - How to discover your taste, in Ezra Klein podcast. Taste as something that stimulates and makes us connect with others in our own way. With content explosion, AI is flattening the culture and everyone's taste is averaging out. There used to be curators before who discovered unique content and people followed them - but now algorithms are curators, but it is not doing a great job in personalising, but rather amplifying our worst instincts to keep us hooked to the platforms. This may be connected with the averaging of everything - fashion, music, movies, books, politics, religion. In such times where algorithms guide us, how to discover what we like? This may warrant a longer post.