process

A growing organization can bring pain on many fronts. One of them being well-defined product development documents and timelines. You accept that even the 10X engineer in your team will miss things.

A well-defined process helps and takes lots of pain away from the testing team, support engineers, and customers.

The best of the best developers are known for losing focus too quickly. Not having a well-defined scope, timelines, and managerial supervision will result in a science project not shipping a saleable product.

The airline industry has a practice of SOP for the same reason. A pilot with thousands of miles flying hours is mandated to follow the same as a newbie joining a job fresh from an institute.

Thank

There are so many things to be thankful for. Like reading what I wrote means you can read, understand English, and see through. You have the internet and an electronic gadget to read this.

Now if you run some analytics, you will find you are among the top 20-30% population or less on this planet with these luxuries.

The world we are living in has made us run on a checklist, society has given us a ladder to climb. As a result, we die or head to the grave realizing our true selves.

Dubai

Walking on the streets of Dubai and chatting around gives a different meaning to life. Some made a fortune out of nothing, while many others live each day as it comes. It’s a cosmopolitan of its kind. The city welcomes everyone from super rich to super poor. Each one has its place.

The city has high and low in it. The best of everything is here: the costliest cars to restaurants. Some who are here for work would have died without food in their native countries, while many others would have gotten killed in the ongoing war.

The city is a utopia of its kind. It is like one of the wonders, with well-maintained infrastructure for governance. It’s an extended Indian arm, so many Indians with all states. I have been interacting in Hindi in most instances.

Living in Dubai is much easier than living in the US because of its vicinity to India and the availability of Indian cuisine.

I like nature and long walks. I miss the same here. Once a week, I go for a long walk to the beach.

Desire

Some of us die with our burning desire within. We never give wings to our desires. As a result, as we grow old, we turn bitter, and the success of others gives us anxiety. I know friends who once got drunk and listed things they missed achieving.

Our life is about living now, not keeping things for the future. Our life is not about predicting the future. It is about living now. Our mind should focus on taking prediction trash out and future planning checklists.

Our desire has to come out now for it to be a reality.

open

An open organization’s trait :

  1. Transparent communication with the team.
  2. Equal opportunity with feedback.
  3. Two-way communication.
  4. Thinking of “US” instead of “ME”.
  5. Keeping communication direct, short, and crisp.

Priority

A B2B product development journey is different than the rest. It requires a lot of customer interviews and feedback. It takes a longer sales cycle, a custom solution. The PMF takes ages. It requires a lot of patience.

In the early days, customer segmentation on revenue takes a back seat. We focus on early users. But as the customer grows, this becomes painful. As a team, put product development feedback and priority in place. Build to be paid and used by multiple users.

Otherwise, the product will end up making many zombie modules to be used by a limited few users affecting the company’s profit.

Prospective

It’s been over over 7-8 months here in Dubai. I find this country extended an arm of India. It could be the Indian population, food, or culture. I like many things about here. I am amazed at the hard work that would have gone into planning the infrastructure, growing, and managing this country.

At the same time, I wonder why Dubai is a tourist destination for many in India. Why would one living in nature come for a vacation to the concrete jungle?

I introspect and realize that my perspective is flawed. appears. We are unique, and how we see the world. Our sense of joy differs. Someone likes clicking pictures at the marina or Burj Khalifa, but you don’t. It does not mean they are wrong.

back

There will always be a few people tarnishing your reputation when you become successful. They will go to any length to attack your integrity or harm your personal life. In most instances, they will do this anonymously. You don’t have to worry about them. You have to continue giving your best in life and relationships. You have to leave the rest for the god above.

Important

Our life is limited. We are dying every second. So are our loved ones. We are living in a connected world. As a result, we get hooked on it. We forget to give attention to our loved ones, ailing parents, or our growing children, and on breakfast tables or planned date nights. We are more focused on our phones rather than our partners.

The sooner we realize that we don’t need over-communication and that the mobile phone is a proactive communication aid, we will continue missing the small joys of life.

MSP

As the company progresses, so are the challenges. The small team all of a sudden ends up with a bigger one. What developers were building with a V1, ship it quickly needs to change to MSP, aka minimum sellable product.

The journey and shape of the company change as it progresses in the journey. The process gets center stage. It is no longer a developer’s playground with technology and feature development. We have to account for technical debt and business continuity.

Most startups die because of payable users. These are the ones in the very early stages of their journey. They get all the jazz, investor interest, marketing, and PR. Where they miss out on is finding payable customers.

At the same, the ones who survive longer realize the need for process and siloed teams to keep revenue flowing, and the company continues building suits of products. The gear and priority must change from V1 development to a minimal sellable product.