Musings, Ramblings and general thoughts

The science of Layoffs

mmfblogger — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:38:18 +0000

When a company decides to Lay off employees is a simple quesiton to answer. How is the complicated and more importantly who decides. The simplest method is bottom scraping when you decide to release the bottom 10% or so. However if more is needed then the real problem starts. How does one decide , what factors are considered and which layer of management is dispensable. I have been a part of many such lay off excersies and it is amazing how casually we do it. All we see is names and numbers on a list , there is no effort made to understand the personalities underneath. Most of the time the call is made based on what we as individuals think of someone, if we know that guy or more importantly how difficult it will be to tell someone that they are being laid off. Most of the time the real decision makers because of whom the compmay is in bad times and are the root cause continue and many cases are rewarded. Ofcourse every compnay identifies and protects the key personnel who are revenue drivers but these are the top 20 the majority of the remainder are in the can-be-laidoff-anytime category and need to keep praying.

Hope and the solution

mmfblogger — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:28:55 +0000

I hope it all works out. I hope this, I hope that…. What is hope anyway and why is important. Why do we need to hope at all, why cant we be sure. I dont know but I would like to think a little bit more about hope. Also I am interested in the word hopeless, usually referred to as a condition which is not good. I would think it is good to be hopeless as you are sure of the outcome, could be good or bad does not matter but you are sure. Because when you hope for something, you are actually fearfull of the opposite happening, why else would you hope.

One thing that I have noticed gets people over the hope cycle is faith. With faith you are sure of the outcome and hence so many people are motivated by faith. Could be any religion , could be any name but faith an can help you cross the bridge of hope. Once you have crossed it you are hopeless and that means fearless.

Abs – the phillosopher.

Let the dogs out !!

mmfblogger — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:40:31 +0000

Loose control. Sometimes it is important to understand who you really are. I like to loose the bounds of restrainit on myself and see what I would really like to do. I try to find myself beneath he layers of education, knowledge, culture, tradation etc.. I think if I really know who I am. I am a loner , deep down inside I know that I like to be alone even among a crowd. But my outward personality is that of an extrovert. Seemingly I enjoy company but when I let the dogs out and loose the bounds of control , I figuer it out that I am a loner. I like to be alone. I dont know if it makes sense but what else does !!

Search Engines

mmfblogger — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:51:12 +0000

I ask myself why are search engines so popular. Why do search for anything at all. Maybe we as humans are inherently curious and that drives our need to find out more and more. I think the rules of the game are chaning, there was a time when information was precious and was equated with power. Even the speard of news was limited by the media available and speed of the spread was compared to today quite slow. Today the abundance of information available has made it less valuable. It is as stated by the law of demand and supply. The more a commodity is available the less is its value. So today there are very few things you cannot find out if you really want to. The kind of information outlets available make it almost impossible to keep anything hidden once it is in any electronic format. Many companies have now gone back to keeping the really confidential information in good old paper.

Search has become too easy, the desire to learn has reduced. Information is easily available. Students today do not need to read and understand in detail the theories. The information is available ot them. Simulation today is more about writing computer programmes than about the theory behind it. With the tremendous processing power at our disposal we are begining to rely on that power more and more.

Abs – the thinker

Fluctuating Feelings

mmfblogger — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:59:44 +0000

Are our feelings related to the economic health that we are in. I guess mine are. I have always heard from people that money can´t buy love and money is not happiness. But it is does help a lot if you have money. I guess money can´t love but it sure can help retain it. I am not saying that we need to go after money forgetting all but give it a lot of importance. Atleast I find myself very stable knowing that future financial flows are intact and that I can afford to relax. It helps me keep my mind calm and then I am capable of more love. Othewise a worry keeps hounding me and I keep fretting over how to cover this financial bridge.

Abs -

Real money

mmfblogger — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:27:51 +0000

I look at the current financial crisis and can´t help thinking – where is the real money in all this. To me real money is earned as an exchange for a product or service. Yes there is the stock markert and derivatives but all that is just bullshit. It is like I am playing in a Casino and I win a million dollars but the Casino does not have enough. I wouldn´t trust the Casino and probably that business would close. But this never would happen in the real money world where nobody leverages or lifts more than possible. In the real money world companies make cars, banks take deposits and give loans and thats it. We don´t leverage these investments and create fake value. That is what has brought this crisis upon us. Actually I don´t think it is a crisis. It seems like one because the big guys are in trouble. And everyone in a position of power stands to lose a lot. Otherwise its not a big deal. The real money is still there, the real value is still there.

Abs – the thinker.

Master of Consumption

mmfblogger — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:09:06 +0000

When someone has mastered the art of business we confere a degree on him/her as Master of Business etc.. So I guess most of the developed world deserves the degree of Master of consumption. I mean everything is done to the extreme, if we have food then make it fast, make it big and make it more. Eat much more than your body needs. Consume more fuel , travel more using your car. Watch more TV , do we even realize that if the entire world stopped watching TV , we could stop global warming in a instant. Take the internet , more tools , more bandwidth. I remember when 56K was a dream today even 1MB is less. What are upto where will this race end. How much smaller and sexier can cell phones get , where will the hunger of mankind stop. We need to curb our thirst for consumption if we are to provide for a better world tomorrow.

Abs the phillosopher.

Sex is overrated

mmfblogger — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:46:05 +0000

I think Sex is overrated. I mean most of my teen-age (actually pre-teen) years were spent dreaming, discussing, planning, replanning about SEX. It was the key goal , the ultimate prize something which would change our lives for ever and somekind of key to unknown kingdom of pleasure. Believe me it was not that – I mean its good and I still enjoy it but it is the same to me like a round of golf at my regular club whereas it was marketed to us as a round at fantastic country club. Anyway it is an experience which has a definate start and and definate end.

The concept of Good and Bad

mmfblogger — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:51:36 +0000

What is good and what is bad – there are so many definitions. I believe that factually there are no definitions of Good and Bad – they are just points of view of individuals, groups or societies. Frankly look at the different dictionaries and they do not define the words good , bad etc.. So why are these concepts important and why are so many of our life decesions dependant on doing the right thing or doing good or not doing bad. Why do we bother – what is good for one is completley bad for another. I was taught early on that eating non-vegetarian food is not good and all people who do so are bad. I grew up to find that was a belif carried forward by generations and had no real ground to it. The only reason was the place I grew up in – it was quite hot and not really healthy to eat meat and hence the belif. So what is good is and what is bad is dependant on many things. So before we say it is good or bad in absolute we need temper it saying it is good in these conditions etc…

Abs – the revolutionary

Does it matter !!

mmfblogger — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:06:39 +0000

I don’t know what really matters and what doesn’t. I hear people judge events all the time saying oh that matters and that really matters or something does not matter or some trivial event does not matter at all. It makes sense from the point of view of an individual or a small group like a family. But what really matters in the larger context of us as human kind. I mean say something like saving the environment for example – does it really matter. If our destiny is to be tied to one planet then the cosmic phenomena will ensure that we will cease to exist, not in the near future but at some point in time. So what are all our actions today , are they some small trivial things that would not matter tomorrow. Or is it something like the cavemen did when they found fire. I am not sure – Infact I am not sure if writing this blog matters or not !!

Abs – the philosopher.