Care-is-Cure

Poverty-to-Power of Poetry

Bird that just chirped

Not-Soon, Says Monsoon

Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall

Thursday, 5 January 2017

Digital Corporate Yoga

I was excited when I first read about Smart cities in India!

My city Thane (with probably the highest floating population in India) was among the shortlisted ones.

With a caveat, I feel the 'local' or layman's understanding of the 'Smart' goes hardly beyond digitally automating and monitoring human and material activities. To some prosumers and politicians alike, it's about 'showing' that we also do not lag behind in IOT (internet-of-things), in digitally connecting (and networking of) everything (devices, people and resources) everywhere in real time. In Kaizen parlor, the IOT is supposed to connect each Gembutsu at each Gemba in Genjitsu time.

In reality, Smart city initiative is supposed to be much more than synthetically planting 'digital' over its current level of physical existence. It's supposed to go to the higher level of physical, social, political, economic, 'emotional', 'mental', and 'spiritual' existence as well. I call the initiative as the Digital Corporate Yoga of the cities or rather of the universe!

I think it's of no use to call such cities Smart unless the digital progress helps them, the people (all stakeholders) and the cities alike, to evolve and get holistic experience of value.

Smart cities are supposed to house smart companies as well: the ones that are lean, digital internally and digitally connected externally to their value chains upstream as well as downstream.

Yes; being digital and lean, or in short each constituent of the smart city being digitally lean, is important.

But it's like, crudely say, the Digital or Soft or electronic form of Monozukuri that can be facilitated only through Hitozukuri as in case of smart companies in Japan. Without human involvement nothing can work as desired!

Monozukuri is about making products (rather making great offerings of products as well as services that add value) through Hitozukuri. The latter is about involving and 'making' (rather developing) people without whom Monozukuri is nearly impossible. Implementing both Hitozukuri and Monozukuri simultaneously as integral and complimentary concepts (see book 'Stay Lean, Make Planet Green') is the essence for any improvement initiatives to be sustainable at that. It's no different for digital initiatives!

Why is it so, particularly in case of digital initiatives?

Why do some people can't go beyond using an advanced IOT-capable smart phone (only) for socialising at higher speeds rather than for improved productivity?

Rather it's about their logical sequencing:

The answer is in the roots of the questions such as follows!

Why do people keep going back to using Excel sheets in spite of expensively installed ERP systems in place? Or

The answer is: Lack of Hitozukuri!

Any ERP system in a company (be it expensive or otherwise) finds it difficult to succeed in it's true sense (to deliver the expected levels of performance, as initially desired when the same was marketed by the suppliers) in absence of 'involving and preparing' people for the same. Same would-be the case of smart (digital) cities too!

It's like taking up a high-tech flyover to speedily 'flyover' the problems left unattended below it, back once again to land into the traffic jam at the other end. (Extract from Book "Stay Lean Make Planet Green, The Toyota Approach" by Shyam Talawadekar)

Smart cities will happen if people learn to take care of every little thing just like they would do for their hard earned penny. They must learn to prevent waste of any resource however insignificant it may appear to be like, say, to care for even a drop of water!

In short, they must learn to put basics in place!

So to me, Digital Corporate Yoga is about both the Monozukuri and Hitozukuri coexisting.

The horse before the cart;
The Hitozukuri before the Monozukuri;
The Smart people before the Smart cities!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or consider sharing this post.

Digitally Lean, Physically Fat Kaizen, even in air!
In a Problem?: No Problem ! Dwell A While !!
Soon... Waste-to-Eat ! Sea-to-Drink !!
About my first book World-Of-Kaizen

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality!
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers
Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow
How To Make A Difference
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis
Will It Work Here?
Some Moron ! Some Great !!!
That's How Morons Work
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?
That's how some business partnerships work
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!
Technology in-place, security dis-placed
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Customer or Custo-Mer?
Experienced A Delightful Payment !
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul
Less With More And More Gets Sore
Should one care for value?
ABCD of India Shining
Beware Of Political-Presentations
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings

Monday, 11 January 2016

Penny-Wise Pound-Wiser

Penny-Wise Pound-Wiser

Daily saving countless Water

Being an intelligent Miser

That's the Haiku poem I wrote at the sight of my dinner plate.
Actually each day I tried to be a miser and console myself that I'm an intelligent miser.

I reason it out of being a so-called self-appointed "intelligent" miser.

Why? Because I ask some "foolish" questions to every human activity that I see, rather, that "I probe" I should say.

But I don't have control over some.

So I be "funny" with myself, with what I've control over.

My dinner plate for instance.
I 'want' a fresh one. That's my desire.
That's my healthy habit.
But can my 'need' be served by something else?

Can I choose a soiled one that's available from the kitchen after being used for its intended purpose in the cooking process?

For instance, one in picture is the pot of balance quantity of rice and another one is that balance quantity of curd.

One plate and one bowl stays fresh!

Also you can see an old newspaper used below the plate so that the table doesn't get soiled.

Plate reused!

Water saved, waste eliminated!!
Economy for Ecology!!!

How many such activities and avenues possible in a day?

How much time can be saved that can be used for more value-adding work?

How much water can be saved each day?

Countless at times!!!

Penny-Wise Pound-Foolish it is to call the self so-called intelligent!

Read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall

Take Habits For A Ride
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

Poverty-to-Power of Poetry

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

Not-Soon, Says Monsoon

Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall

Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-1)

Functional-Aesthetics
Bust-wants, Boom-needs

Should one care for value?

What You See Isn't What's Made

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

Less With More And More Gets Sore

Some Moron ! Some Great !!!

That's How Morons Work

Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

Friday, 18 July 2014

Water-Hour: What'an-Hour

What-An-Hour it was!

On our monthly-music-meet day, suddenly power went off!

Although the electricity company had declared timetable for load shedding, usually their poor work practices don't allow them to stick to it. In absence of power to music system our lunch had to be preponed.

I picked up my snack plate that was still around me, rinsed it a bit and reused it for lunch. I used the leftover water from my drinking glass.

My friend exclaimed at my 'funny' behavior. I said I wash my plate regularly at home as well as wherever else possible. Whenever I wash hands, I pick up at least one utensil to wash. Two-birds-in-One: Hands and the utensil washed using same amount of water that anyway I would've used to wash hands!

While writing this post, I remembered the so-called 'countdown to EARTH HOUR (23rd March at 20.30 hrs)'. Just before it had 'begun', the same friend had reminded me to participate in it. Why not observe such HOURS every MINUTE, I had exclaimed. That I had just returned from a around where I'd put off a couple of fans including one in the toilet. It was left ON by the previous user.

While I do appreciate importance of such HOURS, the intention can be best evidenced by making it a habit taking it beyond the HOUR.

Hats off to those who instead of waiting until such '20.30 HOUR' head right away to 'Switch-off' an appliance left 'ON' inadvertently though.

Power generation needs human activity, water and other resources. Salutation is because such people are able to see direct or indirect link of almost every wasted human activity to that of waste of water.

Hats off to those who commit to be conscious to a cause in present tense. Hats off because they don't allow thoughts to constipate. Because they go beyond their 'knowledge' of 'zero-wastage'. They make others learn through their demonstration of 'an-action-each-moment-a-day'.

One must experience the satisfaction one derives and the respect one earns by by committing to 'Save Even-A-Little, At-Each-Opportunity, Each-day, Each-Minute...' rather than once a year on a "Happy........ Day!"

Read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall

Take Habits For A Ride
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

Poverty-to-Power of Poetry

Bird that just chirped

Not-Soon, Says Monsoon

Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall

Friday, 7 March 2014

Spare-A-Day On Sparrow-Day !

March 20th: The Sparrow-Day!

When I read about The Sparrow-Day a couple of weeks ago suddenly I realised that nests created for them in my house were missing for over a few months.

We had hung one each in each of the balcony of our bedrooms hosting them since over a decade. All of them were stripped during civil maintenance work of our buildings. I was wondering how come all of us at home forgot to put back their homes.

In the barrack kind of buildings (called as chawls in Mumbai) where I was brought up, almost every alternate week there used to be a wedding or a naming ceremony.

Common area between the two rows of the tenements (each being just about 10x10 feet in size) would get crowded with so many activities including children doing their homework to running tiny businesses such as assembling a safety-pin. Among them one would find a typical mother (self employed on assembly line) feeding it's crying child by her side.

"One bite for the Sparrow, one for the Crow", she would rhyme¹ expecting the child to get pacified. The child would eagerly look around trying to locate sparrows.

We could actually see the sparrows dancing around while crows playing their own mischief. In fact we used to maintain wooden nests for the sparrows to breed. So many sparrows would gather around and chirp making the mornings sound beautiful. Toddlers would love to go after them.

Apart from their entertainment value they would play their role in sustaining ecology.

Where have all of them gone?

Modern cities are actually on the verge of making them extinct. Concrete buildings make it difficult for then to make nests. Concretised and dirty surroundings don't allow them to find grains, nor allow them a dust-bath.

What's the solution?

The least we can do is to make up for our mistakes. I made it up by putting back their homes moment I realised my mistake a couple of weeks ago.

It's very simple. Hanging a plastic bag with some padding inside is enough. Sparrows would do the rest.

I also put back a couple of pots full of garden soil so that they could take dust-bath.

Within a couple of days, a couple each in each of the balcony had already finished survey of their prospective homes. To my luck, within another day they moved in lock-stock-and-barrel.

No Advance, No Deposit, No Rent for (their) homes in a city like Mumbai in exchange of an 'Unwritten-Agreement' by sparrows to entertain and help sustain ecology!!

That was a small beginning again, a small difference I had expected from myself by the day of the Sparrow-Day today. Now not only March 20th but for me and my family every-day is a: Happy-Sparrow-Morning wake-up call and a

Happy Sparrow-Day!!!

एक घास काऊचा, एक चिऊचा

मोठया घासाचा ध्यास, हाच मोठा विषय चिंतेचा

फरक पडेच 'पड़णा-यास' त्याचा

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Poverty-to-Power of Poetry

Bird that just chirped