The week that I thought will take ages to come was finally here and in quick time :-)
My final week in the Microsoft APEX program was yet another testimony to the fact that time actually flies. I distinctly remember discussions, with my would-be manager then, about the whys, whats and hows of this program and what I thought about it.
But, more than being a monologue about the program I write today to etch a week which I thought was interesting in more ways than one, and a week which made me introspect and strategize more than ever.
For starters, this week (like all other APEX 6 monthly sojourns) was planned to impart a series of trainings, discussions and simulations. For us, the ‘Graduating Batch’ (I hate this term), we had project and training clubbed into one and it was all about “Questioning” and “Listening”. For those who know me even remotely would vouch that these are not exactly my virtues :-)
It all started with the formation of “Learning Circles” and with it trying to address some concerns of the constituent members. As each member put forward to the group some or the other concern that plagued their professional life (or so they thought), I was very tempted, as always, to quickly come up with a piece of advise and “TELL” what they could do. Instead, as the exercise had promised, I could only “QUESTION” (brought in-line by the facilitator).
With each passing member in the group and their problems, I realized that posing more probing questions which forced them to think was actually a more potent tool than telling them the so-called solution in as many words. When the solutions came from within the person the glitter in their eyes was obvious and there was a determination to go implement and action what they believe is the solution. I have my action items as well and action I will J
So, from now on, it is all about “Questioning your way to solutions” (or was it glory!!) :-)
“Learning Circles” was followed by a project and a mighty one at that. Some gyan about Cloud Computing and S+S. We were supposed to formulate some strategy which I thought is just not happening in 2 days time (this is all we had), considering we were starting from scratch. But here again some eye-openers as we continued to question and debate on formulating the problem statement, strategize what and how to achieve, the draft solution and the final presentation to the General Manager.
Must I say, I discovered that I can get really short-tempered and easily annoyed in some situations (and I always thought otherwise about myself!!!!!!)…. hmmm… some self learning there :-?
Team dynamics, naturally, can be both motivating and un-settling, for me it alternated between the two. But with some effort I realized (once more for a re-fresher :-) ) that once you learn to balance random forces in the team, you can achieve a lot in a short span of time and the sense of achievement finally is exhilarating. And success, as they say, is intoxicating.
When it began, as a team, with the objective itself we were going in all directions. As the hours and days progressed I think everybody involved, including me, realized that in the end all had “noble intent” and we needed to give each other more space. Through-out the execution of this project we had our fair share of heated debates, fights and some apparent bad blood but the “noble intent” prevailed and the night before final day, we worked like a well oiled team. Each contributed his bit to the solution and the subsequent artifacts. 15 hours of sleep for me in those 72 hours and the rest spent burning the mid-night oil in office; the result was very satisfying.
This was followed by a session on “The Way of Innovation” based on the famous book of the same name by Kaihan Krippendorff. While nobody can teach you to innovate, I think in this fast paced world when things can be forgotten easily it was good refresher of the power of out-of-the-box thinking. While we all know this, we tend to overlook it again and again under the pressure to perform and race towards deadlines. Oh, what fun it was to learn more about those innovative war strategies; innovation at its best from times unknown.
I think we all in the group amazed ourselves as we attempted to innovate on our earlier solution and came up with some 50-60 out-of-the-box innovative ways to achieve our project goal. Finally, we were introduced to the “9 Blocker”, an effective filter to prioritize and evaluate your ideas against achievability and attractiveness. It looked something like this (my re-consctruction)
My final week in the Microsoft APEX program was yet another testimony to the fact that time actually flies. I distinctly remember discussions, with my would-be manager then, about the whys, whats and hows of this program and what I thought about it.
But, more than being a monologue about the program I write today to etch a week which I thought was interesting in more ways than one, and a week which made me introspect and strategize more than ever.
For starters, this week (like all other APEX 6 monthly sojourns) was planned to impart a series of trainings, discussions and simulations. For us, the ‘Graduating Batch’ (I hate this term), we had project and training clubbed into one and it was all about “Questioning” and “Listening”. For those who know me even remotely would vouch that these are not exactly my virtues :-)
It all started with the formation of “Learning Circles” and with it trying to address some concerns of the constituent members. As each member put forward to the group some or the other concern that plagued their professional life (or so they thought), I was very tempted, as always, to quickly come up with a piece of advise and “TELL” what they could do. Instead, as the exercise had promised, I could only “QUESTION” (brought in-line by the facilitator).
With each passing member in the group and their problems, I realized that posing more probing questions which forced them to think was actually a more potent tool than telling them the so-called solution in as many words. When the solutions came from within the person the glitter in their eyes was obvious and there was a determination to go implement and action what they believe is the solution. I have my action items as well and action I will J
So, from now on, it is all about “Questioning your way to solutions” (or was it glory!!) :-)
“Learning Circles” was followed by a project and a mighty one at that. Some gyan about Cloud Computing and S+S. We were supposed to formulate some strategy which I thought is just not happening in 2 days time (this is all we had), considering we were starting from scratch. But here again some eye-openers as we continued to question and debate on formulating the problem statement, strategize what and how to achieve, the draft solution and the final presentation to the General Manager.
Must I say, I discovered that I can get really short-tempered and easily annoyed in some situations (and I always thought otherwise about myself!!!!!!)…. hmmm… some self learning there :-?
Team dynamics, naturally, can be both motivating and un-settling, for me it alternated between the two. But with some effort I realized (once more for a re-fresher :-) ) that once you learn to balance random forces in the team, you can achieve a lot in a short span of time and the sense of achievement finally is exhilarating. And success, as they say, is intoxicating.
When it began, as a team, with the objective itself we were going in all directions. As the hours and days progressed I think everybody involved, including me, realized that in the end all had “noble intent” and we needed to give each other more space. Through-out the execution of this project we had our fair share of heated debates, fights and some apparent bad blood but the “noble intent” prevailed and the night before final day, we worked like a well oiled team. Each contributed his bit to the solution and the subsequent artifacts. 15 hours of sleep for me in those 72 hours and the rest spent burning the mid-night oil in office; the result was very satisfying.
This was followed by a session on “The Way of Innovation” based on the famous book of the same name by Kaihan Krippendorff. While nobody can teach you to innovate, I think in this fast paced world when things can be forgotten easily it was good refresher of the power of out-of-the-box thinking. While we all know this, we tend to overlook it again and again under the pressure to perform and race towards deadlines. Oh, what fun it was to learn more about those innovative war strategies; innovation at its best from times unknown.
I think we all in the group amazed ourselves as we attempted to innovate on our earlier solution and came up with some 50-60 out-of-the-box innovative ways to achieve our project goal. Finally, we were introduced to the “9 Blocker”, an effective filter to prioritize and evaluate your ideas against achievability and attractiveness. It looked something like this (my re-consctruction)
We finally filtered 8 ideas from “No-Brainer” and “Crazy” blocks to include in our final presentation. I had 2 crazy ones in there :-)
In the end, the presentation was appreciated by the GM and made him comment that it was more than what he had initially expected. And guess what, we may even have a chance to take it forward :-)
To wrap-up this week was the ‘Graduation Event’ marked by a well organized and fun party where we (the graduating batch) were presented with mementos and we finally bid-goodbye to the rigors of the program.
At the end of the week, as I look back not just to this week but to my entire 2 year journey with this program, there have been ups and downs, escalations and appreciations, fun and frustrating moments, good friends and not-so-good-friends but lots of learning. Learning on how to adapt quickly to changing situations and environment, learning to know your audience, learning the power of innovation, learning the power of ordinary, learning to cope with extreme high pressures to perform, learning to manage your manager and so many more. But more than anything, APEX was lot of FUN while you LEARN and CONTRIBUTE.
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