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Risk profiles

It is said that everyone has a risk profile according to which they take their decisions. Opps, for those who do not know, ‘Risk Profile’ is simply the ability to take risk. The more risk you take in your day-to-day life, the steeper is your risk profile. We take more risk when we are young and the risk taking ability or urge diminishes as we grow old. Of course, different people at the same age could have diametrically opposite risk profiles.

Anyways, why I am writing this is for the fact that I seem to have a high risk profile. This is what happened today:

I went to the ATM to deposit cash (did you know you can do that?). I had two envelopes to deposit. I inserted my card, chose to deposit cash from the menu and slid the cash envelope on the beep. Wow, as soon as the ATM machine engulped the cash envelope, I got a message on the screen informing that my transaction has been cancelled! What do I do now?  Well somehow I knew that when the cash is cleared from the ATM machine, the bank will anyway acknowledge my deposit. So things are safe.

So far so good. Here’s where the risk profile comes in. Already knowing that there’s something wrong, I started another transaction to deposit cash on the same ATM! And guess what? The result was the same!

Well, just to ensure that I was thinking in the right direction, I called up the customer care. They assured that the deposits will be registered in 48 hours. So all should be well.

So am I someone with a high risk profile, or am I someone who is utterly stupid? Hmmm…tough call. Let’s see. If the deposits come through smoothly, I have a high risk profile. If for some reason they don’t then……………..Alright, I am utterly stupid.

Update: Just got a confirmation that both the deposits have been credited. So that proves that I have a high risk profile and I am not stupid 😉

Closure

It has been a while when I went to IIT-KGP for a summer project out of my interest in GIS and Remote sensing. Don’t ask me what made me interested in those subjects. For those who are not aware, I am a mining engineer by education and ended up working for the software industry. Well, that is the case with a majority of people in India these days. The software industry is bottomless. It can accommodate without an end (or it could accommodate until the recent crisis!).  I started my education around the same time the .COM bubble burst happened and hit the software industry badly. Not a good time to begin! So I had to come up with ‘Plan B’ in case I don’t end up getting placed. And my plan B was to go for an MS from a reputed university in the US.

I’ve given all the background to ensure that people don’t think of me as one of those ‘studious’ kinds who was so serious about studies. It was a ‘forced’ decision. Anyways, when I visited the concerned professor, I came to know that he was an expert on ‘Mine Closure’ and had spent almost his entire career researching and teaching the topic. Wow! Can you imagine? I could never dream that ‘Mine Closure’ could be such an important aspect of mining. However, after spending a couple of days with him, I could understand its significance. The mine closure had to be planned even before the mining starts! And if you don’t submit satisfactory closure plans, the Government would not allow you to mine. He employed the latest technological advancements like GIS and Remote sensing to plan out and execute the ‘Mine Closure’.

So what makes me write about this today? It has been almost 6-7 years now. Someone has rightly said, ‘Whatever you learn in life, does not go waste’. After spending some time getting to know the software industry, I now realize the importance of ‘closure’.  It does not matter how many projects you ‘start’ well. What matters is how many of them get ‘closed’ successfully and in time. It takes at least 5 times the focus and effort to ‘close’ a project successfully than to start it! It takes a lot of ambition and dedication to do this. ‘Closing’ out projects not only brings in credibility, but it also liberates you of the mental blockade which could hamper other ongoing projects (if you work across multiple projects). It would heavily aid efficient resource planning.

But is everything in our control? Well almost never completely. There are multiple stake holders and it could involve the client, their end clients and so on. Human nature is such that we would like to see new features and improvements until the last moment. And that often spells disaster. Another common practice is to start off new things exactly when something is about to end. Since newer things always inspire us more than what is ongoing, almost certainly they will take precedence over the ongoing activities.

I guess the argument is valid across industries. It would have taken a little for Ratan Tata to start his dream project ‘Nano’, but we all know what it took to successfully get Nano on the roads. In fact we don’t even know what happened behind the scenes to get this through. Hats off to Ratan Tata for pulling this off!

Better said than done. But remember, we won’t be known for how many things we started well, but we would only be known for what all was ‘closed’ well.

Alright, that’s enough of fundas, now let’s get back to work 🙂

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Happy New Year 2009!

The new year has arrived again, with new hopes and wishes. I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. Hope this year turns out better than before.

When I think about the year 2008, it does not bring in a lot of happiness within. It was a year of the big economic meltdown. It was a year of caution, terrorism and uncertainties. And yes, this year saw the global crude oil prices fluctuate by more than a 100 US$ !! But those were general trends. The year was more or less good for me. I met a lot of people and learnt a lot of stuff. So no complains as such.

I hope the global economic meltdown we have been seeing over the last year or so reverses and we see some new hopes arising.

BTW, how about a new year resolution? Let me quote the one I put last year:

“This year, I’ll strive to bring about an inner transformation within me which manifests to the outer world through a radical change in my behavior and align myself to those subtle but powerful forces of the society which are destined to uplift humanity and make this world a better place to live!”

Did anything like that happen? Ah, not really.

No resolutions. Just wish that this year turns out great for everyone!

Also, watch out for some quick successive articles. I have a lot to share.

Cheers!

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Happy B’day iLog!

Happy Belated B’day iLog!!

Just realized that it has been over a year since iLog was born. 3rd. November 2008 to be precise. I missed the day, just as I miss other birthdays. Never mind, better late than never!.

Good to realize that I have been blogging for over a year now. Haven’t been very frequent though. I’ve ensured that I do post an article once-a-month at least. Blogging has been a rewarding experience I must say. It provides a new purpose. It provides an alternative way to express yourself. And not only that, it has been responsible for putting me into some good reading habits. Interestingly, reading <–> writing seem to form a cyclic pattern. Anyone who has ever though to blog, I sincerely suggest, start it now!!!

The year has been good for iLog. Though little, but there have been enough readers to encourage me to keep writing.

Now some facts. The following post accounts for more than 35% of the traffic on iLog:

Hibernate & Suspend Resolved | Ubuntu Gutsy-nVidia-Dell Vostro

Next come this with over 20% of the share:

The Home UPS/Inverter Buying Guide

It is quite satisfying that the articles actually helped some people resolve issues and take decisions. I hope I find time to put some more of them.

Finally, thanks to all who regularly drop by on iLog. Without readers, there is no incentive to continue blogging.

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