Pathways#Innovative Planning#Level3#1 Present a Proposal - Moving to Next version!

 Journey is more important than the destination!

Vision Statement

    To become a better version of oneself through personal development. 

Goal and Objective

    Acquire knowledge & transform yourself through continuous education.

    Move up the corporate ladder.

    To be an Entrepreneur.

Today’s Situation

    Tied up with the daily mundane job in the company.

    Less chance to move up the corporate ladder.

    Don’t know how to progress.

    Want to start a business but don’t know the rudimentary of business know-how

    Lacking in Leadership skills.

How Did We Get Here?

    Search.

    Anyone really interested in.

    Anyone who understands why they must?

    One who understand the economics and marketplace.

Available Options

    Professional Degrees & Certifications.

    Startup

What I did?

    Joined 2 year part time M.B.A in 2022.

    What is the gain?

    Practical Knowledge about

    Accounting

    Finance

    Marketing & Strategy

    Human Resources Management

    Technovate courses (Biotech Innovation/ Tech Innovation/Big data)

    Leadership courses

    Entrepreneurship (Venture Business Planning/VCF/International Business)

What I really gained?

    Understanding myself.

    Able to manage my time between my studies, work and family.

    Able to interact with people from diversified fields.

    Understand the basic components of business.

    Interacting with interesting personalities.

    Able to apply the learning at my work.

    Better version of myself when compared to 2 years ago!

Memories

Are you ready for your next version!

    Remember, Journey is more important than the destination!

Thank You!

    

Pathways#Innovative Planning#Level2#2 Connect with Your Audience - IT Service Industry

IT service industry

Good Evening Toastmaster of the day fellow toastmasters & guests. There are two main varieties of industry in IT. They are product industry & the service industry. Microsoft, Google etc are example of product industry where as Accenture, TCS etc are examples of service industry. Today I am going to share information about the IT service industry.

Like most of the hardware’s are manufactured in China, Most of the IT service/product industry majors operates from India as they can have affordable human resources. There are many types of services in the IT service industry. Some of the familiar are

1.       Application maintenance & support.

2.       Major enhancement/Projects

3.       IT Consulting

 

1.       Application maintenance & support.

In any big organization (Eg: Toyota, MetLife), there will be a huge number of applications both back office & external facing will be there. These are used to support the daily operations & enable business. For example, in insurance companies, there are departments for operations, Distribution & marketing, new product enhancements, Application & maintenance support. All these departments will have many applications either external facing or internal facing. Now I am working for an Insurance major where they are having 250+ applications. They are spending more than $10 million dollars yearly for the support & maintenance. To support these applications, having staff by the parent company is not an optimal solution. To support these applications, contract will be provided to the external vendors for 4-5 years contract. These are called as Application maintenance & support.

 

2.       Major enhancements/Projects

If the organization wants to do a major enhancement or develop a product, they have to go for major enhancement or a project. For this as per the defined internal process of the organization, the Request for proposal (RFP) will be floated with the preferred vendors. Then bidding process will be initiated & the vendor for that project will be selected for execution. For example in any insurance companies, yearly they will be releasing 3-4 new products. For each product, new project will be initiated.

 

3.       IT Consulting

In IT consulting, there are two major types, they are

1.       To do analysis on the problem & give a probable roadmap/solution. This will be normally 4-6 weeks of engagement where expensive consultant will be deployed to the client facility. They will gather/analyze data & propose a roadmap/solution to the customer. Then the customer can continue with the same vendor for execution or switch to another vendor depending on the approval of cost/solution.

2.       Another one is to provide resources alone, this is purely body shopping where the customer executes the project. The customer will request specialized resources & they will be charged on hourly rates.

Some major companies like IBM/HP provide both products & services. In any big customer organization, there will be preferred vendors & all the IT service request for App maintenance & support, consulting, major enhancement/projects will be executed through these vendors.  Some of the major IT service companies in the world are

1.       Accenture

2.       Tata Consulting Services.

3.       IBM

4.       Infosys

5.       Cognizant

6.       Cap Gemini

Etc

 

All these companies will have their majority of their bases in India. For language intensive region like Japan, bases are established in China also. The IT services will be provided with the Onsite/Offshore model of 25%~70% so that cost effectiveness can be managed. For example, in my current customer organization IBM is providing the App maintenance support with the support team sitting in China.

 

Onsite billing will be costly & offshore billing is cheap. Normally Onsite billing will be 3 times more than offshore billing. So customer prefers more offshoring of the projects to reduce the costs. From the employees in the service industry, most of them will prefer for onsite roles as the pay will be more compared to offshore.

 

These markets are so huge. For eg, my current customer organization in japan spends $200 million annually for IT alone. Now the service industry is spreading fast in China, Philippines etc.

                Hope my speech has provided some info on the operation of IT service industry. If you are working for any big organization, check internally to know about the current vendors who are providing IT app development & support. You will be more familiar with the type of activities that your IT department is doing.

Over to the TMOE 

Pathways#Innovative Planning#Level2#1 Understanding Your Leadership Style - B A I P D A C A

 

B A I P D A C A

Good evening Toastmaster of the evening, fellow toastmasters & guests. Today I am going to share information about the types of leadership. My type of leadership is democratic as per the toastmaster`s leadership manual assessment.

Who is a leader? Let`s hear it from the audience.

There are 8 types of leadership prescribed in the toastmaster’s manual. They are

1.       Bureaucratic

2.       Authoritative

3.       Innovative

4.       Pacesetting

5.       Democratic

6.       Affiliative

7.       Coaching

8.       Altruistic

Let`s discuss some of the leadership/personalities

From 1964 to 1985, he was kept in the prison on Robben Island, isolated from non-political prisoners, and placed in a damp cell with nothing but a straw mat. For many years, he broke rocks into gravel, which would eventually affect his eyesight. He learned the Afrikaans language spoken by the whites which helped to have direct conversation with the whites post his release from prison. His leadership comes under the Bureaucratic style.I liked his quote that “It is what we make out of what we have, not we are given, that separates one person from another.”

Hitler was a high task oriented leader even though he is on the wrong books. He had clear vision and knowledge of the path for execute his strategy so he is the one who directed his people in an attempt to execute his vision. He wanted to monitor everything and retain control of every task, which was about to be executed. This type of leadership is tagged under Authoritative/Autocratic leadership. It is generally followed in the Military.

Elon Musk is  comes under the innovative/transformational leader. Some of his famous companies are Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City etc. He is a high risk taker. The first 3 rocket launches from Space X got failed.  His attempt to land the booster after the launch got successful only after 4 failed attempts. Through these companies he tried to bring innovation & transformation.

Gandhi's leadership style clearly showcases the essence of transformational/Pacesetting leadership. For example, his followers were motivated by him, trusted him, admired him, were loyal to him, and respected him. Transformational/ leaders also appeal to higher values like liberty, justice, peace and equality. His mantra is that you should Be the Change you want to see it in the society. To emphasize on simpler clothing to the people, he stopped wearing shirt & cap forever & set himself as an example.

Lincoln was a politician open to criticism and debate. He empowered his leadership through dialogue with the American society of the time and used the opinion of others to self-correct mistakes and improve his public image. The US President accepted advice but also followed his own instinct whenever he thought it wise. He comes under the Democratic leader category. Sometime he was autocratic.

He spent time talking with members of the public, taking 'public opinion. He would willingly hold public receptions and make a point of shaking everyone's hand and speaking to each individual. He had great democratic leadership qualities.

Dalai Lama is an affiliative leader, who regularly pushed his teams to their emotional and physical work limits. An affiliative leadership is based around gaining love and support.

A coaching leader quickly recognizes the strengths, weaknesses, and motivations of others to help them improve. They often assist in setting goals and provide regular feedback with challenging projects to promote growth.

Altruism in a leader improves effectiveness and increases feelings of team cohesiveness.

I believe that everyone showcases some type of leadership in certain situation. If we understand that what kind of leadership is that we are lagging & if we improved that, it will help us & the people surrounding us. If we also understand the need of the type of leadership that has to be shown at any particular situation, then the outcome will be great. In toastmasters we teach servant leadership by which we can transform ourselves & help other to transform themselves. TMOE what is your type of leadership & what type leadership you want to learn?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pathways#Innovative Planning#Level1#3 RESEARCHING & PRESENTING - Star Link

 

StarLink

How many of you have known about the Elon Musk`s Star Link services. It is part of the SpaceX to provide high speed broadband internet over satellite with low latency. Today I am going to share details about Star Link.

ENGINEERED BY SPACEX

Currently there 1735 satellites launched by Star Link. SpaceX is leveraging its experience in building rockets and spacecraft to deploy the world’s most advanced broadband internet system. As the world’s leading provider of launch services – and the only provider with an orbital class reusable rocket – SpaceX has deep experience with both spacecraft and on-orbit operations

Currently, about half of the satellites are on-station and the other half are orbit raising or in the parking orbit. Satellites spend a small fraction of their lives orbit raising or parking and spend the vast majority of their lives on-station. It's important to note that at any given time, only about several hundred satellites will be orbit raising or parking. The rest of the satellites will be in the operational orbit on-station.

The Starlink satellite design was driven by the fact that they fly at a very low altitude compared to other communications satellites. We do this to prioritize space traffic safety and to minimize the latency of the signal between the satellite and the users who are getting internet service from it. Because of the low altitude, drag is a major factor in the design. During orbit raise, the satellites must minimize their cross-sectional area relative to the "wind," otherwise drag will cause them to fall out of orbit. High drag is a double-edged sword—it means that flying the satellites is tricky, but it also means that any satellites that are experiencing problems will de-orbit quickly and safely burn up in the atmosphere. This reduces the amount of orbital debris or "space junk" in orbit.

This low-drag and thrusting flight configuration resembles an open book, where the solar array is laid out flat in front of the vehicle. When Starlink satellites are orbit raising, they roll to a limited extent about the velocity vector for power generation, always keeping the cross sectional area minimized while keeping the antennas facing Earth enough to stay in contact with the ground stations.

When the satellites reach their operational orbit of 550 km, drag is still a factor—so any inoperable satellite will quickly decay—but the altitude control system is able to overcome this drag with the solar array raised above the satellite in a vertical orientation that we call "shark-fin." This is the orientation in which the satellite spends the majority of its operational life.

HIGH-SPEED, LOW LATENCY BROADBAND INTERNET.

Starlink is now delivering initial beta service both domestically and internationally, and will continue expansion to the world in 2021.

During beta, users can expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s and latency from 20ms to 40ms in most locations. As they launch more satellites, install more ground stations and improve our networking software, data speed, latency and uptime will improve dramatically.

LOW LATENCY = VIDEO CALLS & ONLINE GAMING

Latency is the time it takes to send data from one point to the next. When satellites are far from Earth, latency is high, resulting in poor performance for activities like video calls and online gaming.

Starlink satellites are over 60 times closer to Earth than traditional satellites, resulting in lower latency and the ability to support services typically not possible with traditional satellite internet. Normal satellites has the geo stationary orbit of 36000 KM from the earth equator.

PRESERVING THE NIGHT SKY

The Starlink teams have worked closely with leading astronomers around the world to better understand the specifics of their observations and engineering changes we can make to reduce satellite brightness.

IDEAL FOR RURAL + REMOTE COMMUNITIES

Starlink is ideally suited for areas of the globe where connectivity has typically been a challenge. Unbounded by traditional ground infrastructure, Starlink can deliver high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable or completely unavailable.

Star link service will be available in japan`s remote areas starting in 2021. SpaceX is partnering with KDDI for the services. With this service, being an enthusiastic toastmaster, even if you are at the deep in the ocean or high in the mountain or in the middle of the Amazon forest or into the artic, you can attend our online zoom meeting.

 

Pathways#Innovative Planning#Level1#2.2 Evaluation & Feedback - Being Agile

 Being Agile

Good evening toastmaster of the evening & audience.  How many of you are using software’s daily? Software`s have become inseparable part of daily life. Starting from the time of daily from mobile phone to the time to sleep we are using software applications without which we can`t survive in the modern world. Today I am going to share info about the agile practices in software development which is the progressing trend now. I am also started working on the agile projects.

All major organizations have started adapting to Agile methodologies. Some of the familiar organizations are

1.      Apple

2.      Microsoft

3.      IBM

4.      Amazon

5.      Google

6.      Cisco

7.      Etc

The traditional way of developing any software is to follow a waterfall model. Here the scope is fixed, Cost & schedule are variables. Strict processes is to be adhered. Comprehensive documentation has to be maintained for all the processes.

Below are the difficulties identified in the traditional model.

1.      Customers can touch the software only at the end of the project.

2.      If the project duration is long & in the course of the time if the technology & requirement changed, it becomes very difficult to accommodate it in the same project. Sometimes after years of work, projects are getting scrapped.

To address this issues, agile practices in software development are introduced. Below are the key principles of Agile manifesto.

1.      Individuals & interactions over processes & tools.

2.      Working software over comprehensive documentation.

3.      Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

4.      Responding to change over following a plan.

 

There are many methodologies in Agile practices. Some of the key methods are

1.      Scrum

2.      Kanban – got familiar from Toyota

3.      Xtreme Programming(XP)

4.      Crystal

5.      Etc

The most popular is Scrum. Below are the roles available in the Scrum methodology of software development.

1.      Product owner – Who owns the product & he will be the chief steward officer who will determine the priority of the items in the product backlog.

2.      Scrum master – It is equivalent to the project manager role in the traditional method but here the role is of servant leader role where he has to serve the team & try to resolve for any impediments.

3.      Development/Testing team – In scrum, the general expectation of the team is T shaped skills, meaning members should have a general understanding of wide variety of skills & a deep understanding of one skill.

A scrum team can be of 3 to nine members. For bigger teams, there will be scrum of scrums.

Scrum can be of iterative cum incremental. A typical iteration duration is 2-4 weeks. At the end of an iteration depending upon the understanding a release can be done in the production or till the UAT(User acceptance test)

Below is the flow in the Scrum.

1.      Product backlog – Which contains the requirements in the form of user stories

2.      Sprint planning – Product owner & the team will do the planning for the number of sprints.

3.      Sprint backlog - Product owner & the team will prioritize the back log for that particular sprint.

4.      Sprint execution/Daily standup(15 min meeting-What done yesterday, what will be done today, impediments)

5.      Sprint Review

6.      Release(Depends on iterative/incremental)

7.      Sprint Retrospective

From step#2 to sprint#7 will be called as an iteration. Iteration will be repeated till all the requirements are done.  The main philosophy of Agile is that changes are welcome even at the end. In agile, Scope is variable, Cost & schedule are fixed.

It is difficult for the organizations to directly switch over to agile from traditional methodologies. So organizations are using hybrid methodologies which is a combination of traditional & agile practices. Eg. Till design it can be waterfall, then agile practices can be followed for development till release.

 

Agile practices in software development are causing major disruptions in software development. The release are made incremental by which time to reach the market is reduced. Agile brings visibility, adaptability, accountability & value at the beginning of the project & minimizes the risks during the project. It has saved billions of dollars for countless companies. Over to the TMOE.

Pathways#Innovative Planning#Level1#2 - Evaluation & Feedback - Being Agile

 

Being Agile

Good evening toastmaster of the evening & audience.  How many of you are using software’s daily? Software`s have become inseparable part of daily life. Starting from the time of daily from mobile phone to the time to sleep we are using software applications without which we can`t survive in the modern world. Today I am going to share info about the agile practices in software development which is the progressing trend now. I am also started working on the agile projects.

All major organizations have started adapting to Agile methodologies. Some of the familiar organizations are

1.       Apple

2.       Microsoft

3.       IBM

4.       Amazon

5.       Google

6.       Cisco

7.       Etc

The traditional way of developing any software is to follow a waterfall model. Below are the process followed in the Waterfall model. Here the scope is fixed, Cost & schedule are variables. Strict processes is to be adhered. Comprehensive documentation has to be maintained for all the processes.

1.       Requirements – We should gather all the requirements with the details in this stage

2.       Design – We should do design to cater the requirements.

3.       Development – We should do the development against the requirements

4.       Testing – All the developed components will be tested.

5.       Release – Post testing, software will be released to production

The activities should be followed in sequence. If there are any changes in the requirements the change management process has to be followed. In the traditional model, the changes are not welcomed. Below are the difficulties identified in the traditional model.

1.       Customers can touch the software only at the end of the project.

2.       If the project duration is long & in the course of the time if the technology & requirement changed, it becomes very difficult to accommodate it in the same project. Sometimes after years of work, projects are getting scrapped.

To address this issues, agile practices in software development are introduced. Below are the key principles of Agile manifesto.

1.       Individuals & interactions over processes & tools.

2.       Working software over comprehensive documentation.

3.       Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

4.       Responding to change over following a plan.

 

There are many methodologies in Agile practices. Some of the key methods are

1.       Scrum

2.       Kanban –(Todo/WIP/Done) got familiar from Toyota

3.       Xtreme Programming(XP)

4.       Crystal

5.       Etc

The most popular is Scrum. Below are the roles available in the Scrum methodology of software development.

1.       Product owner – Who owns the product & he will be the chief steward officer who will determine the priority of the items in the product backlog.

2.       Scrum master – It is equivalent to the project manager role in the traditional method but here the role is of servant leader role where he has to serve the team & try to resolve for any impediments.

3.       Development/Testing team – In scrum, the general expectation of the team is T shaped skills, meaning members should have a general understanding of wide variety of skills & a deep understanding of one skill.

A scrum team can be of 3 to nine members. For bigger teams, there will be scrum of scrums.

Scrum can be of iterative cum incremental. A typical iteration duration is 2-4 weeks. At the end of an iteration depending upon the understanding a release can be done in the production or till the UAT(User acceptance test)

Below is the flow in the Scrum.

1.       Product backlog – Which contains the requirements in the form of user stories

2.       Sprint planning – Product owner & the team will do the planning for the number of sprints.

3.       Sprint backlog - Product owner & the team will prioritize the back log for that particular sprint.

4.       Sprint execution/Daily standup(15 min meeting-What done yesterday, what will be done today, impediments)

5.       Sprint Review

6.       Release(Depends on iterative/incremental)

7.       Sprint Retrospective

From step#2 to sprint#7 will be called as an iteration. Iteration will be repeated till all the requirements are done.  The main philosophy of Agile is that changes are welcome even at the end. In agile, Scope is variable, Cost & schedule are fixed.

It is difficult for the organizations to directly switch over to agile from traditional methodologies. So organizations are using hybrid methodologies which is a combination of traditional & agile practices. Eg. Till design it can be waterfall, then agile practices can be followed for development till release.

 

Agile practices in software development are causing major disruptions in software development. The release are made incremental by which time to reach the market is reduced. The next time if you are using any software application, just think whether it might be developed in agile or traditional. Over to the TMOE.

Pathways#Innovative Planning#Level1#1 - Ice breaker - Start to be great

 

Good evening Toastmasters of the evening & audience. Today I am going to introduce myself to the club. I am Thanigeaswara Anbarasu Kalappan. One of my early mentor DTM Sarovelrajan usually refer Zig Ziglar quotes “you need not be great to start but you have to start to be great”.

 I was born & brought up in south India from a place called Pondicherry. My father name is Anbarasu Kalappan who is a retired teacher & my mother is a house wife. I have one younger sister.

My father always says that Education is the true way of life. He ensured that that his kids got good education. I am an average student. I did Mathematics & Computer applications as my under graduation & post-graduation respectively. It took nearly 2 years for me to land into a moderate job & in the course of time have moved to major companies.

Still I remember one instance, during job search times, my father asked me to apply for a job advertised in the daily newspaper. I applied it & awaiting for acknowledgement from the recruiter. After 2 days, the postman knocked the door & I was very eager hoping some positive reply from the recruiter. When I opened the door I was shocked to see the postman having the same letter posted by me. He told me that I have to pay fine as the correct stamp was not pasted. I was still curious how the letter has bounced back. When I looked the letter, I have wrote From address in the place of To Address & vice versa. I was ashamed. My father came out of his room and understood what happened. He looked at me and said Son Now you know why no one is giving you job.

I am having 15+ years of experience in the IT industry. Currently my role is project/program management where I have to execute the projects. Out of which 6+ years is spent in japan. This 6 years is spared across decades where I have worked in Tokyo for couple of years & moved back to India. My latest stint is from 2019 & I am continuing now. My previous stint was in 2015 where I worked 1 year here where I was also a member of this club.

Currently I am working in a US based IT company Cognizant Technology solutions serving an Insurance client. Currently my goal is to learn Japanese, professional certification & pursue higher studies & role-up in my career. My hobbies are reading books, watching cricket. My favorite book is pushing to the front by Orisson Swet Marden. 

Toastmasters introduced me many mentors through I have gained immensely. Due to Procrastination, after 2-3 years I am giving this speech, thanks to my current mentor VPE Masako san who encouraged me to give the speech.  

Other than my Toastmasters mentors, I would like to thank my online mentor Jim Rohn whose words sculpted me a lot. From him I learned a lot like

1.       For things to change you have to change

2.       For things to be better you have to be better.

3.       What you are becoming is more important than what you are earning.

I am the incoming VPM for this club.  I have to promote the club & manage the process of bringing in guests and converting them into members.

 I am married & my wife name is Gomathi. We were blessed with two kids. My son name is Devaprasanna & he is 8 years old & my daughter name is Khavipriya & she is 6 years old. They are going to school in Tokyo.

I am juggling my life between the job/personal development/family. What I discovered in my career was the quote from Ben Franklin that “For the best return on your money, pour your purse into your head”.

 I know my mountain hill might be a mole hill to others but I will try to push myself to reach the hill. Because you need not be great to start but you have to start to be great.

Toastmaster of the evening!