Skip to main content

Interesting problems to solve

Sometimes, an interesting problem gets thrown at you. And such it was that I found myself face to face with a team that had an interesting problem thrown at them. And I was called to help out.

I first spent time understanding their business and the nature of it, the market. That conversation was an eye opener for me - for I did not know the existence of this industry in this context at all. I spent time knowing how the industry runs, what is the driver and so on and worked on my design.

As I discussed the design with the leader, the leader suggested a set of interviews with the team.

These interviews made me re-think the design and go back with a much more simpler model than what was envisioned in the early stage of the requirement. (I suspect strongly the interviews were suggested as the leaders way of telling me that the design needed a change)

One thing led to another and the final design turned out to be very different from what we started out with. And the program was received well at all levels.

And this is why for me, it was an interesting assignment. It had a business problem to solve. It was a complex issue and it requires somewhat of a long term mindset change to solve it. I learnt a lot, because many of my initial assumptions were overturned and I had to go back to the drawing board a few times. And the client gave me a free hand to interview, explore the problems and go back with a design.

And of course, the fact that this was a client I really wanted to work with was the icing on the cake.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The power of jotting down ideas

 Long long ago, I always used to carry a small letterpad with me. To jot down ideas that might occur. Over the years, it has changed from a notepad to evernote to google keep, but the power of jotting down ideas is immense.  Small ideas go into keep.  Anything to be quickly typed goes into whatsapp as a self message.  Bigger or better formed ideas go into Google docs A few are still written, but I manage to copy them into a digital format sooner rather than later.  But the power of jotting down is immense. My google keep is an encyclopedia of ideas - most of which may never get implemented. 

Why does elearning exist?

 Elearning is one of those niches that does not deserve to exist. Yes, it was a novelty 20 years ago, but not now. It cannot exist. But somehow it does. Disclaimer: I used to head a content team once upon a time. And I used to ask those whom I hired - tell me the last thing you learnt from an e-learning. The answer is - pretty much nothing (and this is a good decade ago).  Why?  If you want to learn a recipe, you go to Youtube, or Reels or something like that. If you are terribly old fashioned - as in, you read - then you go to a website and read the recipe and make it.  Most other things you learn by doing or learning on the job or asking an expert.  If you have to learn something in depth, then there are other ways.  So, where does e-learning fit in all this? E-learning is one of those products that the customer hates, but has no choice, because someone has decided it is the best way. For instance, you have to learn a new CRM or some other product - you w...

And the unconference happened

 Most conferences have an agenda. No, not the stated agenda, but an agenda of marketing, airtime to sponsors, ensuring the past and future customers are invited, of ensuring that the "stars" of the industry are invited and attention showered of them. All in all it is a your scratch my back, I scratch your back syndrome. Some of these become cliques and claques and therefore the real point behind a conference is lost. And then there is the unconference - organised and run by the alumni of the ISABS ODCP program. And as the name suggests, this is truly an un-conference organised by the alumni, for the alumni. No funders - except the alumni themselves. No sponsors. Just the team.  I havent seen a more tastefully organised conference (yes, its an unconference).  To begin with - the location - not a typical star hotel, but an outdoorsy place. The food - simple. The welcome - personal. It was like a homecoming. The setting was warm and welcoming. It was a smaller conference. Ju...