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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...
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No conferences

Decided not to attend any conferences this year. Atleast not the typical ones I have often ranted about here. Will be both choosy and intentional about which ones to attend.  The ones to attend are the ones put up by practitioners of a craft. The rest is marketing one way or other. 
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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. 
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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...
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So, what might the future look like?

 Future of L&D only, nothing more.  What will never change for employees? (Inspired the book Same as ever - by Morgan Housel )  Employees will want to learn - to grow, to deepen expertise, to stretch, to prove a point - many "humann" reasons. Employees will want to grow - laterally, vertically, monetarily, mentally etc etc. Almost always, growth will be accompanied by learning and many a time learning will be a pre-requisite to growth.  Learning will always be required - the mode might change, but learning will be required.  Multiple modes of learning will co-exist Whatever else happens, Human intelligence will need to be sharpened. Call it soft skills or call it real skills (I love this term), this will always need to be sharpened. And then there is raw intelligence, visioning, strategising - another set of skills. Every willing to be sharpened by technological aids.  So learning, growth, human skills will always be valuable.  Now within real ski...
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Learning and Development - What do employees want?

 Employees want to learn and they want to develop. Yes. What does that mean? They want learning opportunities.  How does one get learning opportunities? How does one develop? As an employee/human being, I learn when I stretch (not necessarily in terms of hours) myself. I learn new things through the process of failure, unlearning and relearning. And as I learn I develop. Can there be development without learning? My take - almost always not - there can be exceptions, but every project I have picked up has resulted in  a learning.  And as an employee, I need such opportunities. When I stagnate in a job/role I dont learn or develop. I might also "develop" under a bad boss, but thats not really an opportunity or something to look forward to is it not?  So, as someone heading an L&D function what do I need to do? Enable these - simply put.  Learning skills might be a pre-requisite in terms of how I grow in my job. And I might also be able to develop on bein...
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What does a cab hailing app do?

Namma Yatri - is a cab hailing app in Bangalore that ensures that 100% of the money goes to the driver. Based on the ONDC platform, it is quite remarkable - that it took time for this idea to be created. It does look like the app has reached critical mass.  But what is a cab hailing app? It is a system. A system of trust.  The same system can be implemented in any city - but the only city where it fully works in India is in Mumbai.  Metered prices. Drivers can choose to go or not. No surge pricing (or sometimes it exists). All the money goes to driver. Trust that the driver will not cheat - and it works for the most part. Nearly 99%. In other cities since this 'honour' system does not exist or someone always tries to break the system, an app is needed and like the proverbial monkey with the two cats, the apps take a chunk as commission. And that led to multiple levels of mistrust - between the app and the driver, sometimes between the passenger and the driver (since drive...
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