Inception Architecture

I recently bumped into this very well executed picture by Rick Slusher (@theslush). I personally believe in this concept (of Inception) and found this picture really interesting as it got me thinking. So here it is, to get you thinking on the lines of Inception.

Keep Thinking! Keep Discovering!

5 Things You Will Like To Try

Finally, I have decided to re-start my blogging! Like I did mention in my New Year Resolutions post in December 2009, this has been one thing I’ve wanted to get going regularly, but has always been limping. To begin with, I thought of telling you what I’ve been up to these days. Hmm…no..I’m not going to tell you about a magic potion concoction I’ve been working on….but on some things that I’ve discovered, seen, done and enjoyed. Here are five of them -

1. Flipkart.com – I’ve enjoyed this website the most. Bought more than about 5 books so far, and I’ve enjoyed the experience of buying a book the most with Flipkart. Here is what I’ve observed about their service – Neat packing, Prompt delivery, Zero Disappointments (they have almost every title!) and of course Nice Discounts! Kudos to the folks behind Flipkart – Keep up the good work!

Birth & Growth of Innovation in India

Innovation does not happen at an instance in time, it's an ongoing activity. Like how an egg is carefully incubated under the warmth extended by the hen's body, innovation needs that initial hand holding. This essentially comes from the innovators themselves. And like how the chicken sees the daylight outside of the egg shell, innovative ideas also see the daylight. Like how the chicken is carefully nurtured by the hen, the idea needs to be nurtured by the innovator.

End of the day, it's all the same - Innovation is not an elusive something. It is something that is bound to happen. It's the law of nature. The chicken or mankind all are good examples of innovation - we are unique with a set of different and unique qualities. Try to look at innovation this way, and you will get rid of that fear inducing question - "Can I innovate? Can I also be an entrepreneur?" clouding your thoughts.

That said, here is the next big mythical question "Is India only an Outsourcing hub? Why aren't there many Indian companies with great products?" I've read many such articles in the internet, especially in the last one year, where authors have expressed this feeling. Lately I also read Sramana Mitra's (@sramana) article on Forbes and her blog post sometime back.

Firstly I'd like to point out that innovation is not necessarily related to creating great products. India has had a high innovation quotient all along - even creating great service outsourcing companies need innovation. I'd rather prefer to call the bunch of body-shopping IT companies as the ones who've given a bad name to outsourcing in India. Unfortunately, these companies do continue to survive even in these testing times!

On the products side, in my opinion, below are some of the critical factors that have affected the birth of product innovation.

Factors affecting the birth of product innovation -

1. The Indian education system - At large, these continue to teach courses that nourish bookish thinking rather than out-of-the-box thinking
2. Indian colleges & universities - These continue to advertise as "100% placement"
3. The Indian upbringing - We still continue to coax our kids to take the safer route. The risk-taking attitude is seldom seen here. I also agree with Sramana Mitra's thoughts on the effects of "colonization" in India - it's very true.
4. Lack of quality talent - I've faced this - haven't been able to find high quality talent who would work for a early stage startup. They eventually run away when they get an offer from Cognizants and the TCSes of the world
5. Intellectual Property (IP) rights - Inability to truly protect IP has been a big challenge for those daring entrepreneurs to hire talent. The young and talented ones sign any non-disclosure agreements without consciously abiding by them
6. Lack of early stage seed fund - Because of the above challenges, early stage entrepreneurs will have to compete with the Cognizants and the TCSes to pay competitive salaries, which warrant sizable capital. Unfortunately, seed fund is still tough in this part of the world

These are larger level issues that we'll need to collectively answer. First realize that you need to start by cleaning the ship deck before becoming the captain of the ship. Stop drooling over fat salaries and start taking risks right from the beginning. Take a baby step, crawl and then start to walk. You will fall, but don't give up. Remember this is the start of your marathon dream!

The Inventor and the Hunter

An Inventor's life is like that of a Hunter in many ways. The one that stands out is the fact that the Inventor lives in a world of wild ideas and the Hunter lives in a world of wild animals.

• You never know when a wild idea (animal) is going to come by
  
• The more alert you are, the better is your chance of capturing (shooting) the idea (animal)
• The slightest of carelessness can make the Inventor (Hunter) to miss a passing idea (animal)
• There are always plenty of ideas (animals)
• The Inventor takes pride in the list of inventions under his name, and the Hunter takes pride in walking his visitors through his "Hunters Hall of Fame"
• The more experienced the Inventor (Hunter) is, the easier he is able to capture (shoot) an idea (animal)

The only difference is that the Inventor's bowl of ideas has no boundaries - The universe (or more?) is the limit; whereas the Hunter is restricted by hunting zones and boundaries and the man made governances. Thats why Inventors take the pride!

Patenting - Is this good or bad?

This question has kept repeating itself within the walls of my think tank for almost 4 years now (Prior to that, I probably didn't care to even think about it). Everytime I think of an idea that convinces me, pop comes this thought!

An average human gets about 64,000 ideas and thoughts in a day. We never realize this fact, but a little bit of training will help us tap into our brain's thinking patterns and make more out of it. Intellectual property has been a big focus for many of the companies of the world for the very sake of proving themselves and also to make money out of.

Well, thats good. I would not want to get into "why a company should get into patenting?". My question has been "does patenting and protection of IP (intellectual property) do good for the human creativity or do they hamper creativity?".

Again, this is not for the genuinely good ideas that are patented. I'm referring to some of those basic and sometimes silly ideas, so to say, that get successfully patented. A look into the USPTO website can reveal some really ridiculous patents...trust me...you might bump into ideas like "shortest way (path) to go to the loo" (there does exist a patent that is similar to this!) to "easiest method to open a chocolate box".

Here are a few negative effects of such patents-

1. De-motivates aspiring inventors to submit patents - By ridiculing the very essence of a brilliant idea
2. Prevents people from improvising on an existing patent - Some patents are framed in such a way that it does not easily allow people to build on top of that
3. Encourages people and companies to find out ways to get trivial ideas to be patented (just to tell the world that they have "N" number of patents)

In my opinion, companies should make it a point to have a dedicated Invention Disclosure team that would help in thoroughly scrutinizing patent applications before filing it to the USPTO or any other country's patent office.

38 Days of 0% Blogging and 100% Learning

To all Subscribers, Readers and Regulars of my blog,

Wish you a very Happy 2008! I know its already February...but its always better late than never :-)

I'm sure many of you have been wondering what this "Blog Break" status on my Twitter means. I've got a decent number of people asking me this question too (Thanks for mailing me!). Well, I had no specific reason for taking this short break from the world of blogging. Having said that, it doesn't mean that the 38 days did not matter much....IT DID! I used these 38 days to take care of myself.

Most of us have been busy doing great stuff around in both our personal and professional lives, that we less do give time to ourselves. We do make it a point to take the car for a service, but never thought that one of the most complex systems - our body - needs some attention!

No, don't move your mouse to the top right side of the window!.....I'm not trying to talk about something philosophical here. Here is the message I would like to convey in this first 2008-post of mine -

"To Change the World around you, Change the World Inside You. Change has to happen from inside"

Have a great year ahead!