I would like to give an extract from a book I am currently reading which would give readers an idea why things take time at government departments. Happy Independence Day!
On 13th April, 1999 a query came to the Department of Administrative Reform (DAR) from the ministry of steel: ‘Can officers use ink other than blue or black?’ It seems that a couple of officers in steel had made notings in green and red which had raised eyebrows.
• There were serious consultations in the DAR and it was decided that since the matter concerned ink, the Directorate of Printing had to be consulted and so an office memo was sent to it on 3rd May.
• On 21st May a reply came saying that the matter had been deliberated at the Directorate and since no rules were found, they opined that the heads of departments should be allowed to use coloured inks whereas other officers must confine themselves to blue or black ink. They suggested department of personnel in home ministry may be consulted
• The personnel department consulted and on 6th July replied saying that since the matter concerned the Manual of Office Procedures, and since it was regulated by the DAR, it was in their competence to decide. The ball was back.
• In the following Senior Level Officers meeting of the DAR the matter was discussed. It was agreed that since the longevity of inks was an issue of government records, a letter was sent on 12th August to Director General, Department of Archives, asking his opinion.
• On 27th August a reply came that as regards fountain pens blue/black to be prescribed but in case of ball point pens other colours could be permitted. But whatever ink was used its quality ought to comply with the Bureau of Indian Standards
• At the next Senior Officer’s meeting, the chairman of DAR felt that before deciding, the manual of armed forces should be consulted. Accordingly a letter was sent on 4th October to the joint secretary in the ministry of defense.
• On 22nd Dec, he replied saying that red ink is used by chiefs, green is used by principal staff officers and blue is used by all other officers.
• After several further months of deliberation, the DAR passed an order on 28th March amending the manual of office procedures. “Initial drafting will be done in blue or black ink. Modifications in the draft at subsequent levels may be done in green or red by the officers so as to distinguish the corrections made.’ Hierarchy was observed in the order: ‘Only an officer of the level of joint secretary and above may use green or red ink in rare cases.’
The Difficulty of Being Good by Gurcharan Das from where I have extracted this note is a book on dharma based on Mahabharata. It draws episodes from Mahabharata and their parallels in modern world with examples from the The Wall Street, the Ambani brothers, competitive markets etc. I have just completed 2 chapters and I am finding it very interesting.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
8-day Ladakh Trek
Unlike most of my other entries related to travel, this one took a long time to pen down. Not that there was paucity of material. In fact the other way round. But I was not really sure what to write about this entire trip of 15 days. Finally I decided to break it into two entries - the 8 day trek and the lakes of Ladakh.
I will not go into the details of the trek. That is sure to bore you. I would however narrate a few instances and topics that you may find interesting.
The food: Breakfast and dinners were very interesting. At 15000 feet our cook would serve us mutur paneer, spaghetti, macaroni, egg curry, tuna koftas and such interesting stuff for dinner. Breakfast would be scrambled eggs, omelets, porridge, parathas, cornflakes and such items.
The lunches were however amusing. Every day we got ours in separate steel dabbas. The contents were unmistakably a boiled egg, a boiled patato, a chocolate(Kit Kat or Bar One), a fruit drink (Frooti or Jumpin), a slice or cube of cheese and one other item that would alter. By the third day of the trek, we would all open our dabbas to unveil this unpredictable item. Sometimes it would be two chapattis, sometimes a loaf of sweet bread, on one day it was a samosa like item stuffed with potatoes but shaped like a semicircle. Most of us would eat only part of the lunch, perhaps because of its contents. We would look for a village and stop near a water body and have the lunch. Then we would lie down for a while trying to take a power nap.
The potties: Pardon me for juxtaposing this item with food, but it was never the less an interesting experience. After we would land at each campsite every evening, we would invariably discuss the options. Sometimes it was the slumdog millionaire types, sometimes it was a dug out and sometimes it was purely a walk in the wilds! When it was a walk, we would demarcate our boundaries and zones in North, South, East and West. Sometimes I would wonder what would happen if there were more than four of us. A clash, once in a while, would have been unavoidable. We also came up with the idea of placing flags in the direction of where we went so that ‘trespassers’ would be warned by the color of the flag. On one day, I guess it was the second day only, when we were camping on a high-ground where one could spot things half a mile and beyond. Don’t ask how we managed!
The acclimatization: Normal treks and those at high altitudes are very different. One’s physical fitness takes a back seat when one is trekking at high altitudes. Lung capacity and how well one acclimatizes are the two the key factors. We realized that we were short of breadth on many occasions especially on day 3 and 7. These were the days when we were trekking at 17000 and 18000 feet. It is therefore very important that one takes steady steps and maintains a pace that one is comfortable with. Eventually your body adjusts to the pace. It is also important that you take minimum number of breaks, drink water frequently and not overeat or consume too much of alcohol.
The Nature: If I say Ladakh is beautiful, it is an understatement. The pictures that we have posted explain only half of its beauty. You have to be there to experience the rest. When you do such long treks, you tend to be far away from civilization. You see the natural world up, close and personal. The nature of rock formations, the sound of the flowing river, the smell of the gentle breeze are all pure bliss. Trek is one of the better ways to enjoy them. It takes you to places where cars and sightseeing trips can’t.
During these 8 days, we walked close to 110 kms. We started at 10000 feet and ascended upto 17000 feet, moved down to 14000 and again went to 18000 before finally descending. We were the only Indians trekking. Ours was the first Indian group that our guide took out on a trek in his 3 years’ career. On each day of the trek, we typically started with most other groups and we were always the last ones to reach the base. We however made it. We did it in spite of not being among the most physically fit and without any professional trekking experience. I guess you can do it too.
Whereas some see trek as an exercise of physical endurance, I have a different take. Trek is not the end, it is just a means to an end. Being close to the nature is supreme. It is the destiny.
My advice is that even if you are not in great physical shape, take a short trek or go even on a horse. Do it not to prove a point to anyone. Do it just for yourself.
Cause its worth it!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Lloyd's ball got confiscated at Delhi Airport
Last night we boarded for Delhi for hopefully a memorable Leh trek. At the Delhi airport when we were doing a sec check for Leh, Lloyd's ball got confiscated by this lady officer with a constipated look. He will now go to Leh without the tennis ball .
Sufi is continuing to talk all the time. He got so bored last night at the airport. that he slept on the floor. LLoyd has the pics. Then he almost woke up the McDonald shop people so that they could serve him burgers....at 4.10AM !!!
More later - Flight about to leave. B-Bye
Sufi is continuing to talk all the time. He got so bored last night at the airport. that he slept on the floor. LLoyd has the pics. Then he almost woke up the McDonald shop people so that they could serve him burgers....at 4.10AM !!!
More later - Flight about to leave. B-Bye
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Delhi and Mumbai
Traffic is moving at a very slow pace on the Akshardham flyover. My colleague and I are getting late for a meeting. I seem tensed which is odd having spent many more years in the industry as opposed to him. He seems to be fine listening to some mantra on his CD player from Anuradha Paudwal which seem to say the same thing for, I think, the 1017th time. We see a person in a motor bike ahead of us riding very cautiously. Looking left. And then right to avoid the unwanted kiss or the completely undesirable smooch from the car behind him. My colleague comments, “Uncle does not seem to be from Delhi. Delhiites don’t look to their rear. They know that vehicles behind have breaks. They just march ahead. Squeeze wherever they do and don’t get space”. I sense some form of pride in delivery of that statement. A furlong ahead we see another biker. This guy seems to be marching ahead. My colleague comments, “This uncle is a proper Delhiite” A second later a car bumps him from the rear. Uncle complains to the driver while we observe the exchange amusedly. Traffic moves on. A few seconds later we see the same uncle marching ahead of us. “See, he has moved ahead without bothering so much. Such are Delhiites”, he says with pride.
People from other cities would perhaps do the same too but a Delhiite will not think so much about it. Not bother. Cars and bikes have dents and that is the way of life. People do get late for meetings and that is the way of life. Those that they are meeting obviously do not like it but don’t bother about it so much. As opposed to Mumbai where you are scorned upon if you are late. ‘If there was traffic, one should have planned’, is how a Mumbaiite would think. A Delhiite would accept that as a fact of life and move on. A Mumbaiite would make a mental note. The reason I was tensed on that morning, was because I am from Mumbai, whereas my colleague was OK. The fact that I am tensed and he is not does not make him less ‘professional’. I have learnt this over years of visiting Delhi. It’s just that the perspectives are different.
There are many ways both cities are different. But some of these amuse me. For example, my same colleague can give a call to another contact saying that his head of marketing is in town that day and would like a meeting and a Delhiite would more often than not oblige. A Mumbaiite, on the other hand, would most probably say that he is busy the whole day on something or the other thinking all the while as to how does it matter to him if the head of marketing is in town. He may also find this call very unprofessional in the same way he would consider late arrivals on meetings.
Conversely, a Delhiite will have little qualms of cancelling a meeting knowing very well that the guy has flown in from another city just to see him. It has happened to me more than once. One incident is worth mentioning. An executive from a leading consumer durable company agreed for a meeting in Delhi. On reaching his office I was told that he is not come to office that day. The security personnel further added that the gentleman in question had probably quit the organization a few days earlier and the meeting was fixed just a couple of days in advance. Though singular and very odd, it reflects more on the gentleman in question rather than a city behavior. However one cannot disagree that he came from Delhi. In another similar incident, where I was supposed to meet the head of marketing of a leading technology company, and had flown in one of our leading consultants for that meeting, we were surprised to hear that the gentleman in question in this particular occasion was ‘unaware’ of any such meeting which he had confirmed in an email. It is human to err and this could also be treated as yet another singular episode, but we cannot deny that he was from Delhi.
Even with all such idiosyncrasies, I like visiting Delhi. Where planned meetings get cancelled without notice and unplanned ones get scheduled as quickly. Food is almost always interesting. People are jovial and not so ‘serious’ as those from Mumbai and I get to catch up with some really good friends. I would have second thoughts of living there but visits are always welcome.
People from other cities would perhaps do the same too but a Delhiite will not think so much about it. Not bother. Cars and bikes have dents and that is the way of life. People do get late for meetings and that is the way of life. Those that they are meeting obviously do not like it but don’t bother about it so much. As opposed to Mumbai where you are scorned upon if you are late. ‘If there was traffic, one should have planned’, is how a Mumbaiite would think. A Delhiite would accept that as a fact of life and move on. A Mumbaiite would make a mental note. The reason I was tensed on that morning, was because I am from Mumbai, whereas my colleague was OK. The fact that I am tensed and he is not does not make him less ‘professional’. I have learnt this over years of visiting Delhi. It’s just that the perspectives are different.
There are many ways both cities are different. But some of these amuse me. For example, my same colleague can give a call to another contact saying that his head of marketing is in town that day and would like a meeting and a Delhiite would more often than not oblige. A Mumbaiite, on the other hand, would most probably say that he is busy the whole day on something or the other thinking all the while as to how does it matter to him if the head of marketing is in town. He may also find this call very unprofessional in the same way he would consider late arrivals on meetings.
Conversely, a Delhiite will have little qualms of cancelling a meeting knowing very well that the guy has flown in from another city just to see him. It has happened to me more than once. One incident is worth mentioning. An executive from a leading consumer durable company agreed for a meeting in Delhi. On reaching his office I was told that he is not come to office that day. The security personnel further added that the gentleman in question had probably quit the organization a few days earlier and the meeting was fixed just a couple of days in advance. Though singular and very odd, it reflects more on the gentleman in question rather than a city behavior. However one cannot disagree that he came from Delhi. In another similar incident, where I was supposed to meet the head of marketing of a leading technology company, and had flown in one of our leading consultants for that meeting, we were surprised to hear that the gentleman in question in this particular occasion was ‘unaware’ of any such meeting which he had confirmed in an email. It is human to err and this could also be treated as yet another singular episode, but we cannot deny that he was from Delhi.
Even with all such idiosyncrasies, I like visiting Delhi. Where planned meetings get cancelled without notice and unplanned ones get scheduled as quickly. Food is almost always interesting. People are jovial and not so ‘serious’ as those from Mumbai and I get to catch up with some really good friends. I would have second thoughts of living there but visits are always welcome.
Monday, December 21, 2009
The fuss about middle class
In the last decade if there was one phrase that was used, or I should rather say abused, it was “middle class”. Marketers, planners, strategists et all have talked about the middle class. Some claim it to be around 250million, some say 400million and some go as far as 600million.
However I am not talking about the marketers, planners and the strategists that have abused the word. In fact most of them have a theory to which their numbers fit. The people that have abused the term are people like you and me. My neighbor who drives a Honda claims to be coming from a middle class household. My senior colleagues at work and otherwise claim to be middle class. My friends who send their children to international schools have called themselves middle class. And recently my wife and I were cribbing cauliflower at 60 rupees a kg and how could a middle class family like ours afford it.
You see, we have this amazing habit to downplay our happiness and overplay our sorrows. Ask someone you know well and it is more likely that he or she will talk more about their problematic issues rather than their happiness. We would talk about the maids not coming or doing poor work, the unfair boss, the low pay, the demanding client, the poor infrastructure, the sad sex life, the aging parents and the ailing health. Not to mention rising prices of vegetables and houses. We love to talk about these things to get some words of sympathy from our near and dear ones. And we love to call ourselves “middle class”. Middle class is a joke for us. People will never acknowledge that they are the premium class or the lower premium class. We would always say that we are upper middle class. We find a lot of comfort in the phrase. We do not want to let it go. If you are still not convinced, please take this test.
Let’s say there are 100 households in India.
• How many do you think own a car?
• How many took a vacation abroad?
• How many earn more than Rs.10lakh a year?
• How many can afford to spend Rs1000 on a dinner for 2-4 people?
• How many own a big LCD TV at home?
Chances are high that you qualify to most of the above, if not all. If that is true, then I have a real bad news for you. You are rich! You are not middle class. Less than 4-5 homes out of 100 can enjoy these luxuries. We are one of them. We are not even upper middle class.
Still don’t believe me? Chew on this. Different estimates put 300 to 450 million Indians below poverty line. Lets call them poor. Another 200 million or so can afford two square meals a day but few comforts and no luxuries. Another 200 million or so can afford more comforts, live in livable conditions (drivers and maids may come from this group). Another 200 million or so enjoy a vacation once in a while, live in better homes, send their children to English medium schools. Clerks, small time salesmen, petty traders may come here. These last two groups are middle class – upper middle, lower middle, middle middle what have you.
That leaves less than a hundred million people. We are among them. By any stretch of imagination you cannot be middle class. Middle class comes with the word middle – you are at one end of the extreme.
The problem is that we believe what we see and what we see is prosperity all around. A lot of people with Blackberry, a lot of people with premium cars (I see so many Hondas these days, it reminds me I am a middle class!), a lot of people with premium watches, a lot of people that travel abroad on holidays. That is our circle of vision and we conveniently don’t want to look beyond the circle. We assume that since so many of them have a Blackberry, a Honda car, an apartment in an up-market neighborhood and since we don’t have all or some of these things we may be middle class. What we don’t see is what are the things we have that others don’t. This article is not aimed at being philosophical. Far from it actually. This article argues us to be realistic.
If you are among those 4-5 households that has a car, a LCD TV, a couple of ACs and you fly most of the times you travel, you are not middle class. You are rich. Expenses on vegetables are less than a couple of percent of our monthly income so please let’s not crib about cauliflower at Rs.60 a kg. Reality is we don’t care. However we love to crib. It hurts the real middle class and of course the poor but to us it makes no difference in reality. It’s just that we do not want to be seen as rich that we conveniently want to snuggle inside the “middle class” cushion. Let’s please stop abusing the term. Let’s be real.
However I am not talking about the marketers, planners and the strategists that have abused the word. In fact most of them have a theory to which their numbers fit. The people that have abused the term are people like you and me. My neighbor who drives a Honda claims to be coming from a middle class household. My senior colleagues at work and otherwise claim to be middle class. My friends who send their children to international schools have called themselves middle class. And recently my wife and I were cribbing cauliflower at 60 rupees a kg and how could a middle class family like ours afford it.
You see, we have this amazing habit to downplay our happiness and overplay our sorrows. Ask someone you know well and it is more likely that he or she will talk more about their problematic issues rather than their happiness. We would talk about the maids not coming or doing poor work, the unfair boss, the low pay, the demanding client, the poor infrastructure, the sad sex life, the aging parents and the ailing health. Not to mention rising prices of vegetables and houses. We love to talk about these things to get some words of sympathy from our near and dear ones. And we love to call ourselves “middle class”. Middle class is a joke for us. People will never acknowledge that they are the premium class or the lower premium class. We would always say that we are upper middle class. We find a lot of comfort in the phrase. We do not want to let it go. If you are still not convinced, please take this test.
Let’s say there are 100 households in India.
• How many do you think own a car?
• How many took a vacation abroad?
• How many earn more than Rs.10lakh a year?
• How many can afford to spend Rs1000 on a dinner for 2-4 people?
• How many own a big LCD TV at home?
Chances are high that you qualify to most of the above, if not all. If that is true, then I have a real bad news for you. You are rich! You are not middle class. Less than 4-5 homes out of 100 can enjoy these luxuries. We are one of them. We are not even upper middle class.
Still don’t believe me? Chew on this. Different estimates put 300 to 450 million Indians below poverty line. Lets call them poor. Another 200 million or so can afford two square meals a day but few comforts and no luxuries. Another 200 million or so can afford more comforts, live in livable conditions (drivers and maids may come from this group). Another 200 million or so enjoy a vacation once in a while, live in better homes, send their children to English medium schools. Clerks, small time salesmen, petty traders may come here. These last two groups are middle class – upper middle, lower middle, middle middle what have you.
That leaves less than a hundred million people. We are among them. By any stretch of imagination you cannot be middle class. Middle class comes with the word middle – you are at one end of the extreme.
The problem is that we believe what we see and what we see is prosperity all around. A lot of people with Blackberry, a lot of people with premium cars (I see so many Hondas these days, it reminds me I am a middle class!), a lot of people with premium watches, a lot of people that travel abroad on holidays. That is our circle of vision and we conveniently don’t want to look beyond the circle. We assume that since so many of them have a Blackberry, a Honda car, an apartment in an up-market neighborhood and since we don’t have all or some of these things we may be middle class. What we don’t see is what are the things we have that others don’t. This article is not aimed at being philosophical. Far from it actually. This article argues us to be realistic.
If you are among those 4-5 households that has a car, a LCD TV, a couple of ACs and you fly most of the times you travel, you are not middle class. You are rich. Expenses on vegetables are less than a couple of percent of our monthly income so please let’s not crib about cauliflower at Rs.60 a kg. Reality is we don’t care. However we love to crib. It hurts the real middle class and of course the poor but to us it makes no difference in reality. It’s just that we do not want to be seen as rich that we conveniently want to snuggle inside the “middle class” cushion. Let’s please stop abusing the term. Let’s be real.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Inspired
Last Saturday was an interesting day for me. When I set off from home, I was not sure what to expect. I get skeptical when I hear of NGOs these days. Most have their own political agenda and the others are into making a lot of money thru foreign remits. So when I accepted the offer of visiting this one at Mankhurd, I was in a mixed state of mind.
Upon visiting the place I saw Atul squatting on the floor along with a senior gentleman and chopping vegetables. I joined him immediately. On menu was sambhar for the 350 or so kids of the Bal Kalyan Nigam(BKN). Volunteers like us were supposed to help cook sambhar for kids. This was a regular Saturday affair wherein the idea was to give them nutritious food, at least once a week. This cost, as I later learnt, just Rs. 1500, something that we spend, at times, on one dinner. With too many volunteers, we chopped all the vegetables in no time. Later Atul was telling me about the several activities Vinimay, an institution for children and youth welfare, undertakes for their development. That really is not the focus of this piece. What is more interesting is the meeting that I attended later on at Dr. Das's apartment at the BARC campus.
There were 16 of us in the meeting ranging from people in their mid twenties like Anusha, who introduced me to this group, to Dr. Das probably in his early sixties. What was striking about this group of people was that they would otherwise appear to be normal human beings like you and me, but were committed to teaching economically challenged kids a few days a week, absolutely free. Today’s meeting was to decide who was going to take which class and which subjects on which day for the next academic year. On agenda were two schools, Class 6 to 10 and boys and girls separate batch. Dr. Das was able to allocate responsibilities so smoothly with the help of a couple of other senior people, that all these permutations and combinations were sorted out in less than an hour. I was recalling other high level meetings that I have attended where people squabble and shout to make their point. Most of the time is squandered in playing politics and serving one’s own agendas. How this group of men and women, young and old coming from different backgrounds were doing this thankless job along with their other responsibilities of a wife, mother, husband, father and not to mention, their jobs, smoothly.
The thing that struck me about this group was that they were very practical and wise. So for example someone asked if we had to buy notebooks. To this, another participant responded saying that the kids don’t get the notebooks we give them and get some other note book each time so let’s not spend on notebooks. Then Dr. Das checked if Mrs. Ganguly was good for Class 10 English. To this someone responded that Mrs. Ganguly was very popular. Dr. Das said, “Popularity is OK but this is Class 10. Will she be able to get them pass Class 10?” How practical! Getting the kids to pass class 10 is important and hence that was the focus, not popularity of the teacher. Saurav, another guy who I got friendly with, had an interesting question. He asked if he could gift a boy a chocolate or something like that if the boy answered a question right or did well in a class test. The response was no. The idea was that other kids should not feel ‘left out’ which is what they feel all the time when they see other children. If one wants to praise the boy, move away from materialistic things so that they don’t start comparing their own teachers as opposed to the volunteers. Further, the primary idea is to improve the average and not groom excellence. This last phrase struck me. Improve the average.
Marathi manoos promoters should know that a significant majority of this group were not Maharashtrians but were doing whatever they could for these kids who were mostly from Maharashtra. Once again, there was no personal agenda.
I have often thought of joining such institution. A place that is practical and works with the system to change it overtime. I am not sure whether I will be able to travel to Mankhurd each Saturday from Andheri but what I am sure about is that sooner or later, I will join some such group, closer from home. Sometimes, ordinary people inspire us. Saturday was one such day for me.
Upon visiting the place I saw Atul squatting on the floor along with a senior gentleman and chopping vegetables. I joined him immediately. On menu was sambhar for the 350 or so kids of the Bal Kalyan Nigam(BKN). Volunteers like us were supposed to help cook sambhar for kids. This was a regular Saturday affair wherein the idea was to give them nutritious food, at least once a week. This cost, as I later learnt, just Rs. 1500, something that we spend, at times, on one dinner. With too many volunteers, we chopped all the vegetables in no time. Later Atul was telling me about the several activities Vinimay, an institution for children and youth welfare, undertakes for their development. That really is not the focus of this piece. What is more interesting is the meeting that I attended later on at Dr. Das's apartment at the BARC campus.
There were 16 of us in the meeting ranging from people in their mid twenties like Anusha, who introduced me to this group, to Dr. Das probably in his early sixties. What was striking about this group of people was that they would otherwise appear to be normal human beings like you and me, but were committed to teaching economically challenged kids a few days a week, absolutely free. Today’s meeting was to decide who was going to take which class and which subjects on which day for the next academic year. On agenda were two schools, Class 6 to 10 and boys and girls separate batch. Dr. Das was able to allocate responsibilities so smoothly with the help of a couple of other senior people, that all these permutations and combinations were sorted out in less than an hour. I was recalling other high level meetings that I have attended where people squabble and shout to make their point. Most of the time is squandered in playing politics and serving one’s own agendas. How this group of men and women, young and old coming from different backgrounds were doing this thankless job along with their other responsibilities of a wife, mother, husband, father and not to mention, their jobs, smoothly.
The thing that struck me about this group was that they were very practical and wise. So for example someone asked if we had to buy notebooks. To this, another participant responded saying that the kids don’t get the notebooks we give them and get some other note book each time so let’s not spend on notebooks. Then Dr. Das checked if Mrs. Ganguly was good for Class 10 English. To this someone responded that Mrs. Ganguly was very popular. Dr. Das said, “Popularity is OK but this is Class 10. Will she be able to get them pass Class 10?” How practical! Getting the kids to pass class 10 is important and hence that was the focus, not popularity of the teacher. Saurav, another guy who I got friendly with, had an interesting question. He asked if he could gift a boy a chocolate or something like that if the boy answered a question right or did well in a class test. The response was no. The idea was that other kids should not feel ‘left out’ which is what they feel all the time when they see other children. If one wants to praise the boy, move away from materialistic things so that they don’t start comparing their own teachers as opposed to the volunteers. Further, the primary idea is to improve the average and not groom excellence. This last phrase struck me. Improve the average.
Marathi manoos promoters should know that a significant majority of this group were not Maharashtrians but were doing whatever they could for these kids who were mostly from Maharashtra. Once again, there was no personal agenda.
I have often thought of joining such institution. A place that is practical and works with the system to change it overtime. I am not sure whether I will be able to travel to Mankhurd each Saturday from Andheri but what I am sure about is that sooner or later, I will join some such group, closer from home. Sometimes, ordinary people inspire us. Saturday was one such day for me.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Erstwhile researchers, be fair.
I was recently in a meeting with the insights manager of a leading telecom player. During this meeting, I was trying to sell a recent offering in which among other things, there are 25 image parameters on which respondents associate celebrities. During the presentation, the insight manager said, ‘25 is not enough; I need 150 image traits’. After the presentation was over, she repeated her need for 150 traits complaining that 25 were not deep enough. I was speechless wondering how can an ex researcher talk of 150 image traits being in a questionnaire? I do not mind conceding that 25 may not be enough for some clients so one may ask adding a few more. But 150? Does she not know what an interviewer goes thru in the data collection process? Do we all not know how difficult is it to get an interview? After all, how many of us would give one to a market research company? And of those who said yes, how many would go through a list of 150 image traits, among other things in a questionnaire? Did she never, at one point in time in her career when she was on the other side of the table as a research seller, defend the merits of keeping questionnaires short? Coming from someone who spent a few years in a leading market research company, left me wondering if she was really doing justice to her new employer. The meeting may have triggered this blog, but I have met many ex-researchers like her in client organizations.
Research or insights managers in client organizations are hired with the assumption that they know the market research process well and are therefore in an advisory capacity protecting client interests. Their job is to understand the requirements from the brand teams, convert them to research briefs, liaison and negotiate with the market research agencies and deliver back what was required. They are also supposed to educate the brand teams on what makes good research, what type of questions make sense and what makes respondents irritable. However we continue to see poor demands of deliverables (power point being used as excel sheets with 200 slides) or 40 page questionnaires with 80 psychographic statements or 150 image traits by the same ex market researchers. Whereas most of them are doing a good job, I hope, they are doing little to educate the clients, now their employers, on the best practices of the market research process. In turn, clients continue to be oblivious of the information in spite of having them on the payroll.
For instance, a true researcher knows (but would never admit) that if the questionnaire length exceeds 15-20 minutes, the quality of response suffers. I still am surprised at how little the questionnaire length plays a role in negotiating contracts. They all talk about reducing sample size to save costs but I have yet to meet a researcher who asks me to reduce costs by reducing the length of the questionnaire. A high proportion of interviews stop midway leading to productivity loss but who cares? How many of these ex researchers visit the field once in a while to get a feel of data collection? And how often? If they did, they would know how difficult it is to get an interview, let alone administer a long questionnaire. Rather than only negotiating the price of the survey, they should question how much are the market research agencies paying their interviewers for each completed survey? Or for that matter what is the value of the gift given to the respondent?
If you are a client and if your market research agency or your insights manager says OK to a questionnaire which in your opinion takes 40 minutes to administer, then you are being fooled. Period. If there is no provision for gifts, then half of the data is diluted. Ask yourself, why would someone oblige otherwise? Would you?
So here are 3 rules, as a benchmark if you really want to improve the quality of your market research data:
1. Try really hard not to exceed 20 minutes of interview time. Approve a questionnaire that you will yourself answer if approached by an interviewer.
2. Except for opinion polls, always keep a budget for gifts to respondents. This is customary in rest of the world. The quality of data will more than justify the increased cost.
3. If you are breaking rule number 1, then compensate it by increasing the value of your gift, from rule number 2.
And ex-researchers, please take efforts to educate clients at the risk of being unpopular. That is, if you really want this profession to have a long life.
Research or insights managers in client organizations are hired with the assumption that they know the market research process well and are therefore in an advisory capacity protecting client interests. Their job is to understand the requirements from the brand teams, convert them to research briefs, liaison and negotiate with the market research agencies and deliver back what was required. They are also supposed to educate the brand teams on what makes good research, what type of questions make sense and what makes respondents irritable. However we continue to see poor demands of deliverables (power point being used as excel sheets with 200 slides) or 40 page questionnaires with 80 psychographic statements or 150 image traits by the same ex market researchers. Whereas most of them are doing a good job, I hope, they are doing little to educate the clients, now their employers, on the best practices of the market research process. In turn, clients continue to be oblivious of the information in spite of having them on the payroll.
For instance, a true researcher knows (but would never admit) that if the questionnaire length exceeds 15-20 minutes, the quality of response suffers. I still am surprised at how little the questionnaire length plays a role in negotiating contracts. They all talk about reducing sample size to save costs but I have yet to meet a researcher who asks me to reduce costs by reducing the length of the questionnaire. A high proportion of interviews stop midway leading to productivity loss but who cares? How many of these ex researchers visit the field once in a while to get a feel of data collection? And how often? If they did, they would know how difficult it is to get an interview, let alone administer a long questionnaire. Rather than only negotiating the price of the survey, they should question how much are the market research agencies paying their interviewers for each completed survey? Or for that matter what is the value of the gift given to the respondent?
If you are a client and if your market research agency or your insights manager says OK to a questionnaire which in your opinion takes 40 minutes to administer, then you are being fooled. Period. If there is no provision for gifts, then half of the data is diluted. Ask yourself, why would someone oblige otherwise? Would you?
So here are 3 rules, as a benchmark if you really want to improve the quality of your market research data:
1. Try really hard not to exceed 20 minutes of interview time. Approve a questionnaire that you will yourself answer if approached by an interviewer.
2. Except for opinion polls, always keep a budget for gifts to respondents. This is customary in rest of the world. The quality of data will more than justify the increased cost.
3. If you are breaking rule number 1, then compensate it by increasing the value of your gift, from rule number 2.
And ex-researchers, please take efforts to educate clients at the risk of being unpopular. That is, if you really want this profession to have a long life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)