Archive for September, 2005
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 28 Sep 2005, 8:03 PM - 3 Comments
That was the topic of my talk at Cisco as part of the “Beyond Code Tour” organized by NetIP San Francisco Chapter.
I have posted new album with photos from the talk at Flickr.
The theme of the talk was simple. There is a rapid acceleration in the
rate of change and it’s only going to get worse moving forward. We need
new skills to lead and manage in this new world. Also, the skills and
tools required for tomorrow may not even be available today. That means
it is imperative that we need to start learning how to learn rapidly so
that we are prepared to adapt tomorrow.
It was a fun group and there were a ton of questions. Sometime in the
future I will post a mindmap summarizing the key points from the talk.
It was mainly for the “Lead” chapter in “Beyond Code“
Posted under Leadership, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 26 Sep 2005, 5:23 PM - 2 Comments
I am now a columnist for an online magazine called CIOUpdate.com. My columns over there will appear on the last Monday of every month. The first article is titled “The IT Manager’s Dilemma”
Being a manager is hard work. Many managers feel that it’s a thankless job. Sometimes managers are also put under the category of “overheads” 
This article focuses on some of the people issues that come up while managing IT professionals and a few insights on how to manage in these challenging times. To be more specific, one of the manager’s job is to answer questions of his/her team members. The question is what questions should a manager answer – the ones that are asked ONLY or should he or she take the time to answer those “un-asked” questions?
Over to The IT Manager’s Dilemma.
Comments welcome.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 25 Sep 2005, 9:41 PM - Leave Comment
Advance Praise for Beyond Code
“Beyond
Code is packed with wisdom. It should be required for every young
professional, and remedial reading for many further along in their
careers”
- David Maister, Author of “Managing the Professional Services Firm
” and many other bestsellers
Posted under Endorsements, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 25 Sep 2005, 12:23 PM - Leave Comment
What a coincidence – I got two links that I thought were great examples of humility at it’s best.
Two respected VC firms talk about deals they missed in the past.
1. OVP Venture Partners - Deals Missed
(Thanks to Bob Ellis of FutureQuote for the link)
To give you an idea, the companies they missed include Mentor Graphics, Starbucks and Amazon.com
2. Bessemer Venture Partners – Anti-Portfolio
(Thanks to Chini Krishnan of Healthia for the link)
To give you an idea, the companies they missed include Hewlett Packard, Apple, eBay, Fedex, Google, Intuit etc.
Both are well respected valley VC firms and I am sure they have their
fair share of success stories too. I thought it was great that they
openly shared their misses. For an aspiring entrpreneur this is good
news and it shows that when someone gets rejected from a VC firm, it’s not the end of the road.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 24 Sep 2005, 8:18 PM - Leave Comment
Advance Praise for Beyond Code
“A quick guide to everything a geek should know”
- Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures and author of “Art of the Start” and several other bestsellers.
Posted under Endorsements, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 23 Sep 2005, 4:18 PM - 1 Comment
Long term relationships need a healthy value exchange. What this means
in simple terms is that you should always remember the equation
WIIFT > WIIFM
WIIFT = What’s in it for them
WIIFM = What’s in it for me
If you focus only one WIIFT, you will be drained or if you focus only
on WIIFM, you will drain “them”. So if at all possible, if you design
your life such that in all your relationships WIIFT is slightly greater
than WIIFM, we have a winning formula.
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 22 Sep 2005, 8:23 PM - 1 Comment
The first chapter in my book “Beyond Code” is titled “Life is a series of projects.” If I had to be technically correct, I should have called it “Life is a series of multiple projects.”
Think about it – we are always in the middle of one or more projects in
our lives. Life would be simple if all the projects we are involved
with are being executed on time, under budget. Unfortunately most of
them will be either running late or costing more or both.
So, whatever is your profession and even if your profession does not
require you to learn the art of managing multiple projects, read a good
book on the topic and understand the complexities of managing multiple
projects. Everyone of us need this fundamental skill to manage our
lives.
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 21 Sep 2005, 10:08 PM - Leave Comment
This is a second time in one month that I am borrowing a quote from Mauri Schwartz of CareerInsiders.com. I wrote about Facade Diff a few days ago. This quote from Socrates summarizes my rant in one simple sentence. Here it is..
“The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear”
- Socrates
Posted under Great Quotes, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 20 Sep 2005, 9:21 AM - 3 Comments
I love salesforce.com and I love stories. Here is my friend Ravi who is ripping apart their security story.
Heres is the link
Musings on Information Security :: Where is your security scorecard?
Enjoy!
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 19 Sep 2005, 7:00 PM - 2 Comments
Today was a special day for me and it’s a great honor to be featured on Tom’s website.
I have been following Tom’s writing for a few years now (actually since 1993) and have a huge respect for him. It feels great.
With my book coming out in two weeks, the timing couldn’t have been
better. Thanks to Tom. Also special thanks to Erik, Cathy, Abbey and
all the fine people over at tompeters.com
Here is the link to the cool friend interview.
Posted under Endorsements, Main Page.
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