Enjoy the conference call.Hello, don’t skip this article, just read every line,
which resembles like our IT status updates..;-)

*******************common start*********************Sekar (Calling his family from Amsterdam):

Good Evening Mom and Dad. Where is my wife Sheela?Dad: Just now I called her.
She is on the way to home after taking our grandson
Rahul from his school.
Sekar: Let us wait for her few minutes and we will start this discussion. (By the time Sheela entered in to the house.. Sekar continue the meeting)
I hope you know the Agenda of the meeting which I had mentioned in the meeting request.

Even though let me read out the agenda once again
1. Status update/Discussion on Last Week Action Items
2. Family Strategy
3. Rahul’s Education
4. Medical Insurance for Mom and DadI hope every one have the printout of last week
MOM (Minutes of Meeting).Dear Mom can you please update the status of tasks which you are taking care of?
Mom: Sekar, I am taking care of kitchen module which involves
making products like Sambar, Rasam, Curd Rice,
Vegetable Biriyani.I am not comfortable in handling the tools for making Non Vegetarian products.
You suggest some training in Hlite. However after making these products,
I am giving to your Dad for Acceptance testing.
Once he satisfied with the quality of taste, we pass it to Dining Hall.
One more thing, I would like to share with you.
As you have suggested during my appraisal discussion, now I have stopped crying while watching mega serials in TV
Sekar: Sounds Good.

Sekar: Now coming to Dad. Dad can you please update us?

Dad: Yes. My dear son.
I have completed my tasks by paying the current bill and phone bill with in time.Sekar: That’s good
Dad: But I couldn’t pay the premium amount of 9200.00 of the
LIC plan which you had taken for tax reduction purpose.

Sekar: It doesn’t look nice dad. I have sent you the amount already and given clear instructions.Can you explain to me what went wrong?

Dad: On Tuesday night suddenly one of our team mate (your mom)
fell down on the floor when she was running to catch Rahul.
Then we took her to hospital and spent that amount for her medical expenses.

Mom: Sekar, I would like to add on what your Dad said, that was true.
I got heavy injury in my legs and I was in hospital for two days.
So now we don’t have money to pay for the premium.

Sekar: Sheela..! Would you aware of this? As a home lead,
I expect you to track these issues and send it to me on daily basis.
What are you doing (With stress on ‘doing’) after coming from college?

Sheela: Will do it Sekar. You know that the college,
I am working is very far from our home.
Every day I come back home at 6 pm and sit with Rahul for assisting him for doing his home work.

Sekar: Ok. Coming to second Agenda point .
Due to this financial crisis we need to change the strategy of running our family.
I am looking for your cooperation in the following cost cutting activities.
I want to see the cost benefit of 40 % in this month budget after implementing this

ü Asking servant maid to leave her jobü Stop ordering Pizzas for dinner
ü Avoid Tooth paste and use Neem sticks/Banyan Tree Sticks
ü Switch on TV only for watching Sunday Movie and Friday Oliyum Ozhiyum(Well known program for film songs in Podigai TV)
ü Wise to listen news from our near by portion when they watch news in TV
ü Every Saturday visit our relative’s homes and spend the whole day including break fast, lunch and Dinner
ü Don’t invite anybody to our home. Sunday our relatives might come to our house. Just lock the door outside and do your work inside silently.
ü Everybody assemble in adjacent street Perumal temple on Sunday for breakfast. They provide ‘Pongal’ as ‘prasadam’ which is good in taste
ü Sheela stop going for gym and Yoga class. Use Attural (Made up of Stone for making Dosa /idly dough), Ammikal (Replacement of Mixie) instead of grinder and Mixie. Mom please give KT to Sheela about this.
ü Don’t buy excess of things and store it in Fridge. Use big Mud pots for cool water.
ü Everybody go to bed early around 6:30 pm. Ask Rahul to do his homework when he comes back from school immediately during the hours sunlight is available. If not ask him to read under street light. He will become like Lincoln (Former US President) one day
.ü Use as much of cycle for transportation to near by places(It will help you to reduce fat and Cholesterol content)
ü I know you are eager to watch latest release ‘Chintakayala Ravi. Don’t plan for that. Wait till 2009 Pongal to watch the same movie in Maa TV
If you have any clarifications contact Sheela@kitchen

Coming to second Agenda point.
Sheela, can you please update me about Rahul’s Education.
In which standard he is studying?
Whether he got any double promotion?
He was writing annual exam for third standard when I was leaving for Amsterdam.

Sheela: Sekar, I am bit worrying about his education.
I have tracked his efforts, schedule in our OHM+ tool.
I found 20 % in Effort variance and 35 % in schedule deviation.
His learning curve goes down in the control chart which you can see in the report,
I have sent you yesterday.

Sekar: Thanks for your measurements.
I will review the report and we will discuss it on next week’s call.
I have a client meeting now.
So we will discuss the third agenda item next week.
Mom and Dad.. can you please drop out from the call.

I wanted to talk to Sheela about few personal things and

Dad, don’t forget to circulate the MOM to every one.

Sheela: Hello

Sekar..Sheela: Hello…Hello…

Sheela: Hello…



thanks
Umapathy

Don't c the place where u fell, Instead c the place from where u slipped.

Monica married Hitesh this day. At the end of the wedding party,
Monica's mother gave her a newly opened bank saving passbook.
With Rs.1000 deposit amount.
Mother: 'Monica, take this passbook. Keep it as a record of your marriage
life. When there's something happy and memorable happened in your new
life, put some money in. Write down what it's about next to the line. The
more memorable the event is, the more money you can put in. I've done the
first one for you today. Do the others with Hitesh.When you look back
after years, you can know how much happiness you've had.'
Monica shared this with Hitesh when getting home. They both thought it
was a great idea and were anxious to know when the second deposit can be
made.
This was what they did after certain time:
- 7 Feb: Rs.100, first birthday celebration for Hitesh after marriage
- 1 Mar: Rs.300, salary raise for Monica
- 20 Mar: Rs.200, vacation trip to Bali
- 15 Apr: Rs.2000, Monica got pregnant
- 1 Jun: Rs.1000, Hitesh got promoted
..... and so on...

However, after years, they started fighting and arguing for trivial
things.They didn't talk much. They regretted that they had married the
most nasty people in the world.... no more love...Kind of typical
nowadays, huh?
One day Monica talked to her Mother:
'Mom, we can't stand it anymore. We agree to divorce. I can't imagine how
I decided to marry this guy!!!'
Mother: 'Sure, girl, that's no big deal. Just do whatever you want if you
really can't stand it. But before that, do one thing first. Remember the
saving passbook I gave you on your wedding day? Take out all money and
spend it first. You shouldn't keep any record of such a poor marriage.'
Monica thought it was true. So she went to the bank, waiting at the queue
and planning to cancel the account.
While she was waiting, she took a look at the passbook record. She looked,
and looked, and looked. Then the memory of all the previous joy and
happiness just came up her mind. Her eyes were then filled with tears. She
left and went home.
When she was home, she handed the passbook to Hitesh, asked him to spend
the money before getting divorce.
The next day, Hitesh gave the passbook back to Monica. She found a new
deposit of Rs.5000. And a line next to the record: 'This is the day I
notice
how much I've loved you thru out all these years. How much happiness
you've brought me.'
They hugged and cried, putting the passbook back to the safe.
Do you know how much money they had saved when they retired? I did not
ask.I believe the money did not matter any more after they had gone thru
all the good years in their life.
When you fall, in any way,
Don't see the place where you fell, Instead see the place from where you
slipped.
“Life is about correcting mistakes."

Great solution-THINK OUT OF THE BOX

Every company has a performance appraisal system in place to measure the effectiveness of its employees.Employees are normally rated in most of the companies in the above categories. Apart from the above non performance category is also there, which is not depicted here ) . Needless to say everyone wants to be rated Outstanding.What is the yard stick and how do you measure these aspects?
Employee "A" in a company walked up to his manager and asked what my job is for the day?
The manager took "A" to the bank of a river and asked him to cross the river and reach the other side of the bank.
"A" completed this task successfully and reported back to the manager about the completion of the task assigned. The manager smiled and said "GOOD JOB"
Next day Employee "B" reported to the same manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task as above to this person also.
The Employee "B' before starting the task saw Employee "C" struggling in the river to reach the other side of the bank. He realized "C" has the same task.
Now "B" not only crossed the river but also helped "C" to cross the river.
"B" reported back to the manager and the manager smiled and said "VERY GOOD JOB"
The following day Employee "Q" reported to the same manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again.
Employee "Q" before starting the work did some home work and realized "A", "B" & "C" all has done this task before. He met them and understood how they performed.
He realized that there is a need for a guide and training for doing this task.
He sat first and wrote down the procedure for crossing the river, he documented the common mistakes people made, and tricks to do the task efficiently and effortlessly.
Using the methodology he had written down he crossed the river and reported back to the manager along with documented procedure and training material.
The manger said "Q" you have done an "EXCELLENT JOB".
The following day Employee "O' reported to the manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again."O" studied the procedure written down by "Q" and sat and thought about the whole task.He realized company is spending lot of money in getting this task completed. He decided not to cross the river, but sat and designed and implemented a bridge across the river and went back to his manager and said, "You no longer need to assign this task to any one".The manager smiled and said "Outstanding job 'O'. I am very proud of you." What is the difference between A, B, Q & O????????Many a times in life we get tasks to be done at home, at office, at play….,Most of us end up doing what is expected out of us. Do we feel happy? Most probably yes. We would be often disappointed when the recognition is not meeting our expectation.Let us compare ourselves with "B". Helping some one else the problem often improves our own skills. There is an old proverb (I do not know the author) "learn to teach and teach to learn". From a company point of view "B" has demonstrated much better skills than "A" since one more task for the company is completed."Q" created knowledge base for the team. More often than not, we do the task assigned to us without checking history. Learning from other's mistake is the best way to improve efficiency. This knowledge creation for the team is of immense help. Re-usability reduces cost there by increases productivity of the team. "Q" demonstrated good "team-player" skills,Now to the outstanding person, "O" made the task irrelevant; he created a Permanent Asset to the team. If you notice B, Q and O all have demonstrated "team performance" over an above individual performance; also they have demonstrated a very invaluable characteristic known as "INITIATIVE".Initiative pays of every where whether at work or at personal life. If you put initiative you will succeed. Initiative is a continual process and it never ends. This is because this year's achievement is next year's task. You cannot use the same success story every year. The story provides an instance of performance, where as measurement needs to be spread across at least 6-12 months. Consequently performance should be consistent and evenly spread. Out-of-Box thinkers are always premium and that is what every one constantly looks out for. Initiative, Out-of-Box thinking and commitment are the stepping stone to success.Initiative should be life long. Think of out of the box. …let us do our best…

Great solution-THINK OUT OF THE BOX

You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night, it's raining heavily, when suddenly you pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for a bus:
An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
An old friend who once saved your life.
The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing very well that there could only be one passenger in your car?
This is a dilemma that was once used as part of a job application.
You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus youshould save her first;
* or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and thiswould be the perfect chance to ! pay him back.
However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.
The candidate who was hired had no trouble coming up with his answer. Guess what was his answer?
He simply answered:
"I would give the car keys to my Old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams."
Sometimes, we gain more if we are able to give up our stubborn thought limitations. Never forget to "Think Outside the Box."