Last week there was a very nice “Ask HN” on Hacker News where the person asking had stated that he had decided to move on to a new job and to do that had to quit his job. Since it was his first job switch, he wasn’t too well aware of the whats, hows and whens of the task and hence he turned to the community to guide him. I was really happy to see that there are people who do want to go through the exit process gracefully and amicably. The response the post of extremely well and the members of the Hacker News community shared great insights and experiences and some great recommendations came out of the process. Even I shared my views on the topic as to how staying in touch with my ex-colleagues has helped me get a lot of new business for my venture when I quit my job in 2009.
Most of the comments were expressing the view points as employees but I experienced some (a few) of the recommendations were inclined towards “Screw Employer, Save Yourself”. I found it kind of disturbing to see this kind of sentiment in the community. Even though they were very few it is still disheartening to see that some people think that ways. I think it is important that an employee thinks about his employer whenever he takes a decision as crucial as quitting. This is something that is going to affect the both of you in most of the cases and hence it is important that both parties be considered when making such decisions. Here are my few points about how I expect (or would appreciate) you to quit if you were my employee

• Tell me as early as possible – This is true no matter how big or small your employer is. The scale of the company only affects how much it is going to affect the employer but the fact that the employer is going to be affected is true. The earlier you tell us the more time we get to make a proper exit plan for you and ensure that things that follow go on smoothly. Hasty exits often leave a bad taste in the mouth. Often people blame their employers that they put obstacles in their relieving process but in most of the cases it is just because they had not given enough time to the employer to process everything. If you leave a small company of 5 people, you need to realize that they are losing 20% of their workforce. They need time.
• Finish what you have started – Although this is true for everyone and everything it is exceptionally important for someone who is planning to quit. If you are at a crucial position, handling various projects and managing teams it is expected from you that you either wind up all your projects or give a complete and smooth transition to someone. I would appreciate if you can help me by recommending who you think should be given the project after you leave. If you are a programmer make sure that there is not a single line of code that only you know exists and why it exists. It can be extremely irritating to face a bug and not know where it is coming from.
• Don’t slack around – This is extremely unfortunate that some people simply turn their “work mode” off as soon as they put in their papers and just sit around doing nothing until the final day comes. This “_why should I work when I am on my notice period_” is actually a major setback to you image on your bosses and colleagues. If the transition is complete and there is nothing going on which requires you critically then instead of sitting around all day diluting the work environment of the office simply ask your employer to relieve you early. I am sure they will oblige. I know that I would.
• Complete the paperwork – Let me tell you something. Even I do not like all the paperwork and processes that I have to maintain as an employer. They irritate me as much as they irritate you. Yet it is due to compliance that these are pushed into my throat which in turn I forward to you. Please complete all the formalities. There was a suggestion in the HN thread that recommends that you do not sign exit papers as it indemnifies the employer. I find it extremely specific and harsh.
• No outbursts please - Every now and then you come across a viral video of someone quitting by making a scene or by writing a very unprofessional letter to the authorities which reaches the internet. I know bosses are not perfect. I know I am not. I am sure you could have the right reasons to be doing such a thing and try to humiliate your boss or at least express your anger but still, please don’t. You need to know this hurts you a lot more than it will hurt us. As long as an employer is offering a position and money he will always find people willing to work for him. You on the other hand could face issues with your next employer if he finds out that you have the ability and experience to do such a thing. Please don’t think that this is a threat. This is the truth and the way things work. You will be an internet hero for a few days but then you will have to go back into the job market.
• Give honest feedback - Sometime people leave because they are not happy. At that point I would want to know what I could have done to have avoided your discomfort. I run a small team and I cannot afford to neglect anyone’s comforts and concerns. I am willing to changes/update my policies and attitudes if that helps making my team happier and hence more productive. I have always mentioned in my earlier posts. I always treat you like a friend and friends are honest to each other. Don’t lie to me in the exit interview and only say nice things because people say that saying bad things in exit interviews is wrong. Tell me what you actually felt. As I said in one of my earlier posts - Employees deserve feedback.  Well so do the bosses.
• Stay in touch – Remember, I considered you a friend. And you my friend will be missed. Even if you work for a huge multinational, your teammates will miss you. Keep in touch.
  I will be honest with you. It makes me very happy when my colleagues (employees) move on to better jobs and ventures after gaining a lot of experience with me. I take pride in the fact that his association with me and my company added some value to his life and which benefited him greatly. People will come and they will leave but they time that was spent with them and the experience that was gained with them will always stay.

A man was killed. It can and should not be the reason for anyone to be happy. For it changes nothing. It does not bring back those he killed nor will it deter any such events in future. It happened too late for an example to be set. I am not against death sentence but he should not have been killed. They say heaven and hell both are present here on earth. He should have been shown hell. Here. I am not talking about torture. That doesn’t work. I am taking about public shaming of such people. To the extent that they stop feeling any sense of so called martyrdom for which they work. To set such an example that any one else thinking of doing anything of such sort in future would shiver in their souls thinking about the outcome. Revenge does not solve anything. You know the “an eye for an eye” drill. It’s always about being prepared for such mishaps and in case they happen, make sure they don’t happen again. Now kasab is dead. No more suffering for him. His overlords will make an example out of him to recruit more fools who will be willing to kill others and themselves for reasons they don’t even properly understand. They will call him a martyr. And that he has achieved his virgins. Ajmal Kasab should not have been killed. Nothing good has come out of it for us. At least I don’t see it.

Note: I know I don’t usually write about such topics but this is an important issue. Also I am sure a lot of people will disagree with me. I too want to disagree with me but this is what I feel. I am sorry if I am hurting anyones feelings.

Sometimes you have to quit. You might not want to but you have to. Quitting might be the only option. And boy is it hard. It is extremely difficult for a self-respecting person to call it quits on anything. You will want to delay it as much as possible and try to find small reasons to keep lingering to the activity but it takes real courage to actually quit. You will not want to face the world and avoid any kind of contact. Although quitting is usually seen as a sign of giving up and accepting defeat, it is not all that bad. Sometimes it is a good thing even. If you are stuck is a rut of a life quitting is the best thing possible. If you are employed and you do not like your job, it doesn’t make sense to continue. If you are a student and you don’t think this course is the right life choice for you, moving forward is simply wasting precious time. If you are an entrepreneur and you don’t see your venture performing as you expected and don’t think that you can pivot it is better to move on. And the sooner you realize that the better it is to you. If you are a creator - ventures, products and startups will keep happening to you but for that to happen you need to quit that one venture, that one product that is not just working. As an entrepreneur I can understand that it is extremely hard to quit or abandon a product that you have so dearly envisioned and nurtured. You find it hard to come in terms with the fact that even though you did your best it did not work out. You might have the reasons in front of you but you just don’t want to believe. But you need to let go. For you need your hands and mind to be free to build something wonderful. And I believe that failures teach you a lot more than any success can do.

Remember only a winner can realize that it is the time to quit.
I tweet here : @akhilrex

Saw this one on the Cyanide and Happiness, which is one of my favorite Google Reader feeds. Some of the comics there are so deep that you are left wondering how so much can be expressed in just a few lines. Anyways, I think the argument made by the kid is totally believable :). Though since it makes fun of the rex, it will never be my favorite.

I got featured in the latest (Sep-Oct 12) issue of Inc India because of this blog. It is a good feeling, this being my first coverage. Although I am more happy about the fact that they liked my posts about entrepreneurship enough to use them in the magazine. The photoshoot was awkward but fun and has made me realize that something needs to be done about my hair. The issue is available on stands now and you can also read it online here : http://issuu.com/incindia/docs/inc_india-vol-3-issue-08-september-october-2012

Here’s hoping that this is first of the many coverages that this blog is going to receive.

Recently a friend of mine bought a designer laptop bag. The bag was expensive (quite) but since it was extremely attractive, in my opinion was worth every penny spent. Post the purchase we got into a discussion on why this bag and anything designer expensive. My response was that this bag has been made using the best quality leather and has been hand stitched entirely and hence the extra cost. A Ferrari is not expensive because of it specifications but because of its limited production and the entire machine is assembled by hand and the upholstery is hand stitched. These added man hours is what raises the cost of the product. At this he pointed out that our industry (IT) in that sense should be very well-paying considering that anything that we do is entirely done by hand. If you are a custom software developer it can easily be assumed that whatever you do is exclusive to the current project and almost exclusively done by human beings. There is minimal automation in terms of deciding, writing and checking the logic. Obviously we use tools that make our job easier but they are equivalent to the screwdriver a mechanic uses at Ferrari. You might have the top of the line pneumatic screwdriver it would still require a human being to operate. Just like a fine craftsman finishes the interiors of a super car with care and caution, so does a developer when he is transferring an idea from plan to execution. Yet the market today pays easily for the cars and designer bags and still want to haggle with the software developer over is hourly rates. They would want you to justify your rates and would not want to accept the estimate that you have provided. They would question you take more time than you had originally estimated and then get fussy about paying you for the extra time even though they got the specs changed in the process.

I think it is because they do not receive any tangible item at the end seeing which they can get the satisfaction of quality like they would have gotten from a luxury bag. They do not see the great quality of work that you have put in the back-end of the application in terms of technology, coding standards or algorithms. They are usually trying to relate the cost of the service with the end product face that they see. And with that approach posting a Facebook post requires only one textarea and a button and some (!!) coding at the back. I am not saying that all the clients are like that but we all know at least one such person. At this point it is the responsibility of the developer to be transparent about his dealing and most importantly educate his clients about the value of work that has been put in. The client will most likely never see the thousands of lines of code that you write to make one feature work and will never know that it took so much effort, so it is important that you make him aware of it. The client should respect your service and the work delivered and for that to happen it is important that he knows its true value.

I found this one to be very interesting. Meme makers had made a lot of fun of trex’s tiny hands for too long and it was time he took the matter in his own hands. But since his own hands were too small to carry the matter he got new , better mechanical ones. This the new and improved - Million Dollar Trex

There have been a few instances in recent times when some of my colleagues (employees actually, but I don’t like to use the word employee) came to me and expressed their desires to quit. Now that is nothing new. People quit/move all the time. But what is important here is the reason they gave me. Sir, I don’t think I am cut out for this. The first time I heard this I simply had no response. I had never anticipated such a thing ever and was literally not prepared for such a moment. You do not know what to say to such a person who thinks that he is not good enough for you and wants to quit. On one hand you appreciate the fact that the other person has realized his shortcomings and was man enough to accept them. On the other hand you feel confused as to what you have done wrong that such a feeling has crept into his mind. Were you not a good boss? Were you not helpful enough or were you able to make enough time for him so see where he is stuck? Was there a lack of feedback from my part or was I not clear? Hundreds of such questions would cloud your mind in that one moment and you would not know what to do. I was taken by surprise when this happened to me the first time but when it happened again I came to terms with the fact that as an entrepreneur leading a relatively big team it is my responsibility to manage and maintain the morale of my colleagues. I do not think I need to tell anyone how taxing a new entrepreneur’s life is. Yet it is important that you take out time to interact with your team and make sure that everyone is comfortable with their positions, roles and responsibilities. Just like for a car, feedback is a very important aspect of an entrepreneurial system. We usually give more importance to the customer feedback but we should pay attention the employee feedback as well. I have mentioned in my previous posts as well that a business or a venture is only as good as the team behind it. And to keep a happy team it’s important that you keep yourself aware of their individual states of minds and give constant and honest feedback. The annual appraisal feedback is simply not enough. If your team preforms good, tell them. If they suck, they need to know that as well. If someone is feeling out of place, it is your responsibility to make sure that you clear their minds of all/any doubts and my personal recommendation is that it would be better if you realize this before they come to you. Entrepreneurship is a new road for me and I know one thing for sure that if I want to go far I need my awesome colleagues with me.

As for these colleagues who came to me, I was able to talk them out of their doubts by telling them that I had faith in them and they should not feel that they are not performing. I appreciated the fact that they came up to me and was pretty vocal about it. I reassured them that I care about their growth as much, if not more, as they did and I would be the first person to let them know if I ever thought that they were not performing. I am happy that I was able to figure out a way out of this issue and proud of my teammates for their courage. If you too have a similar experience or want to share your views about mine, feel free to drop a comment here.

I love dinosaurs. Always have. Especially T-Rexs. Ever since I was a kid I have been fascinated by the T-Rex. Who would not like the largest predator ever to roam on the face of the earth? I was so much in love with T-Rexs that I setup my gmail as akhil.rex which is still my primary email. Even now any image, info or meme that I come across even slightly related to dinos, I feel the compulsion to share it with my friends. So from now on I am starting a new series on the blog where I share all dino related stuff. This is one section which I would come back to every now and then. If you too like dinos, give me a shoutout.

Today we posted a Happy Birthday Shaheed Bhagat Singh creative on the Facebook wall of one of the brands that we manage. The general response was extremely great and the post was liked and shared a lot. There were a few comments as well, one of which made me think and has led to me writing this post. The comment was “Plz don’t mind shaheed only muslim hote hai”. (Translation: Only Muslims become “Shaheed”). Shaheed is an Urdu word which means Martyr. If you are not aware of who Bhagat Singh was, I have linked his name to the relevant Wikipedia article. I request you that you must read about this great son of India who gave his life so that I am free today to write, say, do anything I want in free India.

The person who posted this comment belonged to the Muslim community. But that is irrelevant. For us he was a troll. Since as a policy we monitor all our pages for comments and activities very actively so that we can respond to queries and grievances timely we were able mark the comment as spam and hide it from others and avoid any kind of religion based debate / trolling from starting.