Post - The Last Emperor

Today is World Post Day! One of the most visible faces amongst community workers is Post Man! From 1700s - the era of messengers, who travelled large distances on foot or horseback to today’s swank mail vans, they delivered smile, laughter, fun, money and sadness. But now whenever I see the vanishing post boxes or fading postal services, it reminds me of Bernardo Bertolucci’s classic movie – The Last Emperor. Only future will reveal how long post can fight the grand entry of emails and smart phones...  but their stamp of red will never be forgotten!

~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Cocktail of Sleep, Dream & Innovation

It is very interesting to note that great ideas most often revolve around sleep. It comes when we are in half sleep or in dreams during sleep or during abrupt wake up or strikes you when you are fresh up from a good night sleep.

I’ve been reading up on life of Otto Loewi and a real incident in his research life gave needed support to my crazy assumption...  Let me transport you back to 1903, then many experts thought nerve impulses were transmitted electrically, like telegraph signals. Otto Loewi (1873-1961), a German-born pharmacologist, barely 20 years in age thought otherwise... he bet on chemical transmission.

He went about his work and after 17 long years, he had a rocking dream... let us hear it in his words:

"The night before Easter Sunday of that year I awoke, turned on the light, and jotted down a few notes on a tiny slip of paper. Then I fell asleep again. It occurred to me at 6 o'clock in the morning that during the night I had written down something most important, but I was unable to decipher the scribble.

The next night, at 3 o'clock, the idea returned. It was the design of an experiment to determine whether or not the hypothesis of chemical transmission that I had uttered 17 years ago was correct. I got up immediately, went to the laboratory, and performed a single experiment on a frog's heart according to the nocturnal design."

Then Dr. Otto Loewi took 10 more years to satisfy all his critics by doing and proving. And that dream at 3AM gave Loewi a Nobel Prize for medicine in 1936.

~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Creative Autopsy

The Creative Autopsy is a simple improvement technique we use after a creative or a design is done. Most often I find that the ‘Creative Autopsy’ shreds our work into bits and demands us to pull our socks up and re-energize us to build a new idea – a brand new one!

What actually we do is: keep the design aside on the monitor and in the mind and ask ourselves these 3 slicing questions:

1.    What exactly looks and communicates good in it?

2.    What design goals we failed to attain?

3.    Is there a scope for improvement... and where?

This screeching dissection of your work puts fantasy, ego and realities into perspective. I personally believe that ‘Creative Autopsy’ wakes up the dead and boring designer in us and urges us to create fresher and livelier design.

~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Are you on a treadmill 9 to 6?

Writing and responding to emails - it is like you are on a treadmill that refuses to stop!;) The more you mail, the more it spits back at you with a vengeance! The more you fill forms online or offline, the more is your inbox crammed and spammed with no mercy. Why should we always lean forward and try to be busily over-working - if you can relate to this and do feel the pinch - try the reverse – lean backwards and have a huge bin (digital and physical) and dump mails, to-do lists, lunch and meetings! Buddy non-stop running on a treadmill is expensive – electricity charges can scare you (I am not going to bother you about other tiny consequences like your health). 

So my dumb advice is do less, achieve more!! Create uninterrupted time during work and then WORK!

~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

You won't mix Whiskey & Brandy. Why mix Drinking and Driving?

~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : satish@pollenwebcreatives.com

Steve Jobs, Paul Rand & The Art of Negotiation

GREAT WORK BRINGS GOOD CLIENTS. Good work won't bring Great Clients. I believe if we do outstanding work consistently and let the customer know that he gets the best because he is in charge, then you can be like Paul Rand. Here’s a summary of what Steve Jobs’ thinks of Paul Rand...

Steve Jobs: "I asked him if he would come up with a few options. And he said, “No. I will solve your problem for you. And you will pay me. And you don’t have to use the solution. If you want options, go talk to other people. But I’ll solve your problem for you the best way I know how. And you use it or not. That’s up to you. You’re the client. But you pay me.” And there was a clarity about the relationship that was refreshing.

Here’s a link to the interview with Steve Jobs: http://kottke.org/10/04/1993-steve-jobs-inverview-about-paul-rand


~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : satish@pollenwebcreatives.com

Top Software Testing and Quality Assurance Outsourcing Vendors Report - Key Findings

THE BLACK BOOK OF OUTSOURCING brings the Top Software Testing and Quality Assurance Outsourcing Vendors Report.

Some of the key findings are...

1. In 2008, Russian software testing and QA outsourcing providers surpassed Indian and other offshore firms in terms of client experience. More recently, the top honored firms included more Indian and Chinese suppliers. In 2008, six of the top 10 software testing and QA firms were located in Russia and Eastern Europe. In 2009, several Chinese firms skyrocketed to the top ranks, surpassing both Indian and Russian competitors.

2. Innovation, trust, reliability and customization are the most important attributes influencing software testing and QA client's satisfaction with their outsourcing providers.

3. Vendor dissatisfaction is uncommon in the software testing and QA services industry among top ranked suppliers.

4. Strong dissatisfaction is uncommon in this niche information technology outsourcing (ITO) sector, occurring in only 8.1% of technology-related industry's client types, 16.3% in software and high tech company clients directly, and 21.3% of non-tech industry clients globally. However, this is a significant decrease in satisfaction from previous results.

5. US clients are among the most satisfied with offshore software testing and QA services delivery from India and increasingly China (satisfaction with Chinese suppliers is up 87.5% since 2007).

6. Strong dissatisfaction with offshore outsourcing vendors was less than 8.8% of all surveyed clients with projects involving testing, QA and related outsourced software functionalities.

7. Comprehensive services vendor arrangements from a comprehensive/end-to-end software testing vendor produce the highest satisfaction rates. Single vendors offering comprehensive QA services to software testing clients ranked highest in the overall survey.


~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : satish@pollenwebcreatives.com / satish@djargon.com