This is the second in a series of essays focused on the future of storytelling: the “Story Stack”. The first one was on the movie industry and covered the history of films and the rise of curators (and how they became the arbiters of quality). This one focuses on the written word and the publishing…
The Possession – Awareness Quadrant – the Evolution
I recently shared the Possession-Awareness Quadrant framework with a hall full of PMs in the form of a 20-minutes-long talk followed by a quick Q&A session. A format like this forces you to crystalize your thoughts in a more concise (brevity of thought) and precise (sharp, to the point examples) way. The process of putting…
Cut to the Chase
I am working on a series of essays focused on the future of storytelling: the “Story Stack” – an entire ecosystem that I see developing around storytellers and creators. These essays will focus on the following topics: Part 1. Moving Pictures – Cut to the Chase (this essay) Part 2. Written Word – Here be…
Value Propositions – a Lesson from a Ring-Toss Game
I have been going through a friend’s notes from his favourite classes at NYU’s Stern business school. The notes from Professor Glenn Okun’s classes stand out. There are a lot of insights in there. One of the things he talks about is value propositions. Okun posits that one cannot create value propositions. They are perceived…
The Possession – Awareness Quadrant
One of the ways in which organizations and individuals can assess areas of strength, possible opportunities and blindspots is by plotting their personal and group attributes/ qualities on the Possession – Awareness Quadrant.
Chasing Dogs
The power of distraction and going off on tangents
Parenting and Product Management: Speed vs Haste
People who build products and run them live learn some lessons the hard way. For example: speed and haste are not to be confused with each other. This is true in product management and it is definitely true in parenting. Ask any parent and they will tell you: putting a baby to sleep is a…
Enlightened Self-Interest
One attribute of our education/ social system that has always bothered me is the unnecessary competition that schools and parents foster amongst the children. It is not just important to get high marks; it is also important to come first in class and beat other children. The urge to learn is chucked aside and the…
Why I Learn
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” – Attributed to Mark Twain (not verifiable) I grew up in a household with two parents who still spend a big part of their day learning something new. They also happen to be the best teachers I know of. Dad’s college education was interrupted in…
Empathetic vs Sympathetic Product Development
Recently, I was talking to a technologist I greatly admire about different approaches to problem-solving and product development. His argument (which I strongly agreed with) was that most design, technological and product development in India at the moment is sympathetic in nature and that this is a big problem. It needs to be empathetic. But…
The Correlation Causation Conundrum (Alliteration Ahoy!)
Growing up – all the way to engineering school and beyond – I was obsessed with mathematical modelling and statistics. The ability to model (correctly) the predictive behaviour of a system (oftentimes a complex system that involves a fairly large number of variables) can seem like pure magic to an outsider (and is a whole…
Never Serve a Burnt Sandwich
I saw the Jon Favreau movie Chef the other night. Jon Favreau plays a celebrated chef called Carl Casper, who after receiving a particularly nasty review from a food critic suffers a spectacular meltdown in his restaurant that is captured for posterity on social media. He quits/ is fired from his job and goes on…