For a nascent team like ours with an objective as broad as "improving the standard of living of the society", the biggest question is "Where do we start?". Looking out for a good project to work on, we may get so restless that we feel the need to "just get started somewhere". Or we are drowned in the sea of "good project ideas" that we end up implementing projects targeting mutually unrelated and often conflicting objectives, thus ensuring that the net progress towards the overarching objective (which here is standard of living) at the end of a number of projects, is minimal.
This clearly mandates a framework that poses questions about the characteristics of the project, whose answer would shed light on the eventual million dollar question "How much will this project contribute towards improving the standard of living of the overall community". If the answers reveal that the project fails to offer good returns towards the larger goal for the time and effort the team may invest, the project should be ruthlessly rejected irrespective of the "feel good" factor it may offer.
How do we define the framework and how do we demarcate its boundaries? Well, I feel it has to evolve. And the first version of this framework should be defined based, partly on whatever experience we have, and on crude opinions. But DEFINE THE FRAMEWORK. If its contents are not backed up by reason and facts, let the mistakes we initially make bring it to the surface. If we don't want to be just another movement that never took off, the next critical step to take is, every time we choose to implement a project REMEMBER THE FRAMEWORK. Every time we complete a project REFINE THE FRAMEWORK!
This clearly mandates a framework that poses questions about the characteristics of the project, whose answer would shed light on the eventual million dollar question "How much will this project contribute towards improving the standard of living of the overall community". If the answers reveal that the project fails to offer good returns towards the larger goal for the time and effort the team may invest, the project should be ruthlessly rejected irrespective of the "feel good" factor it may offer.
How do we define the framework and how do we demarcate its boundaries? Well, I feel it has to evolve. And the first version of this framework should be defined based, partly on whatever experience we have, and on crude opinions. But DEFINE THE FRAMEWORK. If its contents are not backed up by reason and facts, let the mistakes we initially make bring it to the surface. If we don't want to be just another movement that never took off, the next critical step to take is, every time we choose to implement a project REMEMBER THE FRAMEWORK. Every time we complete a project REFINE THE FRAMEWORK!
3 comments:
Good luck with the efforts. Though you may not get many responses to your blog initially, you should keep striving and trying.
It does not matter how eloquent or how technically sound your thoughts are but it matters what it results in. My best wishes and complete support are with people who try irrespective of what the result is. Focus on the path and not the outcome. If the path is right, the outcome will be favorable.
Driver,
Thanks for the thoughts. You are right. Ultimately what matters is the work done.
I talked to badhri about this post. I understood what he actually meant in that...But in my opinion, certain things can be thought about while writing a post..
I would like to write that as a post so that it helps people communicate faster and better
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