Don't be "That Librarian"

What kind of “librarian"? Read on. 

I heard this story from several sources and reusing the same. One day a man is in a library and walks up to a librarian and requests him to issue a book. The librarian looks at the book for making an entry into his records. The title of the book is "How to commit suicide in 101 ways?" Then the librarian asks the man "Sir, can you please tell me who will return this book to the library?"

The librarian is measured by his boss on how good he is protecting the library books. How many books got issued and how many got returned? In the above case, of course from his perspective, the librarian is doing a great job, because he may be confident that the man will find at least one way to commit suicide. If there is even a little bit contextual understanding in the job, then the librarian would have asked the man with concern why he is borrowing such a book?! How he can be of help to him to face his challenge?

So even in our work, if we keep aside the “contextual” part of the job, even without realizing, we will end up being "librarians of the above nature". Some Examples from design and engineering: 

a. Do you implement the requirement as stated in word? Does not matter whether it makes sense or not in the big picture?

b. Do you follow a check list for doing code reviews? Don't know whether the time was spent on actually studying the code in its overall context?

c. Do you test a requirement writing many test cases even though the requirement in the first place does not make sense?

Let us not become "such Librarians".

Caveat: The intention of this note is not to shed low light on Librarians. I have great respect for them. They are great because they protect the books, hence knowledge and ensure that more people get to read books and gain knowledge. I have used this only for symbolism.

There is "Good" Jugaad and "Bad" Jugaad"

There is a lot of interest in the term “Jugaad” in the last couple of years. This term is almost synonymous to “Indian Innovation”. There are also a couple of books that were released which are definitely interesting reading and not mention hundreds of articles in business literature. At the same time, there are also several comments on the same “Jugaad” as something that is not desirable. So is there “Good” Jugaad and “Bad” Jugaad?  Yes, I think so. It is like Good Cholesterol (HDL) and Bad Cholesterol (LDL) we have got used to hearing from our doctors to explain in a layman’s language, in this case for us Engineers. Bad Cholesterol contributes to plaques formation in the arteries restricting blood circulation due to clogging. Good cholesterol scavenges bad cholesterol away from the arteries and gets it to liver to break it down thus reducing the plaque formation. Hence possibility of a cardiac arrest is reduced.

According to Wiki, Jugaad is a colloquial Punjabi-Dogri word that can mean an innovative fix or a simple work-around, used for solutions that bend rules, or a resource that can be used as such, or a person who can solve a complicated issue within a specific context. So let me first elaborate a bit on what is so “Bad” about this. 

Some examples:

• ·         When a jugaad approach is taken only to provide a quick fix to a problem purely because there is short-term pressure.
• ·         When the approach is used to by-pass well documented engineering processes ("bend rules") because the engineers are either not willing to put extra effort to take the recommended approach only keeping in mind finishing the task.
• ·         When this approach is taken to "cut corners" in name of simplifying or using resource constraint as a pretext and in the end delivers a much below quality output.
• ·         Using a material just because it is available at hand which is not supposed to be used to solve an immediate issue

One of the key issues with this approach is that the solutions provided are just for that context and that instant. So it is neither scalable nor sustainable. More often than not, a jugaad fix will be a temporary relief.

So what about Good Jugaad? Some examples:

• ·         To come up with a simple and elegant solution which fits the context "eliminating the bells and whistles"
• ·         Applying a solution from a different context innovatively not getting into the trap of “does not apply here, because we have always done it this way”
• ·         Solving a specific problem with far lesser resources through a "deeper understanding" of the problem and context of usage with efficient team work
• ·         Innovative way of solving problems with the same rigor and scrutiny for longer term applicability

There is bad and good jugaad in our workplaces and we see them every day. Bad jugaad behavior like LDL will constrict the long-term capability of a workplace and eventually lead to the death of the workplace due to “innovation arrest”. So we as managers have to act like Good Cholesterol in the blood stream. We have to discourage bad jugaad behavior and replace them with good jugaad behavior so that we can build long-term sustainable innovation culture within our workplaces.