Sunday, January 08, 2006

Laid Off - a la IT professional

Cross Posted from Pencil (12/16/2005)

Picture this!!! Silicon Valley Year 2K.
You are a software professional who has worked through the ranks of a startup company for eight odd years and by now are sitting pretty as a Team Lead. Your team consist of some talented young programmers many of whom you interviewed and selected. You take over a hopeless project from a senior and with this bright talented team, you lead the project to a success, meeting all deadlines... within budget... Now the success is being celebrated throughout the company.
First you are being praised for what a wonderful job you have done, a valuable asset... yada...yada.... This comes in the form of an email, gets mentioned in the team meeting or a "Project completion" party. You are all smiles hearing the accolades.

Just when you feel very assured of your job that you have, every now and then, been worrying about, the big news breaks - "The project is over and so are you". This happens in the form of an email or a one-on-one meeting with the manager. You are asked to pack your bags and leave. An escort walks with you and leads your way out (if it is a big company). Your colleagues, who you shared a joke at the break room as late as that morning , silently watch you pack . Nobody utters a word. Probably they received the news a little earlier than you did, you wonder. Neither do you want to speak to them (a professional that you are), nor do they attempt to break the ice. Some of them don't speak to you at that moment because they don't know how to open a conversation with you or they don't know how you react. There are some others who never liked you and are happy to see your back. And the remaining are busy worrying about their own fate thinking "Am I next". If you received a "Bye man, keep in touch..", its a huge consolation. End of story.

Drawing Parallel
Ganguly's sacking bears a striking similarity to that of this IT professional of Y2K times.
According to cricinfo :

Funnily enough, just moments before Shah made the announcement, Dravid had addressed the press, and praised Ganguly's batting in the Test, soon after attending the selection meeting, along with Greg Chappell, the coach. "He played very well in both innings," said Dravid. "I'm sure he'll be disappointed that he did not go on and make a bigger score." The selection meeting was a short one, lasting approximately 20 minutes..


Just when Ganguly would have started to feel reassured of his captain's remarks, cricinfo notes:

The manner in which events unfolded soon after the Delhi Test left a few people stunned. "The selection committee decided to retain ..." began Niranjan Shah, and the packed hall expected a routine announcement, " ... Rahul Dravid as captain for the forthcoming series against Pakistan and England." Then came the announcement, deadpan as anything, that there was one change in the squad, with Jaffer replacing Ganguly.


Cricketnext notes that no other player said "bye" to Ganguly as he left.

How did this happen? Are the BCCI administrators as smart as the HR Heads of Silicon Valley or say even Bangalore? I would say "no". Only a foreigner can script such a nicely executed plot. Or wait...
Could it be a lesson learnt from the IT Industry itself?
May be. Read my take...

We all know that Dravid's dad worked for Kissan and that is why his nickname is "jammy". But not many know that Dravid has an uncle who was once the HR Head for my previous employer.Dr. RN Dravid, the uncle, later moved on to become the CEO of a startup IT company called @Roads around the year 2000. As the head of a tech-startup in Y2K, he may have had to lay off a fair share of his own employees.

Rahul Dravid has been able to maintain a stain-free public image all along. Did he take a few lessons from his PHD uncle. Is this where Rahul learnt his lay-off skills too? Effortless ease. Typical way of laying off an IT professional. I would not be surprised.

Special Mention
cricketnext.com has been covering the Ganguly saga better than anybody else. I urge folks to check out the following stuff. Pretty funny and yet informative.

1. Greg Chappell's bio
2. Greg Chappell and a bunch of con-men.


PS:- The closest I can ever get to investigative journalism. Also, I love Rahul Dravid inspite of this post. Dont get me wrong.

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