The turmoil called life

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Spiritual Quotient: Faith is to live Fearless - not Careless

2018-03-08T17:44:00.001+11:00

Faith is very important in life. But at the same time it is colorless, colorless; full of darkness with no clue of the path it guides you. Like a blind man you put one step at a time, with caution, with belief that faith will guide you to your desired goal. But faith has its own logics and principals. It will surely give you the energy and motivation to put in your bit of hard work but the end result will be the one that is guided by the social norms set by the clan you are non-voluntary a part of. You start to date a married woman with a faith that she is a soul who knows where she wants to lead herself into. But in the end she will give up to the self emotions and social strata of labeling the expectations into a set perimeter.

Looking to deliver the basic that everyone always knew and break free from her set of box. Never understanding the fine underlying meaning of what made her do it in the first place and what her ultimate goal is. Only the momentary experience and feeling is trusted to turn the whole episode into some materialistic platter of tasty life that can be served well and hot to anyone who comes and sits on the dinner table with you.

Again, I have the faith that you will understand the core of what I meant and not just take it as an outburst of desperation. Hahahaha, even if you who cares. So, coming back to the point where where you add the color of being social into the dark filled colorless reality of faith. It is time you step it up for the betterment of everyone around. Think before you do, not just do and think. Think what makes you the person who you are and then have the courage to live by it. Example hmmm, you’re looking for it I am sure ……

So you wanna quit smoking but you have this faith that nothing can happen to you. There is no scientific justification to it, but an evaluative gratification. “Mr. X been smoking for so many years and nothing happened to him, I am just smoking for X-5 years: nothing would happen to me for sure”. This colorless faith has just found colors, colors of self justification.

In all senses faith is good to keep but with an understanding that it is a kick in you monotonous schedule of hard work. Keep the faith, cause hard work pays and faith gets the hard work going. For us to achieve the desired we need to keep the faith full with colors of hope. With hope filling in, one gets the courage to fly with weak wings and swim against high tides, while you know that shores are far away. “Faith is to live fearless - not careless”

What is Spiritual Quotient? click me

Image: https://thedistinctdot.com/2017/08/11/by-faith-2/

How To Attempt Board Exam? Studying in India

2017-12-22T00:50:00.001+11:00

Attempting an exam can be really stressful for many of us. But if the preparation is strong and the direction is proper we can reach the destination. If we starting preparing well in time and know the small little things, to be kept in mind while preparing and going for the exam, we can really do wonders.

The first step towards reaching your goal is knowing the “Map of Success”. Here “Map of Success”, I mean the pattern of the the question paper asked in the exam, because if you know the pattern, you can direct your learning and practice accordingly.

ICSE English Literature Board Paper Pattern 2017-18

There are total 12 questions asked. You have to attempt from any three (3) books (generally covered in your school). As per your books, select any 6 questions and then attempt any 5. Each question is for 16 marks (16 x 5 = 80).

And for the rest of the 20 marks, you have to submit a project in your school. Make sure you don’t loose these 20 marks. They are very crucial and yet very easy to score.

Now the detailed question paper pattern

SECTION A: DRAMA (MERCHANT OF VENICE)
Question 1	Extract from the text followed by five questions (16 MARKS)
A		3
B		3
C		3
D		3
E		4

Question 2	Extract from the text followed by five questions (16 MARKS)
A		3
B		3
C		3
D		3
E		4

DRAMA (LOYALTIES)
Question 3	Extract from the text followed by five questions	16 MARKS
A		3
B		3
C		3
D		3
E		4

Question 4	Extract from the text followed by five questions	16 MARKS
A		3
B		3
C		3
D		3
E		4

SECTION B: POETRY
Question 5	Extract from the text followed by five questions	16 MARKS
A		3
B		3
C		3
D		3
E		4

Question 6	Extract from the text followed by five questions	16 MARKS
A		3
B		3
C		3
D		3
E		4

SECTION C: (PROSE): SHORT STORIES
Question 7	Extract from the text followed by five questions	16 MARKS
A		3
B		3
C		3
D		3
E		4

Question 8	LONG ANSWER	16 MARKS

(PR0SE): ANIMAL FARM
Question 9	Extract from the text followed by five questions	16 MARKS
A		3
B		3
C		3
D		3
E		4

Question 10	LONG ANSWER	16 MARKS

(PR0SE): TO SIR WITH LOVE
Question 11	Extract from the text followed by five questions	16 MARKS
A		3
B		3
C		3
D		3
E		4

Question 12	LONG ANSWER	16 MARKS

NOTE:

Please note that you have to select any one Drama i.e. 2 questions from any one drama either question 1 & 2 or questions 3 & 4.

Section B: Poetry is a compulsory section you have to take these two questions (question 5 & 6) into consideration for you final selection.

Select any two questions from Section C i.e. one set of questions either questions 7 & 8 OR Questions 9 & 10 OR questions 11 & 12.

So, you can choose from the following combinations:-

MOV (Q 1 & 2) + Poetry (Q 5 & 6) + Short stories (Q 7 & 8)

MOV (Q 1 & 2) + Poetry (Q 5 & 6) + Animal Farm (Q 9 & 10)

MOV (Q 1 & 2) + Poetry (Q 5 & 6) + To Sir with Love (Q 11&12)

Loyalties (Q 3&4) + Poetry (Q 5 & 6) + Short stories (Q 7 & 8)

Loyalties (Q 3 & 4) + Poetry (Q 5 & 6) + Animal Farm (Q 9 & 10)

Loyalties (Q 3 & 4) + Poetry (Q 5 & 6) + To Sir with Love (Q 11&12)

MOV (Q 1 & 2) + Poetry (Q 5 & 6) + Short stories (Q 7 & 8)/ Animal Farm (Q 9 & 10)/ To Sir with Love (Q 11&12) ORLoyalties (Q 3&4) + Poetry (Q 5 & 6) + Short stories (Q 7 & 8)/ Animal Farm (Q 9 & 10)/ To Sir with Love (Q 11&12)

Attempting a board exam is no rocket science, Just keep your energy high and channelise it right !!

All the very best…. If you liked this post and want to know more… what the Board correctors expect from the students click on the link… What the Board correctors expect from the students and how to deal with exam time anxiety and learn better.

EXAM TIME - WHAT TO DO AT THE TIME OF EXAMS…..

2017-12-22T00:25:00.004+11:00

Taking an examination can really create those butterflies in our stomach specially the day before the beginning of the exam…Though for the paper pattern and how to attempt the paper and what is expected from the students read my respective articles for details. Lets comeback to the exam preparation.

Few pointers have been listed under:-

(1) RELAX…

Its just an exam and you know it… if you feel stressed, take a walk, talk to someone who can listen to you and pacify you (for God sake… don’t talk to a friend who scares you to death!!), do some breathing exercises and there’s no harm in taking a break.

(2) ORGANISE…

Few months before the exam, make short term goals. Divide the entire syllabus in small chunks and start preparing. Wherever you get stuck, note it down and clear your doubts with your friends (if they know it) or otherwise your teachers (they are the best resource).

This way you will have strong hold on your content and methodology.

Move from simple to complex and general to specific.

(3) CONNECT…

Try to create a connection with the pre known facts i.e. relate the new things to something you already know.

(4) PICTORIAL PRESENTATION...

Try to create your notes with pictures & diagrams to memorise facts and tricky questions in an easier way. Why is this better in pictures, because images easily get embarked in our brain and last long too.

(5) REPETITION…

Rehearsing and repeating loudly will help you memorise the content. Using two or more senses will create a synergy which will in - turn help you in enhancing your learning capacity.

(6) REWRITE…

Its an age old practice and yet very effective. Make notes, rewrite (either after memorising or seeing and writing from the fair work). It will get printed in your mind.

(7) DISTRACTION…

Avoid sitting and studying in the area, which has too much distractions. Like, mobile phone, games, TV, computers etc. Try to find a peaceful place where you can concentrate.

(8) REVISE…

When you reach to a stage where you think…you know it all, DON’T quit!!

Revise it once more time!!

(9) REVIEW…

Make a habit of reviewing your work on the same day as it enhances your chances of remembering it by 70%. It has also been proved that reviewing within 24 hours or less, stores the information for long term. So remember to review what you have learnt.

As the examination is round the corner (Remember, study season is all round the year!!) … wish you a very happy and devoted study time….

All the very Best !!!

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📩 mail: shilpa.educationist@gmail.com

How to write troubleshoot/explanation emails? – Composition and Structure

2017-11-25T01:11:00.000+11:00

Project management, I say is the most difficult profession in the world. Not because it requires special skills, but for the fact that where it is placed in the organisational hierarchy. We all are fulcrum of the balance between the two extremes of any organisation, and keeping this balance is what makes this job super exciting and tough. Most of our day is spent in looking at data, looking at performance, looking at people, looking at bloody everything in the universe except our own good. Out of all this, communication remains the most important paradigm. What we communicate, how we communicate, and how frequent has a big impact. It can be positive, if you know the best practices, and negative if you don’t manage your communication correctly. In project management, there’s always a chaos around: problems, escalations, progress update, timelines, client meetings, etc. It becomes essential to know the best ways of dealing with daunting situations.

The first thing that comes to your mind, when seeing an escalation or an error email from a client, is to apologise and try to control the emotion and fire. However, in my opinion it is not the best approach, perhaps the worst. We all work in the same system and understand that human involvement in any task warrants errors and misses. Important point to remember here is that how ready are we to acknowledge it, and stop it from reoccurring? So forget about saying ‘sorry’, first things first.

Now that we are not going to say sorry, what should we do? How to handle the situations? And probably use it as a stepping stone to a healthier and stronger client relation. If you have faced such a problem and still not sure of how to handle it, you have landed on the right page. There is a systematic approach to handling such situations. Follow this simple, yet effective way to achieve the desired goal and prove an upper hand over an agitated client. Preparing for the answer is the first step of the approach, followed by brainstorming and writing your eventual reply.

To prepare for the answer do the following:

Do an RCA(root cause analysis) of the problem highlighted. You should know the main cause; you don’t want to be solving a wrong problem. This will lead you in bigger troubles.
Understand the involvement of your people in the problem.
Identify the dependencies – both psychological & mechanical
Develop a relation between the identified pointers
Think of probable solutions

And yes I forgot to mention, before you do these, blast your team for making the error and they should realise that there is no margin for error. Remember, you are the only person who should love or blast them and no one else.

Now that you have a plan in hand and know all about the problem, get to your computer and start typing. When composing the email, structure it in following five parts:

Introduction
Description of error
Sequence of events that led to the eventual miss
Solution to the problem
And, your action to stop it from reoccurring

Introduction

If it is your first email to client, always start by introducing yourself to the addressee and accepting the error. The idea is to empathise with client and give him the confidence that you understand the kind of trouble he is in. If it is your regular interaction you can skip introducing yourself and straight go to acknowledgement and empathy part.

Example

Hello XXX,

I am YYYY and I handle the daily operations of the team in the capacity of . We understand that there is a mistake made by our team and it has introduced scope creep in the overall plan. Be assured that we have taken a note of your point and working towards making it right for you as soon as possible.

Keep it simple and short, the idea is to make the client comfortable and know that he is talking to someone who is responsible and understands the business.

Description of error

Define exactly what the error is building on what the client has sent, even if it warrants only reiterating what the client has said in the first place. This will give client the understanding that you have understood his concern and have spent time investigating it. Again this will build his trust in your capability has a leader, acknowledging that you are not afraid of speaking the truth and at the same time brave enough to accept the wrong, and bold enough to take strict actions if required. What it does between the lines is also hints at your willingness to correct the problem and take necessary action.

Example

Error definition:
Some of the features decided for release in the current sprint did not get published on the live website due to which the data of XXXX available on dashboard is jumbled. Also the invoice and payments of the vendors is incorrectly calculated posing a threat of possible monetary loss. Correcting this error will delay the following sprints and live releases.

What follows next is just to build on this sentiment and convince him on the suggestions you give, plus look up to you for all his queries

Sequence of events

Here the trick is to be as objective as possible. Try writing in bullets and not more than one line(preferably smaller) per bullet. You should mention the completion step or critical steps. If these can be defined with time nothing better than that. One most crucial point to remember here is to keep the connection between all the points. As I mentioned, it is a sequence of events so there needs to a relation between the predecessor & successor bullets/events

Example:

Sprint list was shared with the development manager on
Development manger created a priority task list
...........
.........
Final approval was given after OAT

Facts is what we state here and also mention where and what exact point the error got introduced. If you think the reason or the error is because of an incontrollable factor do mention it as a subset on the bullet where your finding tells it happened. In case your investigation suggests there are multiple instances/points/bullet where this could have happened, you ask for time for further analysis and identify one specific point/node.

Solution to the problem

Here we again go back into client shoes and think creatively/proactively on how this problem can be solved for client? How can we, when correcting the problem, dilute the effect that it may have on client’s position. Always give more than one option as a solution so that client easily pick and chooses the one he finds most important. Once you have his chosen one just go ahead and implement it, furthermore do send a follow up email on the latest status.

Example:

We are not doing the following to mitigate the risk and reduce the effective:

XXXXXXX
YYYYYYYY
.........

Alternately we can also do XXXXXXX, however this will entail extra work and overtime. This may eventually have cost implications.

Did you notice that we have given a hint on which option the client should choose, you need to do it in a subtle way not making it evident.

Your action to stop it from reoccurring

This section is just for reassurance and massaging client’s ego. Give them a flavor that they are very important to us, and this problem has created a fire on this side of the engagement. Every word spoken by them is like very jewel for us and we take it all very seriously. Do structure this section into two subsets – 1) immediate action 2) long term assurance

Example:

We have found the exact reason for the miss and have given a very strong feedback to the concerned person. Furthermore, we have attached a mentor with the person to monitor his performance and make corrections where necessary. Additionally, we are introducing a new point in the checklist to ensure that it does not happen again and others also are aware of it.

Finally finish it up with a light hearted one-liner to ease of the pressure; rest the rule of ending the email remains same as per my earlier post.

Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-12

2017-11-17T02:55:00.002+11:00

Once upon a time long-long ago I use to consult a lead generation company. One hot day I entered the cold meeting room to brainstorm how to create lists/database of people with authentic email IDs. So first idea discussed was about options to verify the email addresses we use to scrape from various sources; how can we do this? We decided we will call everyone and talk in-person to verify their email, but then we realized it is not a cost viable solution. The second option that followed not just made me think as a solution to the problem we were trying to solve, but also think more about the functionality of the feature itself.

The idea was to send a test email to all collected IDs with a delivery & read receipt notification, though it helps solve our problem but I was forced to think if we as managers are sending a wrong message to our direct clients by doing the same on our business emails. They must be thinking we are trying to play smart and keep a tap on their activity.

For a business like lead generation we can understand that is helpful but for day to day business it is not right. The rules of even basic communication state that we should respect people’s space and never force things on them. To cut it short never do read receipt or delivery notification on your official emails, people are smart enough to reject the request, and even more smarter to make an opinion of you.

Related tips:

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ICSE Class- X chapter -1 : India's Heroes

2017-11-13T04:07:00.003+11:00

Chapter - 1 India’s Heroes

Main Characters - Kabeer

Mrs Reeta Baruah

Mrs Reeta Baruah gives an assignment to class VIII A to write a speech on what they want to be when they grow up? It need not to be a profession, they could also speak about someone whom they might idolise or would like to be - a role model or mentor!

All the children had prepared and all of them were excited to share their writeup with the class.

Who all spoke before Kabeer (proper sequence)?

First - Ajit Basu - spoke about being a cricketer like ‘Sachin Tendulkar’

Second - Gayatri Chabbra - wanted to be a social worker like her mother.

Third - Sanjay Damle - wanted to be a pilot.

What was Kabeer’s condition when he got up to speak?

When Kabeer got up to speak - his hands shook,

beads of perspiration could be seen on his forehead.

He was not accustomed to facing the entire class as speaking loud.

Did not had a flair for speeches.

But had worked very hard on his assignment.

How his speech was different?

He did not talk about one person or one profession rather it was a combination of traits and people from different walks of life, who inspired and stirred Kabeer’s heart.

List of people who inspired Kabeer (proper sequence):-

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan - 31 year old National Security Guard (NSG) Commando, laid his life in November 2008.

- wanted to join Army when he was 3 years old.

- served 2 tenures with his battalion in counter - in urgency and counter - terrorism operations before becoming the part of

NSG in January 2007.

Contribution - engaged the terrorists in gun fight and one of his commando was hit

- he arranged for his evacuation

- chased the terrorists and was hit by their bullets.

Vishnu Datta ram Zende - an announcer with Mumbai Railways

Contribution - heard a loud explosion at one end of CST platform.

- saw some people with blood stains on the clothes.

- realised something was wronged used public announcement system to guide people to use the other exit.

- could have easily saved his life but instead he kept doing his duty and was fired by the terrorists but it missed him.

Karambir Singh Kang - General Manager of Taj Hotel.

Contribution - instead of worrying for his own safety or his family he kept helping his guests.

- his wife and children were trapped in a room engulfed by fire and died of suffocation.

- he did not abandon his duties and responsibilities and continued to fight for his guest’s safety.

- he is a loyal manager and is still working for Taj helping to restore the heritage structure.

When Kabeer looked up - Swati’s eyes were moist.

Hemant Karkare - Anti Terrorism Squad Chief, served in Austria for seven years in Research and Analysis wing of India as Intelligence officer.

Contribution - pursued the terrorists in a jeep.

- was gunned down by the terrorists near Came Hospital.

His Comrades - DIG Ashok Kamte & Vijay Salaskar

He spent his life fighting terror to make our tomorrow terror - free.

Mohammed Taufeeq Sheikh - also known as Chotu Chaiwala, young boy who ran a tea stall outside CST station.

Contribution - helped to transport the injured to St. George Hospital.

Sandra Samuel - Indian nanny who saved the life of 2 year old Moshe Holtzberg.

- saved Moshe when Nariman House was attacked by the terrorists.

- both of Moshe’s parents were killed in the attack.

Caretakers of Kabristan in Mumbai - refused to allow the dead terrorists to be buried there.

- they proved by their resolve that “Terrorism has no religion nd the only religion in the world is love and respect for all

human beings.”

When Kabeer ended - class room as one applauding and cheering

Mrs. Baruah - dabbed a handkerchief to her eyes, to avoid showing her tears to the class.

She could feel and see :-

“Children who would become pillars that would uphold the virtues of peace, tolerance and selflessness in an India that would one day be terror free and lead the world”

Sequence at a glance:-

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan
Vishnu Dattaram Zende
Karambir Singh Kang
Hemant Karkare

- DIG Ashok Kamte

- DIG Vijay Salaskar

Mohammed Taufeeq Sheikh
Sandra Samuel
Caretakers of the Kabristan

Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-11

2015-06-11T05:57:00.000+10:00

Business email communication is a tricky affair though simple. If we take care of simple pointers we will never falter. However, the irony of life is we make mistakes with the most obvious and simple points.

In today's post I just wish to bring your attention to one such pointer "Email Signature". Most of the times we see people not use this feature or create one when writing emails. This is not acceptable at all, when responding the receipt shall know who as communicated with him with the necessary information from his email signature. This helps in an organizational level rapport building with the recipient, especially when writing initiating emails for a new relation or sending business development emails or human resources team trying to get new talent on-board.

I remember very interesting case form my project management experience when one of my team member working on a project responded to the client. The project communication was structured in a way that the hands on person use to communicate directly with the requester on all queries relating to his work. He went ahead and sent an instruction email to the client asking for some approvals before proceeding, the client in turn mistook the person to be from management and responded in a way questioning the thought leadership of our management. He wanted us to take the ownership of such points and said as a manger you shall never ask such questions. This in turn initiated a series of emails clarifying him the position and the nuances of communication protocol for the team.

I am not saying that the client was at fault and we were right in following the set rules. but, the actual problem was that the email signature of my team member was unclear which in turn cropped all confusion. The client would have raised his concerns accordingly( to the right person) if he knew who sent the email, but the situation just got from bad to worse because of not having a mere email signature right.

Similarly, think of a situation where the junior most member of human resources hiring team is interacting with a person to hire him as a CEO or at senior level. I leave the thinking and the right answer to your choice and assume we all will make a wise decision.

That said, please follow some simple guidelines when creating your email signature and use it in every communication.

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Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-10

2015-06-08T05:40:00.000+10:00

The biggest mistake I have seen people making when communicating, is that they never try and end the email/communication in an effective manner. You need to summarize and state what you want the reader/recipient to do with the email.

It is very simple, we have seen gala events happening in every walk of life and the closing ceremony of every event, may it be business, sports, entertainment is always big and exuberant. Even to an extent that the best is stored for the end. Your business communication should be similar, no matter how many good points you have made or how well you explained everything in the email if it does not have an effective ending the whole effort will be a waste. Specially when working on long emails, why would you want the reader to shuffle back and forth to see what he has read and what he needs to do. There may be cases that he might have forget from where the story started. So please always ensure you end smartly what you started, and state clearly what do you want the reader to do with it.

Related tips:

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Data Analytics Outsourcing to India: Does the Emperor have any clues?

2014-12-03T00:37:00.000+11:00

Change is an inevitable part of life and holds true for the businesses also. The business which is rigid to change and do not proactively prepare for future, lag behind in the race of survival and eventually perish. In this changing face of Knowledge outsourcing industry, I was a part of a team writing an interesting article on the myths and understanding of the real landscape of analytic services & industry. The article is authored by Dr. Alok Aggaral - chief data scientist with ScryAnalytics.

This article discusses the future growth of the data analytics outsourcing sector in India as well as various myths and hype related to it. Since this sector is a subset of the Indian Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) industry, we also discuss the expected growth of the KPO industry.

In 2001, the entire KPO industry in India had only 9,000 professionals who generated approximately USD 260 million in revenue; however, this industry had already grown to approximately 75,000 professionals by 2007. The Indian KPO sector barely grew during the great recession of 2008-09 but it is likely to have 166,000 professionals by the end of 2014 who will generate annual revenue of approximately USD 6.21 billion. So, overall, during 2001-2014, this sector has grown approximately 24 times, i.e., at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27% - 28%. Finally, during the past 13 years, India has generated approximately 70% of the revenue of the global KPO industry and our models show that India’s preeminence in this field will continue until 2020, and perhaps beyond.

Going forward, our estimates show that overall the KPO outsourcing industry in India is expected to grow from 166,000 professionals and USD 6.21 billion in revenue in 2014 to approximately 310,000 professionals and USD 12.12 billion in 2020, which would imply 12% CAGR approximately for the next six years. Although most sub-sectors are expected to grow around 12% CAGR, the sector related to data management, data mining, and analytics is expected to grow from 33,000 professionals and USD 1.23 billion in revenue in 2014 to 87,000 professionals and USD 3.3 billion in revenue in 2020, thereby implying 18% CAGR. Clearly, an annual growth rate of 18% for the next six years is nothing to sneeze at, it is a far cry from the hype that has been created about such data analytics outsourcing services from India and this article discusses the following myths that are related to this sector:

Myth Number 1 - Shortage of Data Scientists in the U.S can be fulfilled by those in India.
Myth Number 2 - Graduates in India can be converted into Data Scientists by providing 3-6 months of training.
Myth Number 3 – Data Management and Analytics Professionals from India can be charged at almost the same rates as those in the United States.
Myth Number 4 - Attrition within the Analytics Outsourcing Industry in India is low.
Myth Number 5 – This time it is different with Data Analytics Outsourcing.
Myth Number 6 – By creating a few “software macros” or home-grown visualization software, a Data Analytics Services company can differentiate itself to get a premium valuation.
Myth Number 7 – Valuations for Analytics Outsourcing Companies will be significantly higher than that of other KPO companies.

You can read the full article at http://scryanalytics.com/category/articles-news/

About the Author:

Dr. Alok Aggarwal received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1984, after which he joined IBM’s T.J.Watson Research Center in New York. During 1992 and 1996, along with others, he built and sold a "Supply Chain Management Solution" for paper mills and steel mills, and won the Daniel H. Wagner prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice from INFORMS in 1998. He started IBM’s India Research Laboratory in Delhi in April 1998 and grew it to 30 PhDs and 30 Masters by October 2000. In December 2000, he “co- founded” Evalueserve and was its chairman during December 2000–January 2014; this company provides knowledge process outsourcing services from higher-cost countries to lower-cost ones and has approximately 3,100 professionals worldwide. He founded ScryAnalytics in February 2014 (www.scryanalytics.com). He has published 104 research articles and has been granted 8 patents from the US Patents and Trademark Office. Dr.Aggarwal has been quoted extensively by Wall Street Journal and other newspapers and magazines and is a distinguished alumnus of IIT Delhi.

Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-9

2014-10-22T06:00:00.002+11:00

Looking at the response on my last post regarding formatting of emails, I never knew it is such an important topic for all. Why I say this is because DTP skills are always considered low end with most of the people. Anyways, I am happy that people are sensitive about it and careful of it.

I think it is important we spend some more time on formatting and address the point where we should stop our creativity in defining the whole rainbow inside one email. Ideally, emails should always be written in standard business fonts and in single color i.e. Black. But, yes with business communication and commitments getting time sensitive we should highlight few parts of the email and that to in subtle one color. For all other colorful depictions work with our toddlers to complete their school assignments. So, keeping it small and sweet we see what those important points are to keep in mind when formatting our emails and representing important parts.

Furthermore, use highlighters like underline, bullets, italics to put emphasis on important points. In case of numbers I think you can take an exception: differentiate costs and earnings, rest all should be black and white.

Related tips:

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Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-8

2014-10-10T06:04:00.000+11:00

No doubt content of an email is the most important aspect in this form of communication, however, formatting holds no less importance. The way you present your idea in an email catches the eye of the reader in the first place and sets the tone, think of it like a very talent actor with all necessary skills & traits but with no looks never, will he be your crush ever? I remember the football world cup in 2010 at South Africa, when people saw Thomas Müller for the first time in Germany's first eleven everyone had their opinion about him and thought what a slim, lanky player who looks like a kid can do at this level, But once he started playing everybody was awestruck by his performance. The point is that the appearance makes a lot of difference when people see things for the first time.

Remember to make your email effective, short and concise, the only way is by formatting it right. You can also define stationary for regular emails, this will bring uniformity and better control on the communication from your team. This is even more important when your troubleshooting and sending an explanation email for an error, or, may be a suggestion. Information bucketed in right heads will help you explain your situation better and the reader will understand your point clearly.

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Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-7

2014-10-08T05:25:00.005+11:00

In our previous posts we have discussed on the content and language of the email. I think it is very important to highlight one more point on the topic before we move on to other important etiquette. Double checking if you have answered the questions asked in the email - in all the efforts to make our communication effective we sometime fail to answer the actual question been asked, this is a big error, no matter how good & clearly you make your point but if you have not answered what the recipient is expecting, all your efforts will be in vain. On the point, I would suggest not only double check if you have answered the query but also try and read between the lines. Put yourself in the recipient shoes and think on what other information he may want.

Doing this will help you cut down email traffic and your promptness will also win you accolades.

Additionally, I think the images are self explanatory and I should not waste your time in detailing the same point. Though an emphasis is important and required. You are most welcome to ask your specific questions or add to any points/observations you have.

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Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-6

2014-09-23T05:34:00.000+10:00

It was a hard long day, so many follow ups and emails. As I was winding up the day and cross checking if all work is complete, I thought that today's topic 'Copyright' is probably the single most important aspect of email writing which we never give a second thought to or take seriously. In my opinion it is the most important aspect which is always overlooked. All sessions and learning we do on this subject revolves around grammar, formatting, responsiveness, choice of words, etc., but practically when in practice, we always look for references freely available in public domain when finalizing our emails.

Copyright, the underdog, is in my opinion the most important aspect in this age of data and information. We simply hop on to internet and start searching for the relevant stationary, email sample content, text on public sources feeling that it is free and can be used as per our will. Mind you, here you are absolutely wrong in assuming that content available on public sources is free from copyright. When actual it is not, and each region has its own rule of protecting the data for the person who first created it.

It is not a big issue at present and people just do not want to get into the hassles of fighting individuals. The day is not far that data security and copyright will be the biggest cause of disputes in the fast evolving world of internet, I say this because with every passing day the world is becoming smaller because of the means of data connectivity and information created, people are simply creating new information day on day because of the dot com revolution and the ease of using it. All said, I think it is imperative we start taking this seriously and understand the copyrights in detail (for details check respect regions legal framework: US, INDIA)

I hope this helps you in understanding the issue better and guide you in how to manage it efficiently. I strongly suggest that all of us should know the right aspects for this unknown threat to all who create data/information or who simply copy it in efforts to work smart.

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Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-5

2014-09-16T04:27:00.004+10:00

When I started this I thought writing will be a fun activity and I will do it in leisure time, but the more I try to write I find it more than just a fun activity. You have continuously be on your toes and think, what new can I bring on table? what I write makes sense? is it well written? does it add value to anyone?, and if I am able to achieve a miniscule of what I thought I am sure that will be a great achievement.

Coming back to topic, today we continue on the grammar part and an important part of it the voice we use in our emails. We should prefer use 'Active Voice' in our emails, this is the form of direct communication and leaves a better impression on the reader. I understand this is the most difficult topic of grammar but that is what it is, Hope this simple instruction will make sense and you will make necessary tweaks in your emails to make them more effective

As I started do keep suggesting and the best is share your experiences, how have you improved this trait. And we will try and make this a better forum for all who wish to improve on this skill and do not know where to go.

Waiting to hear from all of you.

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Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-4

2014-09-12T14:10:00.003+10:00

It is the day for the fourth installment of tips and today we dive into the importance of language, and the most important aspect of it is 'Grammar'. Due to the influence of so many cultures and evolution of local slang, informal conversation style we make some very basic errors in our formal emails writing. I am not an English teacher, neither I am master of grammar, but based on various sample emails collected/received I am addressing the point here. For more on grammar I would suggest contacting an expert, however for your basic needs these tips can be handy.

I hope you all are finding these tips helpful and trying to implement this in your daily routine. I suggest why don't we share our experiences, improvements, samples or may be questions you need answers for.

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Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-3

2014-09-10T20:51:00.005+10:00

There is no other way than hard-work and sincerity to achieve any goal in life. Even if we to work on any hobby of our own, look at this I was suppose to post a daily update but because of my other commitments there is a two day gap now now, any ways no excuses for missing it but the important point is we are back.

Now that we understood how to start email, there are a few content related points you need to keep in mind. Let us start with the mood in the email. Your selection of word is not the only factor reflecting your mood in email, but also the use of style is equally important.

I have always found this instruction very useful when managing conflict situations. What happens in the flow of emotion is that you end up sending wrong message and the situation may go out of hand.

And yes, please keep sharing your thoughts on how is this series going and how do you want me to make it better?

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Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks Day-2

2014-09-07T01:20:00.000+10:00

So we started this journey of improving our written communication skills with this series of simple yet effective tricks. And today is the second edition or the lesson, as I may love to call on it on the occasion of 'Teacher Day'. Jokes apart, we started with first understanding how to ideate your email, that is the first step, cause just jumping on to start typing may confuse you in the process and will make you redo the work many times. Giving a good thought before you start is always a healthy practice and gives you a lot of ideas on what should be there in the email.

Perfect, now we have decided what are we going to write in the email. Once this is done we should start organising our thoughts in a concise and effective email. The first and the foremost step when starting is to open you email in the right way. We always get confused in what is the right way, given there is so much diversity in the worlds and people from different regions want to treated and communicated in different ways. However, I think contrary to this, actually when it comes to business people wish to hear the right information at write place and also should be able to connect to it in an instance. All these cultural nity-gritties are for HR people to handle when looking after the human aspect of our new global team phenomenon, and even in that if we stick to the basic rules we will sail through.

Now this is not comprehensive and everything about email etiquettes, but yes with these simple tricks you can do wonders with your emails. And, yes for people whose first language is not English they can score a fortune in their appraisals for good emails. I have in my experience seen a lot many senior managers consult their juniors on the way they have written the email. This helps them in making sure that 1) the email is correct, 2) something new can be added, 3) trust and acknowledgment is given where rightly deserved.

I appreciate your comments and feedback to improve myself. So, keep them pouring in :-)

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Email Communication Points to remember - Tips & Tricks

2014-09-05T19:54:00.000+10:00

In this series of posts I plan to bring your attention to important email etiquette when writing an email. These basic points may help you in improving your overall written communication in this world of digital dominance.

As we move ahead We will see more specific pointers coming in and all your suggestions and questions are welcome.

Do let me know what else you want to see or read here. I will try and update it accordingly. I personally find these straight instructions a part of making our corporate life easier, and I think with some guidance, clarity of thoughts, clear instructions your life at office and in the corporate world will be easy and relaxing. Actually, all these are important in addition to all corporate gyan we get to become a better professional. And in my endeavor to solve that corporate dilemma I give you simple straight pointers to implement and ripe some success.

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