Sameer Agarwal » people

People notice more than you think they do

sameer — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:53:17 +0000

We use Microsoft Communicator for instant messaging at work. Communicator has an option of setting a status message which is visible to everyone who has you on their contact list, but in a rather non-intuitive manner (see below; the pinned note; on taking the mouse over the status message of the contact appears as tool-tip text).

I did use to check status messages of other people on my contact list generally, but I thought that was just me and my quirks. So I thought I’ll test it out.

And so, I put a status message saying that

FY09 planning for iKnow on… If you bothered to check my status – well, then may as well pass on some ideas

Now who would read it I thought. But the truth of the matter is that several people did. Interesting….!

PS: iKnow is an integrated Knowledge Management, information and communications program for one of the teams (Decision Support and Analytics Services [DSAS]) at Hewlett-Packard.

Why can’t you say it straight?

sameer — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:50:39 +0000

Hell, rant again. Seems like I’m the most inspired to blog when I have a rant. Why on earth will I want to make a rant public? I guess it’s similar to just “talking it out”. So here goes.

One thing that really pisses me off is when people can’t say it straight. I don’t seem to understand why this fear psychosis really spans everyone – across gender, ranks and culture! I guess there is one set of people who have the courage/assertiveness to say things the way they mean and the other much larger set who can’t.

Why can’t Yes or No be easier to say. Whoever believes in Ms Rand anyway! There is no black or white for them; it is all gray and as ambiguous as it gets. Some people survive on ambiguity for they feel it keeps their options open. Am I one of them? Very difficult for me to answer, but I sincerely hope that I’m not. May God always give me the courage to call a spade a spade. Amen!

Ok I’m feeling better now