I bagged it!

What?
A notebook, a pad, coffee mug and spoon, and then pencil, sharpener, eraser, stapler, staples, 3M pads and all that would fit in the mug. Not more. Not less.

And the bag? With the shades of red and orange, with a logo of TI and the slogan of the year - The No.1 place to work for. Above it, in bigger letters, written, I BAGGED IT!

This is 05 Apr 2004, just two months past the completion of 11 years of career, on the first day of my third job - at Texas Instruments India. Back to Bangalore after a gap of 7.5 years.

As I walked in to the Golf View Homes building, there is no smiling girl under bright lights behind an exotic desk. There were two Group4 guys. I told my name, they took up a list, tick marked and asked me to take a seat. 30 minutes later, I realised there were around 25 people like me, when they called us again to their desk to give us the temporary ID cards. All were then hearded to a conference hall in the upper level, led by the HR Admin manager. He gave us a long presentation - mostly stating that his responsibility is in telling us that everything is our responsibility. The message was clear - there is no spoon feeding. There is not going to be a NeST like royal life over here. You have to live. This is your eco system. The intranet provides information regarding all species around. No one would come to you with a spoon. (But they do pay us for a sliver one)

It took two days for me to set up with space, machine and mail. Everything is web enabled. Follow up expected for a job to be done quick. But then the follow ups are greeted well and responded very well. That part is really good. Phone requests are enough for many things. No need of mail even.

The roles and responsibilities are not well defined. Its all mixed up. But its not messed up. Just wonder how many long meetings we did at NeST for the role and responsibility division for PL and PM? These people do not bother about the lack of borders even. But the difference is on goals. Everyone is clear on the goals. What use is Rules of the Road with no map, when I am to drive to my kids school?

On day 1 itself I was shown the goal for the team and an approximate idea on my personal goals and work. The first statement was interesting. "We have to do a lot to keep --- and --- (bosses) happy" Then he explained what we need to do for business purpose. Very important in management. World is like this since many are pleased by many others.

I am back to school. Need to learn many many things. A lot of technical things. Getting into practice many of the hard learned management lessons at NeST and Japan. God help me!