lunatechian (lunatech-ian)

Some 2 days back, I was returning home from work. On that fateful day, the narrow street of Bangalore was further narrowed by a truck carrying a huge idol of Ganesha being taken for immersion.

The street was totally jampacked and I had given up all hope of getting back home in less than an hour. However, much to my surprise the Bangalore traffic police did a great job of clearing a way through the street packed with dancers and devotees so that the people returning back from the office could pass through. Had this been in Delhi, the police would have simply given up and waited for the procession to clear up on its own accord. Given the limited road space in Bangalore and the heavy monsoons here, it is really great to see the traffic police managing the resources so well.

I hope the Bangalore traffic police keeps up the good work.

• Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag - Eminently avoidable. In no way does it compare to Sholay. Don't watch.
• Chak De! India - Nice movie. Shah Rukh Khan does not go overboard with his theatrics. The flow never slackens. Nice photography, nice music, nice story, great acting. Watch.
• Heyy Babyy - Neither good, nor bad. Average comedy, not much of a plot, average music. Good way to pass time. If you can avoid watching the movie, avoid it. If not, go in with zero expectation, and you will not be disappointed.

Companies make a mistake by segmenting markets by demographics or product characteristics. Instead, write Christensen et al. in "Finding the Right Job for Your Product," "Customers' purchase decisions don't necessarily conform to those of the 'average' customer in their demographic; nor do they confine the search for solutions within a product category. Rather, customers just find themselves needing to get things done." The advice is 3-fold: segment markets by job, identify the job-based structure of a market, and let innovators understand how to accomplish the work.

The above is the gist from a Harvard Business School Note written by Professor Clayton M. Christensen.

That has been my approach for solving problems for a long time. When I start a startup, my product would be centered around solving a problem or doing a job and not around demographic. It makes me feel good that I might have been thinking along the correct lines for a long time.

Links:

• HBS announcement about this note
• Harvard Business School Note 607-028

I cleared the Certified MySQL 5.0 DBA (CMDBA) certification exam yesterday. To put it politely - MySQL 5 is my bitch!