A few months ago the economic recession really began to be felt by IT companies in India. The meltdown had started months ago, but the only effect till March this year was less work for most people(including myself).
Then they started. Lay-Offs, Virtual Benches, call them what you may. There was fear in the ranks of developers, confusion and hurt!!!
Unlike the West, the Indian attitude to Jobs is still to look at them as part of their life and family. Hence, Indian IT 'HR' constantly tries to paint the "family" picture. This is especially true when a project's fortunes are going south. I am sure many of us have heard statements from managers in tough projects(or when a tough project gets over) that we are a family and we have to pull together only to be replaced by the words- "It is after all a business" during tough times.
During the hard time(I think they are finally getting over) many people asked me as to why only developers got the "can" and why most managers(incompetent as they may seem to the developers) did not. There were clearly a lot of management grade people whose salaries could have saved the jobs of 10-15 lower level developers.
The answer is really fundamentally in the nature of the business. Silicon Valley was started out in garages by "Geeks" , "School Drop-outs"; many of them wanting to make something cool and some succeeding.
Indian IT however, was started mostly by management graduates who took to programming services as a way of making quick money.
Indian IT was fundamentally started to not be "Cool" in a geek sense of the way. It needs to be predictable. They need to make "Average Software" with just enough quality for clients to accept them.
Indian IT companies are fundamentally about "Project Execution", "Client Management" etc. It is about delivering a service on time with just enough quality to keep the client happy. Frameworks and structures in most Indian Software organizations are geared to do exactly that. 6 Sigma, CMMI etc are all geared for predictable software project execution and by their very nature do not want or need innovation.
Hence, the "core" talent or cream of an Indian IT company is it's project management skills.
Does that mean developers and technical people in general are not important?
Developers are important, but only a select few who can guide a project(and they also to a certain extent) . Most companies are over-staffed with developers for two major reasons:
1) To take care of a sudden demand
2) To bill higher, especially in Time and Material Assignments.
Hence, when it comes time for a lay-off due to a business constriction it is the developers who need to go first.
Managers however get "Fired". Again, because they are the core team of a company they are not supposed to "mess up". Companies, rarely if ever "fire" a developer for incompetence during good times. They are usually transferred to another account where they do not need to be that competent.
A lot of Indian IT service companies are now turning to being "Product Based" or "Solution Driven" companies. However, they are stuck in this fundamental dichotomy. Their entire DNA, processes, structures and people are oriented around a project delivery based , service based framework. Now, they need to transition to a new "Innovation" based models where traditional thinking doesn't work.
The challenge is heightened by the fact that these companies are transitioning and hence have to maintain both a service focus and solution innovation.
Will Indian IT rise above services and become truly innovation driven, is still to be seen? My bet is on new start-ups rather than existing companies. I leave you with a funny dilbert:
6 comments:
Yeah... You got it bang on target with the point of Indian IT companies delivering services on time with just enough quality to keep the client happy.
And I think that's due to...
1. Risk aversive nature of ours which does not allow us to take the plunge/venture into something till we have the customer ready to buy it. And the moment we have the customer, we commit ourselves to only that customer, and deadlines for the same.
2. "Jugaad" attitude of ours, first to bid a very low price or a quick delivery and then to just deliver something and get the money for the same, rather than come up with better solutions.
3. Egoistic attitude of ours which does not allow us to accept our mistakes made in committing a deadline to the customer and replan the delivery to ensure that quality is not compromised.
Though the shift in attitude is being seen in some rare cases, we still have a long way to go...
Intresting article , but fueled by what you have seen in your context alone. In the real world I think anyone expendable can get fired, Managers or developers.
I think your article only reflects the Mastek way and voices youre disagreement, which may be correct. None the less ask around and you will realize today its more PM's jobless than Developers, cause you can get a PM , a dime a dozen, but that does'nt hold true for technical talent. Why dont you put a poll on linkedin and see the response maybe
Hi David,
My blog has not been pointed to a particular company in general. Though, I have a lot more first-hand experience with Mastek, I took opinions of friends in other companies as well.
Your idea of a poll is great. Unfortunately, blogger's poll widget is not working. I may put it up on Linked in.
Really well dissected. I totally agree to your view of "origin of indian IT industry".
Being closer to the technical side of the Indian IT industry you would always feel left out and neglected. I work for a product development company and i was shocked to see the same feeling there. Although we do not have clients, but we do create virtual clients (business people) and try to please them. The standard deviation, i wud say, of Indian software professional's attitude, is towards the servile side. We work more than 9-10 hrs everyday to please the "clients". The focus is how hard working u are, rather than on what quality of work you are doing.
But i also agree to David's point, that even managers get slayed. I have seen some high ranked managers getting fired too in this recession. But the reasons on why they get fired are a little indiscreet to my understanding.
I kinda disagree with your post.. my thoughts -
a. The simple answer to the quest I think is - Developers who get sacked are playing the most 'reusable', 'not really required' and unproven credentials (though they may not have had time)...
b. Evolution of IT in East and West have the same motive.. make money... not that Gates, Jobs or any of them had charity in their mind when they were upstarting.. they had only one aim -->> make $$.. so whether a geek does it or a management grad, doesn matter much, does it?
c. Indian IT, which you have rightly pointed out is more 'service oriented'... typically the top management of any IT company is par excellence.. its the middle management, which is a mixed bag.. the challenge for any one starting a career is to how to reach the top without wasting much time with the 'dirty' side of middle management....
Partly true. I feel the real reason for Indian IT not getting into high end product development and confining itself to services is no proximity to the market. To build great products that are well accepted, you need to be close to the market in order to understand the consumer needs well. Technology, by itself, rarely creates 'needs' or problems that require solutions. It usually aims to solve existing business or process issues, or make processes or transactions more efficient. Traditionally, consumers of technology have been in developed countries. From a remote location, Indians could only do a part of providing tech solutions, as they were not really close to the consumers. So understanding of needs was limited, marketing opportunities were limited. This is proved by the fact that:
a) Indians living overseas (not migrants) in developed countries have done a reasonably good job of building technology products.
b) There have been great products in certain areas like banking domain (Infosys, iFlex, TCS) and mobile VAS space (lot of small companies, start-ups, OPD companies) that have come out of India, precisely because these business (banking and telecom) are fairly well developed in India and are large consumers of technology. Indian tech companies thus had the chance to understand the markets and built great products !!
Finally, technology is (still) about enabling business...
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