Monday, February 11, 2013

Why I Dislike Glorifying "Jugad"


Why I dislike glorifying - Jugad.

Before you throw rhetoric at me let me explain the context.
At the RAI Leadership Summit, in Mumbai,  yesterday I had the honour of releasing the book Jugad Innovation. This book will sell well just for its name. Indians feel proud when an Indian concept gets internationally acknowledged. I only wish we were more aware and proud of the “zero” Aryabhatta invented to give meaning to Mathematics.

Jugad is a colloquial usage to mean a lot of things that is contextual - but generally it means “innovatively finding a way out of a tight corner”, even though it may not be the best solution. 
Jugad is a name given to a culture that is inherent in the modern Indian work ethics, and here I might be exaggerating to make a point. Indian work ethics replies too much on “Shoot and aim”, for some reason that escapes me, there is some allergy in spending quality time deliberating and planning. It is considered “theoretical’ and relies too much on the view -that we will correct it as we go. This will only result in quick to start and slow to finish, and a lot of leaks on the way, wastage and over runs.
 Hence, I believe in planning longer and deeper, to try to get as many things sorted out as possible before starting. Surely time is of the essence, as always, but prior planning should not be the victim of Jugad.
 It probably stems from some things that are ingrained in my subconscious from my early years of having worked with the Japanese, of planning in detail to get it right first time. You might not eventually get it completely right totally, but it is the duty of managers to fool proof to the extent that is visible and possible.

As a junior in the Japanese company my first insight to planning was the meticulous manner in which the Japanese colleagues put together a programme for the visit of Vice president from Japan. They outlined the Moments-of-Truth and wrote down a action to meet its requirement, every contingency, and in an era where cell phones didn't exist it became even more dependent on the every one doing his/her job on time and correctly. It is not a process its part of a culture. 
I concede that in an uncertain environment the horizon is not always without clouds, but ‘fool proofing” of even what we know is a good approach.

 Why is there an allergy to -get it right the first time?
Over the years Jugad has become a matter of pride, and Indian businessmen consider it a virtue to have. Is poor planning leading to non-delivery and at the spur of the moment to do something that obviates the problem, considered smart and a matter of pride? Well I for one wont doff my hat to that.

A word that needs to enter the lexicon of Indian business seems to be “rigour”. The word means the diligence in, say, planning that goes behind every event, and more importantly to get serviced providers outside your company /group also aligned to such rigour.
Jugad must be seen for the positive elements of the phrase. In India where a lot of things are not totally predictable even when planned, to retain a sense of innovation to solve the problem is not only good but also essential to surviving in Indian Business. But let that happen after some careful planning has happened prior to the event.