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Showing posts from October, 2011

Bangalore Embodies The Silicon Valley

I spent a few days in Bangalore this month. This place amazes me every single time I visit it. Many people ask me whether I think Bangalore has potential to be the next Silicon Valley. I believe, it's a wrong question. There's some seriously awesome talent in India, especially in Bangalore. Don't copy the Silicon Valley. There are so many intangibles that Bangalore won't get it right. And there's no need to copy. Create a new Silicon Valley that is the best of both worlds. If you want some good reading on what makes silicon valley the Silicon Valley, read the essay " How to be Silicon Valley " by Paul Graham. Bangalore does have some of these elements - diversity, clusters, a large number of expats etc. It's quickly becoming a true cosmopolitan city in India. You don't need to know the local language (Kannada) to live there. It does have a few good colleges such as IIM and IISC, but no IIT. The real  estate boom in Bangalore is a clear indicator of

Make To Think And Think To Make

I'm a passionate design thinker and I practice design thinking at any and all opportunities. Design thinking is part art and part science. John Maeda is one of my favorite thought leaders on design. He published a post talking about art as a form of asking "what do I want to know" rather than "what do I want to say." As a product manager, making a product goes from what do I want to know — the requirements — to what do I want to say — manifestation of the requirements into a working product. I call it "Make to think and think to make". I make prototypes — make to think — similar to a form of an art, to help me think and ask the right questions to fulfill my needs of "what I want to know". The human beings better respond to tangible artifacts as opposed to abstract questions. These conversations stimulate my thinking to execute on those requirements — "think to make" — similar to "what do I want to say." The design thinkin