Skip to main content

Managers vs. Techies

One of my friend doing his M.Tech in IIT Bombay got placed in a biotech start-up. When I gave this news to another friend he exclaimed - "I don't know why joining startups is such a craze in IITs while we MBA's always look out for established brands and mature companies!". Reflecting upon his words I came to the following conclusion also leading to a comparison of Indian and American start-ups.
Management is control; managers are people who do things right, they handle day-to-day routine but never ask whether the routine should be done at all. For a business manager, a mature company offers a learning platform for best practices - in other words 'the way to do things right'. An MBA is also a quest to standardise oneself - we learn a bit of all viz. marketing, finance, operations, and even IT nowadays and learn how to do that 'bit' right.
Technology however is about inovation - it is about questioning what is right and what is wrong. It is about 'doing the right things'. To a sceintist or technologist an established and mature organisation with proper systems to carry out day to day tasks is not intellectually challenging - because he does not come to learn the way to do things right. He is interested in a quest, a quest for newer ways and an unformed system.
In this sense, a techno-manager is a contradiction of sorts. If you allow me to be a bit generous, a Technomanager must be a good leader. This follows from the something I learnt in the course on business leadership - leaders are good at managing contradictions :D.
On a serious note, a techno-manager muist have the following characteristics
1. S/he must be passionate about technology
2. S/he must be comfortable with ambguity and uncertainities
3. S/he must understand people - because people are the machines in technology companies
4. S/he should be able to make a trade-off between 'doing right things' and 'doing things right', which is a layman's view of time-cost tradeoff.

A dreamer with a vision coupled with a strong sense of direction and time is what it would mean. I should say, this time on a very serious note, a leader is what we are talking about. No wonder one of the designations in IT companies is called 'Team leader' !
Labels:

Comments

  1. chirag5:37 PM

    Hey Nikhil,
    That was an gr8 comparison.
    I've a chance to get a call frm NITIE this yr. If I make it'll be a choice b/w M.Tech n NITIE. I m more of a techie and want to be a technopreneur. Will NITIE be good 4 me?
    Plz mail me at echirag [at] gmail.com if u can suggest me.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How will travel industry transform post-Covid

Unlike philosophers, journalists and teenagers, the world of entrepreneurship does not permit the luxury of gazing into a crystal ball to predict the future. An entrepreneur’s world is instead made of MVPs (Minimum Viable Product), A/B Tests, launching products, features or services and gauging / measuring their reception in the market to arrive at verifiable truths which can drive the business forward. Which is why I have never written about my musings or hypothesis about travel industry – we usually either seek customer feedback or launch an MVPised version and gather market feedback. However, with Covid-19 travel bans across the globe, the industry is currently stuck – while a lot of industry reports and journalistic conjectures are out, there’s no definitive answer to the way forward. Besides there is no way to test your hypothesis since even the traveller does not know what they will do when skies open. So, I decided to don my blogger hat and take the luxury of crystal gazing...
Post a Comment
Read more

Vikramaditya - Myth or Reality

  A statue of Vikramaditya at  Vikramaditya ka Tila / Vikramaditya's Singhasan Battisi On a recent visit to Ujjain, I found myself drawn to the city's extraordinary blend of history, mythology, and spirituality. As I stood before the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga, I reflected on its significance as one of India’s most revered shrines. Yet, amidst these sacred surroundings, I encountered narratives of Vikramaditya - the legendary king of Ujjain, celebrated for his valor and wisdom, who's name resonates from the folklore of locals to every part of India. Every time we celebrate a festival in India, it is marked with a tithi i.e. date as per the Indian calendar - which is called the Vikram Samvat calendar, attributed to being founded by Vikramaditya of Ujjaini (the then name of Ujjain). What struck me, however, was the curious fact that despite Vikramaditya’s pivotal place in Indian cultural memory, his existence as a historical figure lacks definitive evidence. My exploration l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Of Business Ethic and Ethics

Cover of book on Mr. Ratan Tata  The chairman of Tata Trusts and former chairman of Tata Sons, Mr. Ratan Tata, passed away on the 10th of October. The last two days have been filled with coverage of Mr. Tata's contributions to the country, the economy, and the global business world. Numerous articles and reports highlight his contribution primarily as a great philanthropist who worked for the cause of ethical business, which the Tata Group has been known for over the last 100+ years. While narrating how Mr. Tata's contribution was acknowledged in her school, even my daughter told me that they were told Mr. Tata was a great philanthropist.  I have been a little taken aback because most media and people have focused on his philanthropy and not his business achievements or entrepreneurship-related activities. This got me thinking about how I view the transformation that Mr. Tata brought about during his tenure as chairman of Tata Sons, where his contribution was far more pronounc...
Post a Comment
Read more