Can we Plan for Innovation?

As a graduate student, I am in the business of research. So how does one define research? To put it simply it is the search for “new information and understanding of phenomenon, concepts etc”. Now to seek new information, one must “innovate” i.e. “a creation (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation”. So now how can we then plan to innovate? Is innovation always something that hits one when one is in the shower, or when one is taking a long walk etc, or is it something that can be planned, I have had mixed feelings about this subject since a long time. I have always approached innovation as something that as the adage puts it “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”. During Graduate school, I have learnt to appreciate the approach to research which involves developing ‘hypotheses’ and then designing experiments to verify them. Now in addition to the ‘Hypothesis’ driven approach there is another approach which was expounded by Dr Frank Bacon Jr. (http://www.plannedinnovation.com/) in an excellent presentation, that I had the privilege of attending. The beauty of this approach lies in its ability to ask critical questions about an existing product and then to develop a new approach/extensions that will solve existing problems with the product/process. The best part of the approach I felt was its ability to institutionalize this approach so that innovation can be built into a nice model for use by everyone. I was impressed by the examples of the products for which this approach has worked. Of course there were some where in the approach failed miserably but due to reasons other than the approach itself.

This has set me thinking that “innovation” is something that can be carefully planned for and sometimes all you need is to start asking the right sorts of questions and lo and behold there are ways to create and develop extensions and solve problems. It does not have to be the exact approach suggested by Dr Bacon and others, it can start with one’s own unique approach. After all who better understands the product/process better than oneself.

Twin Cities, Land of 10,000 Lakes

The last weekend I visited the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St Paul in the great land of 10,000 lakes. It was almost an year since my last year to the Cities, but every time I go back I feel more attached to that place than ever before. After all I had spent close to 3 years before I had moved to the ‘Crossroads of America’. It was all the more enjoyable as we (I invited my extended family members who were visiting us) to accompany D and me to MN. We drove through Madison and this time I spent some more time exploring the city. We enjoyed the visit to the Capitol, the Museum and the Lakefront. The hospitality of D’s cousin in Madison was phenomenal and we were talking of that all through the trip. I cherished my visit to my erstwhile school, and felt nostalgic about some of the memories that came flooding back as I showed everyone around the St Paul campus. I got some parting shots of the ‘Finnish Bakery’ and the Dunn Bros coffee shape where in I filled up on many a cups of Cappuccino on my way to the library while writing my MS thesis. The weather during the trip held up, though we experienced some anxious moments as the clouds threatened occasionally. The highlight of course was attending J’s marriage. The church was tastefully decorated and so was the reception which was held in a ‘Manor’. We really enjoyed our drive through the twin cities on our way to Minnehaha Falls and Lake Harriet. Not to forget a nice visit to the Mall of America.
The timing of our drive was perfect and we reached back home on time Sunday night. Last Monday I started off with the “Applied Management Principles” class that I talked about in my earlier post. It has been an amazing eye-opener, a wonderful opportunity that I have always desired. The instructor is amazing and he draws upon his vast experience to teach us some ‘fundamental principles’ in Management. Hopefully, I will be documenting some of my key learning’s or “take-away” in the B-school parlance in future posts.

Adios… G’nite

Do PhD’s need an MBA?

The simple answer if you ask anyone this question is, ‘it depends’. Well, if you were to ask me the same question, my answer would be ‘Yes’. A couple of years ago when I was at a crossroads in my career working on an internship after my MS, I seriously considered alternatives to further my education. I had weighed the pros and cons of a PhD and an MBA. I chose to do a PhD and thought to myself I will come back to the MBA later in my life when I had more experience and worldly wise. I am glad I made the right decision.

The reason for this post is this very interesting program that has been developed by the Business school of our University. It recognizes the need to equip students who are armed with PhDs with certain tools that may be necessary for them in their interactions with their Company Business. Here is what our Business school website states quite clearly:

“Increasing numbers of Ph.D. scientists and engineers are expressing a heightened interest in the world of business for a variety of reasons. They are: (1) Interested in the economic ramifications of their scientific output; (2) intrigued by their attractiveness to, and fit within, industry; and (3) curious if their technical knowledge is best applied in entrepreneurial start-up ventures”

So our B-school in all its wisdom decided to develop a short-program exclusively designed for certain Industry people and PhD students. Here is what the website states, I did not want to paraphrase it, and hence the direct quotes:

“This program is designed for select industry participants, as well as doctoral students in science and engineering who will likely move into the private sector (rather than academe) after completion of their studies. Whether the participants find themselves in a research and development position, a technical service role, or even in sales in a company, they will likely have to deal with management issues and managers in a "for-profit" setting. Ultimately, many may assume senior management roles in their companies or start their own enterprises. In most cases, they will find that a basic understanding of the functional fundamentals of business management proves most useful”

I was honored to be nominated by my Advisor and my Department for this class. Well, now the fun part. I am going to be a part of this short series which will cover the following 6 core areas:

1. Accounting
2. Human Resources Management
3. Financial Management
4. Marketing Management
5. Strategic Management
6. Entrepreneurship

The series will be short spread over duration of 2 weeks including Saturdays. It starts next Monday. The course is being coordinated by this Professor in International Finance and Business, who also happens to be an alumnus of our University. I am very excited about learning some fundamentals of Business school. If not anything else, I will know what to expect in my job when I graduate. This is a great learning opportunity and I want to make the best of it.

Modified Graduate School Food Pyramid

This is a very interesting take on the life a PhD student. A friend of mine a few months ago introduced me to this site called PhD comics . I had never heard about them before. One look and I realized what I had been missing all these years. Kind of a 'Dilbertean' view of the life in a research lab. I could not agree more with this cartoon!! It is a humorous take on life in grad school.
I was also practicing my new found skills on inserting images into my posts and as it turns out I was successful with my first image post.
Enjoy...

An Exam to Remember

A few minutes before 10 am on Friday the 6th of May, 2005 will definitely be one to remember. I had finished the exam only a few minutes earlier, I reviewed my paper, with the same degree of thoroughness, that I had displayed over the years (atleast whenever I had finished the exam in time), trying to make sure I had not made any mistakes, reviewing the answers, adding a few additional comments here n there. I did stop for a moment to ponder the consequence of what I was about to do. I was turning in my exam paper, unlike previous final exams, I did not feel an immediate rush of excitement but I was lost in thought, a quite reflection as I thought to myself about all these years.

I could not resist this post, but I wanted to capture my feelings at this time. The previous night was spent unlike no another, even though I was completely prepared, I spent hours (until 2:15 AM last night) going over the contents one more time. May be I was feeling nostalgic and could not let go of the books, but I cherished every moment of it.

Inspiration- "It is never too early to start writing"

Today... I made my way to the library to check out a few of the 'Dissertations' from my Department. I wanted to get a flavor for what kind of format people have used, I checked out a number of different 'Dissertations/Theses'. It was very helpful to see quite a few formats being used especially for the PhD. I think I have an outline in my mind as to what format, I would like, I hope to formalize this by the end of this summer. It was also interesting to note how much our Department has changed over the years and I did not recogize some of the Professors who were listed on some 'Theses'.

In addition to checking out the format, I also read through some of the 'Acknowledgement'. I always feel that the most perfect insight into a person's insight about their accomplishment comes across in their 'acknowledgements'. It is one place where people genuinely express their feelings and one can clearly see the sense of their pride in their work. I felt good, I dont know why exactly, but given the fact that how much work I have accomplished over the past 2 years here at Grad school, I feel I can see the "light at the end of the tunnel". I felt inspired and ready to go forth and get my act together.

My previous experiences while writing my MS thesis have only made me wiser to one fact and that is, "It is never too early to start writing!"

Guide to the Successful Thesis and Dissertation

The title is a book by " James E Mauch and Jack W Birch" that I have been reading recently. My goal is to complete this book cover to cover in the next month. It has been designed as a 'A Handbook for Student and Faculty'.

Here is some 'wisdom' from the book that is worth pointing out:

It is a 'Thesis' when it is a Master level degree and a 'Dissertation' for a Doctoral degree.

"The doctoral dissertation is expected to represent independent and original research in the field of the candidate's graduate study. It must add, in some fashion, to understanding either from the critical examination of materials not hitherto dealt with or from the re-examination of traditional materials by means of new techniques or from new points of view. The project undertaken must be of sufficient difficulty and scope to test the candidate's ability to carry on further research (independently) and it must ensure.... mastering the skills needed for such research"

Now, I could not pass up on posting this because this represents in its entirety my 'mission' here at Graduate School and why I am here. Will I live upto this expectation and rigor is a whole another question but I know I am making my effort.

Finals Week

It is Finals week here at school. It is one finals weeks after a very long time, that I am not stressed out about. I have only one final exam, scheduled for Friday at 8 AM. Interestingly, this exam might turn out to be the last sit-down formal exam of my life! I feel elated but at the same time, cautious so as not to jinx it! Will I ever be in a formal sit-down type exam situation every again??? I know I have plenty more exam type situations to go with the most important being my 'Final PhD Defense' but an in-class exam, may be not !! Gee, 23 years of formal education!! (Starting with Grade 1, of course). WOW!!! It has been an amazing ride, to say the least.