Speculation... Lol

"There is a joke that says that one black marketer sold a sardine can to another for one dollar. This black marketer sold it to another for two dollars and the third black marketer sold it to another for three dollars. The can continued to change hands and increase in price until a black marketer bought it for 25 dollars (an enormous sum at that time) and decided to open it. To his enormous surprise, he saw that the can was empty. He ran back to the black marketer who had sold it to him to get his 25 dollars back. However, this black marketer simply told him, “How could you be so stupid as to open the can? This can is for selling, not for eating”.

This joke also illustrates perfectly the distinction (with no basis) that some people make
between shares for investing in (to hold them for a long time, so they say) and shares to speculate in (to
sell quickly, so they say).

Source: Pablo Fernandez, Internet valuations: The case of Terra-Lycos

Watching the mind...

Found a cool ted talk that talks about watching your mind and observing thoughts that surround you every day. Reminds me of the book I read eons ago called the Monk who sold his ferrari by Robin Sharma. A really good read and I would love to read it again. It's on the top of my list of books to buy when I travel to India in April.

Back to the video, I followed up on this video by registering with getsomeheadspace.com and I thought it was really useful. It's not like the traditional meditation techniques of just freeing your mind, it's all about watching your thoughts, making mental notes and being self aware. I really enjoyed it. The challenge ofcourse is to find the time to relax!

What-How-Why

This has to be one of the most persuasive ted talks I've ever watched. Brilliant stuff!

Toyota production system - TPS

I am a  big fan of TPS, Heijunka, Kaizen, Muda etc are some really good concepts and I think it's a great way of running a business. I love the concept of production line and its adoption in software. I remember when I first started my career people telling me that Lean is only for the manufacturing and it means nothing for software. Wonder if those people still think so. I would love to go back and convince them that TPS is worth every penny and every minute you spend on it.

Anyway, about a year ago, I listened to the audio version of the book "The Toyota way". If you haven't already read it, I strongly suggest you pick it up. It's a really good read and a there is a lot you can take away from it.

Here is a small write up I found this morning and it does a decent job of summarizing TPS.

http://iso-qms.blogspot.in/2013/01/executive-summary-of-14-toyota-way.html?goback=%2Egde_37987_member_209799933

-Sandeep Kowshik