Innovation Crafting: 2015

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Tuesday, November 03, 2015

Tolerance Vs Acceptance - Understanding the Indian Way

A message to ALL INDIANS

Lets see what are the definitions at Wikipedia

Tolerance is a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.

Acceptance is a person's assent to the reality of a situation, recognizing a process or condition (often a negative or uncomfortable situation) without attempting to change it, protest. The concept is close in meaning to 'acquiescence', derived from the Latin 'acquiēscere' (to find rest in)

Acceptance is fundamental to the core dogma of most Abrahamic religions: the word "Islam" can be translated as "acceptance", "surrender" or "voluntary submission", and Christianity is based upon the "acceptance" of Jesus of Nazareth as the "Christ" and could be compared to some Eastern religious concepts such as Buddhist mindfulness. Religions and psychological treatments often suggest the path of acceptance when a situation is both disliked and unchangeable, or when change may be possible only at great cost or risk. Acceptance may imply only a lack of outward, behavioral attempts at possible change, but the word is also used more specifically for a felt or hypothesized cognitive or emotional state.
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India is built on "Acceptance of All"

India is a nation that is built on Acceptance of everything, every person and every moment as is. In fact, Indian philosophy talks of infinite manifestations of the supreme in everyone and in everything. We all are the one supreme self - connected comprehensively, completely and unambiguously to each other - because we are all one. The problem, as per our philosophy, is the way our consciousness took the path of manifestation into the mind or the ego of the "I".

When I accept all versions of everything and everyone to be just a manifestation of me - the supreme - then it subsumes that "I" tolerate everything as is and everyone as is.

One can tolerate something without accepting it, but one can never accept something without tolerating it.

Acceptance and Tolerance - from Indian history and philosophy

India had rule of sultanate from 1206 AD to 1526 AD for 320 years. Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodhi to establish the Mughal empire in 1526 AD. The empire ended officially with Bahadur shah zafar after the 1857 revolt against the British Empire's East India company. By the time India gained independence from British, the society would have seen extreme atrocities and hardships imposed on the natives by the rulers. The rulers brought with them their own form of religion - a particular way of living and following the rules of living. The native Indian society was built on multiplicity of paths and the philosophical underpinnings of the society were so broad and all encompassing that all those who invaded India, even subjected Indians to various atrocities could not but realize the amazing quality of Indians in "acceptance". The strength of India was in its "acceptance" of anything and everything as a way of life. A true live and let live society. In fact that makes the society robust. The invaders were initially surprised but slowly some of them realized the strength of acceptance. Akbar the great - the greatest Mughal emperor realized the strength and tried to assimilate various religions and in fact taking a cue from Indian philosophy started din-e-ilahi. However, the old forms - one way to achieve the God - set of ways to be accepted as religious-sociology-cultural rituals - including various laws and eating habits - were imposed through a uniquely peculiar "conversion" of natives to "new faith" - by force or by lure of better life - under the rule of "new faith". The faith based government is peculiar form of governance the invaders bought with them.

Before the invaders - India itself had developed newer forms (more logical - more scripted) of religions in the form of Jainism and Buddism. The Ashoka the great in fact had taken the teachings of Buddha and taken them to all parts of the world towards east - China, Japan, Bali, Srilanka, Burma and so on. The approach of this proliferation in contrast to the Islamic approach was based more on "explanation" and discourses rather than violence based or greed based conversion. The religion called "hinduism" was coined more as an all encompassing explanation to distinguish from Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism later on. However, it must be mentioned the "acceptance" of all forms and all paths continued to be the core philosophy of India.

Conversion requires Non-acceptance

When one is born in a particular faith or a particular condition/family one gets indoctrinated in that faith/philosophy. To convert someone from a different faith it is essential to define, develop, describe and design communication, highlighting the unique benefits of your "product" over the existing or the native's path/faith. It is what we call in the modern business parlance "marketing".

However, if your faith says everyone is God; we just forget that we are God and whole idea of this birth and subsequent births for all of us is just to find out the basic truth - one basic truth that we all are one and this existence is just a pure magical dream woven by each one's mind. We just have to get-up from the sleep to find our true self. With this message, there is no need to sell anything to anyone. There is no marketing. Its all that is. Each one's own journey and one's guru - internal or external - will lead one to this realization - whatever path, faith, God one want to believe in. It is clear, as per this philosophy, that we are all going to "accept" everyone's journey. No need to superimpose my path, my view or even my awakening. Even the Vedas also doesn't say anything about the a particular way.

For those who may be interested in Mahavakyas (the great sentences) - there are a few in number - one can look at the link here

Just reproducing below

Sanskrit:	English:
1. Brahma satyam jagan mithya	Brahman is real; the world is unreal
2. Ekam evadvitiyam brahma	Brahman is one, without a second
3. Prajnanam brahman	Brahman is the supreme knowledge
4. Tat tvam asi	That is what you are
5. Ayam atma brahma	Atman and brahman are the same
6. Aham brahmasmi	I am brahman
7. Sarvam khalvidam brahma	All of this is brahman

This reading immediately can tell one - that the Indian philosophy is completely based on "acceptance of all".

Conversion to "my" way requires non-acceptance. From this non-acceptance emerges the concept of "Tolerance". The soft part of these "religions" says - and articulate that we should not accept other paths but "tolerate" them.

So the concept of "TOLERANCE" is an alien concept in Indian philosophy.

It has come to India from outside. India has been built on "ACCEPTANCE". The Tolerance or non-tolerance is an forceful import into Indian philosophy - not by the specific religions or faiths - but by the proponent of those faiths/doctrines/religions who want to increase their numbers - the number of people following their faith - through conversion.

They start with a marketing of the faith being superior in multiple ways. Then they tell the concept of "Tolerance" of other faiths and cultures as a mark of superiority. But through the articulation of Tolerance they sow the seeds of non-tolerance - a threshold , a limit, a line, - that when crossed - the followers of faith should be allowed to punish in the name of the specific god or the god-messenger. No religion talks about killing in the name of religion - it is the threshold of tolerance created artificially that creates the conflict.

Just following the path of acceptance of all - the Indian way - will lead to a harmonized society and perhaps a harmonized world. If the acceptance path is not followed as in the case of Pakistan - which declared itself an Islamic state - the tolerance thresholds start getting narrower and narrower and in fact very ad-hoc. This ill-defined tolerance threshold limits are the key reasons for faith/religion based conflict. How many "Hindus" and "Christians" exist today in Pakistan compared to how many were there when we got independence from British, is a statistic to be taken in by all Indians - and deeply thought through.

This post is on the growing debate on Tolerance or rather increasing non-tolerance in the recent discourse. I presume that artists, celebrities, writers, key intellectuals, actors who are protesting by giving away their awards/recognition etc - understand what they are doing. However, it is my hunch, and may be a peculiar to think of "why" they are protesting. Hope this post will help all.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Freedom and Truth

Freedom is to be able to think,
express and do
what you "need" to!

TRUTH IS STRANGER than INTERNET !

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Uncluttered Joy of Idealistic Dumbness

UNCLUTTERED JOY OF IDEALISTIC DUMBNESS

THEY EXPLAIN TO ME

WHAT IS PRACTICAL WISDOM

AND

I POINT OUT THE INFINITE JOY OF

IDEALISTIC DUMBNESS

AND

SOMETIMES THEY JOIN ME

TO LIVE LIFE FOR FEW MOMENTS !

Peace Pieces in Pakistan - Can these atleast be Imagined?

My FB NOTE

Sometimes back, one of my Facebook friends wrote his recommendations for peace in Pakistan. He lives in US and Pakistan alternatively. His three recommendations are (I am including below the key message)

1. It is about redistribution of resources - A detente of sorts is needed between USA and China that involves Russia as well. The superpowers will fight for redistribution of resources through proxy wars. China needs a corridor through Pakistan to reach middle-east. USA will make it more and more difficult. Till some sort of equilibrium is reached it will not be possible to have peace in Pakistan.

2. It is about redistribution of resources (inside Pakistan). Pakistan is an oligarchy - run by a minuscule coterie of people who have amassed great wealth. A new social contract between the state and the people of Pakistan has to be established. The constitution must be amended to fulfill the basic needs of the people. These amendments must address basic issues like creation of a level playing field and diversion of resources towards education, health and job creation as a top priority.

3. Army and Politicians need a viable formula to run the state. Under ideal conditions, the army must be answerable to the civilian authorities but considering the peculiar circumstances prevailing in Pakistan due to both inner and outer compulsions, Pakistan army has been inextricably involved with managing state affairs.

My response was to add some points to the first three. If we have to imagine “peace” in Pakistan what should be changed was my trigger. I came out with following six to add to his three points.

4. Pakistan will have to wriggle out of being the front end state of superpowers for their "experiments in war". This is easier said than done. The problem lies with "deep state" getting so used to being Frontend state since Zia-Ul-Haq’s time, when USSR came to Afghanistan that it is almost impossible to change, unless the reins that deep state has on everything are shattered. They have become so use to easy money from outside, side business in poppy trade and playing the game of the gun that everything else looks like a joke to them.

5. Pakistan should be very serious about changing its Identity. The country has this "Not India" identity artificially imposed on itself. This has once again to be re-done and embedded at the grassroots level. De-link religion from state. That is easier said than done. As with "religious" identity come the easy money from Saudi and other such religious identities. The natural cultural identity of Pakistan, if I may, was to be "like India" not "Not India". It may look strange now, but Pakistan should work towards harmonization of its natural cultural, social, political and governmental identity as "Like India".

6."Cleansing Pakistan" from its 'deep state" will require "cunning foxes" who can outfox the deep state. These cunning foxes should have a more clear national agenda of connecting Pakistan with the world and its natural identities and eliminating all self-imposed artificial identities fueled by outside powers.

7. If the intentions are clear, comprehensive and complete and above all unambiguous, what I see of India today, Pakistan will find its greatest friend in India. China in becoming a superpower that is copying exactly what the sole superpower did so far is going to use Pakistan on its New Silk Road Strategy like the US "Marshall Plan" - a potential result being subjugation of Pakistan to the Chinese momentum on its superpower design. On Chinese twin silk roads please looks at the article at
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/news/the-chinese-twin-silk-roads-can-india-shake-off-its-lethargy/

8. Robert Axelrod performed an experiment on a specific game theoretic construct called Prisoner's Dilemma. He called the tournament iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. Playing the tournament many times - the results were published in a book of the same name as well. It is interesting to note that the best strategy in a two person game came out to be "Tit for Tat" (TFT). In the long run of many iterations of the game, it seems TFT lead to evolution of Cooperation. It is evident that the “Deep State” continues to pull up a bogey of Indian Threat to arm itself and keep its "control" fangs on the population. Unfortunately "NOT India" identity on which Pakistan was created has become so ingrained that discourse is on how to destroy India rather than how to build Pakistan. Pakistan will have to change the discourse by recognizing the "elephant in the room".

9. Pakistan has to get out of the irrational nuclear arms race. Discourse and mindset of India in India has shifted to how to build India for many decades now. However, it is now getting enforced with we have to build India and eliminate all or any forces - outside or inside - which will be interested in destroying India. India has not been built to destroy other nations as you would have seen historically. TFT was not used by India for last 40 years or so. However, as we start TFT now, there seems to be Jitters in "deep state". How many nuclear bombs are needed has been a remarkable evolutionary spiral of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) doctrine till the cold war superpowers realized the futility of prisoners dilemma. Still the relics continue to hold on to huge number of nukes. Pakistan Nuke status was known since 1980s - to make it overt and show the hypocrisy of US and China to being blind to Pak nukes - the Indian nuke tests were conducted in 1998. More nukes that Pakistan makes or more nukes the world has more chances of they escaping to the wrong hands and evil minds. Hope Pakistani rationality helps to remove the cobwebs of hatred on which Pakistani identity was created, given new fire in 1971 and simmering through Zia Ul Haq's radical islamicization of Pakistan which gives Kargil adventures of 1999 and series of attacks including 2003 Parliament attack or 2008 Mumbai attack. Hope there are more people to counter the discourse perpetuated by the deep state.

Peace in Pakistan looks a distant dream today, however, as my facebook friend did, there is no harm in imagining it. Hope our dreams of a peaceful world become true. Indeed, that’s what dreams are about – hope!

Sunday, August 23, 2015

iPad Art - two years old

Couple of years back I used the iPad to make some doodles

Innovation

World in 2025

Thinking, Imagination and Joy - Read Books

ALVIS Thinking (Crafitti framework for innovative thinking)

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Process Bench-Marking using ALVIS Thinking - Creating "Ideal" processes

Process Benchmarking

Benchmarking can be considered as using the knowledge and the experience of others to improve the enterprise. A Benchmarking study should not be considered as a collection of metrics alone. It is really a mechanism to map where your enterprise stand vis-à-vis others and how can you aim to achieve the performance that other have achieved or exceed what is available as the best. Looking below the surface, one can see that Benchmarking is a search for ideas that are working in processes that are similar to the process to be improved. However, these processes may be embedded in a different system; hence the characteristics of that system should also be included in the benchmarking study. Further, since the objective is to search for successful ideas, it can potentially reduce to a quick-fix short-term innovation, that may improve a process – but may harm the overall system in the long term.

Crafitti (http://www.crafitti.com) has combined the analytical and logical dimensions of thinking that has served the businesses for so long with three relatively dormant thinking dimensions called – Value Thinking, Inventive Thinking and Systems Thinking. This new framework is called Analytical Logical Value Inventive and Systems Thinking (ALVIS).

Analytical Logical Value Inventive and Systems Thinking (ALVIS) – Crafitti’s Framework for Innovation

Value thinking focuses on maximizing value of a system which also can be considered as designing a system which is least wasteful of resources – as described in Toyota Production System, Value engineering and Lean Thinking. Systems Thinking expands the focus from immediate problem, system or scenario to a holistic view of the system and its positioning in the overall scheme of things. This helps us to think about the system in terms of its relationships, dependencies and complexities with respect to super-system and sub-system and with respect to past and future. Finally, Inventive Thinking and the associated methodologies help us to create or invent solutions or design alternative futures that usually will not be simple extrapolation of known knowledge in the industry. Inventive thinking brings best solutions from across industries using the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ). Thus Analytical Logical Value Inventive and Systems (ALVIS) thinking is a framework for innovation across the spectrum of innovation needs of an enterprise.

Process Benchmarking using ALVIS

We start with a hypothesis that no process is independent. All processes are part of a dynamic and usually an evolving system or system of systems. Hence isolating a process and benchmarking it independently may not give us an optimal view and hence will lead to lessons and solutions that not only can be inefficient but may actually harm the system in the long run. We have following overall steps in the Process Benchmarking process:

Step 1: Actors Departments Applications Processes Technology (ADAPT) analysis of the overall system using Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM). Relative quantification of dependencies of the process on various elements – Actors, Departments, Applications, Processes and Technology is obtained. This also gives us a view of Process/System Complexity using an analytical method of System Complexity Estimator (SCE).

Step 2: Definition and understanding of end-customer Value for each process, sub-process, sub-system or overall system is created. This feeds into an overall stakeholder’s analysis – as multiple stakeholders of the process may have a sub-optimal view of the value to the customer. Creating a common operating picture through consensus building is the main objective of this step. We use the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to understand stakeholder’s key value parameters.

Step 3: Value Stream Mapping (VSM) of the key process and sub-processes gives an overall view of how much is the efficiency of the process and information spaghetti (entropy or disorder). Process Efficiency (PE) is defined as ratio of value adding time in a process to the total turnaround time. A PE of 80% or above is considered excellent. In the knowledge work, for example, software bug-fixing value streams we have found PE to be around 30% -35%. Just imagine, if we can unlock the efficiency and make value streams even 60% efficient, the productivity of the system can double.

Step 4: To define and describe an ideal process which is least complex in terms of its dependencies on other system elements (ADAPT) and is viewed with the same lens by all stakeholders and which has highest process efficiency. This is the second level of ideality. The ultimate ideal process is the one which does only the value adding activities, doesn’t harm the system in anyway, consumes no resources and takes ZERO time. The ideal process is the ultimate benchmark for ALVIS.

Step 5: How others are doing it? Identify key competitors/enterprises who are doing it better/differently. This is done through open information available about other companies or published by the companies in public. A survey questionnaire is designed and executed in other companies and with their customers to gain key business intelligence about similar process and experience.

Step 6: Ideate on solving problems identified during ADAPT, Stakeholders analysis, VSM and ideality definition. Here we use TRIZ tools of key contradictions and inventive principles, laws of system evolution and Lean method of elimination of Non-value adding (NVA) steps in the process.

Step 7: A final report on the benchmarking study and ideas for improvement is submitted and a presentation made to the stakeholders with specific recommendations. Action plan of redesigning the process along with the changes in the associated system, system of systems and organization structure is also provided.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Indian Air Force in the age of Unmanned, Hypersonic, Inelligent, Stealthy and CPGS world

Indian Air Force celebrates its birthday on 8th October. The following article was written last year on 8th October.

Indian Air Force in the age of Unmanned, Hypersonic, Intelligent, Stealthy, and CPGS world

We would like to wish the Indian Air Force a very happy birthday – the IAF was born in 1932 on 8^th October – a good 15 years before India attained independence. Today, one of the finest air force of the world is in dire need of new equipment – as the Chief of Air Staff has been clearly telling everyone. In 2014 and beyond, however, “the equipment” needed for the Air Force need a hard and soft relook in the light of changes that are visible now or discernable for future.

Should IAF think about increasing the number of its fighter aircraft squadrons as a response to increasingly complex and dangerous set of challenges? Below we try to see what “equipment” will be appropriate and may be needed for IAF as it faces near term and long term challenges.

The key changes in the war in the Air

Recent trends indicates that the warfare in the air and space – aerospace – if one may, is seeing following five characteristic trends

1. Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS) augmenting the nuclear armed Ballistic missiles as a “useable” option as compared to “just threat” but non usable option of nukes

2. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles emerging as a step-change from the conventional piloted aircraft

3. Hypersonic (speed of 5 times and above of speed of sound) Vehicles, Missiles and Munitions

4. Intelligent munitions, systems and machines

5. Stealthy systems and platforms

CPGS/CPRS

In August 2014, Amy F. Woolf, Specialist in Nuclear Weapons Policy published a report for US Congressional Research Service (www.crs.gov, report number R41464) titled, “Conventional Prompt Global Strike and Long-Range Ballistic Missiles: Background and Issues”. The summary of the report starts with,

“Conventional prompt global strike (CPGS) weapons would allow the United States to strike targets anywhere on Earth in as little as an hour. This capability may bolster U.S. efforts to deter and defeat adversaries by allowing the United States to attack high-value targets or “fleeting targets” at the start of or during a conflict.” {Emphasis not in the original}

The CPGS is an unprecedented capability. As envisaged and being developed through integration of “extreme” limits of technologies – a vision that will give the sole superpower capability beyond anything any adversary can deploy in near future. The report lists following 8 options for US for CPGS – land based ballistic missiles, submarine launched ballistic missiles, submarine launched intermediate range Ballistic missiles, Long range bombers, Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, Hypersonic cruise missiles, Scramjet technologies, and Forward based Global strike. Except for long range bombers and perhaps forward based global strike all other options are unmanned.

Can IAF consider these and perhaps other options for creating a system for conventional prompt regional strike (CPRS)? Even to contemplate this shift, IAF and DRDO will have to work together – can they work to build a new type of force?

UAV/UCAV

In a telling article in 2012, the Economist wrote “the future belongs to Drones”. The article published was titled “The last manned fighter” and it gave a detailed account of F-35 fighter plane costs and defines a future direction that clearly seems to be favoring unmanned combat aircraft. It states, “In many roles, unmanned planes are more efficient: they carry neither a bulky pilot nor the kit that keeps him alive, which means they can both turn faster and be stealthier. And if they are shot down, no one dies. Even the F-35’s champions concede that it will probably be the last manned strike fighter aircraft the West will build.” Given the promise and capability of unmanned aircraft, and increasing cost of training pilots to operate complex fighter aircraft, it is but foolhardy to build a future military capability ignoring the new unmanned and remote lethality.

Is there any thinking in IAF, to increase the unmanned component of its force? Many functions can be carried out by unmanned aircraft – increasingly more and more functions can be given to unmanned platforms.

Hypersonic

India is already on its way to develop BrahMos II – a Mach 7 hypersonic cruise missile. However, due to the MTCR constraint it has to be limited to 290 kms range. IAF should learn and create a future force structure that will utilize more of hypersonic systems – missiles, platforms and munitions.

What are the plans of IAF to incorporate the hypersonic shift that the world is seeing? A roadmap for hypersonic IAF is essential.

Increasing intelligence of combat systems

Law of increasing intelligence of technical systems found that human beings by collectively evolving their technical systems, are trying to make each technical system as close to a human being as possible - or at least a model of human being and its environment based on the current understanding of the world (for example, understanding of laws of physics and chemistry in making an automobile) and the current understanding of the system called the human being. As man understands the world around it as well as its body and its mind, it wants to create an "ideal man" or at least an idealized human of all technical systems it is creating. (One can download the pdf on law of increasing intelligence of technical systems at http://aitriz.org/articles/InsideTRIZ/323031322D31312D6E61766E6565742D627573686D616E.pdf

As per the law, dumb systems become guided systems, then smart systems, brilliant systems and genius systems. Today, we are already in the era of smart munitions. Brilliant munitions are emerging. Genius munitions will the next stage. What are IAF’s plans to move on increasing intelligence of its platforms, munitions and missiles? Perhaps a UCAV with Genius capabilities will fulfill many requirements of a fifth generation fighter aircraft.

Stealth

The fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) being developed with Russia is supposed to have stealthy features. US already have F22 and controversial F35 as the fifth gen fighters. Increasing stealth in combination with the BVR combat is already a visible trend.

It will be important for IAF to define the stealth roadmap it should have and means to create it with organizations existing in the country.

Key Messages

Indian Air Force in its 82 years of existence has not faced such technological and strategic challenges that it is going to face in next two decades and beyond.

We have characterized these as 5 dimensional. The air war that we envisage will be more unmanned, more hypersonic, more intelligent, more stealthy and demanding prompt conventional global strike.

A force structure based on only increasing the number of fighter squadrons to meet the above disruptive or revolutionary challenges is a recipe bound to fail. We propose an integrated roadmap on these five dimensions will be of essence for the IAF.

Wishing IAF a wonderful birthday today.

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