A Sing lady writes on my behalf to a prospect I'd offended with my frank mail.

Sorry if Ramki came across as brash and bossy and at times, even a tad too boastful :o) (I've chided him a few times). I forgot to tell you that his mind works very fast and that he works at lightning speed. Perhaps this might come as a shock to you, but this is precisely why I recommend him to you because I think people like him is much needed in your team. All we need is to get out of our comfort zone and be willing to experiment with different ways of doing things. Isn't this one of the hallmarks of a progressive company (sorry, I don't have any management theory to quote)?

Both of you are my friends and I know both of you are passionate about what you are doing. If it were not so, I wouldn't have bothered to put you in touch with each other. Why bother? I don't believe in throwing pearls to swine. Anyway, whether any business transaction materialises out of this discussion is immaterial at the moment but I hope my mail has not added insult to injury for all parties concerned.

A mail to **** CTO summarising my visit to centers running his company's educational program


Thursday, January 30, 2003
Dear *****,

I'd been bugging ******** to take me to a couple of centres to watch the children working on the computer. ****** finally relented and gave me a five star ride in a cab, no less, to some centres yesterday.I also had the chance to have long conversations with the centre incharges about the programs, the problems they face etc.,

Visiting the centres was a real eye opener. I'm summarising my visit below.



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Report on the trip to computer centres running ******

Centres covered :
1. ***
2. ***
3. ***


I'm basing my observation under the three heads

System Configuration - (Covering Hardware, networking and allied devices)


Game design - (Covering Programmes used)


Teacher's role



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System Configuration - (Hardware, networking and allied devices)

Hardware provided seems to be one of the main reasons for a centre to subscribe to a program. Even when a principal is very unhappy with a program ( ******), the main reason they persist is because of the inability to invest in hardware and maintanence.

The technical support provided by both ****** and ******* was not considered very efficient. The chief problems bugging the teachers were

1. The clients unable to connect to the server ( I fixed this problem three times on two machines in the 45 minutes I spent there )
2. Printer not working
3. Spares and general technical support not forthcoming
4. Response time after a call considered slow.

Suggestions:

1. There seems to be an unresolved conflict in the client machines communicating to the server. This needs to be fixed as it totally detracts the child from the learning
experience

2. The setup time before the teacher seats all kids on the computer and gets the machines working is far too long. Fully 15 minutes run through before the kids start their
first interaction from the time they walk in.

3. A hotline, a few extra spares in each centre ( Mainly Mouse) would help.


4. The mouse is too large for the kids to manipulate. A switch to smaller versions would greatly help

General Observations :

1. Some activities call for a voice recording, but I did not see a microphone provided with any of the machines.

2. The physical setup and the equipment supplied were uniformly good.



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Game Design :

Game design seems to be the weakest link in the whole chain. Most kids get through the entire class without any meaningful interaction with the game. The only area I saw kids actively interacting with the program is when a few sang the ******** song along with the programme. A typical class is 45 minutes long and 25 minutes are lost for setting up and winding up. this leaves barely 20 minutes for game interaction. The teacher is too busy with too many things that she is unable to guide the kids in going through the activities. Children were certainly having more fun with the offline activities ( cutting and sticking ) and those at the computer terminals did have a dazed and lost look on their faces. The only place I saw kids having some fun was at ******* where a few of the kids were working on a commercial CD based painting program.

Suggestions :

1. The game design needs to be much simplified and needs to be tested out on kids before being commercially launched.The programmers should certainly visit a few centres to appreciate the gravity of the situation. It would be a chastening and even a humiliating experience )


2. The game needs to be fault tolerant. It is a fact kids click everywhere. Many games were unable to proceed because the kid has either managed to press the " Windows key" or has clicked on the " print button". The game designers should expect this to happen and ensure pointless clickings do not detract the kids from their experience.


3. The activities need to be greately simplified. Some activities called for the kid to do a lot of things in sequence, which does not happen. The teacher too looks lost when the activities become complex


4. Putting the child in charge. In a lot of ********* activities I observed the kid has to listen to everything said before he is allowed to enter the game. The kid should have the option to skip the introduction if they choose.


5. Animations could be vastly improved. Most animations I saw were pretty basic. Though the kids don't complain, this is an area which can be immediately fixed.


6. Some games call for a voice recording, and so a microphone should be installed as a standard fixture.


7. In activities where the kid can zoom into a picture, the picture starts looking awful due to pixellation. Can be easily fixed by either switching to flash or by using progressively zoomed images in Director.

8. In activities where a picture is highlighted by clicking on it, the highlighting makes the picture look like a grotesque shadow.

9. More activities like the Theme Song where the children joyously particpiate are necessary


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Teacher's Role

The teachers did look harried in the centres as they had to seat the kids, get some work printed to show parents, fix technical problems, answer kid's questions and in some cases run multiple programs and take care of kids doing offline activities. This leaves them virtually no time to hand hold the child and take them through each activity. In most cases, the teacher was just too busy to help and lot of easily fixed issues went unresolved.

Suggestions :

1. A uniform programming interface with predefined keys ( Help, Next game etc) will reduce kids dependance on teachers. if a kid gets stuck, they should have a predefined icon to click and get to another activity instead of waiting for the teacher to come to their help.

2. Each game needs to be supplemented by a short half a page Guide which will explain how the game is to be played. Though I saw this as a html page, it is far too long. A much simplified version needs to be printed and fixed to all terminals.

3. Ensuring fool proof client server interaction would be the biggest step in winning the teacher's vote.



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SWOT Analysis


Strengths of *******

1. Good Hardware supplied
2. Presence in most ***** centres
3. Localised programs rather than reliance on ******
Weakness :


1. Too closely identified with ****** centres
2. Lack of any presence in ********* and other top of the line schools
3. Game design and interaction
4. Sales force seemed " not at par with *******"

Opportunities :

1. A presence in over ****************( potential strength of 13,000 students) ( This is possible if a few games/activities are developed in consultation with the school principals/Teachers. In fact a meeting with ************* and an expression of willingness to develop a program exclusively for them would immediately result in them signing up. We can surely assist you in developing these customised programs)

2. A presence in top-of the line schools .( All these schools are starved for local customised content and all these face a problem in investing and maintaining hardware. A few programs developed in consultation with them would result in some of them signing up)

3. The chance to have ****** back working with you :o)

I saw *** commitment to the program, I saw *** song being a hit with the kids, I saw the posters *** had designed for the centres and I'd hate to lose an employee as valuable as this ! ( As Lyndon Johnson said, which I'd refrain from reproducing here :o)

Threats :

1. The threat of being branded " Only Good for ******". ( This is a threat which ******* needs to be wary about by improving Game design and localised content.The programmes need to be at par with commercial CD's and ******** should have a presence in schools across the spectrum)

2. The threat of a major international player stepping in and making inroads into the market ( ******** cannot rest on its laurels of reigning supreme in ******. Monopoly
breeds its own ills and it needs to consolidate its position and close doors on potential competition)



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I've tried to record my first cut impressions and have not polished up my thoughts for the sake of being more polite. If some of my comments are too abrasive, I apologise
and reinstate my intent is not to criticise, but to let you share my impressions as I registered them myself.


/Regards

.: posted by Lord 8:13 AM


Monday, January 27, 2003
To a client asking him to decide fast


Dear ******

I'll be leaving either today or tomo and want to thank you for giving me a patient hearing. It was a pleasure getting to know you and I'm confident I'll enjoy working with you.

I now understand your products well and am sure we'd be able to add value to your offerings. It will be really nice if we could work with you in some way, but for now I'm glad atleast I got to know you.

I bounced a couple of ideas about working together to ******** and it does appear all of us would have a win-win ( or is it win-win-win :o) situation .

We'd win as we'd finally be working with ********* which understands the market and is serious about its products.You'd win with faster development cycles and lower cost. **********would be pleased as ***** finally get to do what ****** loves.

I remember you talking to me about ******* and your desire to do something similar. It would be nice if we can start with that. If you foresee no problems in letting us start work on the project, I can discuss about it with ******** the time I'm here and get back to the drawing board the moment I land up in India. I do not expect to take over one month to deliver the completed game to you.

******* never misses a chance to comment how fair you are and so I'll not even stop to discuss commercial terms, but with work with the assumption that we'll get a fair price once we deliver a quality product.

It will be really nice to have your go ahead the time I'm here because then I'd have time to sit with ********* and understand the issues involved. I also would be off to Malaysia and then to the Middle East after this and so would not want to delay it much further.

I apologise if this sounds like a pushy sales pitch , but in case you decide to work with us, it will certainly make my job a lot easier if I have a face to face discussion with *********** before starting on it.

Do let me know how we can proceed further on this.

Thanks for your time.



.: posted by Lord 9:02 AM


Forwarded mail from a client who later became a close friend


"....becos to me, working relationship is very important. I enjoyed working with R because he takes the trouble to suggest improvement in the products that he is developing. During the 3 months that I worked with him, we had long conversations over the Net on how to add value to the products that we were working on but too bad, ******** is not a company that has long term visions. "

.: posted by Lord 8:29 AM