Project Team in Bosch

I had a lot of apprehensions in making a career shift and that was obvious because I was well settled in one field for 8 long years. After such a long duration, business knowledge starts coming to you naturally. This is when I took a very critical decision in doing certification and entering a new industry, in a new field, in a new role.

My first project in my new role was really demanding in Bosch. This sentence will bring smiles and laughs to most of the faces. But yes, there was a phase for me in Bosch when was at my wit’s end as to how to complete work. This was not because of the actual workload but real faulty planning. Night shifts, incident management, no one to help and I were a freaking beginner in SAP.

Eventually I managed to move out of this project. I had the smallest stint in BSR with Athul for one week. Yes that can be Bosch record. Due to my excellent personal planning I lost an absolutely marvelous chance of getting into Rollouts.

But whatever happens is for best. I was assigned SSCR with Sivarajesh, Nagabhushan, V Naresh and Suresh as experienced SD consultants. Awesome foursome right. But the joy was short lived. The day I joined SSCR, the onsite approvals for Nag, Naresh and Suresh came. They left the very next day. But of course they gave me all the KT, in half hour.

I was still lost and Ramesh was not in country. For everything I was only talking to Sivarajesh and Natesh. So much so, I didn’t even know Ramesh was my manager.

The only earlier acquaintance was Saraswathi, who also was in the same project as mine under Athul. The only difference being she didn’t mess up with her passport. I remember my SSCR stint started with some output change which was developed by Saraswathi. She was a frantic listener but would come up with solutions eventually. For the first instance I felt I was finally in the right project.

It was BMH and we were all sharing seats. I took up Nagabhushan’s seat and PC between Sivarajesh and Geetha. It took me almost a week to talk to Geetha. I used to feel then that she was a genius and will talk to you only if you know SAP. But how first impressions can be wrong. Once the barrier was broken we started talking more and she did help me a lot in getting the authorizations and stuff. Yes, I think I was in the right project.

Sivarajesh is an unimaginable personality. Getting information from him is like chewing iron nails. He was never gentle and quite crude when it came to SAP. He definitely had a decent knowledge. But the drawback was he never saw beginners as beginners. And boy was he short tempered. All of you may not agree but during my early days in SSCR, I was actually scared of him. But patience is a virtue. I understood him well. Pretty much like me, he was frank on your face and very true about his work. He is the one who taught me finish your job in less than given time and enjoy the remainder time. He has been an excellent mentor and one of my best friend’s now. Yes, I was in the right project.

I was not a part of Smile CR directly. So my interaction with Bhavya was solely restricted to smiles and probably greetings. All of these developers worked so furiously on their systems, it was difficult to break the ice for some unofficial conversation. We started talking more only after we moved to EC. But it was never difficult to not miss her for her bright and pleasant attires. Thinking back, now I know that there was hardly any instance when we have worked together on any CR except for small bug fixing here and there. And then she also left for her maternity leave. The first instance when we really talked was after Athul sir’s party in Koramangala restaurant. I dropped her later that night at MG Road. I was in the right project.

Saravanan introduced me to Sarvani. We had to commonly work on CR11-021, FOC for C budget. I remember the cat and mouse game which started then which went on for almost a week. Sarvani was getting ready for her maternity leave and was transferring data to her laptop. It was difficult to get her time. I even remember I used to call her madam and thought it was impossible to get her appointment. But once we started working, I came to know she was not that unapproachable. It was one God forbidden – son of a crazy – CR for which we created a trillion test cases but could not be solved till the time she left for her leave. I think I was definitely in the right project.

“Ramesh has come, let us get some chocolates” said Geetha. And I thought he was some celebrity. Mind you, I still didn’t know he was my manager. I vaguely recall to have talked to him for some authorization in DCD after 3 days of his arrival in BMH. Now I knew who he was. He was sugar sweet in helping me get the necessary stuff. I thought of it as a dream. Only SSCR, hardly 2 hours of work a day and a cool manager. Oh boy, I was in the right project.

Yes, the much talked about rumor turned reality, we were moving to EC. We were all packing away stuff and being one of the first batches to move, were anxious and skeptical. How can you expect something smooth where Sanjay is involved. Not to my surprise, Saraswathi’s and my assets were not listed in the ‘Hit List’. I was just trying to get happy that I will get some more time to stay in BMH when I saw Saraswathi. As usual we were n top of our pranks- Siva and me. But it looked like she will cry any moment. Then came the messiah. Mr.Kothandaraman caught hold of the secretary, the packers and somehow convinced them to move our assets. Problem solved.

EC became famous like IPL. You either hate it or like it, but can never live without it. When we moved to EC, it was practically empty. 90% BMH had not yet shifted and we felt cheated!!! Why !! No canteen !! But really guys, this was the instance when I got close with my team. This is because we used to share lunch. I got a chance to flaunt my cooking skills too. Unlike my SAP skills my cooking skills were much appreciated. There was unrest, because EC was farther and because the canteen was missing, but frankly the other infrastructure was better than BMH for me. Your own dedicated cubicle and lot of parking space!!

Around this time Ramesh entrusted me with Smile tasks. Siva was  surely retiring from Smile and I was taking up. I saw a similar face, a face that I had seen in BMH but was not aware of him. Sudhakar was a live wire. He had the nag of pulling some best jokes straight face. He was somewhat of an inspiration in SAP as I have seen many developers approaching him for assistance. I will learn a lot from him. Okay, I think I am in the right project.

Some personalities are undoubtedly subtle yet dominating. I had seen a different version of Vishalakshi when we were in BMH. We never talked but I always use to adore her flamboyance. She was a great buddy with Siva. So we started talking more and more. We both came to know we are not half as cute as the other had perceived. The long scoring session of insults and leg pulling has started. I was enjoying and thought I was in the right project.

A quiet, nonexistent, non-interfering person was sitting with us! I didn’t know if this guy even knew this was not his project. But as usual, I was wrong with my official guesses. Ramakrishna was now a part of Smile team. When it happened, how it happened probably even Ramesh doesn’t know. It took a hundred years for him to open up fully when we met for Kalyan’s farewell. And then a new version Rama came to office. Smooth as silk but hilarious, he was spontaneous and wicked good with his jokes. And suddenly I came to know he is also my manager, I was definitely in the right project.

Shital was already in her notice period when we moved to EC. All the dialogues she shared with the rest of the team was either about her previous experience or her next venture. We always had a common topic – Pune City. I started my career in Pune and have stayed there for 3 years. She had quit Bosch and was joining ‘some’ company in Pune. Gosh, I could talk about my sweet experiences about Pune with someone, I think I was in the right project.

The most dangerous eyes are not the most dangerous minds. She sees through your soul and does a character mapping when you meet her first itself. Ramesh introduced Balambigai as a replacement for Shital. Initially quiet, now we feel when she will be quiet!! The best part of Bala is that she takes jokes on her like no one else. I have a scapegoat, I think I am in the right project.

Then of course I met Jayashree, Deepa, Usha, Vinod. Too early to write about them. But friends just a matter of time.

New members joined the team(some even left like Kalyan). Lidhya, Srinivasu, Honey Goyal, Rajkumar, Antony and the latest addition being Dhanamjay. I have known them less but has been fun working with them nevertheless.

There are two important characters in this story still not introduced. Special appearance Natesh and the upcoming prankster Sumanth. Till the time I came to know about Ramesh, I thought Natesh was my manager. He has this loud and clear way of dialogues which can be sometimes confusing. One marked out observation was that he was always on a call with either Geetha or Saraswathi when they were still supporting Smile. My conversation with him was about updates on status. So I was definitely in the right project.

Sumanth has all qualities of a businessman. He will make all the seniors work for him and they wont even know about it. Well, pretty much what I used to do when I started in this project. We hit on this uncanny but very effective partners in crime for pranks. He is my undoubted successor in pranks. He may pretty well surpass me.

Aspirations are either ambition born or circumstances born. No one wants to leave a perfect world. But a perfect world never exists and neither does a perfect project. With want of the hour one may need more learning or earning which your current work may not give you. Either of these factors will compel you to take uncomfortable decisions. For me leaving this project was one such decision. It’s a dream team no doubt and will remain my favourite.

Thank you all for being my teammates and more importantly my friends.

Keep Smiling