No to blackberry: 5PM to 10PM CST

What time does the work day start?


Having worked for the offshore IT company over a decade, there is no good answer to this question.  It starts all the time and it never seems to end at all.  My Dad is a successful person in life and he knew everyday when his work day starts and when that typically ends.  So, I wanted to invent the work life balance in this generation.  It may sound funny or silly to call it an invention but it is certainly one for me.


"No to Blackberry - 5PM to 10PM CST" - is the invention in my life recently.  This is the mantra that relaxed me the most than anything else in life in a long time.  This is the secret for the work-life balance for me.  The concept gives me my life back.  The thought relaxes my mind.  The period lets me get other things done.  Primarily it reminds me the human being in myself.  This invention has a better result outside the window - my day gets planned better.  It really improves the productivity in the day before 5PM and even more at 10PM.


It makes complete sense, or at least some sense, about the 5PM.  What sense it makes for 10PM when you want to call it an invention!!  That is the practical one - there is no way in the offshore IT world or another business for that matter - not to be on top of your work.  A solid one hour at 10PM will clear the 5 hours break and set the stage for India based counterparts to kick-off their day.


Have been following it for a while now and the world hasn't come to an end.  At 9:45PM I get too eager to check mails but am able to resist until the top of the hour.  Honestly, its no big deal.  Was it ever a big deal? No.  But I always thought the world will come to end, really.  Foolishness? Yes.  Its over.


The next invention is to say no to phone calls (I still take official calls).  The obvious next step is to get rid of the laptop completely during these 5 hours even for personal use.  Life has to become personal.


Will an iPad help me as I call it a read-only machine?  Have to buy it and invent a mantra.  (Its odd that I never had an apple product for myself in life so far!! Do I sell technology??)

My country, my game!!

It has been more than 7 years I lost the opportunity to watch cricket.  It is in the last couple of years that Cricket has seen the new phase - Cricket 3.0.  Given full day presence in US, my love of game has shifted to American football (not soccer).  Being in Tennessee for most part of US life, my obvious team is Titans and I like Vince Young.  There is NBA, there is PGA, there is ML world seriece (really can't follow the whole baseball season though!!) and all kinds of NCAA stuff.  Kevin Harvick and NASCAR is certainly fun to see some serious wrecks.


Does any of this impact my love to Cricket? No.  There is no easy way to watch the game live like seven years ago.  But cricinfo.com has always been a bookmark on my links/favorites bar on all the browsers - IE or Chrome.  I do the 10-second click almost everyday to make sure I read the headlines.


Given the heavy IPL format, I have a new problem.  Which is my cricket team?  India.  It is still India.  But IPL is so much fun, I can just watch the game but need a team to support.  So, like Titans, what is my obvious choice?  Mumbai Indians - Sachin Tendulkar plays for the team - an obvious choice.  Is that my team? Yes. Born and bought up in Chennai area - I like Dhone too.  Is that my team?  Yeah.  Being a Telugu guy and been to Warangal for school, is it Hyderabad my team?  Yeah.  Gosh.  I live in Bangalore for the last decade and love the city from childhood.  Is Bangalore my team? Yeah.  Thankfully Delhi, Kolkata, Punjab and Rajastan are not competing for my race.


What a good problem to have in a game!!

MphasiS - A decade in the first job!!

I still remember the day in September 1998 when I got my job in the campus of REC Warangal to join MphasiS (then BFL Software Ltd) in October 1999. It has been 10 years in this very first job and counting.

This week I celebrate first birthday of my son as I also celebrate a decade at MphasiS.

It has been a very eventful decade. Though it’s my first job, I have the taste of working for many organizations – BFL Software Ltd, MphasiS-BFL, Keshena Technologies, EDS, HP, etc. Also, it’s been a learning experience with multiple clients like AutoZone (my first, the best and the longest), Deltek, Capital One, Schwab, Sephora, current travel/transportation clients, etc. It was even more challenging as I participated in numerous pursuits of existing clients and new clients within retail and transportation verticals all these years!! The biggest change came when I moved from delivery to sales and I miss writing my favorite C code!!

Performance Appraisals - A Passion

I am very passionate about writing appraisals and thoroughly enjoy doing it. All the 10 years (decade long…too long I guess!!) appraisals are still archived and continue to come with me though I change accounts, appraisal systems, computers/laptops, cities and countries!! This is like a career diary for me more than anything. It is not only about results of the appraisals though it’s an important aspect. My self-appraisals process usually takes a week long in timeline and I spend quality amount of time into writing it. It would be anywhere from 8-12 hours in the middle of busy schedules that we always have!! This is the best investment of my time in the year and I do it with full respect.

Appraisals is about me and not about my boss.

Social Media Vs Social Sceince

It wasn't the best bet for me during childhood on the subject called "Social Science" - History, Geography and Civics. But the new (not new anymore) "Social Media" is my best bet - LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Unbelievably I spend a lot of time every single day on these web sites. LinkedIn is my favorite among all and gives me lot of information for living. Facebook and orkut help me relax where twitter is fun / time-pass. My twitter id is reinstated back in time to play with it again as I fell sick over last week. Blackberry helps to be on top of all these socialized items even more!!

The worst part of my life is on that one day I forgot the cell phone and drove to work (10 min drive). It wasn't easy to drive back as well. Thanks to the XM radio built in the car that gave company!!

Farewell Appreciation Lunch for Bandu

Memphis, TN
The last day lunch at Spagetti Warehouse!! End of an active second innings at AutoZone!!

I have cut the colorful cake which had the message "Congratulations Jayaprakash Bandu".

Tom (Thomas McKnight) gave the toast speech appreciating my presence at AutoZone and the cultural knowledge we have exchanged with each other. He certainly wants India and The States to be great friends forever!! I certainly owe a lot of credit to Tom for being my professor on American history and culture. I have never hesitated to ask about anything I wanted regarding America!! Thanks Tom!!

After a pretty decent lunch, I had to stand up for the speech (I wasn't prepared for one, though!!).

There was nothing I could tell to such an elite group of AutoZoners. "Thank You All", I started when somebody asked me to say some words. "Thanks Again", I extended when somebody wanted me to tell few more words.

Getting to the business, I started from Guru who has helped a lot initially when I came onsite first time in 2001. Into the business and technology, I had to start with extending my thanks to Bob Celmer. He is my teacher and will remember for a long time. Then went on to Chris Geigel and Congjun Yang. These are the two guys I have spent a lot of time working at AutoZone. I learned a lot of things from these two individuals more than anybody on the technology side. Thanked the business team including Kathryn Ritter for all their support.

Another round of thanks to Cheri. Lisa and Cheri have been very instrumental in giving a shape to my career at AutoZone. With Loyalty project initiation, Cheri has empowered me to take more ownership on AutoZone projects. I vaguely heard Cheri telling from the back "You are the Best, Bandu"!!!. (I always like appreciations, thanks Cheri!!). I reiterated about my two promotions I got while working directly for Cheri!!

Stephen Mautner - The man who put me on my toes!! Every day exchanging mails at 10:30 in the night was very special!! He has a lot of passion for the work he does!! I thoroughly enjoyed working for him. He constantly supported me through the ups and downs in implementing all the projects. We did not stick to the clauses in the SOWs but tried to deliver the product and achieve project goals. (Later in the day he stressed on this point and appreciated my ownership on the projects!! It was very emotional moment of the day!!). I will take a lot of things with me what I learned while working with Stephen.

I have to thank each and everyone but I missed many people as it was not a planned speech!! Sorry!!!

I turned to my MphasiS team!! Started with Aravind to thank how much support he gave me all these years. He was my first onsite coordinator. Thanked all the offshore team who were key to my success all the years. I thanked Manju for all the support he gave personally and professionally. Also thanked Saradhi for his support from offshore, especially in the loyalty project.

Finally I thanked Anu and Radhika for their moral support all these years!!

I will miss most of you guys and look forward to work with each one of you at a later time in my career!!

Aravind concluded with a speech at the end. With a lot of hand shakes at the end, we finished the farewell lunch!! Thanks to Aravind and team for arranging one!!

The lunch is graced by the presence of Cheri Pinkston (IT Director), Radhika Daggula (MphasiS), Anuradha Naidu (MphasiS), Aravind Singtalur (MphasiS), Kaviraj Mohan (MphasiS), Venkat Namburi (MphasiS), Biju Zachariah (MphasiS), Roy Mathew (MphasiS), Corlo (Mexico team), Lamar Thornton (Technology Adviser), Chris Geigel (AZ Developer), Congjun Yang (Senior Technology Adviser), John Tippit (Technology Adviser), Bryant Haynes (Marketing Analyst), Kathryn Ritter (Marketing Analyst), Girish Tanna (Marketing Analyst), Nareesh Soma (AZ Developer), Pramod Mallikarjunaiah (Technical Architect), Guruprasad Nagaraj (Technical Architect), Subhash Choudannavar(AZ Developer), Dinesh Udupi (AZ Developer), Stephen Mautner (IT Manager), Robert Glover (IT Manager), Bryan Marino (Business Analyst), Kavita Pathak (IT Project Manager), Manjunatha Badiger (MphasiS), Mohan Srinivasarao (MphasiS), Anil Kumar (MphasiS), Maruthi Bajantri (MphasiS) and Thomas McKnight (AZ Developer).

Farewell Appreciation Lunch for Bandu

Lisa Terry (IT Director), Cheri Pinkston (IT Director), Doyle Sanders (IT Director), Bill MacNeil (IT Director), Bob Celmer (Senior Technology Adviser), ChriS Creech (Senior Technology Adviser) and Ken Brame (CIO) attended my farewell lunch chaired by Lisa Terry. Aravind and Santosh attended from MphasiS.

A great honor for a good job done for AutoZone's business. This is the highest recognition I have received in the last 8 years of professional life and its a sense of achievement!! A CIO attending a farewell lunch!!