Site Llliigghhhtt

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Can i drive?

“Llliigghhht” in Kumaraswamy’s anglicized Malyali accent means “something you can let slide and even mildly funny”. Typical usage:

Boss : KS, the heater you’re building is 3 months behind schedule. WTF?!

KS: Lliigghhhtt

His reaction to a volcano erupting in his garage and lava carrying away his yellow Ambassador would be much the same. He might just be the happiest person I know.

I have been onsite in Panipat, Haryana for the last 3 months as a part of the Project Management group. We are building an extension to the existing refinery there to produce petrol compliant with the stricter Bharat-4 emission norms.

Doing our bit for global warming

Unlike all the hi-tech machinery you’d see on Discovery Channel’s Megastructures (yes, yes, I know this means I’m a geek) a large chunk of the work is done manually by semi-skilled labourers supervised by suit-boot ’sahebs’ like me. Getting work done from them requires cajoling, cursing and bribes of “chai” & yet at times, you just have to stand back and applaud the workers’ engenuity in slacking off. They will sleep INSIDE 36” pipes, improvise a lazy boy recliner by sleeping between two large pipes on pipe racks so high up, bosses hate climbing up there to check. Sleeping below excavators is passe. When all else fails, breaking the provided safety belt is the easiest way of getting ‘chai-time’ as it’s against the rules to work without one. Slacking off on site is hard work, but these guys make it look easy.

Then there’s “our” Raj Thackeray. ” Yuri saheb Marathi hai” is a a cue for the jokes to begin. Without getting into the politics of it ( OK i will. Cynicism about politics is a part of being Indian. Yet we are ready to believe Raj/Laloo/any politician cares about anything more than scoring brownie points before election time. Yes, there are genuine issues in terms of jobs and infrastructure due to the influx of immigrants that have to be addressed. No, you cannot restrict any Indian’s right to travel or practise trade within this country. Beating up rickshaw drivers and burning our own buses is plain stupid and cowardly. Then there’s the “Breaking News” media making it worse. Kumaraswamy recommends Cartoon Network instead) But conversations quickly slips away from Raj to Mumbai city-how someone had been there when he was 8, played at Chowpatty, watched couples at it on bandstand. Or to Bollwood actors and if I’ve seen any ( Of course I have. The Dostana cast came over the other day. Gaybraham and Baby Gay B were all over each other. Bobby had a pushups competiton with Priyanka.  She won. Bobby cried in the shower and clogged my drain with his hair plugs) Turns out Priyanka Chopra is from BIHAR. Even heard that Bombay is the “dil” and Delhi the “dimakh” of India. God (if she exists) save us then. Essentially, there is much much more that bonds the people of India together than there is that divides.

27m tall column arrives

My work there can be classified as project management in general, but I’m personally responsible for executing the fire protection system on site. This involves a lot of piping for firewater lines, water spray , foam and gas systems. The work of engineering, procuring and constructing the entire system has been given to a ‘’specialized” fire protection company XYZ and my work is now to get work done from them. You’d think the reason we outsourced was to save us the effort, but if XYZ delays our project completion by even a day, we stand to lose crores in penalties. To work, we need a sufficent work front- drawings and material. Through shouting and haggling, I managed to get us a front to begin work. Then every morning is a struggle to get a JCB (JCB=excavator as XEROX=photocopy in India) labor , welders, tractors. Work stops more often than it starts. Welder goes off to sleep when he runs out of rod. Man who’s pumping air for 3 DAYS into a pipe for hydrotesting doesn’t suspect a leak. Then there are meetings, reports, payments, quality requirements to fulfill,etc. Ive managed to make good headway with this million piece jigsaw puzzle, but thinking  there must be a better ways to approach the “unpuzzling”

Enter ‘The McKinsey Way’ by Ethan Rasiel. McKinsey-consulting giant ( collapsed yet? ) Ethan-an employee who outlines tips, tricks n tools McK uses to develop strategies to reduce costs, increase sales, develop supply chains, build new businesses etc for its corporate clients. I wouldn’t recommend it as most of the tips and tricks are pretty simplistic and mundane. Of course fire-fighting and consulting are a worlds apart, but the ways to approach a problem and finding a solution would be the same. A few good ones and how I applied (unknowingly) or how I should :

Treat your team-mates with respect : Big weak point for me. Get frustrated easily with ineptitude ( my football buddies know this all too well ) Must stop calling two guys on XYZ team Laurel and Hardy. When the Bihari told me Priyanka grew up in Bihar, I checked it on wiki right in front of him. Stop calling people C*****a. Will improve.

Focus on key drivers : for me, material and drawings. Doing that- following up with XYZ, arranging material from alternative sources, getting irregularities or mistakes in drawings cleared up.

Pluck the low hanging fruit : I’m always looking at the large picture and focussing on the work which will require long time spans and can hurt the project. Must also finish off the smaller and easier milestones to increase the confidence of my bosses and my site team in me. Good tip.

Look at the big picture : I’m already doing this. Damn important because all activities at site are interlinked. If i dont do the underground piping work in an area, the area can’t be paved, the large crane won’t have a stable platform to work on, column erection will be delayed. Obvious, but useful tip.

80-20 rule : I wanted this rule to work for me in this case because it sounds so cool, but it really didn’t. Though it might good tip in general.

Eg.   80% of the activities give only 20% of the value. List unproductive or meaningless activities and eliminate them.

20% of the stuff you read gives 80% of the value. Stop reading everything.  Check out Paul Singh’s blog for more info.

Favourite term : Mushroom method of mgmt- Keep them in the dark, cover them with shit and see what crops up. Though I personally never do this,  I surely know people who do. If you want someone to share your concern or urgency regarding a task, you have to let him know the big picture, and what all hinges on that task.Nobody likes doing work if she feels its random and without any larger purpose.

My baby

Most useless tip : When travelling to Brazil,carry sunglasses, umbrella and a box of condoms. Thanks. I feel like a loser now.

That’s all folks!! Now wake up ! I’d have liked to display more photos from inside the refinery, but that would be illegal. Also, I wrote this blog on the train back on my spanking new Nokia e71. I’m in loovee.

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Filed under Managing Work

Tags: 80-20 rule, construction, Dostana, Ethan Rasiel, fire fighting, McKinsey, Mumbai, Mushroom method, onsite, Panipat, Priyanka Chopra, project management, Raj Thackeray, refinery