PM Triangle Useful in Buying a House?

Are the project management triangle and buying a house related? Yes, I would think so. Here is how. If you have not heard of the project management traingle, here is a brief summary:

Any project operates under the constraints of Scope (amount of work to be done), Cost (budget) and Schedule (timeline by which you need the project delivered). All these three interrelated. For instance, if all three of the constrains are dictated or fixed then project is bound to fail. So for instance, if you want to reduce the cost of the project you may need to reduce the scope. Alternatively if a project needs to be delivered under tight timelines (schedule), one needs to work on either reducing the scope or increasing the resources and there by the cost. This is quite a common constraint I have faced in software projects. Makes sense?

It just occurred to me the other day that this traingle applies to Buying a House or Apartment as well. Here is how it maps in my view:

Area(sft) of the house and the location - Scope
Budget you have for buying a house - Cost
Do you need a ready to occupy home or can you wait? - Timeline

Obviosuly if your timeline is immediate, you may need to shell few more rupees to purchase what you need. So the cost increases. On the contrary if you can wait for couple of years for completion, over all cost would come down. Other way to reduce the cost is by changing the scope: looking for a smaller area (sft) or a not so prime location. You see how these are realted? I found it quite interesting as this thought occurred to me. Hope you did too :-)

Newton and Mind

See, even Calvin knows Newton's laws:-). Newton's first law of motion says "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it". This is also called "Law of Inertia" .

It occurred to me that this law applies to our mind as well. Here is how..

Let's say we are used to a specific way of thinking, when we interact with some one or read some book it may create a new way of thinking. Isn't that so?

Now, external ( or internal?) force is always applied to our life whether we like it or not. It could be people, situations, circumstances around us. Pleasant and not so plesant surprises Life throws at us or throws us into. All these are probably changing the course of the mind and the direction, shaping it for facing yet another Life's challenge. 'Accelerate' Life that is.

Alright,so much for scribbling my thoughts. I am sure I did better than Calvin though :-) More later.

Tree Workouts

Something interesting. A picture of the tree and two sign posts from the tree tops adventure in Capilano Suspension Bridge’s rain forest. Vancouver, BC. Went with parents in 2008.

A Violinist in the Metro

This is a story from 2007 that is featured in NPR and Washington Post. But I read it just today when I received it in an email. So thought, why not post it? Hope you enjoy reading it if you haven't read it before (like me:-))

Story Begins...

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk..

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children.. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

To read the fascinating details of how the Washington Post experiment go to http://tinyurl.com/32a32w. It is an eye opener.

The Ripple Effect

Good or bad, our actions are like ripples in the water. It does not require much effort to extend a nice gesture towards any one. It could be as simple as a smile, a compliment or a shake hand. It just makes their day and so many others around them.