A Great Opportunity to Learn

By all accounts, the opening ceremony of the Common Wealth Games in Delhi provided a successful launching pad for the games. There was widespread euphoria over the ceremony, and a lot of praise was showered on the participants and organizing committee. And rightly so.

However what amused me was some emails I received, talking about moving beyond the media sensationalism regarding the preparation for the games. One email said after the opening ceremony "Atleast this shutup [sic] the various news channels which had been sensationalising the shortcomings of our preparations." Is that really so?

In theory, good planning and solid execution of large projects is more likely to lead to success in terms of the project finishing in time, to the required quality, and WITHIN BUDGET. It also provides a better basis for repeatability. For instance, if India were to conduct the Olympic Games, how confident are we that we will pull it off? I am not sure - we will probably bumble our way through the preparations, throw tons of money and people at it during the last few months, and hopefully conduct a successful games.

Which brings us back to the comments about the opening ceremony. I think the media did a great job of exposing the shoddy execution and rampant corruption in the preparation for the games. In the process some may have gone overboard, but I did not see evidence of that on the channels I usually watch. I think the coverage was good, and it made the nation aware of the shortcomings of our planning and execution.

My sincere hope is that a successful conduct of the games does not end just with a pat on the back for the OC and Mr. Kalmadi, and a resounding criticism of the media for sensationalizing the preparation. I know that good software project companies do a "lessons learnt" session at the end of every software project. An honest assessment of this kind provides an invaluable opportunity to learn, and to do better next time around.

I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that we do not fritter away this opportunity.