Hip Hop Lion Dance!

I was browsing around our visitsingapore website and I saw something quite interesting. Hip Hop Lion Dance! This is something quite unique which I've never seen before. Unfortunately, I'm unable to embed their videos here, but I think I found another video in youtube on the same performance.

It seems like there's a series of performances by this group, which you can find out from the visitsingapore website. Check it out... Looks quite cool.

Skip Tracks or Pause Music when iPhone is locked

Recently I have found an interesting function for the iPhone while listening to music. Apparently, you are able to skip to the previous/next track, or pause the music without unlocking your phone.

Just do the following:

1. Tap once on the Home / Power button (assuming that your iPhone is blank - optional)
2. Tap the Home button twice when you see the screen that allows you to unlock the iPhone.

That's it. You'll be able to control the music without unlocking your iPhone.

Increasing productivity using technology is not straightforward

Recently there seems to be an overdose of articles talking about increasing productivity. The most common example given is: 8 people can do the work of 10 people.

This in my opinion is one of the worst examples you can ever give. Taking the sentence standalone, and taking the sentence as part of a paragraph describing processes to help you increase productivity can mean a world of difference. The default meaning which almost everyone will use is that the bosses should squeeze more work into the remaining workers.

One of the few ways where you can increase productivity is by harnessing technology. Technology however should not just strictly follow the current business process and it should assist or cut down some of the business processes.

The problem with technology is that most users insist on bringing their business processes to the system without recommending changes to shorten/improve the business process. Granted that not all business processes can be improved, but it is possible that certain long processes can be shortened if the policies behind it are adjusted accordingly. In fact, some systems fail because the manual processes were brought into the system without any attempt in re-engineering the process. Systems are always driven by business processes. That's the number one rule all should remember.

There are also cases where certain policies are enforced through technology, which may cause inconveniences to all the users. Reactions vary but I've seen cases where the users totally avoid the IT department because they felt that they are building obstacles, preventing them from reaching their ideal state. This is rather extreme and also dangerous. There are always certain policies which you must comply. Big companies are usually audited and when the time comes, will you be able to answer why the system did not have so and so policy built within?

Productivity may increase due to business process re-engineering but the efficiency gained may be offset by the security features in place. It's not easy increasing productivity and I felt that the articles written did not convey that meaning across.

In fact, I think the only meaning that got across is that the bosses are going to give us more work. Period. Productivity will decrease quite rapidly the more you multitask. You can refer to my post here on this topic. The articles would be better written if they have not tried to use the word productivity which is the end result, but instead concentrate on the processes that will lead to it. Pity... Singapore is going to get some pretty unhappy workers soon if the bosses are reading the articles in the wrong way.

Effective Listening

I quote from M. Scott Peck, MD:

An essential part of true listening is the discipline of bracketing, the temporary giving up or setting aside of one's own prejudices, frames of reference and desires so as to experience as far as possible the speaker's world from the inside, step in inside his or her shoes. This unification of speaker and listener is actually and extension and enlargement of ourselves, and new knowledge is always gained from this. Moreover, since true listening involves bracketing, a setting aside of the self, it also temporarily involves a total acceptance of the other. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will fell less and less vulnerable and more and more inclined to open up the inner recesses of his or her mind to the listener.

Effective listening means that you must first accept what is being said and not form your own opinions until the person has conveyed their intent.

Easy to say, difficult to execute. There's no easy way to do this other by making a significant conscious effort and trying to put yourself in the speaker's shoes. No other easy way I can think of.

Do not believe everything you read on the Internet at face value

I still can't believe that people actually believes everything that they read off the Internet. Even in a normal workplace environment, do you believe everything a person say or do you first determine if you know that person well enough to trust his/her words? Even in school, I believe this applies. There is no difference in the Internet.

Just because someone calls himself Eric Low doesn't mean that he is real guy. Therefore, just taking whatever is written on face value and act upon it is not advisable. You might be causing a poor person much distress for absolutely no reason at all.

Determine first if the author is someone whom you can trust, or some random person who suddenly appears and starts ranting about some particular topic. Be careful about the latter. I've seen several posts before commenting on a particular shop and I realised that the writing style is exactly the same, but the poster name is different. Coincidence?

Do not trust everything you read off the Internet and do your homework.

Rather create a fund than to go for cap & trade??

I just read that Tony Abbott advocates a AUD1 billion fund to pay for cleaner power stations, tree-planting and trapping carbon pollution in agricultural soil instead of supporting the cap-and-trade programme proposed by Kevin Rudd.

I don't understand the logic behind it. To me as a layman, when you're in the cap-and-trade programme, people actually pay you for clean energy. Any clean energy initiatives that you have earns credits which polluters must buy under the cap system. You're indirectly getting a subsidy for all your clean energy initiatives. You're also providing an incentive for the current power plants to shift to clean energy because of this cap and trade system.


Therefore, I really do not understand why Tony Abbot wants to pay AUD1 billion instead of joining the cap-and-trade programme that may indirectly help subsidize all the clean initiatives such as cleaner power stations and tree-planting.


Doesn't make sense to me.

Reject calls while iPhone is on standby

I have just realised recently that other than the option of silencing the incoming call on the iPhone by pressing the volume key or power button once, there is actually a way to reject the incoming call.

To reject the incoming call, just press the power button twice. That's all to it.

Why compare Singapore to Japan?

I do not understand the obsession with comparing Singapore's productivity with Japan. There are always 2 sides to a coin. It's true that Japan is famous for its productivity, but one cannot discount that this rise in productivity do bring about other concerns which Singapore can ill afford to have.

Would you want Singapore to

1. have one of the lowest birth rates in the world; or/and
2. have one of the highest rates of suicides in the word 

I think you cannot deny the fact that the above 2 points are associated to productivity. So far, I've not seen many cases of companies raising productivity by investing in new ways of doing things or by upgrading the staff's knowledge. I guess that the reason is because all these efforts cost additional money.

In fact most of the reasons I heard are that so and so says that our productivity is low, so that proves that you guys/gals are not working hard enough. Therefore, I should assign more work to you to increase the productivity.

I believe the authorities should come out clearly that increasing productivity does not necessary equate to assigning more work to an individual. Personally, I also believe that the productivity measurement may also be skewed by the high income earners and should not be used as a gauge at all.

Moreover, productivity does not take into account the quality aspect. What's the use of having super high productivity if the quality of the product/service is not up to standard? Look at the recent problems faced by Toyota and Honda, leading to massive recalls. Is productivity that important? Or quality? I've seen this coming since they started outsourcing their manufacturing. I was just wondering how long it'll take before this happens.

To me, quality is one thing that I will not compromise. Do you think it's cheap to produce good quality work?

Relax when you don't have the time for it

I quote from Jim Goodwin and Sydney J. Harris:

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.


I've absolutely no idea how am I going to do that. It seems like I'm getting more stress every month. I hope this really helps. I need it.

Breathe...

11 more stations from Circle Line to open on 17 Apr 2010

The second phase of the Circle line is finally opening coming 17 Apr 2010 (Sat) after the opening of the first 5 stations on 28 May 2009.

The second phase of the Circle Line from Bartley (existing) to Dhoby Ghaut (new) comprises of 11 stations - Tai Seng, MacPherson, Paya Lebar, Dakota, Mountbatten, Stadium, Nicoll Highway, Promenade, Esplanade, Bras Basah and Dhoby Ghaut in that order. Looks like there's more new places to explore. For those without a car, opening of stations is always a chance for new exploration. :)

Hopefully with the opening of Paya Lebar station, the congestion at City Hall and Raffles Place MRT will be eased since you can now bypass the 2 interchanges. Anyway, you can refer to the map of the Circle line in my previous post here.