DocAsap launched lately in Philadelphia. So no more wait times to see a dentist. Book appointments today at http://www.docasap.com and see a dentist as early as tomorrow!
DocAsap lets users quickly search for timely doctor and dentist appointments that best match their visit reason, insurance, schedule and location requirements, and then lets them book those appointments via a robust and intuitive website.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
My Parallel Blog
While we are trying to solve the problem of finding and booking doctor appointments in US using docasap.com, we have created a forum for open discussion.
http://blog.docasap.com is a forum where we discuss the issues and potential opportunities in improving healthcare service. Your participation and involvement would be very useful for us to understand the real needs. We also hope that you would invite your friends, add us on your blog rolls and actively channelize our energies to solve the right problems.
Looking forward to your comments and entries at http://blog.docasap.com.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Long time
Wow, its been really long i got a chance to write something here. I have really been busy. http://www.docasap.com has been what i have been working on. I'll update more next time.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Who to blame....
Getting a job out of business school is really tough right now. The current financial crisis is unprecedented. With global financial systems and overall economies so intertwined, the effects of a mortgage crisis in one country would reach the farthest corners of the world. Did somebody cause it.... it sure is man-made. I can't stop but wonder who is to blame for this mess. Is it
1. The living on credit attitude in American economy that forced general people to live life way beyond their means.
2. Is it the greedy mortgage agents who sold those subprime mortgages
3. The greed at wall street that took the worthless loans and sold them in derivative markets
4. The regulatory agencies who rated assets backed by these securities, "AAA"
...or someone else.
I don't know. What i know is that we did took loans from the future generations and spent it all today.... DOW sank ~6000 points from its peak of 14K. The down turn that is accelerated by firms going down due to unheard levels of leverage. CEO's, PE players, Traders made millions while general investors lost their 401k's. (Well, people who are loosing there houses i guess were either speculative buyers or living beyond there means - can someone explain why we want to bail these guys out) And yes getting a job in business school is really tough.
For those who do not understand why all this happened, i got this funny primer (some may find it offensive, so discretion is advised)
1. The living on credit attitude in American economy that forced general people to live life way beyond their means.
2. Is it the greedy mortgage agents who sold those subprime mortgages
3. The greed at wall street that took the worthless loans and sold them in derivative markets
4. The regulatory agencies who rated assets backed by these securities, "AAA"
...or someone else.
I don't know. What i know is that we did took loans from the future generations and spent it all today.... DOW sank ~6000 points from its peak of 14K. The down turn that is accelerated by firms going down due to unheard levels of leverage. CEO's, PE players, Traders made millions while general investors lost their 401k's. (Well, people who are loosing there houses i guess were either speculative buyers or living beyond there means - can someone explain why we want to bail these guys out) And yes getting a job in business school is really tough.
For those who do not understand why all this happened, i got this funny primer (some may find it offensive, so discretion is advised)
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Firm
No its not CIA I would be talking about. I had been thinking about writing my thoughts on McKinsey as 'The Firm' - the aura, the secrecy, the preeminence and the ethos. I sure would not be able to mention everything in a short blog entry but I hope to capture the essence.
Now that I have done 10 weeks of consulting I should be structured in my thoughts and almost everything should be nicely definable in three MECE points :). This is one of the internal jokes (other include, wearing blue shirts, drawing waterfall charts and the importunate use of the term ‘problem solving’). Here's my three point summary of the firm based on my short experience -
- Organization – This part is no doubt just amazing. McKinsey should be used as a case study of a well functioning company in all MBA organizational behavior classes. It’s just remarkable how Marvin Bower was able to setup an organization that attracts and satisfies over achievers. From management systems to incentive structure, everything is aligned in a way that the organizational soul and peoples mindsets and behaviors are allied towards being the best. Feeling that way all the time and striving to be better. But that’s not the end of it, the support structure – be it the institutional knowledge or organizations like travel, research, visual or ultimately the people around you, all are undisputedly best in class. But what distinguished the firm of all places I have worked was how everyone genuinely wants you to be successful. You are setup and supported for success.
- Clients – The clients that the firm serves are pretty much the leaders in respective industries. What surprised me was the amount of trust the client managers had on these outside consultants. I guess it comes from the core values of telling the client the truth howsoever harsh it may be. Managers know McKinsey consultants are there to help them be successful. On the other had for consultants this is a huge opportunity to learn the challenges of industry leaders and helping them solve those.
- Fun – Last but not the least, fun. This job is not sustainable if you don't have fun all along. Almost everyone I met had one or more fun facts about them, be it building a big boat for retirement or spending time watching stars or being go-karting champion. Almost everyone works hard and party harder. Passions for people are deep and they spend time to pursue them. Together with this, the organization support fun through team activities, Friday events, and retreats. All undoubtedly done in class.
The learning, exposure, brand and people support at the firm opens a lot of doors for you in your long term career. Irrespective of you wanting to be a consultant all your life or you seeing this as a 2-3 year, MBA part 2 stint, the firm gives you the tools and resources to be a successful professional. Though, I haven’t yet decided yet if McKinsey is my full time choice, but looking back, the 10 weeks summer internship here was a fulfilling experience. You need to be a strong personality to be successful in the Firm. But if you have the initiative, drive and ability to learn fast this certainly is one of the best post MBA choices.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Summer at McKinsey and Company
Whoa! I never realized that the summer internship would be so busy that I won't get a chance to reflect on my experiences. I got done with my internship recently, got my full time offer, and now have time to think more.
I moved to west coast from Philadelphia on 26th of May. 27th onwards had 3 days of orientation in San Francisco. McKinsey office is just amazing in SF. Got staffed on 30th (I cannot name the client except that it’s the industry leader IT services provider). I flew to New York (Ironically my client was in White Plains, New York just 4hrs from Philly, and here I was flying all the way from SF) on 1st June, Monday.
My team was a typical McKinsey EM +2, an AP and a Partner. The study was though pretty atypical on content - We were there to help the client 'implement' complete change in there delivery model. Our goal, help client team of system administrators, frontline managers and second line managers (a delivery center of total of ~120 people) change the way they have been delivering services. We had to achieve significant productivity and quality improvement and showcase to the senior management feasibility and benefits of the new model. Our arching goal, convince the senior management to rollout the new delivery model to all delivery centers in United States. This study was atypical because we were not doing fact based analysis to come up with strategies on paper. We were working on the ground to help client implement a strategy.
We had a team meeting on the very first day to decide the team norms, individual expectations and goals - this was new for me. The whole team was essentially aligned on the common goal of the study and individual goals were kept in mind while structuring the work. Being a summer, I was given a very small aspect of the study to handle. The first week was short for me; I came back early on Wednesday to attend the west coast retreat in Maui. 3 days of great Hawaiian holiday with intermittent orientation programs. Rest, except for the 4 day retreat for summer associates in Colorado Springs in mid July, all other weeks were grueling Sunday night red eye from SFO to JFK, an hour and half car drive to the client location, 15 hrs days and back on Thursday late nights. Friday in home office, ~5hrs of work and rest getting to know people in office. Weekends were 90% free. The 10 weeks just flew by.
After the first couple of weeks the scope of my work was increased significantly. My AP said they believe I can handle bigger chunk of work and McKinsey is all about challenging you with more. I won't say that consulting was the most intellectually challenging job I have ever had. The challenges here are different. According to my observations at McKinsey consulting is about 3 main things -
1. 80-20 Problem Solving - Now these are not rocket science problems, these are management problems which generally are common sense. Well, common sense that is sometimes so uncommon in large companies. Mostly in large companies top management is so disconnected with realities on ground that they need consultants. Don't get me wrong, these are very smart and experienced people but the mere breadth of business problems, the organizational incentive structure and large legacy investments that are generally sunk costs blur their judgment. That’s where consultants come into picture. Bunch of smart outsiders who would go in, analyze facts, extrapolate to project future and suggest strategies. There are specific domain experts in the consulting firms that have build enough experience and intuition to set the teams in the right direction to solve the problems.
Last, it’s not about finding the ideal solution; again it’s not rocket science that it needs to be perfect. Management problems are ambiguous and generally do not have an absolute right answer. Consultants try to achieve a solution that costs 20% of ideal while achieving 80%.
2. Optimal Communication - I have heard importance of communication 100's of times in my life but saw the importance for the very first time. Optimal communication is key and this is where creating the right PowerPoint charts come into play. Consulting is not all about creating charts but that sure is an important part. In engineering communication can be fixed through processes and managed some what optimally. General Managers however have a very short attention span and so communication in management problems is about the tight timing, crispness and taking into perspective the dynamics of the people involved.
3. Client Relationship - This I believe is the most important. Nothing moves without a proper client relationship. The trust of client is the only way consulting business run. I learned there ways to build client trust.
a.) Reliability - you deliver what you promise
b.) Credibility - You are mostly right and fact based
c.) Client Orientation - You understand the issues that bother the client and genuinely want the client to be successful.
Depending on the client you may use one or more of these build trust quickly.
These are part of the experiences I gathered. I will reflect on what I feel about McKinsey as a firm next.
I moved to west coast from Philadelphia on 26th of May. 27th onwards had 3 days of orientation in San Francisco. McKinsey office is just amazing in SF. Got staffed on 30th (I cannot name the client except that it’s the industry leader IT services provider). I flew to New York (Ironically my client was in White Plains, New York just 4hrs from Philly, and here I was flying all the way from SF) on 1st June, Monday.
My team was a typical McKinsey EM +2, an AP and a Partner. The study was though pretty atypical on content - We were there to help the client 'implement' complete change in there delivery model. Our goal, help client team of system administrators, frontline managers and second line managers (a delivery center of total of ~120 people) change the way they have been delivering services. We had to achieve significant productivity and quality improvement and showcase to the senior management feasibility and benefits of the new model. Our arching goal, convince the senior management to rollout the new delivery model to all delivery centers in United States. This study was atypical because we were not doing fact based analysis to come up with strategies on paper. We were working on the ground to help client implement a strategy.
We had a team meeting on the very first day to decide the team norms, individual expectations and goals - this was new for me. The whole team was essentially aligned on the common goal of the study and individual goals were kept in mind while structuring the work. Being a summer, I was given a very small aspect of the study to handle. The first week was short for me; I came back early on Wednesday to attend the west coast retreat in Maui. 3 days of great Hawaiian holiday with intermittent orientation programs. Rest, except for the 4 day retreat for summer associates in Colorado Springs in mid July, all other weeks were grueling Sunday night red eye from SFO to JFK, an hour and half car drive to the client location, 15 hrs days and back on Thursday late nights. Friday in home office, ~5hrs of work and rest getting to know people in office. Weekends were 90% free. The 10 weeks just flew by.
After the first couple of weeks the scope of my work was increased significantly. My AP said they believe I can handle bigger chunk of work and McKinsey is all about challenging you with more. I won't say that consulting was the most intellectually challenging job I have ever had. The challenges here are different. According to my observations at McKinsey consulting is about 3 main things -
1. 80-20 Problem Solving - Now these are not rocket science problems, these are management problems which generally are common sense. Well, common sense that is sometimes so uncommon in large companies. Mostly in large companies top management is so disconnected with realities on ground that they need consultants. Don't get me wrong, these are very smart and experienced people but the mere breadth of business problems, the organizational incentive structure and large legacy investments that are generally sunk costs blur their judgment. That’s where consultants come into picture. Bunch of smart outsiders who would go in, analyze facts, extrapolate to project future and suggest strategies. There are specific domain experts in the consulting firms that have build enough experience and intuition to set the teams in the right direction to solve the problems.
Last, it’s not about finding the ideal solution; again it’s not rocket science that it needs to be perfect. Management problems are ambiguous and generally do not have an absolute right answer. Consultants try to achieve a solution that costs 20% of ideal while achieving 80%.
2. Optimal Communication - I have heard importance of communication 100's of times in my life but saw the importance for the very first time. Optimal communication is key and this is where creating the right PowerPoint charts come into play. Consulting is not all about creating charts but that sure is an important part. In engineering communication can be fixed through processes and managed some what optimally. General Managers however have a very short attention span and so communication in management problems is about the tight timing, crispness and taking into perspective the dynamics of the people involved.
3. Client Relationship - This I believe is the most important. Nothing moves without a proper client relationship. The trust of client is the only way consulting business run. I learned there ways to build client trust.
a.) Reliability - you deliver what you promise
b.) Credibility - You are mostly right and fact based
c.) Client Orientation - You understand the issues that bother the client and genuinely want the client to be successful.
Depending on the client you may use one or more of these build trust quickly.
These are part of the experiences I gathered. I will reflect on what I feel about McKinsey as a firm next.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The year that just flew by...
Its been an amazing year. I was told MBA would be a life changing experience. Well, life changing or no - I can assure you it’s a sumptuous experience; much more than what I expected.
I started jotting down all the things I did for the first time and was pleasantly surprised to create a long enough list. Its funny most of them are amazing parties, kind I have never been to before :).
From shooting pistols to sailing in Annapolis to playing keyboard with a band to competing in case competitions to doing crazy things like walking partially dressed on the Walnut street, shot-gunning and bonging beers, partying in foam – Whoa!!! Its been spectacular. Met amazingly talented people, made great friends, – stressed for exams (a little bit) and worried about recruiting (oh yeah). And sure, worked hard; I was sorting my papers yesterday I can't believe how much work they made us do in 8 months.
Here is my "cohort F" – a lot of diversity in character and a lot of fun overall.
I started jotting down all the things I did for the first time and was pleasantly surprised to create a long enough list. Its funny most of them are amazing parties, kind I have never been to before :).
From shooting pistols to sailing in Annapolis to playing keyboard with a band to competing in case competitions to doing crazy things like walking partially dressed on the Walnut street, shot-gunning and bonging beers, partying in foam – Whoa!!! Its been spectacular. Met amazingly talented people, made great friends, – stressed for exams (a little bit) and worried about recruiting (oh yeah). And sure, worked hard; I was sorting my papers yesterday I can't believe how much work they made us do in 8 months.
Here is my "cohort F" – a lot of diversity in character and a lot of fun overall.
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