Don't know if i would be able to log this journey into becoming my own boss as religiously (i doubt i can) but here are some of the happenings last 2 weeks
1) CNA interview
somehow the video we did on the bd trials with the Musso Club caught the notice of the PR people from ITE HQ and subsequently Channel News Asia deem it as news worthy and wanted to do a piece to be shown on Singapore Tonight.
The button was pressed 2 weeks ago while we were in the middle of scaling up the setup by 20X. So in the days that follows I had to juggle all the work really had. like writing a press document, helping setup up teh new system, finialised the design of the 100X sacle up set, manage Todd's new factory's building, keep up training......luckily we had the help of some ITE staff which helped prepared some of the materials needed to do the press wanyang....
Terence gave me last minute Tuition, more like a 5 minute tutorial, on how to constantly stress on the 3 points i want to talk and bending the answer to my advantage. (for a CEO of a 83 man company, 5 mins of 1 to 1 tuition is quite a lot!)
Well the taping happened in our worshop last friday, we had finished the setup just in time and i fixed the filtration system in such a way that you can turn on a tap and the golden liquid (BD) would flow out into the beaker (for the dramatic effect). The CNA guy came with a cameraman and proceeded to ask me questions about what is biodiesels, what is the market etc....i kinda stammered a bit because some of the questions i had not prepared for the onslaught of queries (MUST remember to ask for questions prior to interview if there is a next time).
Then there was the lab part and they shot our 2 champion student workers at work playing with titration and the GC. Huda was kinda nervous when they interview here but i think she did splendidly.....
Thereafter, we did the most exciting part.....the vehicle trials....Jeffery the the gang from the Musso Club volunteered thier trusty cars for the demo....and viola....the results were the same as the first trial we did....and this time we caught it on the CNA video (hope it comes up)
2) KT, Naina and Angelia
It's kinda wierd having the last day of work on friday, saying goodbyes to all the staff and yet appearing again on monday... as if nothing had changed...under the current arrangement, i will stay on to work on some projects for KT for survival to tie over the cash crunch at the business....this is an ideal arrangement although for myself it's a constant juggling act of trying to do many things at one time.....(like what's new)
Angelia and Naina were very concern about my welfare.....when they realised i have not even gotten a table for the office...they jumped into an action plan to help me get redisgn teh arrangements of the tables, explained to me the need for a airport, the need to have my back facing the wall.....and eventually they gave me an airport (the water kind...not themac kind) as a present....It's really a nice gesture! Cool!
3) On EBD
We went to EDB last month to inquire if we could tap into some grants to develop the yet to design 100X plant....after i submitted our first draft to the officer....she infromed me that it's her last day at work and she has passed my case to another colleague which is on leave......and up till last friday...no reply yet.
interestingly he most important criteria in the application of the innovation commericalisation fund is
1) innovation
2) project must not start before approval
with the depts delaying thier approval, we are running out of time. All i need is a simple yes or no so we could move on wirh decisions...
If yes.....happy....we get some money
If no....not game over....we will fund the development ourselves....
Simple?
Will try to call them again tomorrow to sort it out again!
ok that;s it....
looking forward to stalking the TV to lookout for my 1minute of fame tonight!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Sunday, April 8, 2007
A tale of a coffee shop
Assuming there is a famous coffee shop called "Tua Zhong Kopitiam"
This Kopitiam is the best in the area, as it has the best stalls in Singapore. the tables are clean,it's services are very good and it has always been ranked top kopitiam to makan in amongst the kopitiams of the world. It has also has food stalls that are ranked tops by any measures and these stalls are run by the best hokkien mee fryer, best chay tao kuay maker, best fish ball soup etc
The owners of the kopitiam stalls hires a full team of managers to run the different aspects of the shops. They have a manager to take care of the health of the stall owners, a manager to defend the kopitiam against thief, a manager to developed the kopitiam into the kopitiam of the 21st century, a manager to keep up foreign relationship with other kopitaims and suppliers so that they will supply the shop with cheap coffee powder to keep the sales going. The managers of this kopitiam is being elected to to their positions by the customers and the stall owners. And the managements collects monthly contributions from the stall owners/customers etc to keep the various departments running smoothly.
One day, the General Manager realised that his team member's pay package is not up to par with the other kopitiams and if he doesn't do something quick he may risk losing his well oiled team of managers to food stalls which can pay these manager a higher pay. So he held held a meeting with all the stalls owners and announce that a decision is made to raise the pay of the managers.
Since the managers have been doing such a good job running the kopitaim for the last 40 years, all the stall owners, customers agree to the pay raise. The way to pay the managers is based on a average of the earnings of the top eight stall's takings in the the kopitiam.
After the decision is made, some of the stall owners and customers raised some questions,
Mr Ter Bak Che (owner of the Tok Kong Bak Kut Teh):
"Running a stall is differently from managing the kopithiam, the stall owners take on a lot more risk than the managers....if tomorrow kena some ban on pig import or mad pig disease, the stalls would face a risk of closing business. The manager (grant that he works very hard to ensure that the risk is minimum) would only get voted out of office every four to five years when the stall owners and the customer's vote. As we stall owners takes on the risk.....it is only right that we reap the rewards....should we actually give the managers some risk...to make them earn their pay rise?"
Mr Lim Goh Pee (Regular customers of the Kopitiam):
"I don't mind giving the managers a pay raise, and it is logical since they have worked hard to manage the shop well, but should the pay rise be based on something more than the average takings of the the stall owners, what about some kind of appraisals? some kinda of KPI?"
"for example, the manager in charge of the health and hygiene can get a pay bonus if by the end of the year (baring all the extraordinary incidents of Bird flu, SARs etc) there is an improvement to his scope as assessed against previous records and the international Kopitiam health standards"
"Maybe, like many stall owners and their employees, a portion of the pay is fixed and the big big bonus would come at the end of the year upon the assessments"
This analogy is what i used to explain the minister's pay rise issues with the kopitiam uncles at my office area. 40-50million (i may be wrong about this one)in total for the minister's pay may not big enough sum for the average public to gripe about. But a prawn noodle uncle who faces risk and returns issues everyday.....even a $10 increase in rent which his kopithaim ask for which they don't deserve is a lot.
Personally i think there can be a better way to reward our super hardworking, under appreciated ministers.
FATALOGY on Minister's Pay rise,
This Kopitiam is the best in the area, as it has the best stalls in Singapore. the tables are clean,it's services are very good and it has always been ranked top kopitiam to makan in amongst the kopitiams of the world. It has also has food stalls that are ranked tops by any measures and these stalls are run by the best hokkien mee fryer, best chay tao kuay maker, best fish ball soup etc
The owners of the kopitiam stalls hires a full team of managers to run the different aspects of the shops. They have a manager to take care of the health of the stall owners, a manager to defend the kopitiam against thief, a manager to developed the kopitiam into the kopitiam of the 21st century, a manager to keep up foreign relationship with other kopitaims and suppliers so that they will supply the shop with cheap coffee powder to keep the sales going. The managers of this kopitiam is being elected to to their positions by the customers and the stall owners. And the managements collects monthly contributions from the stall owners/customers etc to keep the various departments running smoothly.
One day, the General Manager realised that his team member's pay package is not up to par with the other kopitiams and if he doesn't do something quick he may risk losing his well oiled team of managers to food stalls which can pay these manager a higher pay. So he held held a meeting with all the stalls owners and announce that a decision is made to raise the pay of the managers.
Since the managers have been doing such a good job running the kopitaim for the last 40 years, all the stall owners, customers agree to the pay raise. The way to pay the managers is based on a average of the earnings of the top eight stall's takings in the the kopitiam.
After the decision is made, some of the stall owners and customers raised some questions,
Mr Ter Bak Che (owner of the Tok Kong Bak Kut Teh):
"Running a stall is differently from managing the kopithiam, the stall owners take on a lot more risk than the managers....if tomorrow kena some ban on pig import or mad pig disease, the stalls would face a risk of closing business. The manager (grant that he works very hard to ensure that the risk is minimum) would only get voted out of office every four to five years when the stall owners and the customer's vote. As we stall owners takes on the risk.....it is only right that we reap the rewards....should we actually give the managers some risk...to make them earn their pay rise?"
Mr Lim Goh Pee (Regular customers of the Kopitiam):
"I don't mind giving the managers a pay raise, and it is logical since they have worked hard to manage the shop well, but should the pay rise be based on something more than the average takings of the the stall owners, what about some kind of appraisals? some kinda of KPI?"
"for example, the manager in charge of the health and hygiene can get a pay bonus if by the end of the year (baring all the extraordinary incidents of Bird flu, SARs etc) there is an improvement to his scope as assessed against previous records and the international Kopitiam health standards"
"Maybe, like many stall owners and their employees, a portion of the pay is fixed and the big big bonus would come at the end of the year upon the assessments"
This analogy is what i used to explain the minister's pay rise issues with the kopitiam uncles at my office area. 40-50million (i may be wrong about this one)in total for the minister's pay may not big enough sum for the average public to gripe about. But a prawn noodle uncle who faces risk and returns issues everyday.....even a $10 increase in rent which his kopithaim ask for which they don't deserve is a lot.
Personally i think there can be a better way to reward our super hardworking, under appreciated ministers.
FATALOGY on Minister's Pay rise,
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