Lesson of the week: Be ready to do things differently, few things go according to plan regardless of how much planning to do. Plan to replan.
I’m sitting in San Francisco Coffee on the Bangsar South new development (why they call it Bangsar South , when it is technically Pantai Dalam is beyond me – confuses taxi drivers everytime!) contemplating what the events of the last couple of weeks actually mean.
So let me list out where I am with this project and then get some detail in…
Location, location, location!!!
I thought I had offices settled when I was in KL the last time. In fact I had authorised the deposit to be paid but as it turns out there was too much drama with the space I had picked out and thank goodness the money wasn’t paid on it. Great!
In the mean time, I had to pass on another, larger space which perfectly suited a longer term plan of growing a co-working space populated with creatives, tech startups and freelancers – an ecosystem of innovation. Ce’st la vie.
In any case , some new offices will become available in a month (which is better for my revised timelines) and at a good price. Great also.
Great because, I have no business finding space until I get the people to energise and utilise that space. Which brings me to the next point.
People
‘Come to Malaysia’ they said, ‘We have an well educated work force’. This may be true, but widespread conversational english is not really part of that education!
Also the standard of that education is questionable – there are lots and lots of people with degrees on paper, but without the commensurate social or even technical intelligence!
If I sound a little frustrated, its because I spent valuable time looking through about 37 CVs to find that only about 6 people had the stuff I was looking for.
Malaysia is not alone in the disconnection of its younger work force from pride in its profession. Basically I’m struggling to find developers who love software, who do it in their spare time, who love to talk about it. Of course all of this is ring fenced by the budget constraints I have imposed (which I and others still feel are reasonable). The fact is there are bodies but many of those bodies do not have the mind nor the personalities to thrive in this context.
So, after a few beers and 16.5 minutes of retrospective. I decided to focus my search entirely on graduates and interns. If they don’t come perfectly formed, I want them with as blank minds as possible but with the determination and the drive to want to learn and have fun! This is a fairly different labour group and I am making strides in here (through universities and reputable colleges).
I’m really picky – and for good reason. This team , once formed, is going to remain as stable as possible for a fairly long time (18 months at least). I will invest coaching, training , trust and money into this group of people to transform them into a high performance delivery team. They will be much less my employees and more junior members of a partnership. So I have to have certain types of people. Start-up people basically.
Emergent Vision
Talking to so many people about what I want (in the team etc) , the wwxlabs vision and the business model behind it has helped to tremendously give shape to some of the more fuzzy aspects of the idea.
Through collaborative exploration , I now have answers and clarity to so many areas that I knew I had to think about but did not have to yet. Areas such as how shares will be divided, a better timeline to administrative tasks (find a location, registering a local company), what happens if a business does not sell and the importance of transparency with those impacted with my decisions.
Knowing when to stop.
wwxLabs has no particular timeline – it will start when it starts. But when it does start, there are key things that need to be done by a certain date to ensure we are where we should be to get to where we want to be ( heheehehe).
Fundamentally I need a team to start on my journey. If I don’t get that team within another 6 weeks (middle of May 2010), then this exploration is over, at least in its current form. This means I won’t look to building a team. It means I may become the principal customer of an established team, buy a seat on their board and build the products with them as a joint venture. It is a riskier proposition – but by that point, perhaps the only other viable one.
It may still be Malaysia (depending on the existing expertise of the team) or it may be Ukraine or Argentina. The diversity issue still remains, so Malaysia is still a real option.
That exploration will also be timeboxed (to 3 months) and if I don’t find a suitable partner company , then the wwxlabs plan is parked for another year whilst I focus on other things. Life is too short to pursue things that are not ready to be pursued. The universe does conspire to help you, sometimes that means delaying you until you OR others are ready!
So where does this all leave me?
Well – I go back to the UK on Saturday (the 20th of March) to spend time with the lovely Katharine and the gorgeous Ruben. Then I have my daughters for easter and then I start a coaching gig (I hope!).
I’ll be back in KL on the 9th of May (barring war, death or famine) and a key milestone is running my selection workshop on the 10th of May. If I do not get enough people shortlisted for the workshop in the time in between, then its time for plan B – which is still coming to Malaysia but to evaluate joint venture partners. I already have on in mind , so that work has already started.
Thats it. Be good, follow your dreams and seek the courage to learn from failure.
ps. The diary will be updated weekly from now on. 