I have been using Makefiles as long as I can remember. When I was using Ruby I was fond of Rake. I have largely stayed with Python as my language with opsZero. Using Python the ecosystem while large and diverse has the problem of being a pain to get consistency.

With uv that has changed. It is really easy to invoke binaries, have multiple Python versions and in general the speed of running things is just great. With uv a core install I am moving from make to invoke as my process manager.

Why now?

Well uvx invoke works well and I don’t have to worry about random breakages.

uv init --bare
uv add --dev invoke fabric
uv run invoke

As a process oriented person my orientation is a process oriented organization. Within these processes are certain output goals that we have that allow us to have a sustained growth. But we use process to continuously grow the business. One of the problems is that processes and measurements tend to live in different places making it confusing to understand how a business is doing. Our businesses had different methods of measurements or no measurements at all. This has lead to a businesses and employee development that to be completely frank were shit.

I am implementing Standard Operating Procedures across the existing businesses starting with DiscountCloud, Kubespot, PolicyCop and opsZero. The goal of these SOPs is to have a common process standard across everything I do. The approach I am going with this is to do more actionable tasks first then go back up the stream to the more higher level ideas.

So the standardization I intend to work on will be done in phases in this order:

1. Feature / Bug. Standardize Feature and Bugs
2. Kanban
3. SOP.
   1. Value Stream Map
   2. Routines
      1. Deming
   3. Reports
      1. WBR
         1. Output Metrics
         2. Input Metrics
4. PRFAQ
5. Assign Owners

| By performing their prescribed duties, King Janak and others attained | perfection. You should also perform your duties to set an example for the good | of the world. Whatever actions great persons perform, common people follow. | Whatever standards they set, all the world pursues. -Bhagavad Gita 3.20-3.21

I am merging JnanaPress into abhiyerra under sevaka. As a part of the process of continuously improving myself having my sadhana be separate from myself as an example I set to others is not useful. If I am going to be leading businesses I need to myself become an example of what I am leading. I don’t expect what I am doing to be independent. I intend to be the first sevaka where what I propose I follow.

I can’t always meditate or sit for prayer. Further, my study is all over the place and not consistent so I am trying to simplify my Routine. Instead of having three types of Meditation I will just have one. This will just be a meditation for 20 minutes and study of the sastras for 10. So a 30 minute block of study. This simplifies the practice and I have the exact same type of meditation every time so that I can get into a groove.

Having three different types of meditations is not fruitful and is a bit distracting. By having a single type I can get into the same type of meditation every time. Secondly, having the study after the meditation I can focus after clearing my mind instead of distracting it. I am performing a Raja Yoga which is “yogas citta vritti nirodah” so distracting the mind by focusing on a verse first seems to be counterintuitive. So my focus is to read the texts after.

Lastly, I may not always be able to meet the meditation time. So if I cannot meet it I will focus on working on studying the sastras or study some spiritual text.

As part of my Meditation routine I had the study of supplemental texts, but what I found was that this I am going through too many different supplemental texts and not really focusing on any one of them at a time. Secondly, reading secular texts was not happening such as how to be a better father. So I am making some changes to my Routine to solidify the Study & Work time.

They will be two hour chunks of time and I will focus on my work but the first Study & Work will start with 30 minutes of spritual study and the last Study & Work will end with 30 minutes of spiritual study. My focus on these spritual studies will be to the read the same text so that I can focus on getting through a single book.

The primary textual focuses are the Hanuman Chalisa, Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita. Everything else being supplemental to these three core texts. By reading only one supplemntal text at a time I can then focus on improving a single area of weakness instead of spreading myself thin.

The supplemental texts are texts to assist in understanding and put into practice the core texts better. For example, reading "Meditation and Spiritual Life" is there to assist my understanding of the Yoga Sutras. My reading of the "Gospel of Ramakrisha" is a way to understand the Bhagavad Gita better. My reading of Vivekananda is a way to understand the Hanuman Chalisa better.

Finally, since I am moving my study of these texts into the Study & Work period I can spend larger chunks of time reading them when I have time. This allows me to have a larger chunk of time to focus on these texts instead of just small chunks. Each of these supplemental texts are not just for reading but for putting into practice and so having larger chunks of time is important so I can take the knowledge and implement it.

One of the reasons I think this change is also good is that if I do not make it to reading the supplementary texts so I can read other texts I don't mentally feel bad. I still am reading the sastras so it is okay. I can read other texts when I have time.

There is something to be said about being a Hindu living in the West. India still is a hierarchical society, while it is changing it is moving quite slowly. Being in America that didn’t exist. It is a flat society with upward mobility, and while I do think that the American Empire is in decline, I do not think America itself is.

America has a lot of attributes that I think can be balanced by the ideas of Hinduism. America is a hyperindividual society, India is still a society built on family bonds. There is a constraint on what one can do in India or what the family wants, America is ideologically built on individualism and pursuing one’s own goals. I don’t think either one is right, and the balance of both is where things lay.

You need individualism to take the risk of starting a business or doing something entrepreneurial and different within the workspace, you need a moral bond that ties you to the family with the goal of uplifting the entire family up. Both are needed. I think we are weirdly returning to that equilibrium anyways with both societies chasing after the values of the other.

I do think America is going to become more conservative and religious over time. I do think India is going to become more individualist over time. But the goal is an equilibrium.

Modernity is not wrong, it is wrong when it is unconstrained like it has been in the West. Modernity has given immense progress, but has led people to unhappy within that progress. What we in America need is a moral footing.

| Worshipping the Idol is the first step; better than this is repetition of a | holy Name and singing of divine glories. Better still is dhyana or contemplation | and the last and the highest state is to realize ‘I am He’. -Tantrasara, | Meditation and Spiritual Life by Swami Yatiswarananda page 380.

So the way to read this is as follows:

1. Pray externally on an idol, an alter, or at a temple. The goal is to setup a dualistic entity that is outside of you as the basis for worship.
2. Japa and memorization of devotional songs.
3. Meditation in a Raja Yoga sense in a dualistic way
4. Jnana Yoga and understanding oneself as ‘I am He’

I’ve already noticed that the different forms take up different aspects of my life. All three are the same. Hanuman is an avatars of Shiva, Shiva is a Saguna Brahman, and Saguna Brahma leads to Nirguna Brahman. When I think of my body Hanuman plays a strong role. When I think of myself as a soul Shiva takes a strong role. However, in meditation it seems to bridge between Saguna and Nirguna.

So I do think the three forms are helpful in day to day life. While I return to my Ista mantra, I also find it helpful to have a mantra (Jain Shree Ram) for when doing something physical to light myself within. This focus on Hanuman at the physical level focuses the body and work as service to the divine.

The mantra repeatedly internally is to focus the mind on Shiva which leads to the oneness of Brahman in meditation.

I was under the impression that assigning multiple people to a project would be easy to manage but the result was the opposite. Adding multiple owners to a project led to confusion as to how to divide up work. The problem is that the owner should figure out how to divide up the work, no rely on someone above dealing with it. If a person above is splitting the work then there is actually no owner.

So I am stealing the Amazon idea of a Single Threaded Owner. Each owner is responsible for a single sakha or sangh. Every owner then runs the process top to bottom and the figures out how to optimize each piece and so on and so forth.

So I am now assigning owners to each product.

My role is changing and changing quite fast from working in the business to working on the business. I don’t think I thought I would be in this position and it shows. I am a bit inexperienced in this particular arena of organization, process management, and people development. Ironically, these are the areas that I need to work on the most for the growth not just in terms of professional but also in terms of personal life.

Whatever I do whether family, spirituality, or work these three skills are a big part of the challenge. As Swami Vivekananda says, “the whole secret lies in organization, accumulation of power, co-ordination of wills.” So my core focus is around these three things with the goal of delegating most everything else.

As a small business owner it is important to know all sides of the business but it is more important to setup the processes for things to happen repeatably. The repeatability reduces stress and allows you to have predictable outcomes.

As part of this learning my goal is to really dial in my focus:

• How to design organizations.
  • How to design for knowledge accumulation.
• How to setup good standard procedures.
  • How to ensure the standard procedures are working on the right thing.
• How to hire well.
  • How to train a team.

These are all questions that I want to learn better and then immediately put into practice. Further, as I have different types of companies I am working on each type of company has a different perspective.

As part of this I will be reading a few types of books:

• Biographies of Great Leaders
• Understand Organization of Great Companies
• Understanding Effective Project Management
• Effective Hiring, Training and Delegation

For a person of action Jnana Yoga and the nature of the self are difficult. Understanding the basic tenants of science including physics and chemistry I understand where Jnana Yoga is coming from. That the true nature of reality is none other that the universe and since we all came from the Big Bang that the universe and the individual are the same.

The energy that animates the universe is within us and we are part of it. It is beautiful, inspiring, and impossible to practice as a householder. While, Jnana Yoga appeals to the logical aspect of my brain, it is the Ista that I turn to in times of crisis. It is easier to mentally visualize and pray to an embodied representation versus a formless entity.

While Bhakti eventually leads to Jnana I do think I need to develop my heart through Bhakti. It is easier for me to think of myself as a servant than as the same as the Self. Ironically, I find that when I think of myself as the Self I become a bit more egoistic and lazy. As a servant I am motivated and have a purpose.

So I am putting my deep study of Advaita Vedanta on hold for a couple of years. While I will continue to engage with the Bhagavad Gita it will be at a higher level versus a deep philosophical inquiry. This will be the same for the Upanishads. If I find that I get more inclined towards Jnana Yoga in the future I will revisit it as I open up to it but I will not force it.

The core philosophy of Vedanta is immensely subtle and I don’t think I have the correct mindset or the predisposition to attack that path. But as a householder I think it is best to focus on Karma, Bhakti and Raja Yoga as my main paths. The Jnana Yoga will still be there to understand the ultimate nature of reality but I will not focus on it as a main path for now.

So for now I will focus on:

• Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga to purify my heart
• Raja Yoga to calm my mind