Skip to main content

niti

yama coincides with the practice of Karma Yoga where selfless service is performed without going after the fruits of the action. In Karma Yoga, God is the beneficiary of the action, the fruits of the action are surrendered as an offering. It is a form of meditation continuously bring the mind back to the task at hand sans the ego.

The question to always ask is: Am I being selfish?

This question is significant as most every action we do is selfish in some way. Patanjali's solution is the five yamas. If we look at the yamas through the lens of the question "Am I being selfish?" we can see how they are designed to help us cultivate a mindset of selflessness.:

  • ahimsa (Non-violence). If we are violent we are being selfish as we are putting our desires above the well-being of others. Any form of violence whether it is physical, verbal, or mental is a form of selfishness. Violence is a way of putting our desired outcome whatever the well-being of others. It is better to get things done in a non-violent way than a violent way.
    • Did I do or think anything violent, raise my voice, said something hurtful?
  • satya (Truthfulness). Always speak the truth. If we do something wrong we should admit it, if we are confused we should be honest, if we don't know something we should say we don't know.
    • Did I lie?
  • asteya (Non-stealing). Stealing is a form of selfishness as it is taking something that belongs to someone else for your own benefit. It can be physical stealing or it can be stealing time. Procrastination is a form of stealing most pertinent to the topic of Karma Yoga as it is stealing time from others.
    • Did I steal something physical?
    • Did I steal time from someone else by procrastinating?
  • brahmacharya (Self-control). The traditional interpretation of brahmacharya is celibacy. But it is more generally self-control. If we are not in self-control we are lead by our ego for the tasks that need to be done. Lust and desires are usually a form of procrastination as they are usually more fun to think about than the task at hand. These include things like: I want to do the fun tasks and avoid the boring tasks, I need to do the easy tasks before the hard tasks. The pure brahmacharya is to do the hard tasks first and not be lead by the ego of doing the fun tasks first. Lastly, loss of control also arises because of fear. Fear is a condition of the ego which is why we need to make friends with fear.
    • Did I do the hard task first?
    • Am I afraid of the fear of failure?
  • aparigraha (Non-covetousness). Covetousness is a form of selfishness as it is desiring something that belongs to someone else. It is a form of greed. It is I want to do the task that someone else is doing because it is easier. I don't want to do the hard task.
    • Did I do my own task?

The goal of the yama is to cultivate good, moral character and to have a clear mind. To accomplish the yama ideal we need the following:

  1. Aspire for a Sattvic ideal.
  2. Live simply and give as much as possible.
  3. Name and fame are poison do not aspire for those!
  4. Thoughts are actions. An impure thought is an impure action.
  5. No half assing. Put your entire energy into the task at hand.

धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah -Manusmriti 8.15

Sanskrit and prestige go together in India. As soon as you have that, none dares say anything against you. That is the one secret; take that up. The whole universe, to use the ancient Advaitist's simile, is in a state of self-hypnotism. It is will that is the power. It is the man of strong will that throws, as it were, a halo round him and brings all other people to the same state of vibration as he has in his own mind. Such gigantic men do appear. And what is the idea? When a powerful individual appears, his personality infuses his thoughts into us, and many of us come to have the same thoughts, and thus we become powerful. Why is it that organizations are so powerful? Do not say organization is material. Why is it, to take a case in point, that forty millions of Englishmen rule three hundred millions of people here? What is the psychological explanation? These forty millions put their wills together and that means infinite power, and you three hundred millions have a will each separate from the other. Therefore to make a great future India, the whole secret lies in organization, accumulation of power, co-ordination of wills. - Swami Vivekananda. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

A sakha is our individual business run by sevakas. Each sakha is a separate business which runs independently. The way we build each sakha is to standardize nearly 80% of the technology stack and processes. This allows us to focus on the 20% that is unique to the sakha.

A sakha has four core characteristics:

  • close follower. Innovation is hard and expensive. It requires a lot of capital and time to get right. Our approach is not be innovators but close followers. What this means is that we are competitor obsessed, we constantly monitor our competitors and figure out ways to build products at a lower cost.
  • boring business. Our businesses are based around jobs to be done model. We focus on building products that solve a specific problem for a specific customer. Each sakha is focused on a specific job to be done.
  • cannibalistic. Our sakhas are built to be cannibalistic. What this means is that we are not afraid to compete with ourselves. If we see an opportunity to build a better product, we will do so even if it means cannibalizing our existing products.
  • AI first. We use AI throughout our stack and accelerate our ability to build new products focused on building one at a time. This requires us to standardize our technology stack and processes.

The ability to launch new products and deliver them has dropped significantly. We can build and launch faster using AI. The ability to experiment and create things faster with AI and Cloud is only going to accelerate. We make use of this capability to rapidly build and launch new sakhas.

The niti are the principles that guide everything. Ironically, these principles are simple, yet difficult to follow. They require discipline, focus, and a settled mind. They are a circular system where each principle feeds into the next. This process is continuous and never ending.

Some companies have a lot of principles such as Bridgewater or Amazon, but those are overkill and lead to confusion. It is hard to keep in mind a ton of principles while also trying to perform the work in that business. So the niti are distilled down to four core principles: Serve, Standardized Processes, Continuous Improvement, and Remove Waste.

Our method is to use either a Lean Six Sigma or Agile method as needed. The way I see it Agile is a way of discovering something unknown. It is a discovery method, the end result of which is a Product Market Fit which itself leads to a discovery of a process. This process can then be optimized with the tools of a Lean Six Sigma process. Lean Six Sigma is also useful in cases of know outcomes. Where throughput and quality are needed such as specific known deliverables with a known process.

These principles have been gathered from these main sources:

  • W. Edwards Deming
  • Lean Manufacturing / Toyota Production System
  • Six Sigma
  • Working Backwards from Amazon
  • Agile Software Development

These principles are then applied within the framework of: sangh, sakha, and sevka. The goal is to be able to apply these principles to people and organizations.

Serve​

They alone live, who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive. -Swami Vivekananda

Build to serve others. Innovation is when you figure something out and make it applicable to others, a form of serving. Building things for their own sake without a purpose of who it is serving is somewhat useless. With a Customer, Partner, Team, or Self in mind, innovate to to serve.

  • Customers. Build products and services that serve customers. Solve their problems and make their lives better. The way to do this is to deeply understand their problems and needs. This requires empathy, listening, and observation.
  • Partners. Whether it is a life partner or business partner the need to be served just the same. Figure out what they need and how you can serve them and make their lives better. Become a preferred partner, someone people like to work and get along with.
  • Team. Serve your team members, employees, and colleagues. Help them grow, develop, and succeed. Create a positive work environment where people feel valued, respected, and appreciated.
  • Self. Serve yourself by becoming a better person. This is not selfish, but rather a way to be able to serve others better. Take care of your physical, mental, and emotional health. Continuously learn, grow, and develop yourself.

Serving is not a one way door. If done well both parties benefit and grow.

When serving there are two things to keep in mind:

  1. Specific Mission. Who are you serving and what problem are you solving for them? Make it specific and clear and easy to communicate. Anything vague is is hard to serve, a specific mission makes it easy to focus efforts.
  2. Single Threaded Owner. Have a single person who is the owner of the business who can make decisions, run the process to drive the mission forward.
  3. Measurable Outputs. How do you measure success in serving them? Have a clear outcome in mind and track progress towards that outcome.

Standardized Processes​

Standardized processes across everything. Slinging guns may be great for a lone wolf, but to build anything great requires systems and processes with clear outcomes. These systems can be either in personal life or business. Have a set of standardized processes that are followed to achieve a Measurable Outputs. A monk like scheduled life is a great example of standardized processes in personal life. A set of documented business processes is a great example of standardized processes in business.

Every standardized process's goal is to achieve a specific Measurable Outcome while Serving. Outputs result based on the inputs. Trying to manage outputs without changing the inputs is impossible. So focus on the inputs, the processes, and the systems to achieve the desired outputs. These input processes should be continuously monitored with charts and graphs to make it easier to understand.

Every standardized process has these characteristics:

  1. Documented. The process is documented in a clear and concise manner. This documentation is easily accessible to everyone involved in the process.
  2. Repeatable. The process can be repeated multiple times with the same outcome.
  3. Measurable. The process uses control charts to measure outcomes. These metrics are tracked and monitored to ensure the process is working as intended leading to the desired Measurable Outputs.
  4. Owned. The process has a clear owner who is responsible for ensuring the process is followed and improved upon.

Uncover Waste​

Entropy is a Law of Thermodynamics. In every system there is waste. Waste is anything that doesn’t serve the purpose of the system. Waste can be in the form of time, money, energy, resources, etc. Waste leads to inefficiencies, stress, loss of quality, and a loss of a settled mind.

Anything that doesn't lead to the improvements of the Measurable Outputs is waste.

Waste can be identified by tracking it. We build systems where any waste whatsoever is tracked and we have a weekly review of this waste. The goal being that we must have an accurate track of the kind of waste we see. Further, waste is a way to empower our team. By giving our team the ability to identify waste, we empower them to improve the system.

These are some common types of waste:

  1. Defects Errors, bugs, rework, failures, misunderstandings.
  2. Overproduction. Making more than needed or earlier than needed (extra features, unnecessary outputs).
  3. Waiting. Idle time when people or systems wait (blocked work, slow approvals, slow CI).
  4. Non-Utilized Talent. Underusing people’s skills, knowledge, creativity (manual tasks engineers shouldn’t do).
  5. Transportation. Unnecessary handoffs or transfers between people, teams, systems (Dev → QA → Ops loops).
  6. Inventory. Work-in-progress that isn’t delivering value yet (open PRs, backlogs, half-finished work).
  7. Motion. Unnecessary movement or context switching (searching for info, tool hopping, interruptions).
  8. Extra Processing. Doing more work than necessary (over-engineering, excessive documentation, duplicate checks).

and

  1. Sort (Seiri). Identify all items in the space (physical, digital, or process steps), tag anything unused or rarely used, remove obsolete tools, files, steps, or equipment, Archive items needed only occasionally, Eliminate duplicates
  2. Set in Order (Seiton). Arrange items for easy access and retrieval, Label storage locations, Create visual cues for organization, Ensure tools and materials are in designated places
  3. Shine (Seiso). Clean the workspace regularly, Remove dirt, clutter, bugs, or code debt, Fix broken tools, configs, scripts, Schedule routine cleaning tasks
  4. Standardize (Seiketsu). Create SOPs, checklists, and guidelines to maintain organization and cleanliness, Establish routines for sorting, setting in order, and shining
  5. Sustain (Shitsuke). Maintain discipline to follow 5S practices consistently Conduct regular audits to ensure adherence, Foster a culture of continuous improvement

Continuously Improve​

While standardized processes are nice as a baseline, the world doesn’t stand still and the environment changes. So every process must be continuously improved. With a 1% improvement every day, over time these small improvements lead to significant gains.

Continuous improvement is lead by the owner of the standardized process. There are a few ways to continuously improve a process:

  • Experiments. Try new things and see if they lead to better outcomes. Use a scientific method approach to test hypotheses and validate assumptions.
  • Failures. If there is a failure, we learn from that failure and improve the process to avoid that failure in the future. This happens through root cause analysis and postmortems.
  • Upstream. All processes have upstream dependencies whether it is a customer, partner, or team member. We monitor these upstream dependencies for changes and improve our process accordingly.
  • Downstream. If there is a downstream improvement on process is there a way to improve our process to take advantage of that downstream improvement.

The way to track continuous improvement is through metrics and control charts. Every process should have a set of metrics that are tracked and monitored. These metrics should be used to identify areas for improvement and track progress over time.