Preparing
for Conversations with Raj Datta
Cultures,
Communities and Change
Raj
Datta
General Manager, Knowledge Management, MindTree Consulting
Bangalore, India
 Introduction
I
'met' Raj as a lurker during one of Stan Garfield SIKM (Systems
Integrators KM) Leader conference calls and knew for certain
he and the MindTree story would be a sure hit as an Inside
Knowledge Magazine case report. The July/August issue should
be out by the time this Dialogue begins and I will include a
copy of it in this Raj Datta STAR Page as soon as a PDF is available.
Both
Raj and I will be speaking at the Ark Group's KM Asia event Nov.
7-9 in Singapore, and so finally we will meet f2f. I can't wait!
I must confess I have become a huge fan of MindTree while doing
the case report and if I were a little younger, I would be campaigning
for a job! MindTree comes as close to providing the perfect (but
of course not quite) KM environment I have ever seen because
the company was built from the idea forward with a KM-like philosophy
in mind.
Raj
was in the US at the time he joined as a principal and MindTree
Mind number nine. Soon he was in India discovering fertile ground
for KM and transferred there. I'll let you read the rest of that
story when I get the PDF, but meanwhile, the first few paragraphs
of the draft are included below.
The
magazine article on emergence and Raj's opening focus
on cultures, communities and change are very much connected.
I'll explain why in my opening post.
Meanwhile,
I am pleased to present Raj Datta as guest moderator for the
July 2006 edition of the STAR Series Dialogues.
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Biography
Raj
Datta is general manager, knowledge management, at MindTree Consulting.
As head of the KM corporate function, Raj has global responsibilities
for all aspects of innovation, knowledge sharing, collaboration,
and software reuse. He has established KM as a key global strength
for MindTree as noted in MindTree's successful assessments at
Level 5 in CMMi and also P-CMM, and has led MindTree to become
a 2006 Indian MAKE finalist. Prior to assuming this responsibility,
Raj was heading the offshore delivery of all US engagements for
MindTree's IT Services business.
Before
joining MindTree, Raj held senior management positions in US-based
consulting firms, such as SHL Systemhouse (now EDS) and ThoughtWorks.
Raj has also held technical positions focusing on software development
and decision sciences. At Air Products and Chemicals he was a
member of the core team in the decision sciences department.
He has over 15 years of industry experience, including delivery
of large-scale enterprise solutions in the U.S.
Raj
has an M.S. in computer science from Lehigh University, an M.Eng.
in operations research from Cornell University, a B.S. with double
majors in electrical engineering and operations research from
Cornell University, and a B.A. with double majors in computer
science and mathematics from Cornell University.
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Pre-Dialogue
Remarks
Enabling
KM within an enterprise requires a change in the way people think,
behave, converse and act. This is highly intangible, and at the
core, appropriate canonical values need to be defined that allow
the emergence of the appropriate corporate culture. There needs
to be a defined support structure that reinforces the values
and enables change.
As
part of the support structure, there is a significant role for
social networks in an organization to be the conduit of change.
Self-organized communities are a means by which the organization
can sense environmental shifts and adapt accordingly by transmitting
the change across its social network. Culture, Communities, and
Change are hence inter-related and reinforce each other and have
to be used together for impact. Some specifics that can be discussed
include:
- Building
a Knowledge Culture and Support Structure
- Enabling
and Sustaining Communities
- Enabling
Change: Controlled v. Emergent
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Emergence
Reaping the joy of self-organization from the mind tree
From
copyright cover story, Inside
Knowledge magazine, July/August, 2006. By permission only.
Emergence.
This single word may hold more meaning than all the rest of the
lexicon of knowledge management put together. If it's new to
you, you will be adding it to your vocabulary by the conclusion
of this report about a company whose founders knew in 1999 they
were stepping into a different era and focused accordingly on
the intangibles and cultures that would drive the 21st century.
The
10 founders-and the other MindTree Minds* that followed-built
the company on values of openness, transparency, trust, communication,
questioning and teamwork, an equation that would carry this company
from a few MindTree Minds* in India and the US to over 3,000
worldwide.
*MindTree Minds. That's what MindTree Consulting Pvt.
Ltd. calls all its people. Others might call them 'employees,'
or for social reasons, 'associates,' but MindTree Minds are more
than that - they are a significant portion of the intellectual
capital upon which the company is built.
PDF
of the full case report.
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