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POOLS: Our Specialists

Pooling one's resources and working for the common benefit of all concerned is something that we are all well acquainted with. This article describes "pools" that are an indispensable ingredient of our organization.

At Stylus Systems, employees belonging to all disciplines of work are collectively nurtured in "Pools" of different brands. These pools are process-oriented skill and technology teams that conduct cutting-edge research and work on projects that are oriented towards facing future challenges. How organized and structured teamwork in activities with a futuristic bent can help any organization, in addition to fuelling personal career growth.

Out of the box coaching
Pool members equip themselves to handle challenges and new situations and project themselves as the "specialists" with whom the rest of the organization can consult. They become skilled at the latest technology and skills and create projects that will help them get the hands-on experience that comes from learning on the job. With a mentor to guide them along their road map, all the pools, whether in technology or skill pools like design or QC or development, work along with the other pools to contribute to the future of the organization and most importantly to their own personal growth. What we have here are R&D teams with a difference.

What is this difference that we are talking about? Almost every organization in the world has an R&D department. So, what's new here? Well, this R&D team contributes to the 'today' part of the organization and also studies and works in projects that will be useful for a better 'tomorrow'. We are looking at individuals who are not just specialists in a particular field but also those who can work in any other upcoming field with the equal élan and skill. What they are doing in effect is adding to their repertoire keeping future trends in mind.

The pool projects and activities are not connected with the daily project work that happens in the organization. For example, if the organization plans to move into enterprise applications in the next few months, the pools devote themselves to research and training in these areas. Be it new ideas on marketing, or interface design or development, the pools become the one-point contact for anyone in the organization. The sales and marketing team then promotes this expertise to prospective clients. The need for a consultant when a new project is obtained is then eliminated.

Standing in a pool of light
Pools are opportunity centers that help identify and maximize opportunities for mobility and professional development within the organization. What they can do is to control their professional destiny to a certain extent.

When we began as a start-up organization consisting of 3 members, we were acquainted only with a few technologies. But today, we are a bigger organization with a wider area of experience and expertise in a multitude of technologies and skills.

Through the pools we ensure that our organization is at the forefront of cutting edge technology and skills at any point of time. This gives us the confidence to handle any kind of project in the future. Almost every area of our work starting from development, to project management and system administration are represented in our pools. The technology pools are the .NET, Java and Linux, while the skill pools are in web analytics, interface design, software development, content and QC.

How the pools work

Let me describe how the pools work, how we ensure that the work they do is being evaluated and measured and improved upon, etc.

When the pools were created, the first item on their agenda was to define a vision statement and a process by which they would operate. The next step was to enlighten everyone else in the organization with this information. The vision statement described what each team member visualized for the organization, the team and his/her individual career growth. A coherent vision for the pool provided a common direction and motivated the team members to believe in what they are doing.

Inputs from each pool to the other pools were defined clearly and a road map for each pool was drawn. The road maps from different pools were then consolidated to ensure that all staff members had a clear understanding of the roles played by each person. This consolidation was of prime importance, as it made sure that each pool worked on activities and projects that aligned with the projects from other pools. To maintain a check and acquaint the rest of the organization on the status of their work, Pool leaders give weekly reports on their projects.

The key areas that pool members gain expertise in are Research, Training, Processes and Consultancy. Research on futuristic projects that help train themselves or others and establish well-defined processes that will inspire consultancy expertise are the main focus here.

Let me give you an example. The development pool, brought out a set of coding conventions that ushered in a kind of a standard to the code written by the various developers in the organization. The idea being to give some kind of homogeny to the code that is churned out by the reams at our organization on the multitude of projects that we work on.

There aren't any international standards for coding. But, the importance of developing a set of standards within an organization cannot be neglected. This makes the code easily debuggable at any time in the future and can be classified as the primary requirement from any client.

The interface pool studies tools for application interface development and streaming video servers, while the QC pool ensures that software-testing procedures are enforced within the organization.

Career advancement
Working in pools help individuals move on to a fast lane of success. They transform themselves into individuals, who have a clear vision of where they are going, who are passionate about their goals and have learnt to maximize every opportunity for success.

The vision of the organization is to continue to support their reputation for excellence and also promote stable employment and personal growth for their employees. Through the pools, the company has learnt to not just attract the best talent, but also keep them.

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