Monday, June 4, 2007

Growing Up

It’s a strange feeling coming from a weekend of tending to your 2-year-old’s needs and wants… Makes you wonder if documenting business processes in the cool and professional interiors of your workspace is the preferred alternative to spending a day (or rather a weekend) with those tiny pair of legs, that cover more distance in your mind than on the run.

But this blog is not about the process of raising a child; rather it is about the process of growing up (as experienced by a child) … so when you do look at it from a child’s point of view, it sure looks a challenging and a confusing task. So, here he is, in a strange world with stranger faces, going through a process without any defined template, nor any defined worksteps, nor does it follow any linear methodology. It sure looks daunting, considering that more experienced grown-ups still face a problem following a process, even with all their technical expertise and education. Right from the “task” of crying for food to getting their first haircut (imagine, without any “simulation”), it is a continuous learning process, without any “End” workstep nor any collaboration enabled.

Simply put ourselves into those tiny shoes and we realize how much less complicated our growing-up process had been. The universe around us, was much less sophisticated (not necessarily, easier) and things much more simpler to understand.

So while a child is the father of man, growing up is definitely the mother of all processes. It compels me to completely believe my kid’s teacher when she says she has learned more from the kids in her teaching career, than what she has managed to teach them; makes me wonder as to who is actually growing up.