I recently had a conversation with a well read and well traveled friend of mine about an article we came across in a leading electrical engineering publication: “Common design mistakes.” Moving beyond the initial cynicism around how this was the time of pessimistic news headlines all around, we started seriously pondering over how engineering and product development have evolved. Gone are the days when a design specification sheet for a product carried instructions on how to build something right; now it’s all about how to avoid common errors around it.

The wise man had a good analogy: the most recent electronic component that we sourced from a leading consumer electronics manufacturer, had its errata sheets multiple pages longer than the product guide in itself. Notwithstanding the pressure to ship something in whatever state, so as to gain the “early bird” advantage in this consumer era, there is a level of responsibility each one of us has as professionals, to product design and the associated disciplines.

I wonder 20 years ago if the engineers had the same mindset if we would have made all the rapid advancements we have made today. It is the onus of every individual to make sure there is a balance between delivering to short-term materialistic commitments and preserving long-term value for the efforts.

No wonder this led to the term: “technical debt”. A lot of the high-tech companies are putting in serious efforts today, to address this debt they’ve accumulated over the years, for varying reasons – internal and external. I am not sure who coined this kind of “debt” term specifically but I can see a lot of value in equating this to the financial markets and the general world economic situation we face today.

If the financial curriculum of the Harvards and Stanfords of the world had included how not to do certain things, maybe the thought of severe repercussions would have played a role in reducing the magnitude of bad decisions taken.

I was privy to a recent airing of a documentary on this very subject: titled “House of Cards” aptly, this focused on the collapse of the market led by the decisions around mortgage securities and lending institutions. What they did not address was, to me, a critical step of righting the wrong: capturing specific lessons and mistakes of today, so they aren’t repeated in the future. It feels like we have come to a point in society today where knowing the wrongs are more important, so that we can avoid those perils, and thereby be on the right track.

As a fifth grader attending a special course on preparing for a Math Olympiad, the instructor said the best way to approach solutions to complex problems was to eliminate the choices – to think that we all laughed back, then!

I am sure “The Bernie Madoff” will be a crucial case study in the not too distant future (or maybe even a postulation), but does it take what it did to actually learn from it? In a way, I am thankful to the likes of Madoff for without them, we would have lost a valuable lesson.

If we can predict and work around common “design mistakes” for replaceable materialistic objects, I am sure that we intellectuals of the 21^st century can learn from regulatory mistakes (or lack thereof, of sufficient regulations) to avert large-scale global situations like the ones we currently face…what say?

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It’s back to basics – so it seems. The ” good old days” – days when firms would simply throw money to retain people, Compensation Managers were given marching orders to “do what it takes” to retain talent and in the bargain delivered top dollar increases and fancy variable pays, when counter offers was the need of the hour and kept compensation managers on their toes -

This all seems to be a passe!

With global recession tightening it’s grip around us and with nightmares like the 50B US$ fund run by Bernaud Madoff coming to light, analysts say this is the tip of the iceberg!

I wish it isn’t because what we have been through over the last few months has been more than what we can take. Unfortunately, my wish isnt going to come trough and this will last a few more months – the damage, unraveling like a ravaging hurricane, the magnitude of which will be know only when the storm passes!

While we duck for cover and realize that umbrellas are not enough to weather this storm, compensation managers are going through a pretty different and unique year end / compensation planning process. Quite a few firms that I know, both big and small have said they don’t plan to do merit raises this year – some of the other players are even taking a call on doing away with variable pay plans, not to mention the scary issue of headcount reduction.

So what does the employee feel?

Well – at least some of my experiences tell me that the real world is living in an ivory tower. I’ve had a few folks walk by to me and say, “Can you tell me how much increase I am going to get ? “, “I want to know the “exact” percentage of my bonus!” and I am stumped for words!!!!

It’s sad that a majority of the work force thinks that this is a passing cloud. I can’t blame their ignorance because they probably don’t understand the magnitude of what we are contending with today. But as someone who reasonably understands the situation, I can tell you one thing – the good old days are gone forever and will never ever return.

Hold on! I’m not a pessimist. I am an eternal optimist!!! I’m not predicting doomsday for a second. The point that I am trying to make is that corporates are learning lessons and learning them hard and fast – mistakes teach us a lot and this one is no different.

This too shall pass say some – Yes!.. This too will, because we can’t expect to see things never improve. They will and they better.. Just that the new world order has arrived and when things get back to normal – it’s back to the days of our parents, days when value propositions will be driven by learning and growth opportunities, loyalty to firms having some value and of course, compensation being at the bottom of the stack..

Good bye good old days, welcome to the new world order!!! – if your firms want to survive!

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