Ranjith Venkatesh

Category: Scribbles

  • Is there a Gratwanderer in you?

    View from Heimgarten to Herzogstand, Bavaria, Germany

    A Gratwanderung is “Walking along mountain ridges”

    I imagine walking along mountain ridges from movies.

    • Like in the Lord of the Rings when the group keeps walking from one mountain to another

    I had been on simple treks with a few metres towards the end with ridges. Last weekend me and my sister were faced with a walk that would take 2 hours and 15 minutes one way with an elevation difference of 200m.

    Both of us do not like heights

    Both of us considered ourselves to be avid hikers and trekkers but not necessarily gratwanderers!

    Here are a few things the German Alpine Organisation (DAV) recommends

    • Local weather conditions
      • 20-22 degrees Celsius
    • Elevation difference during the ascent and descent
      • Herzogstand 1731m
      • Heimgarten 1790m
    • Length and Timing for the tour
      • 2 hours 15 minutes for international tourists
      • 1 hour 30 minutes for local hikers
      • 1 hour for sporty hikers
    • Type of terrain
      • Walking along mountain ridges
      • DAV calls it BLACK
    • Huts to eat and drink
      • Heimgarten has a small hut heavy on sausages and pea soup for vegetarians

    We decided to do it.

    The first 10 minutes were difficult but after that our lungs got used to the new breathing and our legs to the new terrain.

    When we arrived at Heimgarten we saw a guy wearing a pink bunny costume and singing Oktoberfest songs.

    The beer was cold and the pea soup was just right to get us ready for the way back.

    We took 2 hours on each way.

    The way back felt easier because our lungs and legs knew what was in store.

    When we came back to Herzogstand we added a BLACK rated hike as a feather on our caps.

    We were proud of ourselves.

    Are we walking blue and red rated hikes at work?

    • Is there a black rated hike that we are postponing or hiding from our teams?
    • Can we take it on with proper preparation and bit of courage?
    • Do we know the hikers and trekkers in the team waiting to become gratwanderers?

    Is there a Gratwanderer in you?

    Are you ready for your first or next BLACK hike?

  • Message first or Story first

    Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

    How do we start putting together a speech?

    Message first or Story first?

    I very often have a story that happened to me in the past. I feel like I learnt something from that story that I would like to share. I then take it and make it part of my speech and then build the speech around it. I find this approach organic. Sometimes getting a supporting frame to this story is challenging.

    Having a message first reminds of me of being called to make an Impromptu speech. I have a phrase or challenge thrown at me and I need to build from there. In this case as I get warmed up with a first few sentences, my mind is chugging away in the background trying to put together stories that happened in my life and try to relate them with the topic. The moment any story matches a bit, I bring it in. During my story narration, I keep looking for a nice to loop back to the message. The advantage of this approach is that the message is known and everything is built on it.

    What is your approach when you write your speeches?

  • Story Cubes

    I like games.

    I like stories.

    I like games which encourage storytelling.

    I picked a game called “Rory’s Story Cubes” for my daughter recently.

    You throw dice and start your story with the classic “Once upon a time”

    And here goes:

    https://www.storycubes.com/

    Once upon a time

    • there was a bee called “Walter”
    • Walter lived in a tree on the topmost branch.
    • One day he flew down to smell a flower.
    • Walter noticed a big scary shadow from the side of his eyes.
    • BAZOOM! A shooting star just streaked past the sky!
    • From behind the tree walked a man wearing a mask.
    • He was singing a tune about how happy he was!
    • Walter gave a timid smile and only realized
    • There was LOVE in the air!

    We even play the games in different variants

    • Each one says one sentence on one dice and the other one continues
    • We change languages – English one round and German another round
    • We change endings – Happy and Sad ending

    Do you have a game which encourages storytelling?

    Are you using storytelling at work to grab the attention and increase retention of the idea with your team members and stakeholders?

  • Agile Vlogmas – Apps and Hardware

    I decided to do a Vlogmas for Christmas last year.

    24 short videos over 24 days from December 1 to December 24, 2021.

    After trying a few different tools, I settled down with two Apps inbuilt in Windows namely the Camera and the Video Editor App.

    Hardware used: (links below)

    I use the Logitech 4K Pro Webcam and I am happy with the video quality.

    I use an external mike namely the RODE NT-USB Mini and I am happy with the audio quality.

    I use a table top external ring light namely the Neewer LED Ring Light and I am happy with the light quality.

    Step 1:

    Recording the video using the Camera App.

    Two settings which helped me were the Framing Grid and the Video quality.

    I used the “Rule of thirds” for the framing grid and ensured that my head moved around in the middle box.

    The Video quality was set to 1080p (Full HD). If your laptop does not have Full HD, get yourself a Full HD webcamera. It is worth the video quality.

    I decided on an idea for the video and storyboarded in my mind. As the video length is aimed at 2 to 3 minutes, it is easier to storyboard it in the head. Anything longer might need a storyboard on paper or the equivalent.

    Once the video was recorded, the only thing that it needed was to be trimmed in the beginning and the end for a few seconds.

    I first did it with YouTube video editor but then realised that there is an Windows inbuilt video editor which is easier and faster.

    Step 2:

    Editing the video using the Video Editor App

    Create a new video project and import the untrimmed video from earlier.

    The video trimmer is very basic and I like it for this kind of video.

    The first few seconds are the ones where you click on the record button and get ready. These seconds need to be trimmed. You may either move the trim control or use the arrow buttons to move step by step. I realised that I have a special look in my face before I start talking and I wait for that short span before the mouth opens and catch that point for the initial trim.

    The last few seconds are the ones where you click on the stop record button. Your eyes are looking at the stop button and these seconds need to be trimmed too.

    Once the trimming is done, you may finish the video and remember to select the 1080p for Full HD video quality.

    Now you have a video ready for publishing in different platforms like YouTube and Instagram.

    Apps:

    Camera App

    Create films with Video Editor

    Hardware:

    Logitech 4K Pro Webcam with HDR and RightLight 3

    Logitech G HUB – Logitech Support + Download

    NT-USB Mini | Studio Quality USB Microphone | RØDE Microphones (rode.com)

    RØDE Connect | Podcasting & Streaming Software | RØDE Microphones (rode.com)

    Table Top Ring Light – neewer.com

  • Loyalty

    Photo by Sebastian Vacca on Unsplash

    It was afternoon and I had written two messages on WhatsApp to two different friends. As usual, I expected the messages to show me a tick in a few seconds.

    NO! I saw an icon I had not seen for years. Something which looked like a clock indicating that my message had not been sent.

    I waited for 5 seconds!

    I started getting jumpy at 10 seconds!!

    I knew that something was wrong with the world at 15 seconds!!!

    I started to PANIC.

    One message was about a cousin looking for a job.

    Another message was about planning a meeting for a restaurant.

    Both obviously very important messages that could NOT wait.

    I opened another App after 1.5 minutes namely Telegram.

    Luckily both friends were on it and I copied the messages from WhatsApp and sent them on Telegram.

    Both messages left my phone and went off to my friends!

    PHEW, I was saved.

    My loyalty for sending messages to friends using an App(that I had used for 5+ years) switched after a downtime of 1.5 minutes.

    How long does our loyalty to our Apps last?

    How long does our loyalty to our Companies last?

    How long does out loyalty to our Friends last?