Raghunath Soman explores how families can borrow concepts from corporate organizations to improve productivity and planning. Some ideas discussed include: 1) Doing quarterly planning to set achievable deadlines and prevent tasks from languishing without urgency. 2) Establishing emergency procedures so family members know what to do if problems arise and are prepared for foreseeable issues. 3) Tracking important family numbers like finances, health metrics, and keeping each other informed and accountable. 4) Creating an annual budget that lays out expected income, expenses, and provisions for unexpected costs to guide spending decisions throughout the year.

1. LEARNING
FROM THE
ENTERPRISE
Raghunath Soman

2. INTRODUCTION
▪ Earlier, I wrote an article “Agile at Home”, which put
forward the idea of using Agile methodology in our
family life.
▪ I realized that there was in fact much more to the
corporate system that we could borrow and customize
to enhance our personal productivity.
▪ This article is an attempt to explore some ideas in this
direction.

3. QUARTERLY PLANNING
▪ We often make plans, small as well as grand plans, which
fade into oblivion due to the lack of proper planning.
▪ Either we set too stringent deadlines that are practically
impossible to meet, or on the other extreme, we do not set
any time constraints at all, thus ensuring we never get
the task done.
▪ I feel that a quarter of the year (3-month period) is the
perfect time-slice: It gives us some breathing space to
complete, or at least make a good progress on any
activity; and at the same time, it is short enough to bring
some urgency in the execution.

4. EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
▪ This, in my opinion, is one of the most important points.
▪ What to do in case something goes wrong: Whether to act on
impulse, or to follow some guidance?
▪ Every organization has a set of policies in place. They are
carefully documented, and shared with all the employees.
▪ I strongly feel that every family member should be educated on
what things can possibly can wrong, and what should be the
proper response.
▪ Of course, nature and destiny can strike us in ways we can
never imagine.
▪ But it never hurts to be prepared for the known, and let our
mind free to take on the unknown.

5. KNOW THY NUMBERS
▪ All organizations, big, small and medium-sized, focus on numbers:
The bottom line, the top line, the margins, the revenues.
▪ At home, I feel, we could just as possibly pay some attention to
numbers, albeit of a slightly different nature.
▪ More often than not, the family members at best have a fuzzy idea of
finances, and it would help if – at least – the earning members
clearly know where they stand in terms of income and expenditure.
▪ Apart from money, there is another type of numbers that matter to
us, or, should matter.
▪ The BMI, the creatinine level, HDL, LDL... And so on.
▪ These numbers become more and more important with senior folks
in the family and it is imperative that we not only keep a good track
of their status but prepare and act on plans to keep these numbers
in check.

6. ANNUAL BUDGET
▪ This is a bit tricky…
▪ All corporates (and governments, of course) have an annual
budget.
▪ All the expected income and expected expenses are laid out
and tallied. Some provision is also made for unexpected
spending.
▪ This sets the financial tone for the whole year and acts as a
guidance for low or high spending in any area.
▪ With some discipline and careful planning, I see no reason why
every household can’t have an annual budget of their own.
▪ This could be an inclusive-affair, with all the senior members
of the family pitching in and working together to create an
annual budget that meets everyone’s requirements.

7. ▪ Of course, there’s much more to learn from the
enterprise.
▪ Each of these points should have their own write-ups.
▪ But I hope this at least got you started thinking.

8. THANK YOU