A day in the battlefield...


Chariots screech to a halt....half a dozen of them. Warriors and strategists alike, alight from their cosy vehicles and march into Ground Zero. Few hang around to take a puff or two before getting into action. As I get on to the ground after a smooth one-hour drive, an air of calmness greets me. Ironically, that gives me a tinge of excitement and an ounce of anticipation, for, the calmness is most often the silence before the storm.
The scene is a typical morning at the gates of my office, a company manufacturing electronic equiqments used in the field of medicine.
After the customary formalities at the security's, I walk in with my head held high, ready to face the field for the next 8-10 hrs. As I take position(log on my PC at my desk), Aramis walks in rather cheerfully. Two minutes later we are talking about the performance of one of the units that is right now, in an hospital in distant America.
I wear on my armour(the mandatory overcoat that one wears while in the manufacturing shopfloor), and march into the floor to meet my Legions of Volumes(my team of manufacturing associates who turn around our production numbers, thus winning bread for the firm). We spend the next 30 minutes discussing our performance against plan, problems, wins, loses etc...and over a series of jokes and chides we set our game plan for the day and for the week ahead. Positions are changed, few lines are stopped, few are loaded to increase capacity. All set to take on the day's foes.
Its close to one hour of war when I get back to my position from the production floor. The hall is already bubbling with activity...we have them all in full action, Porthos, Athos, Robert Langdon, Erin Brockowich, so on and so forth...and our Supreme Commander Jonah !
What immediately follows is an hour-long internal team meeting where the warriors talk about various operational and strategic issues that are and might effect or affect the course of the business. Each of the subjects are discussed in details, actions set in place and follow-up plans laid out. This meeting is one of the most effective tools that keeps the team going, especially when the battle is thick and tough.
Its now time for a quick break...tea time and juicy grapevine.
And then, the day charges up with gears being switched and heads down to action. Actions coming out of the internal meeting are taken up and followed. Strong calls go back and forth between the supply chain commandoes and the suppliers. Gosh, I really admire them for fighting those unseen distant entities(I would hate to call our suppliers, foes) on an hourly basis to ensure a smooth Operations. Now and then, we see Commander Jonah walk around and talk to his Generals on how the day is going. An integral part of the war is preparing for end-of-the-day tele conferences with collegues, higher-ups, suppliers, customers etc. Complicated data, volumenous and frighteningly complex in many ways get shared across the PCs in blinding speed through the LAN lines. Its close to 3 hours of intense war fare now and the stomachs start grumbling for attention.
Lunch time!...time for stomach filling amidst more grapevine, jokes and occasional business updates.
The tempo is maintained and very often stepped up during the second half of the day. New suprises turn in, some pleasent and some un-pleasant. The Legions continue to send out products. A comrade comes in announcing a major quality issue that brings the concerned commandoes in the office to their feet. In parellel, mails are sent across announcing the issue and a game plan to get back on track. Jonah has just announced an HUGE increase in the demand with very little time to react. The supply chain regiment takes it in bewilderment though it puts on a calm, strong face to it. General Langdon(head of Quality) points out a process flaw that needs to be corrected immediately. Almost simultaneously, one trusted comarade from the line announces his ill-health and thus his inability to carry on any further. I take a deep breath to make some sense out of all this. I decide to take a walk across the product lines. It fills me with joy when I see the products moving out in series of trolleys. I stop by to catch up with a few comrades, tell them how I feel about their recent improvement initiative, how much of a difference they make to the entire game through their endevours. I always try to put in a joke or two with my team, it helps to keep the tempo up. After all, laughter is the best medicine.
I am back at my seat and I have just realised that my "to-do" list is just finished the 20-point mark. The watch tells me that it is less than 2 hrs for the day to get over. Time to get going with the war. The next two hours have me glued into the Laptop. Spreadsheets get filled, mails get shot out, calls get made. I begin to realise that the "to-do" list is unsurmountable before the close of day. After due contemplation, I decide its wise to log out on time, to stay prepared for bloodier battles in the coming days. My innings at the laptop gets regularly punctuated with calls from the line announcing problems and soughting immediate solutions. It is these one-minute problem solving that interests me the most in this whole game. Thinking on the feet is a not a virtue here, it is the basic requirement for survival!
Its soon the home stretch for the day. My comrades for the battlefield fill me with the updates for the day which I put up on the production dashboard.
I give my curt comments as responses and send them back with the plan to think of for the coming day's battle
Meanwhile, few team members are already involved in a tele-conference with an engineering team in the US. I hear Athos greating the listener at the other end. We exchange understanding grins...tricky games these tele-conferences are. Its just about half an hour from the log out time, and I still have a dozen points to close. Recieving updates, mails, and other routine activities take me through the half an hour. Ah, the day has again managed to drain me out, but the thought of heading home is always a freshening one.
As I pack up my ammunition, a couple of comrades run into to give me the last minute updates from the production field. In my rush to catch the chariot, I shove the slip of paper into my pocket, promising to give my comments over the mobile phone.
I bundle up my back-pack and just manage to catch my vehicle.
As I settle into my seat, I close my eyes and grin to myself. Life is all but a theatre stage; we, the actors need to play our roles to perfection, though not to get involved overtly with any of them. The day's battle is won, but the war is still at open. Wow...now that gives the kick.

Note: Names are changed and thus geniune identities are withheld from the reader. Still, any names bearing to resemblance to anyone alive or dead is purely coincidential.
........(extract from the memoirs of D'Artagnan)