Jugaad - Is it Good?

Two weeks ago Swaminomics talked of Jugaad as as our most precious resource. However, I do not think he is right about the origins of the term. I think it predates the appearance of tractors on the fields of the Punjab.

Jugaad rightly means a workaround - a term familiar to software wallahs (at least the ones who worked in acmet's Tools BU:-). In the workshops around Delhi it means the same - a workaround. If a piece of work cannot be held by a machine tool a "Jugaad" is quckly put together. Mechanical engineers study the subject under "Jigs and Fixtures". A jig or fixture, not build on solid mechanical engineering practices, is a jugaad. It will do the job today. But what of tomorrow? It will break after the first few parts are made and  kill or maim the machine operator. What of the tolerance limits of the parts? Will it be the same on the tenth part as on the first? Twenty years ago, I met a young mechanical engineer. Just after college, he had been working for couple of years in Delhi and was now preparing to go to Singapore. He said he was leaving as what you got in Delhi was expeience on Jugaad engineering.

Working around inconvenient laws of the land is also Jugaad. And Mr. Swaminathan Aiyar thinks that it is something that we should be proud of.

Jugaad is neither responsible engineering nor is it responsible citizenship.

Swapan Dasgupta in today's ToI has a rebuttal. I particulary liked the following :

"It has prompted a celebration of expediency, shortcuts and shoddiness. It has created a penchant for taking a winding course where a straight road should suffice. Once the escape route from hell, jugaad has now become an obstacle to India realizing its true potential."

The words remind me where we once were in the Tools BU.

Jugaad is papering up a broken window.

Jugaad, and any workaround, is a wolf in a sheep's clothing.

"Shubh" Growth

The traditional hindu trader has "Shubh Labh" displayed somewhere on the premises of the business.

Shubh is commonly interpreted as good (e.g. "Aap Ka Shubh Naam" gets translated to "Your Good Name"). But Shubh rightly means auspicious. It describes a harbinger of good things to come.

So "Shubh Labh" does not mean just good profits. It means profits that will not damage the future of the business. That is "Ashubh Labh", or inauspicious profits.

So too with growth. There is "Shubh" growth. Growth that is sustainable; growth that ensures that the business conitinues to deliver value to its customers; growth that ensures that its people grow their portfolio of skills and their material well being.

Then there is "Ashubh" growth. Cancer too is growth. It is "Ashubh". It is growth that kills.


Growth can be a wolf in a sheepskin. Process Shepherds must watch out for it.