It’s been a very long time since I last added a new post – about nine months – and a lot has happened. I have been working a for a while now. My final project turned into a permanent job and I now work as a manager at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. It is a sister organisation to the university and is the biggest hospital group in the UK. I work for the head of one the main delivery groups, which has about a £150 million revenue on its own, doing change management type projects, with a dose of strategy and new business development. It ticks my boxes in terms of career aspirations: working for a socially beneficial cause; working for a prestigous large organisation; and lots of opportunities to develop and be at the centre of things rather than an external contractor. I decided some time in the Spring that I didn’t want to be a consultant (for a long while at least – never say never). I am enjoying the ability to develop long term relationships and sidestep the barriers that a client/contractor dynamic can create. I certainly haven’t maximised the short term financial potential of my MBA but I am sure I will reap the tangible and intangible benefits over the long term

It is a very hectic time to join the NHS. Although the NHS is supposedly maintaining its budget in real terms, in fact demand is rapidly outstripping supply and in the hospital sector we are looking to make c.30% efficiency savings over the next 5 years. That means lots of cost cutting both of the salami slicing and the strategic innovation kinds.

I was reminded to update this blog because yesterday I was on a panel of people in front of a section of this year’s MBA cohort talking about my experiences and trying to get people to come and do MBA projects in my new organisation. A couple of the audience members actually told me they recognised me from reading my blog – great stuff! I am writing this blog back in the Imperial Central library because I got an extension on my final project and am now frantically writing up the work I did over the summer at the Trust (which turned into a job). One of the reasons I stopped writing my blog was that I spent much less time in the library working where blogging is the ideal way to distract yourself. Now I am back finishing my project blogging is a good distraction again.

How do I feel about my MBA now? It was a great year and I have accomplished my objectives and more. There is a lot being written about how MBAs aren’t what they used to be. Perhaps that’s true but they are very useful nonetheless. Mine has given me a great set of tools that I have been using nearly everyday in my new job. I have made new friends and developed a great network. I have made a role and sector change, albeit one that made sense with my past experience. The MBA cannot work magic, but if you really work on getting the most out of it, it cannot fail to be a great investment. I am hearing of quite a few people getting great jobs already. Many are yet to get the job they want but I am sure they will get there.

I really enjoyed writing my blog. I considered starting another one but I am really busy and feel that I shouldn’t add another demand on my time, so…. farewell!

On the designing and innovating services elective we had to split into groups and do a presentation on a solution to a key service challenge. We were meant to use the tools and approaches we have been taught during the course. It was assessed and forms a significant part of the overall grade. We chose the challenge of “designing out obesity”. Obesity is what is known as a ‘sticky problem’ – very hard to fix.

Our team ‘won’ the competition – we didn’t realise it was a competition until the end when we told we would get vouchers for the gourmet cheese shop, la formagerie. On the team with me was Vlad, Emily, Francesca, Su, Rui and Richard. I’ve attached the presentation: Final Group 4 Obesity Presentation master.

Just been applying for jobs – have decided to focus on my old work again, public sector consultancy. I was on the KPMG jobs website, saw a job, and began to register. Did the usual thing, uploaded my cv, filled n my details, then pressed save. Then bam! I got a message thanking me for applying for the job! Really lucky that the CV was finished. Web designers out there – ‘save’ does not mean ‘apply’! I didn’t upload a cover letter though which is a bit crap, though the website seemed to imply they only want my cv. Contrast that to the Ernst and Young website – good, clear, lots of ‘save as draft’ buttons.

Okay so five down – (Marketing, Strategy, Org behaviour, finance, business economics), two to go (macroeconomics and Accounting).

They’ve been going okay so far but ideas of great marks are pretty much out of the window. I didn’t do enough work over the xmas holidays and have been realising this every day. But I feel like I’m on the home straight. I mustn’t lose momentum. I was feeling pretty stressed over last weekend but am finally beginning to get my head round financial statements which is convenient, given the exam is on Friday. Though I am taking fairlyhigh risk strategies in terms of the number of topics I am revising.

Business economics is not my best subject, but one of the most interesting. I answered questions on tax (what would be the effect of an increase on stamp duty) and externalities (should the price of cigarettes be left to the free market) and price discrimination (I talked about how companies can make more money by having entry fees and per use charges, and why sometimes you want to decrease the quality of software to make more money).

It should a be a heartwarming sight. Back at Imperial I’m watching friends greet each other after the winter break, catching up on what’s been going on; some have exams or coursework deadlines so are working together in a spirit of teamwork…

But they’re doing it on the top floor of the library! aaaaaaarggghhh – p~#s off downstairs please!

My earplugs of choice are the disposable foam kind – basically very effective which is why you haven’t heard any rants from me since my last one. BUt they have the strange effect of magnifying sounds that travel through physical objects – so foot tapping and walking suddenly become like thudding drums.

…about the lack of preparation for snow in the UK! The next time someone says:

“A little bit of snow and this country grinds to a halt. In [insert country where it snows lots every year] we get much more snow and everything is fine”

…I will, I will… well actually I’ll smile politely and nod. But inside I’ll be like “Aaaaargh, how annoying!”

Now the UK government (local, national, all of it) is not perfect. But I don’t believe that it is so drastically more incompetent than comparable countries. The reason the transport system is heavily affected by snow is because it is not worth it for us to invest in snow ploughs, massive numbers of staff to run them, etc for what is usually a light dusting once or twice a year. For example, it usually gets to about about 30 degrees once a year. In 2003 it stayed around that for weeks. But it still doesn’t get hot enough, often enough, to justify all houses having air conditioning. If local authorities across the UK invested in enough snow preparations, only for expensive snow ploughs to lie dormant, most people would think it was a waste of money.

Now this is not to say it couldn’t have been handled better. But again don’t beat up on these guys too much. Everyone learns from experience, and we’re still getting there. Maybe if it does start snowing more we will start investig, but it’s not top of my list given the current deficit.

On another note, I used to a be a governor of a school, and that school closed when it snowed too much because of a shortage of grit – not because they were afraid of kids falling over, but because they were afraid of the legal consequences of kids falling over. That’s f***ed up.

PS this is a great photo of a sat nav with live traffic alerts yesterday in London:

Whenever I check my blog I get excited to see the number of new comments – but then realise they are just spam, sending me into fits of despondency and despair. Thanks to those who have commented on my posts. It makes my blog feel less lonely. Here are some of the more intelligible spam comments I have received – I still can’t fathom how it is really worth someone’s effort to generate these….

Merritt
This weekend has been a blast man I have been obsessed with this full tilt poker game ive been playing. I didn’t even know about full title poker until the other night when my cousin invited me over to have dinner with him and his wife. Dude I stayed up all night playing it. I am almost embarrassed to admit [WTF?]

Robby Crockette
I luv your twitter icon, how did you make it? [I do not have a twitter icon - have no idea how to make one]

Educational Toys
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. [These ones really hurt when I realise they're fake - I can only dream of someone writing something this nice about me]

Cristine Vlcek
I am really enjoying reading your well written articles. It looks like you spend a lot of effort and time on your blog. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles. Keep up the good work! [Again - heartbreaking, I do spend a lot of time and effort on my blog, only to have it degraded with fake praise]

Ambrose Carnahiba
Foremost, let me commend your pellucidity on this subject. I am not an expert on this matter, but after reading your article, my understanding has improved substantially. Please permit me to snatch your rss feed to stay in touch with any future updates. Pleasant job and will pass it on to supporters and my online followers. [I had to look up pellucidity - ironically it means 'easy to understand'. I do wish Ambrose would snatch my feed my more often. BUt I recommend that he stops using Google Translate]

Now that Copenhagen is essentially a resounding failure, my exams are finished, and christmas is coming, I thought I’d go for a more light hearted blog post, but one no less close to my heart.

Biryani, or pilao, is a rice dish cooked with meat or fish or vegetables – it’s my favourite food. Most food cultures have an equivalent: paella, risotto, jambalaya, jollof rice, nasi goreng etc.

What makes biryani stand out is that the rice is very slowly cooked in the cooking juices – nothing else makes a biryani. My (Hyderabadi) mother uses a very traditional method of par cooking the rice before layering it with the meat and sauce and then sealing the dish with a dough.

Every region of South Asia has its own recipe – some add nuts, raisins, potatoes, garnish with fried onion. There’s always a slight difference in the combination of spices.

There are very few places you can get real biryani in London. The vast majority of ‘Indian’ restaurants in the UK actually stir fry rice and a meat curry and call that biryani – it’s not. (But it can be nice too) In my experience the only place I’ve found it in restaurants is in east London – Bangladeshis make great biryani. Biryani House and Dhaka Biryani are the only places which regularly make real biryani. Every day they make a huge pot full and sell it in portions for £4 (or less) It is definitely worth the trip if you are biryani connoseur. Strangely they are a few doors away from each other – I’m sure I should know some economics reason for that to be the case. I used to work a few doors down at the Sure Start and went to these places way too often.  Having said all this – they are a pale imitation of home made biryani – even mine is better than the restaurant version. They are also essentially cafes in pretty grim areas of London (sorry whitechapel high street) so you have to be really committed!

UPDATE: I just received an email from the manager of Kadiris restaurant in Willesden who says that they make the traditional style of biryani – I will definitely be looking into this!

BTW A remnant of the Jewish East End is Rinkoff’s, the best Jewish bakery in London (and I lived in Golders Green for six years). The bread is gorgeous.

Having worked in Whitechapel and Old Street, South Ken is unfortunately finding it hard to compete on the cheap food front. Lots of tourist traps. The uni food is okay and cheap though, but a bit like school dinners. So I thoroughly recommend that you venture beyond the immediate area; London is great for food!

I am an angry old man. Today I told two pairs of people off for talking in the silent study area of the library. If you come to the top floor of central library at Imperial and I’m here, don’t even think of talking. Next time it happens Iwill get violent and shouty. I may throw your laptop down the stairwell.

The pair I told off just now, one of the girls was having a webcam conversation with a third person. WTF? In a library? I was polite with the first pair, but verged on the impolite with that little b…. sorry, I’ll regain control. I just asked her if she was, seriously, having a giggly webcam conversation in the silent study area of the library. I then stood behind her and told her webcam buddy that the conversation needed to end. I stomped back to my desk, blood pumping – writing this blog is calming me down.  She carried on her conversation for about a minute – She was speaking in Russian but I assume she was laughing at me.

BTW the first pair looked at me quite threateningly and then moved about three desks away and continued their conversation. Of course I didn’t do anything about it.

Update: now a guy a couple of tables away from me has turned a noisy fan on and has it pointing directly at him. That would be fine, it gets hot up here, but he is clearly wearing multiple layers of clothes including a massive seater. Take the f*&^ing sweater off! Either take it off, or go to a doctor, because you have some kind of strange hot/cold disorder. Or maybe his laptop is overheating.