Rahul Verma: My Petty Bits

Do you recall who was Jambvanta? Yes? No? Park that thought. We’ll come back to it later. Let me first get into the context of writing this article.

There are lakhs of software testers in India. Thousands of them do very good work. A few hundred of them have become popular over time by showcasing their work and ideas. These public figures use various platforms to reach out, which work to different degrees of success, be it social platforms or testing conferences.

Those whose voice can reach many parts of the community often either underestimate themselves or end up using their powers mostly for selling themselves or what contains their vested interests. They might think or say that it’s not their fault that they are popular. However, there is a cost and responsibility to public presence and recognition. They earn this expectation debt from the very community they reach out to, from the testers that look up to them.

Testing conferences are no exception. In the disguise of community platforms, more often than not, they end up becoming single-track or multi-track lecture theatres where everybody is an expert on stage, disconnected from the ground realities, with sheer lack of empathy for the community sitting on the other side of the stage. Everybody sells dreams, fears or success stories. Think about this – You submit a paper/presentation about how you completely failed in X; would a conference select it as a part of the programme? You are expected to provide solutions, however fake, unrealistic and far-fetched they might be. This hypocrisy breeds similar self-labeled experts – fake, unrealistic and far-fetched.

A few of us also start wearing various caps like – “Expert cap”, “Mentor cap”, “Visionary Cap” etc.

And I want to be clear here. I am no exception to this hypocrisy. So, this article is also about me. In a way, I am writing to myself. You are safe, if would like to be.

What are we doing, really? Such an utter waste of power! 

Back to Jambavanta.

A great thing about epics is… well they are epics. So, they have many stories. People like simplicity. They want clearly recognisable heroes and villains. In this process, some critical characters take a back seat in people’s memory.

One such character that appears in Ramayana is Jambavanta. While writing this post, I also came to know that the character also appears in Mahabharata. Some writings indicate that he might have witnessed nine avatars of Vishnu.

The stories that I specifically find interesting about Jambavanta are these:

1. Hanumana had forgotten that he could fly. It’s Jambavanta who reminded Hanumana that he could fly.

2. It’s Jambavanta who informed about life-saving Sanjeevni booti, that eventually saved Lakshamana’s life.

What’s striking in both these stories is that Jambavanta didn’t position himself as an “expert” or “enabler” or “mentor” or “visionary”. He just informed about what he knew. He just reminded others what they are capable of or what is the possibility. He also informed about his weakness of why he’s not able to take a jump because of an injury he suffered. People might find him as a side character, a supporting cast, however, look carefully and he’s present at many critical points in the story.

Can you imagine Jambavanta going to a raised platform and talking about importance of flying? Or talking about how he himself used to fly from one roof to another? Or sharing best practices of flying? Or talking about ‘Future of Flying and Challenges’? And keep doing this for years and years without ever talking to Hanumana? What if Jambavanta kept talking about how his team of bears has prepared a patented Sanjeevni booti, how great that is and how it is better than other Sanjeevni bootis? All of this while everyone was looking up to Jamnvanta to know what Sanjeevni booti is, how one can prepare it, what does it take to get to it.

Community platforms are meant for community. I appeal to all presenters to have a community-first approach for their presentations. Talk about real pain points, not imagined ones. I appreciate the show-casing part and business part as well. For that you have the exhibition stalls and focused conversations with the business people among attendees. If there is organisational pressure or greed coming in your way, or in a business lingo – “to strike a balance”, showcase your product as a case-study or an example towards end of the presentation.

The mentor cap is fine and is a great thing, however it is often confined to a much smaller circle. You can not be the mentor of a thousand people. The guru cap is fine as well. However, it is not a cap that you wear yourself. It is not something which is a part of your profile summary or Linked-In heading. Someone should choose you as a guru, someone else should call you as an expert. If we don’t understand this, it leads to funny extremes. I’ve read, and I am not joking, the word ‘legend’ in a tester’s Linked-In headline.

You and I need to find the Jambavanta in us. Someone who helps the community by recognising new heroes, letting them know what they are capable of and where all they can go. You just need to keep your ear to the ground and listen. We need to take breaks from blabbering our own stories and listen to what others are experimenting with and what they could potentially achieve. This is the least we can do. The good part is that it is incredibly easy to be a Jambavanta. Just go ahead and be one.

Care about the community? Then, care about the community.