No Shortcuts in 2016 !

“Jugaad” the term which automatically implies one being “smart”, but is the person really smart or working his way out in present situation? Well, management philosophers in business and academic community all over the world have given much attention to the term “Jugaad Innovation”; essentially speaking, Jugaad is an Indian term that describes any work-around method to overcome constraints.
This year we at Techquark pledge to have #NoMoreShortCuts in 2016 and avoid all the temptations of shortcuts. Downloading unlicensed software, jailbreaking iPhones or anything which is a temporary solution should be no longer in anybody’s to-do list this year. It’s time to make things better and smarter, let’s see why.

We can say that Jugaad certainly helps when in need of swift responses but we cannot say it is a structured approach, it is always an ad-hoc one. Now, to be true every time we cannot have an “Amir Khan” using a vacuum cleaner as a suction pump to deliver a child, that cannot be marked as a “safe” method. Thus, Jugaad is not scalable method and seldom results in any breakthrough growth or cutting edge technology.

Jugaad can become a necessity due to paucity of better alternatives or scarcity of resources. However, such methods cannot be used in long term while quality is always compromised with such solutions. Even a society cannot progress on the base of such one-off solutions. If we contemplate a little, a bottle with too many holes attached to water tap cannot replace a shower!

There is no denying to the fact that Jugaad shifts focus from Long term solutions to Short term fixes. It is a human tendency to get easily accustomed to short term gains and eventually facing a trade-off between risk and efficiency. “Jugaad Gaadi” or popularly known as “Jhajharia” is a risky “Jugaadu” vehicle fearlessly running on the streets of Dhanbad, Bihar. Though the vehicle does not require registration number, pollution certificate or insurance papers and is cheaply available, it is a threat to Dhanbad’s environment.

The “Jugadulal’s” of India are highly admired people they are looked upon as champions while the ones who work through iterations towards a sustainable solution are generally ignored. We must accept the fact that our next door neighbour who downloaded Microsoft’ Office Crack is the most sought after person in entire colony , while the one who actually bought the software is considered somewhat “awkward” to have bought something which can be used for free at least for a year.
Excide Life Insurance’s latest campaign “No Shortcuts” has very neatly and in a hilarious way targeted India’s makeshift tendencies through personification of “Jugadulal”. We can see the Exide ad highly resonates with every person who shows a sense of self-importance in every quick solution devised but on the other hand is constantly worried of the solution’s sustainability. As the ad describes Exide itself has a brand image which focusses on providing long term protection and savings solutions.

Jugaad can thus be an intuitive and creative process but is surely not sustainable or scalable one. So, this year, go thoughtful, make long term plans and avoid shortcuts!