My AC Report on Infosys InStep in Bullets

Question: What happens when you start writing paper two weeks ahead of the deadline? 

Answer: You start with ideas and then get stalled for all the smallest of reasons.

This is the case as I am writing my report on my recently concluded eight-week Action Consultancy (AC) with Infosys. The paper is due next week Friday and as early as Monday, I started writing it. So now, I'm still not finished.Well, I've finished the more objective parts of the paper, such as information about my projects and tasks, but I seem to have a hard time writing the subjective part, which covers my learnings and a few observations.

While I planned to write the reflection part in this blog as it would appear in the paper, I figured writing some notes here in bullets would aid me in my writing. So here goes, some my learnings from my AC in random bullet points:

• Infosys is a big company that wants to prove something to the world
  
• Infosys takes care of its employees
• Infosys makes an effort to globalize its employees and promotes a more "universal" work culture
  
• India is utterly bureaucratic, as I learned from my experience with the Foreigners Registration Office;
• My project mentors made sure I know as much as I can about project, even if it means spending more than enough time reading and researching
• People in India are more open to ask other people for help especially if it means getting the job done
• I learned about Indian culture and cultures from different countries like China, France, Germany, Morocco, South Korea & USA
• I learned to be more tolerant of cultural differences; 
• I realized my stay in India is a humbling experience since I can't really throw my weight around in a foreign land.
  
• I learned to appreciate how BIG the world is-- there’s much more to see and lots more people to meet. (I realized this during the Taj Mahal trip)
• Learned more how big companies innovate and it's a harder process than I thought it was
• Innovation in Infosys is a rather fragmented process
• Indians I worked with tended to set expectations pretty high.(And I would imagine they dealt with disappointment pretty often)
  
• People argue a lot in meetings
• The unit I’m part of is open to inputs, including mine
• Compared to Manila, food in India is cheaper; Books are even cheaper
• Alcohol is curtailed in Bangalore
  
• Everything closes by 11:30pm
• I’m surprised people discover I have good English, 
• It’s nice to know more languages. I was inspired to learn Spanish during my stint.
• Not too many malls in Bangalore; even fewer Karaoke places
  
• Indians are generally direct, as an effect, they come off as mean folk
  

Like I said, the list is still a bit hodge-podge, but hopefully I'll flesh the paper out early next week.

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Something I heard: I learned yesterday that subsequent MBA batches will not have an Action Consultancy peroid. If this were true, it would be a darned shame.