CHAPTER 34

Epilogue

Creative thinking involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in different ways

– Edward De Bono

Man’s capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents, so little has been tried

– Henry David Thoreau

I slept and dreamed that life was joy, I woke and saw that life was service, I acted and behold, service was joy

– Rabindranath Tagore

All these months we were searching in vain to have an excellent ‘live model’ to constitute the chapter on epilogue and had lost the hope of having this chapter. But we are happy that we stumbled upon an excellent live model eminently suited for this concluding chapter of our book.

We wish to conclude this book by stating that any project of continual improvement needs to have in it all the elements as per the criteria found in the live model presented in Table 34.1.

Table 34.1 Particulars of the Excellent Model

Sl. no. Elements and criteria Details of the model
1. Problem
(precise, focused and beneficiary identified)		 To reduce the weight of callipers that weighed 3 kg used by polio-affected children. The children struggled to move around with such callipers
2. Sponsor of the problem
(authenticated analysis prior to problem formulation)		 Orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. B. N. Prasad at Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad
3. Team
(competent, committed and focused)		 Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (former President of India) and his team
4. Study duration and result
(least time, innovative approach to cause a crater and not a pinhole)		 10 days
3 kg weighing callipers were redesigned and produced to have a weight of 300 g
5. Implementation and impact (evaluation at ‘users end’) Many children started running with the new calliper. In the words of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, “I happened to see the mother in tears. Her son, whom she was carrying to school, was running without any aid.”

Source: Excerpts from the interview with Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, ‘If we compromise on competencies, we cannot be a developed nation’. The Hindu, 25 September 2006.

From the above case example, it can be appreciated that an excellent model is indeed a case of ‘SMILE’—‘Striking More In Less Energy’ (3000 g to 300 g in a matter of 10 days giving relief to thousands of children).

While the earlier chapters of this book have dealt with all the details of the elements stated in Table 34.1, the specific relevance of the model lies in recognising the fact that it is not enough for a project to achieve results which are a matter of ‘pride’, ‘prize’ and ‘use of advanced techniques’ all ‘within’ and possibly for sharing experiences in national/international forums, but to ensure that the benefits reach the beneficiaries; and they do enjoy the benefits in real-time like the way polio-affected children did enjoy the use of 300 g callipers.

May such ‘callipers-like’ projects bloom in millions in our country in every sector of our activity everyday and may we see tears of joy rolling down the cheeks of millions of beneficiaries. This is ultimately the test, purpose and message of continual improvement. Such projects bloom in bounty when the following thought of Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, meant for literary pursuits, encapsulate the minds of those pursuing continual improvement to render it more empathetic.

The politics of a novelist rises from his imagination, from his ability to imagine himself as someone else. This power makes him…the spokesman for those who cannot speak for themselves, whose anger is never heard and whose words are suppressed.

–(Rao, 2006)

Such a sensitive empathetic temperament fused with the power to innovate and predict, already noted in Chapter 31, constitutes a powerful force to maintain a sharp focus as well as a high trajectory of the mission of continual improvement.

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