Software Jungle

by Gaurav Jain, April 2003

Welcome to the novel though briskly growing super eminent trade, nicknamed the "boom-buster business"… I mean the software industry. I am one of the trillions of Tom’s, Dick’s and Harry’s engaged in this growingly notorious venture. Though only a couple of years into this orbit of the job planet, I have grown tremendously on personal and professional fronts. Freshly out of the college terrain, it can be one of life’s sizeable volt-faces that one may experience when shoved into this territory… the land dwelled in by the Lion, the Elephants, the Foxes, the Hyenas and last but never the least, the Donkeys. Welcome to this new concept invention of the twenty-first century. Welcome to the Software Jungle.

The Lion is, as has always been, the King of the Jungle. He is responsible for regulating the trade in the Jungle. He decides how to apportion work between the Foxes, the Hyenas and the Donkeys by arranging hebdomadal meetings with his subordinates – the Elephants. The Lion has the authority to fire any soul on his land, without anyone else’s judgment or approval thereof. He keeps the Elephants proximate enough to instill in them the feeling of importance, and to familiarize them with the tricks of the trade. But he keeps them distant enough to evade any threat to his domination on the Jungle. A good share of the profit made by the Lion’s kingdom obviously goes to the Lion. He does however share a small part of it with the senior Elephants, in exchange for their loyalty, which they gratefully accept.

The Elephants are the strongest members in the Jungle, only next to the Lion, of course. They are commanding in their own right, having learnt the tricks of the trade from their hefty experience, as well as the practice of emulating the habits of the Lion. Their main responsibility is to "Get-Work-Done". Full Stop. And they possess a handy tool for doing this as well – the "delegation whip". They carry this whip along when they go for their almost daily "status checks" to track the work progress. Their main aspiration is to become the Lion of the Jungle one day, and they are least concerned about the welfare of the "workers of the Jungle", namely the Foxes, the Hyenas and the Donkeys. They have mostly grown into Elephants from Foxes, Hyenas or Donkeys, and so also have the additional passion to admire their past recurring with others. As is the popular saying, "Elephants can (indeed) remember".

The Foxes are the cleverest and the most ingenious among the workers in the Jungle. They work, and work well. They spend the minimum required time on the work allocated to them, and spend the rest of their day on personal development activities. They catch hold of auspicious opportunities as they arrive, and grow at an stunning pace. They have aggregated cognizance of the work at hand, and oblige the Elephants because of their extraordinary talents. They pose a continuous threat to the Elephants, lest they depart from the Jungle, for after all, if the work doesn’t get done, the Elephants may find their own throats under the Lion’s whip. The Foxes are intelligent, cunning and their primary ambition is to achieve their personal and professional goals. They don’t scruple to question or challenge any rule being imposed on them by the Elephants, and they work with confidence and exaltation. They display motivation, independence and vigor in their work, and literally "catch their own preys".

The Hyenas are the cheerful lot of the Jungle. They believe in enjoying and relishing every moment of their life, because "Life is not indefinite, right?" They try to do their best in the work allocated to them, but generally prefer to take a feed on the left-over of others’ work. Makes life simpler! They do not have any personal or career goals, and believe in watching things as they unfold in life. They spend their day’s quota on the assigned tasks, and irrespective of whether the work gets completed or not, they get off to some entertainment and recreation! They are least concerned about any threat from the Elephants for not concluding their work on time. "There are other Jungles in the neighborhood!", they snigger. They usually work in flocks, and often form a mini-coalition among themselves, something that the Elephants are wary of. The Elephants, realizing that the Hyenas are and will remain as they are, empathize, and apportion less work to them. That indeed, is a blessing in disguise for the "Laughing Hyenas".

And finally, the Donkeys! The Donkeys are the most hard-working and laborious "resources" of the Jungle. They work day in and day out, with extraordinary enthusiasm and loyalty towards their masters, the Elephants. They complete their work before time, and when requested by the Elephants to take up some additional work (that was pending on the Hyenas), they accept this gracefully in exchange for a brief verbal appreciation of their hard work. \ They have no time to squander, and get on with the additional work right away. They are always overloaded, and can always be counted upon for getting any extra or left-over work done in no time. In reality, not only the Elephants, but also the fellow Foxes and Hyenas realize the Donkeys’ "talents", and once in a while "delegate" their own assignments to their sincere co-workers. The Donkeys do not have a clear vision of their future. They do have work-related aspirations, however, such as growing fast and hike in their wages. But they don’t conceive of the fact that the Elephants take their toil and labor for granted, and care little about their personal or career needs. The Donkeys don’t pose any threat to the Elephants, because the Elephants know that Donkeys are cheaply available from other Jungles, or better still, the other Donkeys in this Jungle can always be given more work without facing any resistance or grudges. Also, the Lion openly admits in bi-weekly assemblies with all the Jungle members, that the workers are "kept very busy in their work, so they do not find time to think about "other" matters"! (To which the Elephants nod in consent.) What a revelation!

As you may have judged by now, most of the animals in any Software Jungle are in fact Donkeys. If you appreciate this concept after reading this article, what category do you put yourself in – the Lion, the Elephant, the Fox, the Hyena or the Donkey? If you do not appreciate the concept of this article, never mind, that proves you surely are a Donkey!

In closing, my suggestion to all my readers is that – Realize who you are and decide what you should be. Thanks for reading.

Note: This is a work of pure fiction, and any resemblance to any organization or individual is purely coincidental