We had a meeting with IZKA today.
We will show some progress of the project for them on next Monday.
They had asked us to identify development strategy for e-society at the beginning of this project.
We picked up 3 priorities/areas; e-education, e-commerce and e-government.
But we decided to add two more areas after today's meeting.
Because the professor who is participating in this project mentioned "mobile" for the e-society.
Besides, we decided to think about how to retain the talents of Izmir.
We discussed what IZKA's is really expecting to our team.
They asked us to identify the strategic development,
however, perhaps what they really want to do might be how to keep young people of this city.
Izmir is the 3rd largest city in Turkey.
As all knows, the 1st largest city is Istanbul.
As there are many job and working environment there, young people wish to go to Istanbul and leave their home cities.
Therefore, the main discussions we are having now is:
How to create many jobs in Izmir?
How to retain the talents in Izmir?
etc
We know this is very difficult issue, but we are trying our best to find out some clue of it.
By the way, I found one interesting thing yesterday.
If I am with American, waiter at the restaurant talk to us "Hello" in English.
But if I am not with American, they say "Hello" in Japanese, Kon-ni-chi-wa.
It means they speak to me in Japanese even if I am with Indian, Mexican or Vietnamese.
This is interesting for me. I did not have any chance to go eat with American in other countries until now.
I think it may be telling that US is a multinational country, so it is natural to have various ethnic background.
Anyway I don't really like to be talked in Japanese from restaurant in foreign countries...
2012-10-02
the Day of "Delphi method" (25.09.2012)
Today was our first meeting with IZKA team.
They gave us presentation of what they are doing.
Even though power point slides were in Turkish, we could understand their presentation because they spoke in English.
As I mentioned on Monday, IZKA wants to make Izmir to be transformed into an e-society.
Therefore, our scope of work is decided as, "Identify the strategic development areas for Izmir to be transformed into an e-society".
As I am an application developer, of course I have no experience of strategy consulting or developing future business plans.
My team members have no experience either.
IZKA provided us the result of "Delphi Method".
Actually I did not know what "Delphi Method" is until I heard it from IZKA in the e-mail.
If you do not know "Delphi Method", please google :P
After we analyze the Delphi Method result, we decided three areas of e-society which Izmir should focus on.
Today's lunch restaurant was very nice!
Its name is "Topcu(TOP-CHU)". It is close to IZKA building.
If anyone is visiting Izmir, I recommend this restaurant!
The thing is, my image of CSC is that we are going to the developing countries, we work and support
host organization(government, NPO etc) without enough infrastructure.
But Izmir is different!
There are many sightseeing spots and many restaurants in Izmir.
Also our hotel is close to the sea. September and October are nice whether in here.
Everyday we are enjoying Turkish coffee or chai.
A member of out team said that we are spoiled!
I think so too. ;-)
They gave us presentation of what they are doing.
Even though power point slides were in Turkish, we could understand their presentation because they spoke in English.
As I mentioned on Monday, IZKA wants to make Izmir to be transformed into an e-society.
Therefore, our scope of work is decided as, "Identify the strategic development areas for Izmir to be transformed into an e-society".
As I am an application developer, of course I have no experience of strategy consulting or developing future business plans.
My team members have no experience either.
IZKA provided us the result of "Delphi Method".
Actually I did not know what "Delphi Method" is until I heard it from IZKA in the e-mail.
If you do not know "Delphi Method", please google :P
After we analyze the Delphi Method result, we decided three areas of e-society which Izmir should focus on.
Today's lunch restaurant was very nice!
Its name is "Topcu(TOP-CHU)". It is close to IZKA building.
If anyone is visiting Izmir, I recommend this restaurant!
The thing is, my image of CSC is that we are going to the developing countries, we work and support
host organization(government, NPO etc) without enough infrastructure.
But Izmir is different!
There are many sightseeing spots and many restaurants in Izmir.
Also our hotel is close to the sea. September and October are nice whether in here.
Everyday we are enjoying Turkish coffee or chai.
A member of out team said that we are spoiled!
I think so too. ;-)
the Day of "Time to work" (24.09.2012)
Today was my first day to wear the suits.(I guess other team members were also)
Because we had a kick-off meeting with all teams and all host organizations,
all member had to wear the formal clothes.
I found an interesting thing on the way to the building where we had meeting.
We were asked to wear formal clothes by our host organizer, thus all men were wearing the suits.
However women's clothes were different from each countries:
Vietnamese and American women wore the black jacket and black pants.
Mexican woman wore white blouse and white pants.
New Zea land woman wore floral designed jacket and black pants
I could not remember Indian woman wore what type of formal, but maybe it was different with others.
I could find each cultures from women's clothes! How interesting it is!
I guess if Japanese woman is here, she will wear black jacket and pants.
In the kick-off meeting, after Sirri, our organizer director, explained the purpose of CSC,
each host organization had speech of greeting.
Also each sub-teams showed the project summary and introduce each members.
After that, we moved to upstairs to have mini party:-)
Before I left the meeting room, one man came and talked to me.
He was interested in my job role, PLM Solution Service, since he belongs to IZTECH and his major is PLM.
(I forgot to get his business card...)
He asked me about PLM, PLM company in US, PLM in cloud and my department area for PLM etc.
That was other thing I was surprised. I did not expected I would be asked something related to PLM in Izmir.
In the party, my sub-team3 talked with Mr.Murah, the director of IZKA(Izumir Development Agency), and he introduced
us to other project members.
They were very nice.
I thought I have to be careful for my behavior, because I heard the hierarchy is very important in Turkey,
and I am the younger one in IBM team (maybe including members of host organization).
However, they were very kind and friendly!
They, the host organization, are trying to make a change for Izmir.
They are open-minded, very kind and friendly, which is very lucky for me, because I do not like hierarchy...haha
Anyway, I think my team have a good start and relationship with IZKA.
Because we had a kick-off meeting with all teams and all host organizations,
all member had to wear the formal clothes.
I found an interesting thing on the way to the building where we had meeting.
We were asked to wear formal clothes by our host organizer, thus all men were wearing the suits.
However women's clothes were different from each countries:
Vietnamese and American women wore the black jacket and black pants.
Mexican woman wore white blouse and white pants.
New Zea land woman wore floral designed jacket and black pants
I could not remember Indian woman wore what type of formal, but maybe it was different with others.
I could find each cultures from women's clothes! How interesting it is!
I guess if Japanese woman is here, she will wear black jacket and pants.
In the kick-off meeting, after Sirri, our organizer director, explained the purpose of CSC,
each host organization had speech of greeting.
Also each sub-teams showed the project summary and introduce each members.
After that, we moved to upstairs to have mini party:-)
Before I left the meeting room, one man came and talked to me.
He was interested in my job role, PLM Solution Service, since he belongs to IZTECH and his major is PLM.
(I forgot to get his business card...)
He asked me about PLM, PLM company in US, PLM in cloud and my department area for PLM etc.
That was other thing I was surprised. I did not expected I would be asked something related to PLM in Izmir.
In the party, my sub-team3 talked with Mr.Murah, the director of IZKA(Izumir Development Agency), and he introduced
us to other project members.
They were very nice.
I thought I have to be careful for my behavior, because I heard the hierarchy is very important in Turkey,
and I am the younger one in IBM team (maybe including members of host organization).
However, they were very kind and friendly!
They, the host organization, are trying to make a change for Izmir.
They are open-minded, very kind and friendly, which is very lucky for me, because I do not like hierarchy...haha
Anyway, I think my team have a good start and relationship with IZKA.
2012-09-23
The Day of "meeting"
After long journey, I had arrived in Istanbul at 10pm 21st Sept..
My flight was pretty good except it was delayed.
In the next morning, finally I could meet a couple of my colleagues and enjoyed the breakfast with them.
We became friends even though we met first time in the morning.
Yesterday was Saturday, so we went to sightseeing in Istanbul.
Istanbul is very fascinating for me. There are both Asian cultures and European cultures in here.
The road which has south-eastern Asia's atmosphere is next to European style buildings.
However I thought my colleagues made me to feel more fascinated.
They are 11people from 5countries (Some members flew later).
Each member has different cultures and characters.
Fortunately, all member is very nice!
There are great members and nice city, I thought it was my best first day.
Also I felt sad a little since we have to leave after 1 month.
Today, we are moving to Izmir.
I am really looking forward to see the last team member who came to Istanbul at 11pm yesterday.
I bet Izmir must be very fascinating city, too!!
My flight was pretty good except it was delayed.
In the next morning, finally I could meet a couple of my colleagues and enjoyed the breakfast with them.
We became friends even though we met first time in the morning.
Yesterday was Saturday, so we went to sightseeing in Istanbul.
Istanbul is very fascinating for me. There are both Asian cultures and European cultures in here.
The road which has south-eastern Asia's atmosphere is next to European style buildings.
However I thought my colleagues made me to feel more fascinated.
They are 11people from 5countries (Some members flew later).
Each member has different cultures and characters.
Fortunately, all member is very nice!
There are great members and nice city, I thought it was my best first day.
Also I felt sad a little since we have to leave after 1 month.
Today, we are moving to Izmir.
I am really looking forward to see the last team member who came to Istanbul at 11pm yesterday.
I bet Izmir must be very fascinating city, too!!
2012-09-18
The Day of "starting my blog"
This is my first time to open the blog.
I am afraid that this could be my last one:P
This blog will introduce my CSC experience in IBM.
I guess most people do not know what CSC is, so let me explain it here at first.
Below is the short introduction of CSC program, which is provided by IBM Corporation.
**************************************************************
The Corporate Service Corps was launched in 2008 to help provide IBMers with high quality leadership development while delivering high quality problem solving for communities and organizations in emerging markets. The program empowers IBM employees as global citizens by sending groups of 10 - 15 individuals from different countries with a range of skills to an emerging market for four week community-based assignments. During the assignment, participants perform community-driven economic development projects working at the intersection of business, technology, and society.
(Please refer to the link for more detailed information)
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/corporateservicecorps/
****************************************************************
I was selected as a CSC member two years ago and was assigned to Izmir, Turkey as Turkey team#8.Turkey team#8 is divided to 4 sub-teams.
Today was our last meeting in 3 month pre-work, and I will leave for Turkey this Friday.
The purpose of this blog is not only to improve my English, but also to leave my great experiments in Turkey even after I go back to Japan.
There are 3 days left to leave Japan. Actually I feel complicated, both excited and nervous.
(Maybe my poor English is making me to be very nervous)
Although I am not sure I can do well, I will try to enjoy everything :-)
Fortunately, there are many managers in my team and my sub-team, I think they may support me if I am in trouble ;)
I think next update will be in Turkey!
I am afraid that this could be my last one:P
This blog will introduce my CSC experience in IBM.
I guess most people do not know what CSC is, so let me explain it here at first.
Below is the short introduction of CSC program, which is provided by IBM Corporation.
**************************************************************
The Corporate Service Corps was launched in 2008 to help provide IBMers with high quality leadership development while delivering high quality problem solving for communities and organizations in emerging markets. The program empowers IBM employees as global citizens by sending groups of 10 - 15 individuals from different countries with a range of skills to an emerging market for four week community-based assignments. During the assignment, participants perform community-driven economic development projects working at the intersection of business, technology, and society.
(Please refer to the link for more detailed information)
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/corporateservicecorps/
****************************************************************
I was selected as a CSC member two years ago and was assigned to Izmir, Turkey as Turkey team#8.Turkey team#8 is divided to 4 sub-teams.
Today was our last meeting in 3 month pre-work, and I will leave for Turkey this Friday.
The purpose of this blog is not only to improve my English, but also to leave my great experiments in Turkey even after I go back to Japan.
There are 3 days left to leave Japan. Actually I feel complicated, both excited and nervous.
(Maybe my poor English is making me to be very nervous)
Although I am not sure I can do well, I will try to enjoy everything :-)
Fortunately, there are many managers in my team and my sub-team, I think they may support me if I am in trouble ;)
I think next update will be in Turkey!
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