Around the world in many memories

Tomorrow is my last working day with HSBC: I am leaving to take up a new role (more of that in a couple of weeks). Normally, I would mark this occasion by getting together with friends and colleagues, to celebrate and say farewell, and to toast past experiences and future adventures. But, as it’s not possible to get together right now, I’d like to share some memories of other times I have had the chance to connect and celebrate with HSBC friends: one of the great things about working at HSBC for the last five years has been being part of this global community. These are just a small sample of memories, but I hope that they give a flavour of life at HSBC.

Yearly HTI Celebrations, Pune and Hyderabad

The first on my list has to be the celebrations held by HSBC Technology India (HTI) each year in Pune and Hyderabad. These events, organised by Balasubramanian Ganesh’s leadership team and by many volunteers gives the HTI team a chance to come together with their families, to take a brief pause from work, and to celebrate their successes through the year. At the centre is an awards ceremony for which there are many entrants in each category, and which always represent an inspiring and humbling set of achievements. These events would be memorable enough if that’s all they were, but they also include entertainment in spectacular Indian style, much of it performed by HTI colleagues who take their own time to rehearse and perform dance routines. Each of these events always gave me enough energy to last the rest of the year.

Meals with Gary Lee and the HTC team, Guangzhou

Our HSBC Technology China (HTC) team, led by Gary Lee, holds similar yearly celebrations, but the memory I want to share from China is on a smaller scale. As well as holding big celebrations, Gary also regularly invites members of the HTC team to his family’s restaurant. I have been privileged to join Gary and team on a couple of such occasions, where he arranged a number of Chinese delicacies I won’t forget: I also won’t forget the chance to learn more about my HTC colleagues, to get to know them better, and to admire Gary for always taking the trouble to spend time with team members.

Many Szechuan dishes, Hong Kong and Guangzhou

One of the great things about working for a global company is that you get to try new things - particularly new food. Ming Jin introduced me to Szechuan hotpot: a communal meal in which diners dip vegetables, meat and fish into a bubbling broth which is also full of chillis and peppercorns. It can be very spicy, and has that nose-searing, tongue tingling sensation that goes with Szechuan food. It’s easy to develop a taste for this food, and Ming was always trying to find the restaurant with the spiciest recipe. It’s also a reminder that this type of communal eating can be the best way to make friends and get to know people: I think every time I was with a team that sat down to such a meal, that team stood up closer and stronger when they had finished.

Cultural education in Mexico City

When traveling for work, it is easy to get stuck in the airport->hotel->office->airport cycle, and to miss the opportunity to get to know the places you are visiting. On my very first trip to Mexico City, I was lucky enough (along with other members of the Technology leadership team), to be hosted by the CIO for the Americas, Don Patra, who was determined that we should not miss out on Mexico City's cultural attractions. So, as well as a packed programme of meetings with the local team, where we learnt about how they were putting Agile and DevOps into action, and making the most of the proximity and alignment between business teams and technical teams, we also got to visit the Teotihuacan pyramids, Our Lady of Guadeloupe and the Mexico City Anthropology museum. Since then, I have tried to learn from Don's example, and understand the places I visit more.

Technology Leadership Team, Dubai

The HSBC Technology Leadership team was visiting Dubai, always a privilege and an education, but involving a long day of decision making, meetings and demos of projects and solutions from the local team. At the end of the day, Ghinwa Baradhi, CIO for Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, loaded us into coaches and drove us out of town - to a great, open air desert venue with wonderful food. Even better, the team members we had met that day were there too, and we got to learn more about them, and what they’re doing - and to find out what they’re like when they’re not doing a formal presentation to a senior team. It was a reminder that, even in the middle of a busy schedule, it is worth making the time to just talk to people as people.

Escaping from rooms full of architects, Sheffield and online

The architecture team I had the privilege to lead for the last four years is a very distributed team: most Chief Architects spend most of their time with the time with the business, regional or technical teams they support. It was therefore always special to get the team together in one place. These were always very intense meetings, with focus on how we could improve our performance as a team, how we were going to solve strategic problems together, and how we could build the best architecture practice together.

But we also took time to relax. And how do architects relax - by solving problems! Two of my most memorable meetings with my team were attempting a series of escape rooms in Sheffield, and then also participating in an ingeniously (in-house) designed virtual escape room during the lockdown period, Both times illustrated what architects do best: argue, think, argue some more, and then solve the problem.

Architecture Symposia, many places

One of the things that the Architecture team realised early on was that we needed to give architects opportunities to connect, learn, listen and be heard beyond what their day to day work on projects and solutions would provide. The team now runs a set of Architecture Symposia each year, covering each of the main HSBC Technology locations, including calls for papers, technical deep dives and sessions from guest speakers. I joined as many of these as I could, whether virtually or in person, and always came away having learnt more about technology - and about the team. They all stick in my mind, but particularly the events held in New York (partly because of the great views down 5th Avenue from the office, but mainly because of the level of engagement, curiosity and robust discussion from the team), and Guangzhou (because the word got out that we were running the event and the room filled up with many curious participants from outside the architecture team). A roomful of motivated architects (and other technologists) can solve many technology problems.

EEP Graduation Ceremony, London, every December

One of my greatest privileges in my time at HSBC was to sponsor the Enterprise Engineer Programme (EEP) - a development programme which helps talented engineers take the next step in their career, teaching technical skills, communication and leadership skills, and helping them to build a network across the company. The Technology Academy team did all the hard work, but I got to teach some sessions and to give out certificates to the graduating students at the end of each year. While the formal bit of the ceremony was important, it was even better to get to spend time with the students and to hear more about them, their projects, and what they planned to do with their new skills. It was a great way to end the year.

There are many more memories I could mention than I can fit here, from fabulous seafood in Hong Kong with friends, to big events such as the Technology Coalition. I know that the HSBC Technology team will not let the current pandemic stop them from making more memories like these, even though they may not be able to meet in person for some time. They have already shown remarkable resilience and imagination, and they will do even more in the future. It has been an honour to be part of this team, and I look forward to seeing what great things they will do next.