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"Jugaad" is a cultural attitude that is hard to explain outside the Indian context. (Even literally, as the "d" sound in the word has no counterpart in English

"Jugaad" is a cultural attitude that is hard to explain outside the Indian context. (Even literally, as the "d" sound in the word has no counterpart in English phonetics. It's similar to "dh" but not quite.) The closest literal translation would be "somehow, cheaply, without deep thought". There are class connotations. Jugaad is something forced onto people by poverty. It's hallmark is messy, janky and easily breakable setups that have been cobbled together by both necessity and lack of resources. Wealthier Indians would not turn to a "jugaad" solution for their needs. While the principles in the post (humility, openness, frugality) jive well with the Agile philosphy, I'm not so sure that "jugaad" is the idea I'd want my software to embody.

thou3iou42o34 4y ago
> There are class connotations. 'Move fast and break things' is the high-class version IMO.
monster_group 4y ago
>> "Jugaad" is a cultural attitude that is hard to explain outside the Indian context. There's nothing special about "Jugaad". It's same as white trash repair. All societies where resources are limited have some form of "Jugaad".
- twic 4y ago
  It certainly sounds a lot like gambiarra.
  - gryn 4y ago
    if we're naming similar terms/concepts, there's 'systeme D' in french. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_D
- cies 4y ago
  > It's same as white trash repair. Squatter's solution. A camping fix. One could say Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance gives it a little more cachet.
pjscott 4y ago
English has the phrases “jerry-rigged” and “held together by duct tape and baling wire” which, as far as I can tell, mean the exact same thing and were born out of similar impoverished circumstances. One thing people all over the world have in common is that our ancestors were dirt poor not very long ago, so I would expect this concept to be universal.
- LordAtlas 4y ago
  Indian here. Yep, that's pretty much it. I'm also not a fan of it being glorified because a) it shows how often there are systemic problems in India that force you to resort to "jugaad" to get stuff done and b) culturally, we tend to stick with "good enough" jugaad options instead of aspiring towards higher-quality products and solutions.
  - ggeorgovassilis 4y ago
    Maybe it takes an outsider's view to appreciate jugaad. I'm fully aware that in a resource constrained setting, jugaad is not a choice. But it's either the jugaad way or no way at all. Mature delivery organisations sometimes get lost in their own process optimisation... I worked (more than once) for orgs where we simply wouldn't do anything that took less than a day because the planning, approval and billing processes would take another day.
- fnord123 4y ago
  It's jury-rigged. Jerry-rigged is a malapropism (think "could of", "walla"). But jerry-rigged is so commonly used I think at this point it's 'not wrong'.
  - rippercushions 4y ago
    They're different words with different shades of meaning. https://www.dictionary.com/e/jury-rigged-vs-jerry-rigged/ https://www.dictionary.com/e/jury-rigged-vs-jerry-rigged/
    - 4y ago
kqr 4y ago
I agree. I liked that this article apparently gave a name to what I would call "product development under uncertainty". But then I looked jugaad up further and it's not the same thing at all. Jugaad seems to have more of a connotation of not doing things properly, rather than embedding options. Very different things!
pilsburyfan 4y ago
The 'd' here actually transliterates one of the two hindi/common indian language 'R's. One is the dental R (र), pronounced by putting the tip of your tongue at your teeth, and the other is the retroflex R (ड़), pronounced by putting the tongue at the roof of your mouth. It is a cross between a 'd' and an 'rh' sound. The retroflex 'd' (ड) is pronounced in a similar manner. The second 'R' is used in jugaad here (जुगाड़), and it means to "cobble together" or "makeshift," which exacty what it is: makeshift, hastily cobbled together work done to get the weight off one's shoulder as soon as possible. It can also simply mean "collect" or "collection", but it means the above in this context. Edit: There is another 'R' (ढ़) which is pronounced like a (ड़) with an additional 'h'.

thou3iou42o34 4y ago

> There are class connotations. 'Move fast and break things' is the high-class version IMO.

monster_group 4y ago

>> "Jugaad" is a cultural attitude that is hard to explain outside the Indian context. There's nothing special about "Jugaad". It's same as white trash repair. All societies where resources are limited have some form of "Jugaad".

twic 4y ago
It certainly sounds a lot like gambiarra.
- gryn 4y ago
  if we're naming similar terms/concepts, there's 'systeme D' in french. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_D
cies 4y ago
> It's same as white trash repair. Squatter's solution. A camping fix. One could say Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance gives it a little more cachet.

pjscott 4y ago

English has the phrases “jerry-rigged” and “held together by duct tape and baling wire” which, as far as I can tell, mean the exact same thing and were born out of similar impoverished circumstances. One thing people all over the world have in common is that our ancestors were dirt poor not very long ago, so I would expect this concept to be universal.

LordAtlas 4y ago
Indian here. Yep, that's pretty much it. I'm also not a fan of it being glorified because a) it shows how often there are systemic problems in India that force you to resort to "jugaad" to get stuff done and b) culturally, we tend to stick with "good enough" jugaad options instead of aspiring towards higher-quality products and solutions.
- ggeorgovassilis 4y ago
  Maybe it takes an outsider's view to appreciate jugaad. I'm fully aware that in a resource constrained setting, jugaad is not a choice. But it's either the jugaad way or no way at all. Mature delivery organisations sometimes get lost in their own process optimisation... I worked (more than once) for orgs where we simply wouldn't do anything that took less than a day because the planning, approval and billing processes would take another day.
fnord123 4y ago
It's jury-rigged. Jerry-rigged is a malapropism (think "could of", "walla"). But jerry-rigged is so commonly used I think at this point it's 'not wrong'.
- rippercushions 4y ago
  They're different words with different shades of meaning. https://www.dictionary.com/e/jury-rigged-vs-jerry-rigged/ https://www.dictionary.com/e/jury-rigged-vs-jerry-rigged/
  - 4y ago

kqr 4y ago

I agree. I liked that this article apparently gave a name to what I would call "product development under uncertainty". But then I looked jugaad up further and it's not the same thing at all. Jugaad seems to have more of a connotation of not doing things properly, rather than embedding options. Very different things!

pilsburyfan 4y ago

The 'd' here actually transliterates one of the two hindi/common indian language 'R's. One is the dental R (र), pronounced by putting the tip of your tongue at your teeth, and the other is the retroflex R (ड़), pronounced by putting the tongue at the roof of your mouth. It is a cross between a 'd' and an 'rh' sound. The retroflex 'd' (ड) is pronounced in a similar manner. The second 'R' is used in jugaad here (जुगाड़), and it means to "cobble together" or "makeshift," which exacty what it is: makeshift, hastily cobbled together work done to get the weight off one's shoulder as soon as possible. It can also simply mean "collect" or "collection", but it means the above in this context. Edit: There is another 'R' (ढ़) which is pronounced like a (ड़) with an additional 'h'.