Once upon a time, there were two brothers living together with his father in a small rural village in Nepal. When their father passed away, they divided the property left to them by their father. They found that they both have four thousand rupees each. They both took their share and decided what they want to do. The older brother said that he will stay in the village, look after the farm and eventually get married. Younger brother on the other hand have no plans at all. He wanted to explore the new places. So he took his share and headed to different city to seek his fortune.

In the course of his wanderings, he happened to pass by the forest where he encountered an old rishi, a spiritual wise man. He told the rishi that he has four thousand rupees and sought his advice on how it could be best used. The rishi looked at him and said that he can give him three pieces of advice but it will cost him one thousand for each advice. He agreed to pay the rishi his fees for the advice.

The rishi said,

"The first advice is, get a mouse.

The second advice is, get a cat.

The third advice is, get a dog."

The man paid a rishi three thousands rupees for his advice and went on his way to get those three animals. He had no difficulty finding those three animals and continued his journey with those three animals.

The man came across sharply flowing stream and as he was crossing it, he saw a serpent screaming for help as he was being carried away by the swift water. He dived in and rescued the serpent. This serpent happened to be no ordinary creature but Shesnag, the god of serpents. The serpent was grateful to the man for saving him and rewarded him with the jewel and told him that this jewel will fulfill the wishes of anyone who possessed it.

He was rejoiced getting that miraculous jewel and headed towards his destination when came across another stream. While he was crossing it, he accidentally dropped that jewel in the water. He dived into the water to find it but he could not find it. Unable to find it, he went downstream where he saw a fisherman casting his net. He stopped awhile and bought all the fish that the fisherman has caught. He cut open each fish and finally found the one with the jewel in its stomach. He was rejoiced to find the jewel and was holding the fish in his hand, an eagle swooped down and snatched the fish away.

Once again, he lost the jewel. He was not sure what he can do to get the jewel back from the eagle. It was then those three animals suggested to him a plan.

The mouse lay down in a field motionless and played dead while the cat and the dog hid themselves in the nearby thicket. Soon, the eagle, circling in the sky, spied the mouse and came down for it. When the eagle came close to the mouse, the cat and the dog pounced on the eagle suddenly. Unaware of the situation and startled by sudden attack, the eagle dropped the fish and flew away. The man came out of the hideout and took out the jewel from the fish.

With the jewel safe in his hand, he wished himself a nice house. He soon married a young woman and they all lived together happily.

Moral:

A system is made up of many sub-systems. Each sub-system needs to function harmonically with other sub-systems geared toward attaining one ultimate goal.

Risk management is very important for system development. While designing a system, one should not only assess internal risks but also external risks that are unknown to the system.

A system analyst must be aware of tools and resources available and must know how to utilize those resources to get best possible outcome.

A system analyst should also know that not one system out of box fits all environments. They should be able to make changes based on the environment need and should be able to think on their feet.

Solving problem needs good logical thinking. A system analyst should be able to adapt quickly based on the changing environment. He should not focus on obstacles or failures but instead use those obstacles as a roadmap to achieve solution.