Cerita Kedaikopi : # 86-31.03.2002

The only way we're going to lose our relevance is if we stop learning..


"I have been reading your 'Cerita Kedaikopi' stories but I still have
not finished reading the previous ones",said
my friend who happens to be one of my avid readers."Well, I took four
years to write 85 stories but please donot
try to read them within a month. Take your time and read them at your
own pace-otherwise you will have indigestion.
By the way, don't forget to read my other weblogs and travel journals as
well", I replied. Then he asked," How come
I do not receive anything this month?


'Honestly, it is easier to read than to write. What more if one is busy
with one's own business and some urgent
family matters to attend to. My wife's uncle, a well known writer once
told me: You can't do both; either you
write or you do business. He is right and spoke from his experience. He
started writing and became a publisher
and owned a printing company. Later in the years, he could only do
writing and someone else had to do the
publishing and printing business. Writing is his business! And in my
case, managing project is my business and
writing is just a hobby. I will try harder to at least produce two short
stories/notes every month . Seriously, I am
considering to hand over my business to my partners and take a post
graduate studies so that I could have all
the time to read and to write. Then,insyaAllah, I will go into teaching
and do some freelance consultancy
business to foot my bills.

This month I wish to share my experience in the application of a little
bit of knowledge that I have in project
management. I thought I know enough to do a job but when I come to it, I
discover that I have a lot more to
learn. I admit that I lack the depth and the breadth of the knowledge as
well as the skills to apply it. So I started
buying books to read as much as I could for the last three months and at
the same time I met a few people
whom I believe know more than I do. The words of Kung Fu Tze keeps
ringing in my ears:

"The essence of knowledge is not having it but to apply it."

It is very true indeed."The more I dig into it, the more I learn that I
have to update my previous knowledge as
well as learn more from anyone,anyplace and anytime. In certain areas, I
have to re-examine my previous
maxims and start to learn,unlearn and relearn even from younger people."
May I qoute John Dooner,CEO and
Chairman of Interpublic Group:"The only way we're going to lose our
relevance is if we stop learning".

Acquiring and having knowledge is a personal thing. This I could do on
my own but when it comes to apply it, I
have to work with other people ,resources and the environment around the
project. As a leader or agent of
change, having knowledge alone is not enough. I need physical,
intellectual and spiritual strenghts to carry it
through. This is the challenge that you and me have to take by the horns
if we ever want to change for the
better. Anybody can start the game but only a few can finish the game!

We had water supply problems in 1998 and yet we had it again this month.
The question that begs the answer is
whether we have learnt anything from our mistakes. I think we should
also listed down the lessons that we have
not learnt as well. IMHO opinion, the states do not have the financial
resources to invest in water resources
capital expenditures. The federal government should take over and
provide good management.Period. I think
low cost housing projects is a good example. Privatisation is only one
of the financial model that may improve
the water supply industry. UK is a good example in privatisation but
Japan waterworks is still government owned
and managed , yet it works fine!

I could go on with a few more examples but then I will not do justice to
your power of imagination to explore on
your own to look for similar cases. Since the time is almost mid-night,
I will end my short note here with the
saying that common men learn form their mistakes but the wiser ones
learn from mistakes of others.

Notes: My observations indicate that many mistakes in project management
are repeated in many projects even
by the same consultants and contractors for a simple reason that thay
have failed to learn from their own and
as well as others' mistakes. In that case, they will surely lose their
relevance:-(