Failure to start

It is a front page news in the NST to-day.The Work Minister warned to terminate contractors that fail to start work within a month from the date of possesion of site.The main reason is to avoid delays in project implementation.

As a student of project management( I also teach sometimes), we must list down ALL type of delays and the major causes of project delay.When we understand what, where, who,why,when and how,then only we can properly address the issue.

How about the higher issues of achieving project goals and objectives?

IMHO,most projects will have problems due to incompetent stakeholders.
Failure to start is failure to complete.

Risk management

I am pleasantly suprised when a friend talked about risk management in his company projects.He is the project director in his company and he told me the project get into problems not because of technology but due to problems from his people.That is music to my ears. And thank God, this gentleman knows something about project management.Many pretend they know a lot about project management;in fact they know very little.

Then, as usual, I began to talk more than I am supposed to in this subject of my passion.What else? I ended getting a talk to deliver to my friend's staff on 7.8.2003 .That is my small contribution to the good project management practice in Malaysia.

My first guru in project management told me that 80% of PM is risk management.He agreed.

School Lab Project

According to newspapers reports, the Minister of Education blamed solely the PMC and the Contractor for the delays. The MOE is just the project owner.Period!

Who appointed the PMC and the Contractor?
Does outsourcing the work to others relieve the responsibility and accountability of the project owner?

To-day I conmpleted the part 11 of JKR PM course for 3rd batch. A few of them said that our course should also be given to the project people at state level. My team has taken note as were customers focussed and we practise PM methodology ourselves. Next week, we will come with proposals.

My partner bought two latest books on PM.I think they are also good for my reference. One is Portable MBA in Project Management by Eric Virzuh and the other is from UK.

JKR requires that contractor must submit a program of work within 14 days. What quality of work program can contractor comes up within such a short time? It will be full of assumptions and certainly there will be a lot of uncertainties built within the program. I think three months is more appropriate.

On the 7th of July,2003, I am starting another session on PM course.
Books recommended for further reading:

1. PMBOK-Project management body of knowledge-PMI
2. The fast Forward MBA in Project Management- Eric Virzuh
3. Project Management for Dummies-Stanley E Portny

I was glad to meet one of my course participant in PM who told me that now he is better equiped to deal with the contarctors. And last night ,he was telling me that he has problem with KTM and he treated it as a work package .He also mentioned about stakeholders management.

Wow, I am happy for him.

After my isyak prayers, a group of us went for TT.(teh tarik). When I raised the issue to my friend( ex-Col) about the the project fiasco that was splashed on the front page of a local paper to-day, he said simply: We donnot have the right culture! No matter what system and procedure you use,the people must have the good values .
I rest my case. I concur,Sire.

Commets from KFJ on 16/3/2003

I personally agree with you AbeDib!

My experience with TH when I performed Hajj last season made me rate them overall as "satisfactory"...lots can be improved.

Mua'sassah is, well how should I put it....perhaps "second class" citizen when it comes to Hajj, we were placed in buildings further away from the Baitullah al Haram, the jumrahs and Masjid Nabawi.

The food was "eatable" but after 3-4 weeks, we opted to purchase our own food, and pity those who have just enough to spend for the season...but of course the main reason we were there was to perform Hajj....not eat!

What I am really upset is when they use our Hajj as the reason to kind of "protect" their position - "sabar, kena banyak sabar, cubaan etc.." I mean if the same complaints are being placed every season by the pilgrims, something must be wrong somewhere.

But then again, AbeDib, based on my personal observation, not stereo-typing the "tour package" Hajj people, sometimes the people really need to understand the real fact why they were there. If they expect special treatment all the while because they pay about at least RM5k more than the mua'sassah...well then, its like if you are richer, your place in heaven is better?

I even came accross some of them who were talking among themselves saying that how come people who are paying less gets better treatment than them? Some even have the "proud" look in their face when they came across us - our "bag kecik" were printed with TH & flag of Malaysia while theirs were more colorful, comfortably padded and with the tour agency title on it. Some of them even stated that to them what is paying Rm5k more....well, try saying that to the pakcik & makcik who saved their harvest money every season....and these are the people who have to walk 2-3km to reach the jumrahs...

Some just stick to their group, and seems to never bundled with others. I mix around quite a lot, with the Arabs, Afrikaans, Americans, Indians, Pakintanis, the Turks and all other nations. Still in touch with them till today. There was one south African that I really admire, multi millionaire but in Mecca/Medina, he mix with the poor Pakistanis and others, learn their ways in life share knowledge etc, I spent quite some times after prayers talking to brother Naaeim about Islam and life....he stated that Malaysian are much better off than the rest of the Muslims countyr becasue TH is there to look after the welfare of the pilgrims from Malaysia.

As I have stated upfront, I am not stereo-typing the "tour package" Hajj, this is case by case basis....but even being with the mua'sassah, I can confirm that there is a big room for improvement...but the mere fact the TH at times are using "kena banyak bersabar" as a "disclaimer clause", something needs to be done TH! The money our pligrims kept is like an amanah for TH to manage....

Well....at least we have been there AbeDib....let us pray for those who have all the money and yet use the lame excuse "Belum sampai seru" (which is really really wrong!) to make their move fast...we don't know when we'll breathe our last air...

Wassalam

Front page in Sunday Times: Deviations in Army projects. Amount RM 114millions!

How could this happened in a structured,rigid command and control administration like the Army?

May be I should offer my project management course to Mindef?

According to my fellow partner, he said that project management is not as difficult as calculating the stress/strain analysis as what the engineers had to go through in their education process , but it a lot of work that need to be done. May I add, that project managers need to REALLY understand the concept of PM and the context/environment where the projects are being implemented.

To-day, I started another course for a group of professionals from a BIG consulting firm. I am monitoring the situation. Most of them are planning and design professionals. My team job is enable them with knowledge,skills and tools/techniques to better manage their projects.

It takes to tango..

Phew! Just completed a PM Course on another batch of 24 professionals !
Thanks Allah swt that we did quite well from the response that we had. However, we must continue to listen and learn from my customers.Then only we will LEAD.

My retired friend just sent me an email. He said he is going to hold a wedding for his daughter by end of this year,and he also registered to go for Haj and start a business. That is three projects in ojne year!!!

I will try to assist him.

Yesterday, I passed through a road in Pahang. I was shocked to see the level of PM by the contractors in doing million ringgit projects.

Looking back to the number of projects given out by the government, Malaysian contractors who keep on getting jobs should have improved by now. Now I believed what my guru said that no matter how much works they do , they will never learn and will keep making mistakes all the time.

Why?

Just came from a wedding function. We had to wait for 30 minutes due to shortage of foods. In Malaysia, it is almost impossible to estimate how many people will come to your family wedding. My cousin invited one thousand ,but he anticipated two thousand people will come but the two thousand also come with additional kids.

The only way is to get extra foods on stand by with with the cooks .

This is the most difficult part in scope management if we treat wedding as a project;-0

A contractor friend told me about his business philosophy-sub all work to ensure you lock in your profit. When I asked why he did not do thw weork himself and make extra profit, he told me his people will cheat him and he has lost money.

In Malaysia,many main contractors are just project managers.

To-day,I received an email from a friend who attended a course my partners have conducted for the past 8days. He valued it 10 times than what is being paid! That makes another day for me:-))

It reconfirmed my aspiration to be a teacher. But I must be warned:

WHO DARES TO TEACH MUST NEVER CEASE TO LEARN....

How do I go about translating ideas into reality? One management consultant who turned himself into a writer has this to say:
Concentrate on the process of becoming a writer. and less on dreaming to be a writer. Personally, I love to write;in fact I write everyday in my blogs and in my special interests mailinglist with the hope one day day I could work on a book( any genre) and become a writer.
I think project management methodology is quite applicable in turning myself into a management consultant and later to be a writer;-)

When we talk about ideas, we must be able to articulate and to validate before we create a project. My friend Peter is helping me on this aspect. Thanks Peter.

Now, I began to understand why teachers remain as teachers despite their low income and degrading respect by materialistic society. When we finished our second module to train JKR professionals , a few of them thanked us for opening their eyes to elevate them to the next level of knowledge,undertanding and competence in managing their projects. We even provoked them to re-examine their axioms, premises and assumptions to the brink of ridicules.

I feel grateful and proud( in all humility) to be part of a team that taught the elephants on how to dance. The earth is vibrating when the elephant starts to dance.The rest in ther 'animal' kingdom will follow soon.This is a joy that one gets for being a member of a team that makes a difference. Let's get M.A.D

Only crazy people creates the change. Normal people remains complacent in status quo forever.

Let me share with you what happened yesterday at the Project Management course for a govt. department.

One engineer confided in me that he now realised the importance of having the knowledge and tools to manage his projects.He was cynical all the way until yesterday.When his department wanted to make changes and comes with new format of reporting,he told a friend that he won't do it. But now, when he gets some knowledge and realised his folly, he is all the way to support our efforts to use proper project management knowledge! He also told me this is one course that he did not sleep;-)

I thought it was people ego's or arrogance that they belittle our efforts to do proper project management. Now, I also learned and realised that these people are just ignorant.

I think he is not the only one who has converted. I was so happy yesterday that I rewarded myself with a cafe latte at Gloria Jeans at KLCC-sitting alone surfing the Internet using wi-fi and smiling from ear to ear....It makes my day.

Sam told me that he managed to conclude the objective of his IT project with a client. Thank God that he did it.Now, he can concentrate of WHAT the is going to do i.e scope planning!

I am glad to hear about it.

This week, my team went to Terengganu to give a talk on JKR new progress reports and its rational. About 100 persons attended the two days course-50% from JKR and the others from contractors and consultants. My observation indicated that only a few know PMBOK and also a few only who are really interested to learn. The majority is just being to learn to comply with JKR new requirement. It is their ignorance that failed to motivate them to learn to upgrade themselves to the next level of competence.

To-day , I discussed PM basic concept with two of my disciples. The rest are 'busy' some where.
next topic will be on planning.

Yesterday was the first time I gave a talk at a university. The talk was on Project Management.
Ons professor whispered to me that he doesnot know even half of what I am talking about!

I reminded my friends that many of us thought that change is a VO most of the time. VO means change in scope of work( not necessarilly so). Change is ANY change that affect scope,cost and time( and I add quality and risks).

Any change must be updated every month, but many assumed that once a plan is approved, everyone must abide by it all the way until end of contract.

To-day, I discovered that JKR can design projects at one -third of the cost done by the consultants! The questions lies:Can JKR deliver the goods on time?

By thye grace of Allah swt, my proposed business project will be financed via another project of a friend. This is NOT a coincidence- it is a help hand down from the heavens.

To-day, my partner and me discussed on a project. Now, we gathering data on the possible cost and solutions to our business proposal.

To-day I briefed my potential client on the use of web in various functions in project management.

* is a sign of Power point slide:
This is my opening speech at JKR Workshop on Project Management.

*Welcome to PM World Of Knowledge-slide show as a background before the talk.
*Knowledge is proud that he has learn?d so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.

Then, a new slide:

*Learning Project Management.

Title of the Talk: Learning Project Management

Greetings and thanks to JKR

Welcome the participants of the 2nd Intake of PMC.

Let me introduce myself.My name is Mohd Adib Awang Noh , the leader of XPM. I will give a short note of introduction. XPM is a group of people namely Dr SM Yeoh, Mr Peter Wood , Mr Lau KE and me who shared their common passion in PM knowledge . They form a group to impart their knowledge and expertiser to those who wish to learn and provide consultancy services on request basis.

We will take you on a journey to discover PM World of Knowledge in the 12 days of this course . Dr SM Yeoh, Mr Peter Wood and Mr. Lau would be talking and discussing about the art and science of project management and I will talk about the spiritual part at the beginning of the course and I?ll participate in the class discussion later on.

Let me quote Peter?s example on Rudyard Kipling six wise men.

*Slide show of the quote.

Let me borrow only three of the above wise men to demonstrate my points of: WHY, WHAT, HOW


Let?s start with WHY we learn PM?

May be it is best that I used myself as an example because I was a JKR engineer.I joined JKR in July, 1976-a long time ago. When I was transferred to JKR Pasir Mas Kelantan to manage education projects there, no body really guided me to do my work. Then, I was almost 24 years young and a gungho engineer who can?t wait to get his hands on managing projects messing around with projects. I was given a list of education projects in Kelantan Barat, two TA?s and few technicians under my command. What do I know about the projects? Just read the contract documents.That?s all. Good luck to you, Adib.Does that sound familiar to YOU?

Since I was trained at British University, let me borrow a good English phrase- I muddle through project management to deliver my projects. The boss will ask; Bila project boleh tender? The DO will ask bila project boleh siap. The contractor will ask: Bila dapat progress payment? At that time, I don?t even understand JKR 203C conditions of contract!

All the way, it was a struggle. Why? Because I was working in a struggling organization then. Now, you boss or leader knows the importance of PM knowledge. That is why we are all here-we to teach and you to learn. The main purpose, I believe is to strengthen and enhance JKR?s core competency i.e project management. May I quote Hamel from HBR:

To survive and to thrive , the organisation must nurture their core competency.

When I met Dato Zaini, I told him I have 25 yrs experience in PM-in JKR construction projects and corporate projects. Being an engineer & lawyer as he is, he said sarcastically.?Not 25 yrs of experience but 25 yrs of services. And one year of experience repeated 25 times! Imagine that: ONLY ONE YEAR OF EXPERIENCE.Dato Dr Wahid is more kind. He said JKR engineers has only 2 yrs of experience and repeated by the no of years of service divided by 2!. Some will agree and many will disagree with their views but there is some truth in it. But honestly, over the years that you have worked for JKR, how much do you really learn from your experiences? How much knowledge, skills and tools and techniques that you have acquired based solely on your experience?

In my case, I admit I do not know that much until I started learning to discover the world of knowledge of PM since early 2000.

In early 2000, I told Tan Sri Omar that I would like become PM consultant? Then, he asked me: What do I know about PM? Well, I told him that I was a JKR engineer for a few years and was CEO of a listed company on KLSE. Tan Sri Omar said: ?Adib: Go and learn.. take this book(Fast Forward MBA in PM) and go to London to meet people in APM? Then I ask: Do you mean that what we have been doing in JKR is not project management? He replied: NO!(To my understanding:what it means is NOT the project management as what it should be). After that I dared not asked! Not many dare to ask him any question when he was the DG at that time.

Then my odyssey in PM began and I am still on that journey until to-day..so all of you are welcome to board the ship and began our journey to discover or rediscover PM WOK!

Actually, we don?t learn much from our experience.At first I don?t agree with Dr SM Yeoh that I don?t learn from experience. Then , I ponder for a week and finally agreed. In term of knowledge, I learn more in the last two years then in the last twenty years. We must learn from our leaders (bosses don?t teach) and from our teachers. I also then discovered PMBOK and PMI, APM and meet interesting people along the way..something like a pilgrimage. In a pilgrimage( ex Haji), everyone may have the same roadmap-the road ,laybyes,stops and destination BUT everyone will have his own personal journey.

People questioned Dato? Dr Wahid ( behind his back ofcourse) and me on why they now have to learn PM? The older engineers of JKR could still completed the jobs without learning PM? I don?t know Dato? Wahid?s answer but mine is simple. My 90yrs old grandmother told me she used to walk from Bachok(20km) to Kota Bharu for half a day but I would prefer to take my car in half hour. The Pharaoh has built The Pyramid but he did not use any PM software. Well, Pyramid took 200 years to be completed but we wanted our project to be completed by yesterday.

I hope that short story of my personal experience in JKR answers the first question of WHY.

Let?s go the second question: What?

This is very interesting question. The personal lesson that I learnt is that I do not know what I do not know. I only know about PMI and PMBOK only there years ago even though it has been there since 1969! Not only to me, but also to JKR top management as well!

My JKR friend whispered in the canteen:?After working for 10 to 20 years in JKR, you mean I have to learn PM again? You must be joking. I know what there is to know in managing a project.?

Let me go back in time and relate from my personal experience.Two years ago , when I began my journey of discovery in the world of knowledge of PM, I discovered to my horrors that there are lot more to project management than just scheduling, contract administration, CPM etc. Actually, many of us have some knowledge of PM but not properly structured and inadequate in certain areas. Our level of knowledge is only at the level of knowing-and certain aspects are very superficial. Our job is to improve your knowledge on those aspects. Let?s me show you just the body of knowledge in PMBOK-



*Slide show on PMBOK areas. Go through certain areas that many JKR people are not aware of.Show also the Interaction of other management knowledge.


My partner Peter and Dr Yeoh will take you through PMBOK and the five processes in the next 8 days. How about the tools? Are we going to use ?keris dan lembing? when others are using satellite guided missiles? Mr. Lau will take you another 4 days on the use tools and techniques to plan, monitor and control your projects.

And that is THE WHAT you are going to learn.

Next, The question of How do we learn?

Attending this training is one of them! This is the easiest way. But let me forewarn you that REAL learning comes from applying the knowledge.Let me quote Kung Fu Tze: The essence of knowledge is not having it, but applying it.Sad to admit, as always the truth hurts ,that many of us still lack the knowledge ,what more of applying it.

Let me show the competency Training Model from Australia



@Go through the model box by box. Explain the role of reach party.@

Our job is to impart knowledge. Your job is to learn.

*Slide show of Cycle of learning
@explain the cycle@

Real learning comes from applying the knowledge

Being knowledgeable is NOT enough, you have to be competent

*Slide shows: Competent Project Manager

The PMgr must work operate within:

*Competent Project Team

And supported by:

*Competent Project Organisation

Looking at those requirements, now, you can have a good guess or wonder why many projects fail to achieve their objectives or meet or exceed the stakeholders expectations.!

Before you go ahead with the learning of PM, let me caution you that someone very close to you is always present to block your learning. You can?t see him or her because it is inside everyone of us. It is called our ego-it derives its energy from ignorance. The ego that used to whisper to me:? I already know what there is needed to know in PM.?

So ladies and gentlemen, just put it aside our ego cum ignorance for the next 12 days of learning ? and then may be ,let me know whether you really knows what you think you know!

I think that is enough for the introduction. I will summaries our training modules on the last day and talk more on the meaning of competence-That is our destination. Then, my job will be easier.

Thanks.

How do you go about managing your projects from a cafe?

Put all your projects on Project Web Central and get all project managers to connect to that server.Not once but at least once everyday!
You install the hardwares and the softwares but to make it successful, you must educate the people in project management and the use of IT for communication.

Project intranets will only work if people use it. Intranet is just like a knife- just a tool. Given to unskilled, nothing happens. However, a simple knife can turn into powerful weapon if it is given to McGyver.

[4/1/2003 9:04:25 AM | Beris Man]
Yesterday, I bought a book that I was looking for months. It will cost me around USD80 if I were to buy and fedex to KL from USA. But I was lucky to have to pay only RM 127 for the book at Kunikoniya. Lesson learnt: Just wait for a few months, then you can save a few hundreds bucks.if you can't wait, just buy-which I do many times!

It is entitled : Building Project Management Competency

Now, I have two PM books to read this month(April ,2003). Another one is Radical Project Management!

To-day I got a shock of my life when my friend told me that his company is doing multi-million ringgit project without a project report!
If there is no report, how do we know the progress?

What do you look for,progress report or performance report?

Many people posed me the same qquestion:
What do I have to learn project management knowledge?
My senior or predeccesors do NOT have to learn all these stuff and yet they have completed most of the projects?

Now, I am writing a short speech to JKR 2nd PM Course.
My immediate answer : My grandmother did not go to school.She is almost 90 years old and still lives till to-day.
But then compare what kind of life she lives to my life who has been to school and UK for my degree.

Just wait and I will try to answer the questions.

Yesterday, I bought a book that I was looking for months. It will cost me around USD80 if I were to buy and fedex to KL from USA. But I was lucky to have to pay only RM 127 for the book at Kunikoniya. Lesson learnt: Just wait for a few months, then you can save a few hundreds bucks.if you can't wait, just buy-which I do many times! It is entitled : Building Project Management Competency Now, I have two PM books to read this month(April ,2003). Another one is Radical Project Management!

My firm XPM was honoured to-day when we are invited to give a workshop to 110 JKR contractors and consultants. The lecture hall is full with 151 people . The demand for good project management lecture is great!

My schoolmate has invited me to give a lecture at HUSM on Project Management. I am still thinking what is going to be the topic of my talk. My PM guru told me to talk about a patient as a project. Another doctor friend told me that at hospital, the clients do not decide what service they can get from the hospital. It is the other way around. The supplier of service decide what service the client get!

One Tan Sri invited me for lunch at SGC this afternoon. We discussed a few issues on project management. He said the PM knowledge is very important. Everyone should have it because everyone is involved with a project-whatever they do for a living .

I heard that CIDB is organising an International Conference in Project Management on 8-10 September,2003.

To-day, I gave a short intro lecture at JKR when we did a refresher course on MS Project. What I emphasised was that DO NOT CONFUSE THE MAP WITH THE JOURNEY. The computerised plan/schedule etc are just digitised map. One needs a good car and driver to track through to reach one's destinations.

During my Hajj, I observed a lot of failures in which THTS had failed to apply PM in managing the Hajj program this year. Managing 50,000 pilgrims is a BIG Project and I have concluded that THTs needed a lot of help to improve their aservices.

I will be on leave for these months of January and Febuary,2003. I hope explore the world of knowledge of project management this year with more vengeance!