Yesterday I met the director of management of JKR and managed to convince him to hold a talk on project management at JKR. It will be held at Work Ministry complex on the 8th of June,2002. The guest speaker will be Dr SM Yeoh.

This morning I received a phonecall from a JKR state director. He told me that he had to sack a project manager of a contruction company due to his incompetency to do a PM job. At the same time, he also mentioned that his boss in KL wanted his big projects to be properly planned, monitored and controlled. I advised him to get the contractor to do it and JKR concentrates only on controlling the project.

Later this afternoon, my XPROJECT MANAGEMENT team briefed a contractor on how we could assist them in project management.

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:-(

PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR DUMMIES?

Honestly, the book above is also good for me even though I have been doing projects for the past 25 years!
The book explains the concept/methodologies in laymen language with a lot of pratical tips and examples. If you are in project management, it is worth every cents.

On Friday this week, I was given the opportunity to brief most project managers in IWK about what my PM group can complement their efforts to upgrade their competence as well their contractors in managing their projects.

Last week I met Tuan Haji Ir Rashid Omar of JKR and this week I met Tuan Haji Ir Halim Jalil of JPS on the needs of their staff and their contractors to be knowledgable in project management and at the same time using the latest IT to enhance their communication,interaction and collaboration.

A few days ago, I started trying an intranet from http://www.intranets.com and set up a trial version(for 30 days) for my bridge project.It contains features like discussion,annoucements,email,document etc. One thing I like it acts like a virtual project office and I can sync with my palm111c.For ten users,I will have to pay about RM 200 a month.

Last Friday(9/11/01), I have conducted a free talk on project management assisted by Peter WA Wood and KE Lau. about 15 people attended the talk. My objectives were to dissiminate the project management knowledge and as well as to get more people to really learn more about PM.

It is interesting to note that about 50% of the work done in organisations are projects in nature.

I have just installed a project scheduling software for my palm111c. It is from BrainForest.

Another more interesting one that I look forward to buying is the Project@Hand from www.natara.com. It is MS Project in my palm!

To-day my supplier installed MS Project 2000 on my notebook.

On 9th Nov., 2001, I will giving a short discourse on Project Management at Ridzuan's office for free. My objective is to spread the knowledge and get everyone involved in any project to learn more about the PMBOK and the discipline of Project Management.

Two days ago, I have attended a short course on MS Project 2000.
Note: I am pleased and honoured to be appointed as project management consultant to MERCY on pro bono basis.

Continous Professional Development

Yesterday I have the opportunity to meet up with my friend,the Director of JBAS. He is as concerned as I am regarding the quality of project management and the needs of young managers to be properly educated and guided in managing projects.When I told him that I organised project management talks for free, I ended getting a job to hold a free talk to his staff.
Now, I must be more careful before I open up my big mouth.

RM 29 billions Project

I thought I have seen the biggest project in Malaysia i.e The RM 9 billions KLIA project! ,However there is a bigger one which became the main topic of The Edge weekly today. It is the NPL ( non-performing loans)-a sum that is mind boggling and I wish ALL THE LUCK in the world to my friend Dato' Azman Yahya,the new kid on the block ( Malaysian corporate scence). In my personal experience, I found it easier to manage a road project compared to a corporate turn around.

Two days ago I met my long time friend who is the executive director of his construction company. When I asked what is main problem in managing his project,he smiled and told me that his biggest problem now is to secure projects for his company. During this economic slowdown, it is tough to get a project. Getting a contract is THE PROJECT by itself.

I share his concern for he has 200 staff and a few millions ringgit worth of hardwares literally idling....

A few days ago, I was telling my technical savvy friends about my intention to use project central for my project management software.They told me that project central have some hiccups and recommended me to use quickplace from Lotus Notes. May be I got to try both softwares before I decide to use any of them??
Any comments?

To-day I met two young men who are interested to know more about project management. I believe there are a lot more of young people involved in project management and have little knowledge of the body of knowledge of PM and PM methodologies. However, not many of their bosses realised the importance of training these highly qualified technical personnels in PM. Many projects failed not because of the lack of technical knowledge but more on the lack of PM knowledge ,skills and experience. To my surprise, many govt. department and private corporations have very little budget on training despite having billions of project to implement:-(

PROJECT 2000 & PROJECT CENTRAL:
I spent about one and the half hour with Mr Lau of CT Solution. He showed me the features of these project management softwares. I plan to use the product for my coming project. How I wish these softwares were available to me when I was a young project manager in the 70's and 80's. The technology is available to-day, but not many people are willing to learn, unlearn and relearn the new way of managing projects.

Mr Lau contact no:03-89660300

To-day I received an article from WJ about building a happy family.I think it will take a life time to do that; and I believe it is easier to build a bridge. The knowledge and the discipline of project management could be applied to build a happy family. Don't you think so?

BEING WIRED AND GETTING WIRESLESS...
Every time I happen to think about the use of ICT in project management in Malaysia, I am getting more worried. The technology is available and affordable; but alas my fellow project managers are still doing it in the old ways. The resistance to change is so big that only few dared to venture. How could we be world class project managers if we ourselves are not able to undergo the transformation??
May be what we need is a revolution in project management thinking and practice! Now, I must be looking for a leader to lead us...

WEB ENABLED PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
A conference will be held in London on 18th and 19th September,2001.

Contact: Tahir Raja Tel:+44(0)20 7647 2250 or email to: tahirr@marcusevansuk.com
Conference Fees: GBP 1934.17