SIMPLY PROJECTS

Are you an accidental project manager?

Well,to be honest with you I was!It took place more than three decades ago when I was told to manage a few projects.The only qualification I had was a degree in civil engineering from Sheffield University in 1976 and a six months experience in a design office!

Don't be worried if you are one of the many accidental project managers as long as you are willing to learn.Most of us learnt while on the job anyway.I can't remember when I wrote about this subject, but here is a better one from Michael Greer's website.

Another delayed project?

A 9-month delay means the project completed date is expected to be completed 9 months later than the original planned date.The reasons given are nothing new as far as construction projects are concerned.If the planned duration were 9 months longer,the issue of delay would not rise;-)

IMHO,project of this size in scope,complexities and cost,schedule is still important but not the number one factors of success.The interests of the rakyat comes first.The stakeholders analysis of this project will show the list of what really matters in measuring the success of this project.

Tuesday April 22, 2008 MYT 2:16:15 PM

PM: Many reasons for Penang bridge delay

KUALA LUMPUR: The nine-month delay in the Penang second bridge project is due to problems in land acquisition, design and rising cost, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The Prime Minister said there were a number of reasons for the delay.

“First, we need to acquire the land needed to develop the project, then there are matters relating to the design. We want to ensure that it is the best design.

“Also the cost needs to be looked at. There may be some changes in the cost because the price of materials have gone up,” he told reporters on Tuesday after delivering his speech at the Asia Europe Culture Ministers Meeting.

Abdullah however believed that the delays should not take too long.

Recently, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state government planned to meet with the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) to discuss the delays in delivering the second Penang bridge project.

He said the Penang state government was sincere in wanting to co-operate with the Federal Government to build the bridge but warned that if they (Federal Government) adopted a “not to discuss” attitude or did not give the state government due attention, the Penang government would be forced to think of alternatives.

It was reported that the second bridge was originally estimated at RM3.6bil but the costing had gone up to RM4.3b

Book:Napoleon on Project Management

For the last few months,I have been reading articles by Jerry Manas PMP.I learned a lot from the articles and when I saw this book,I immediately bought it for my reference.

To the younger generation of project managers,I suggest you read as many books as you can and learn as much as you can while doing your work.However, I would suggest that you need to learn a lot from those who had been there and done that.Wisdom only comes from the applications of knowledge-the right knowledge and the right knowledge can only be obtained from the right teachers.

Owing to the intrinsic uncertainty nature of projects,anything can go wrong during the course of project delivery no matter what knowledge,skill and tools/techniques being used/applied.At best, we hope to increase the probability of project success if we manage it well.

Desired Change

CHANGE CREATES PROJECTS.PROJECTS MUST BE MANAGED WELL.

To all my friends ,both in BN and PR,all of us must make the
      change to be better in serving the rakyat and at the same time to
      fill the GE12 promises made to the rakyat by all parties.As we all
      know and from the lesson learnt, rhetoric is not enough.What
      matters more is the delivery.Planning is the easier  but execution
      is difficult.By nature, most people resist change.A few years
      ago,I attended a one day seminar at MIM that cost me RM1800-just
      to listen to a change management guru from HBS Prof John Kotter.
      To my friends in politics and are in positions of power to make
      the change for the better for the rakyat,please do the right
      things and do them right.Political and management competencies are
      imperatives in getting from where we are today to the desired change.

*How do we go about doing it? It is a long story...My purpose is to
provoke our minds to think and ponder deeply into the subject matter
before we embark on it.May I recommeNd a few books to read: Leading
Change and The heart of Change published by Harvard Business School.