SIMPLY PROJECTS

Galas By Election is a Project

Preparation for this coming by election is underway.Both Pas and UMNO will contest in this election.From today until 26 Oct.2010 the nomination day,each party shall choose and announce their candidates.From that day,there will be a very intensive political campaign to win the coveted seat!This is a project in its own right[it satisfies PMI definition of a project]  .And it demands a very competent project manager to deliver the result!Officially,each party has only nine days to win the hearts and the minds of the people to vote for their candidates.

Personally,I had one experience in managing a political campaign when my brother was a candidate many,many years ago.It was sleepless nights and very tiring.As in any project management,communication is super important due to fluidity of political situations on the grounds.Fast decisions and delivery of promises are paramount.One thing that I am very sure,there will be a lot of hard work and money spent but no one is sure of winning!

To my friends in UMNO and PAS,good luck.As they say ,may the best man wins...

As a student of project management,I will be watching and learning from the orbiting satellite;-)

Opps Sikap as a project

The recent Opps Sikap XX has ended and we have seen nothing of significant in the nobel efforts to reduce accidents and deaths on our Malaysian roads especially during festival times.The amount of money,time and efforts were quite a significant over the last few years and yet the results showed no improvement.I just wonder why???

My first question begins with: Are we doing the right things?

And the second question: Are we doing them right?

The above are two basic questions that sometimes got lost in many of our national campaigns.

From my humble and little knowledge in change  management, these issues of careless and reckless driving need a CHANGE MANAGEMENT approach and NOT a monitoring and control approach as I have seen in the activities of the Opps Sikap so far.I suggest the authority to look into this matter as a change process and manage this as annual project with specific deliverables,milestones and KPI's.The performance reviews should be done every quarter and not at every Hari Raya.

Repeated mistakes

If we forget about history, most likely history will repeat itself so that we can still have the chance to learn.When history repeats itself twice, it means we have not learned much or refused to learn because we think we know better.Mistakes also do behave in a similar manner...

Denver International Airport had problem with high tech baggage handling system,so was KLIA.Now, we have chaos at Terminal 5,Heathrow.It is hard to think that those who were responsible are incompetent.I believe they have a lot of competent people there.Is it a new complex problem that was too big to manage?Honestly,I donot know and I am not qualified to make any comments/suggestions. However,two things that I am always humbled by any projects-their nature of uncertainties and complexities.

I think project management is just like the sea.No one is the master of the sea.A few were drowned but to those who survived,kindly share your experience with the new 'sailors' so that we can come home alive.

General election

The coming 12 th General election is a project even though it is repeated every 4 or 5 years.It is a one day event that needs months of planning and every GE is different from the previous GE in terms of electorates,constituencies,candidates,rules and procedures.For this coming GE,it was reported that the Election Commission has a budget of RM200millions! This is one of the costs to maintain a democratic.IMHO,it is cheaper than not having a democratic system of government.

About 30 year ago I was ARO for a constituency in Kelantan when I was a JKR engineer.My experience showed that anything can happen on the election day.Most of the election workers are quite experience to operate the election station.The troubles only come from some voters who are emotional and some party workers who can get carried away in their zest to win the election.

From the project management perspective,more attention and efforts must be paid into risk management especially in the area of logistics and security.

Chief Secretary of Government on Sick Projects

From The Star

Tuesday February 26, 2008

MYT 5:20:23 PM

Have proper planning and monitoring to avoid 'sick' projects

By JANE RITIKOS

KUALA LUMPUR: Lack of close attention to the planning and monitoring of projects, and failure to quickly terminate problematic contractors are some of the reasons for sick projects.

Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan said he noticed these were the common reasons that led to projects failing to be carried out as scheduled.

He said there must be a proper system of planning, implementation and monitoring of projects and the ministries concerned must also conduct spot checks.

"Proper planning includes good selection of sites and contactors with good track record. Once the projects have taken off, effective monitoring such as spot checks at the sites should be carried out," he said.

Mohd Sidek, who chairs the National Action Committee that monitors the implementation of government projects, said early termination of errant contractors after warnings are given was another proactive step and not meant to victimise anyone.

He was speaking at the launch of SK Danau Kota 2 school in Jalan Genting Klang on Tuesday. The school is one of 268 "sick" projects revived under the Eighth Malaysia Plan by the Education Ministry through its sick projects committee.

Comments:
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To do that we need competent people in managing the projects.We have but not enough for the thousands of projects.It is good to check and verify our capacity and ability to deliver the projects that we have approved for the 9th Malaysian Plan.

Business case for project management

As requested by a senior executive of an IT company some months ago, I gave a short introduction of why companies need project management for their business success. Here you can Download Businesscase4pm.ppt  presentation.

Below is a photo of a completed river improvement project that attracts the tourists to Malacca.

Quality projects

Below is an excerpt of the news from Bernama:

                                          

May 26, 2007 17:50 PM

     Najib Outlines Three Criteria To Ensure Quality Projects

 

KUANTAN, May 26 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak outlined three criteria that must be given emphasis to ensure development projects being implemented met the stipulated standards and quality.

The Deputy Prime Minister said credible contractors, efficient project management and best maintenance schedules were crucial to ensure projects were implemented on schedule and complied with the required standards and quality.

These criteria were crucial to avoid problems like delays in completion of government projects and eventhough completed were plagued with problems as reported in the media, he said.

"We must engage reliable contractors with proven track record and strong financial standing, one who manages the project efficiently and adopts the best maintenance schedule," he said when handing over the Royal Malaysian Navy housing complex at the Marine Region One base at Taman Samudera here.

Of late the media has been highlighting defects in government buildings including at the RM270 million newly-opened Kuala Lumpur Court Complex which had cracks on the wall, leaking pipes and falling ceilings.

He cited PASDEC Corporation Sdn Bhd and SPPH Sdn Bhd, developers of the RMN Region One housing complex, which completed the project four months ahead of schedule, as examples of credible companies.

My comments:

There are many determinant factors to quality project.Just one question: Do we have competent project managers managing our projects?

   

Delivering 9th Malaysian Plan

9th Malaysian Plan

The newspapers reported  that our PM wanted all government departments and agencies to immediately implement the 9MP as soon as he finished making the annoucement on 31st March,2006. I am all for it.Sokong 100%.

Before we embark on the new plan, I hope those responsible have learnt from the successes and failures in implementing projects at least from the 8MP.IF  we donot learn,then the same or similar mistakes will be repeated in the coming plan.

Some time ago,our PM was talking about improving the DELIVERY SYSTEM.I honestly donot know whether the delivery system has improved to meet the challenges of the bigger 9MP.I hope some improvement has been done;if not then it is a greater struggle to deliver the goods to the people.

From my study of flow-chart of delivery system, the people and the process are the key determinant factors in the success and failures of getting the goods and services delivered to the people.

Note: Taken from my main blog-The Reader

 

The newspapers reported  that our PM wanted all government departments and agencies to immediately implement the 9MP as soon as he finished making the annoucement on 31st March,2006. I am all for it.Sokong 100%.

Before we embark on the new plan, I hope those responsible have learnt from the successes and failures in implementing projects at least from the 8MP.IF  we donot learn,then the same or similar mistakes will be repeated in the coming plan.

Some time ago,our PM was talking about improving the DELIVERY SYSTEM.I honestly donot know whether the delivery system has improved to meet the challenges of the bigger 9MP.I hope some improvement has been done;if not then it is a greater struggle to deliver the goods to the people.

From my study of flow-chart of delivery system, the people and the process are the key determinant factors in the success and failures of getting the goods and services delivered to the people.

Note: Taken from my main blog-The Reader

Certification of PM

Lately, a few of  friends of mine called me to ask on how to get certified as project managers? That is good news for the industry. Not only that , I heard CIDB  has just started a programme of 20-day course for construction project managers and later on,when passed their course work,they will be CERTIFIED Construction Project Manager(CPM).The first batch is session now. This augurs well for the construction industry so that we will have more certified CPM's to enable more projects be better managed as well as be recognised.

I also observe that many IT companies insist that their project managers must have PMP. PMP certificates can be obatained by sitting for an exam conducted by PMI. Personally,I plan to take up the exam in a few months time. In UK,they have PRINCE2 and you can refer to Association for Project Management.I heard Australian Project Management Association has her own certifications.

As of today,I donot know of any laws that say practising project managers must be certified by any particular authorities in Malaysia. I think it is only a matter of two or three years from now that either the clients/your employers will insist on certification or the laws will be enacted to ensure that only qualified and certified persons are allowed to practice. To me, it is good business sense to be the early birds so that you can catch the bigger worms.

Round Table for PM

A few days ago,I had the opportunity to be with a group of people who are concerned on how well the 9MP will be planned and executed.We discussed many issues and one of the  things that we agreed is that the basic project management knowledge needs to be acquired by all persons involved in project management. At the top level,the executive(minister/secretary general/director general) must know their roles and responsibilities in programme management and equally the project managers at the lower level. Recently,I heard a lot of rhetoric in this subject matter.Question: What is programme management and what is project management?

At best,9th Malaysia Plan is a good plan.But what is a good plan if it is not planned/ executed/ completed to achieve its goals and objectives?.As of today,the parliament has approved the 9MP. Now, the delivery system must take over and deliver to the people.Question: Do we have the project delivery system and is it working?

Among the major components of the delivery system are the leadership,the people and the process.If these components are not competent,then I could safely conclude that we donot have a good delivery system. Without an efficient and effective delivery system,the projects would not be delivered as they were intended to be.Delays,bad quality and cost over-run will just join in and finally failures to meet the project objectives.

Basically, it is a simple basic truth that is all needed. That is the right people to do the right things -at all levels.We need  the people who are COMPETENT  in project management.The top ingredient  of being competent is KNOWLEDGE.And this is a scarce commodity among  those involved in managing projects.These people are there by virtues of their positions and/or professions.

This is the message that I hope to get to PM(Prime Minister) on the status of PM(project management) practice in my beloved country,Malaysia.