Project Planning

Posted on 16 August, 2010 at 11:55 PM by with 4 Comments

Having an idea on how to implement and the actual physical implementation are two different things. Project Manager will have to plan for the various things. I have to understand the project requested scope, form up the project team and understand the actual requirement. I need to quickly put on my planning hat and start to plan the details to deliver the project.

“Henry Gantt” is considered to be the forefather of project management, as his planning and organizing methods with the use of the “bar charts” as a project management tool recognizes him as the foremost precursor for contemporary project management practices employed today.

Sometimes the sheer size of a project can be daunting and make the task seem just too difficult. Thinking of the project as a large task that cannot be broken down can sometimes put Project Manager off getting started, and also makes it harder for project manager to sustain the motivation because it seems overwhelming. Planning and organizational skills are essential for success. You may have yourself some writing material. Once you come across any brilliant new thoughts, ideas, you can jot down every detail quickly.

As a project manager, the 3 main components that need to identify are very crucial.
They are the

  • Project Scope,
  • Project Budget, and
  • Project Timeline or Schedule.

Once these 3 items are identified, it will be easy to move the project ahead.

Remember the golden 6 P’s tip:

Proper Pre Planning Prevents Poor Performance

Proper Pre Planning Promotes Perfect Performance


Articles, Business Communication

Project Scoping

Posted on 23 July, 2010 at 11:45 PM by with 16 Comments

In an end-user environment, it is sometimes difficult for me to scope up a project. Sometimes the request description in the form is quite general and vague. Multiple meetings needs to be conducted with project sponsor to discuss the project requirements. This is to ensure the project scope is clear and precise so that the team is aware of the actual deliverables. Ultimately, be clear and specific with the project requirement of what the requester really want to achieve.

Unclear scope is always one of the project problems. Scope not clear will lead to delivering wrong end product / services. Thus a clear scope is needed right from the start of the project engagement. Project cost comes directly from the project scope. It will affect the project triple constraints upon an unclear scope.

If one of the deliverables is to purchase equipment, then the project scope needs to be clear. Wrong equipment / model purchased will cause the project cost to have large investment.

Once the scope is clear, I then start to seek quotations from the vendor. Ensure the vendor is aware of the project scope thus providing the necessary quotation.

On the other hand, if you are a project manager in a vendor environment, it will be easier. The scope had normally been taken cared by the pre-sales team. Thus any experienced project manager can just took up the assignment and managed the project delivery. The scoping process is a quite clear and straight forward.

Lesson Learn: Be clear and specific on the project scope before delivery, implementation. If there is any change, ensure it does not impact the entire project.

As for SI project manager, the more change it has, the more project charges it will incurred as the request adds on the additional pre-defined scope arrangement.

Articles, Business Communication

Work versus Hobbies – Lessons Learned

Posted on 23 May, 2009 at 9:55 PM by with 16 Comments

Work today is so stressful. Even if you have a job,
the work is almost pushing you to the walls.

Many organizations are reducing budget
on the staffs hiring. Thus there are little resources
to do the pile of jobs.

- Are you grueling at your 9-5 job ?
- Are you facing tons of unfinished backlogs?
- What about facing an unreasonable boss that keeps nagging at you

If there is any error in the task, boss will nag at you. Boss gives you deadline to finish your assignment. While you are trying to excel in your work and yet your boss says this is your basic requirement to fulfill the job. ….OMG

After being employed for so long, I want to tell my friends that I am getting tired to work for people. It does not pay to work so hard and yet your effort is unappreciated. I would rather work for something and yet pays me well like my hobbies, things I like.

At least it provides me a route to excel in my work. If I can excel in my hobbies, like communication, project management. I can become a consultant and share my experiences with others. Wont it be great that I can get paid if I am doing through my hobbies.

Recently, I met a young lady.  She is at the cross-road of choosing her career now. She studies psychology, works in marketing and like to mix around with people. She is pondering what to focus on her career: To dwell into marketing, her psychology area or a job that allows her to mix around. Because she is young while we spoke, she has many choices to choose, thus is now in dilemma stage.

My lessons learned is do something that you like. Anything that interests you. Your interest and the pleasure to stay in a job will push you further if you like it. It will be a drag if you are working on something that you do not like.

I was informed that a person’s will go through a minimum of 2 big career moves. You will do something that you like after graduation. Example, working in I.T.  You will work your way up to the highest title you can achieve. And once you have sufficient experiences, say after 15-20 years, you will be changing to another career. I am not referring to jobs. You may change jobs within that 15-20 years within the same career.

However, after 20 years of experiences, you may want to change your career path to other industry, say consulting. Using your 1st career experience to enhance on your 2nd career path.

On the nutshell, you got to like what your work. It will be so much better if it is your hobbies. Say a computer geek to a consultant. Learning to assemble parts to form a workable computer. Work in I.T. area till you can share your experience to others.

What do you think? Leave your feedback and comment.

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