totallyRED

Over the last month or so, I have gone through a lot of change introducing a new process of supply and demand. The workload has just been unbearable at times. To date I personally have completed 25 proposals of which I have received 11 work orders already and I expect to get the rest in the next few weeks.

Having raised the issue a few times, it felt as though no action was been taken. However, yesterday I had a meeting with my career manager to discuss the issue. It was highlighted at the meeting that I was not managing projects I just had too much to do and it felt that I was problem managing and churning out project proposals. In total I had 9 development deliverables, 2 business development approvals, 4 new proposals, the list goes on… in my portfolio

As they say

We make a living by what we get and if you don’t ask, you don’t get

What a result, I knew my programme manager was looking at the matter as he could see a colleague and I were way too stretched. Having spoken to my career manager, within 45 minutes I received conformation from the programme manager that I shall be getting another fulltime Project Manager and fulltime Project Support from the project support office.

Work life balance is essential. If your too busy talk to someone with authority, if you’re not busy do say.

Work is a two-way relationship, employers need employees, and employees need to build a positive working relationship with employers. If you do not have enough to do, ask for more and vise-versa.

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.

Alexander Graham Bell

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I have now been a Project Manager for 14 months and a PRINCE 2 Practitioner for 11 months. Over this period I have been asked numerous times what is Project Management? What is PRINCE 2 and what are its core principles? And last but not lest what do I actually do?

Hopefully, over the next few months I shall try and cover the core principles of PRINCE 2. In the mean time here are my answers to some of the questions.

What is Project Management?

In a diplomatically correct view

Project Management is the function of planning, controlling and evaluating a specific piece of change so that it is completed on time, within budget and to the agreed outcome.

In simpleton terms

The progression of projects from start to finish ensuring it moves forward in a timely manor, ensuring it is completed on time, to budget and to the required standard.

What is PRINCE 2?

Prince2 or PRojects IN Controlled Environments is a project management methodology. It covers the management, control and organisation of a project.

Tie your camel (first), and then put your trust in Allah

– An old Muslim proverb

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With the grace of the all mighty, we have managed to raise £651 for Al-Hidayah. Not bad for a group of youngsters who had one week to plan, prepare and raise funds. Just imagine what would have happened if we had a few more weeks of planning and preparation.

This will pay for the fire exit that is required to be able to use the upper floor. God willing, this will now be installed, just before the building is opened officially (planed Sunday 24^th June).

I cannot praise enough the people who have so generously donated. Moreover, the five individuals who have helped me make this trek possible. God willing, we can continue giving back to such a great community. AMEN.

If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done

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On Saturday, a few friends and I attended a talk in Birmingham organised by the friends of al-aqsa. It shed some light on the issues surrounding the state of the Palistinion people and the holy land of Al-Aqsa. This is a brief of my understanding and god willing I shall be taking steps to increase my knowledge and understanding.

The land of Al-Aqsa is one of three holy places for Muslims. Ibraham with his son Ishaq built a place of worship on this land 40 years after Ibraham built the Kaba (Mekka, Saudi Arabia) with his son Ismail. Therefore this goes back to times before Christianity and Judaism. Many people throughout history have died trying to take control of the land including the Roman empire. This piece of land is holy to all major religions of the world and therefore must be accessible to all.

Today, it’s the Israelis trying their utmost to take control and to place restrictions. Jews believe that God appointed the Jews to be his chosen people in order to set an example of holiness and ethical behavior to the world.

The siege bestowed on the people of Palestine, the killing of innocent humans, the constant bombardment, the unlawful demolition of houses, the occupation of Palestinian land, the restrictions imposed on the Muslims visiting/praying on the holy land is anything but ethical behavior.

As a nation of peace lovers, what are we doing? Is this a problem for the Palestinians only? Is this a problem for the Muslims only? No, as a citizen of the world it is all our responsibility to take action.

So what actions can we take which is non-violent? There is plenty we can do, learn about the problems, the plight of the people (many Christians have lost their life too which the media forgets to mention), lobby the government, write to your member of parliament and boycott corporations supporting the Israeli army to mention a few. Wake up and take action before it is too late.

To learn more about the issue visit Friends of Al-Aqsa.

We are what we pretend to be, but we better be very careful what we pretend

Kurt Vonnegut

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Have you ever wondered why the government is always over budget for projects? In business people have their necks on the line for project failure, however, in government you get promoted.

It’s hilarious the government paid a private company £400K to design the 2012 London Olympics logo. My kid brother who’s 12 years old could have done a better job, which would have been all singing and dancing Flash animated. Next time the government wants a logo designed, if it is to be at this standard, give the contract to my brother’s school who could do with the money. Oh, I shouldn’t have said that, there goes the income tax saving next year.

In the world of real business the marketing and brand managers would have been shot at dawn for such a ridiculous design, whom ever the target audience. Who’s been shot here? Many companies have initiatives targeting younger audiences. For example News Round by the BBC or the Urban Cricket brand at England npower Test Match Cricket.

Can you blame the marketing company? They probably recognised that there would be uproar and this will probably lead to another £400K for a redesign. As it’s a government project - Quid’s in. Another government project over budget. As taxpayers we are the real fools.

The government should be ran as a FTSE 100 company; the ministers should be ruthless shareholders and the project board responsible for their actions. As a taxpayer I want my money spent shrewdly and not wasted on failing projects.

Keep Britain tidy

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A report was published recently which found IT departments were not accountable enough and that many European IT workers are not being held responsible for delivering projects late.

It found that 51% of European IT professionals said there would be no risk to their job, compared 33% in Asia and 22% in the Americas.

The study was conducted by HP and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which spoke to 1,125 professionals worldwide.

Read the full BBC article

The three most common causes for delay were outsourcing, changing priorities half way through a project and poor co-ordination between managers.

Personally they forgot to mention that IT professionals would prefer clarified requirements from the business and to leave the solution framework to the experts. My projects are usually delayed during the user acceptance testing phase when the business realise that what they asked for is not what they want.

A lead Business Systems Analyst also commented

the Lack of Requirements and Lack of clarity is a major issue too..

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Enjoy the slideshow and feel free to comment

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Its that time of the month where highlight reports need to be completed. Tomorrow (the last Thursday of every month) I have a small (less than £100K) Project Board Meeting. When you have a large project and 9 small projects without any PSO support its a challenge to say the least.

It was funny today, we sent back a proposal with a decision for the business to make in prioritising 3 projects against this particular proposal. Rather than making the decision they started to blame IS for being late by a day on sending back the proposal.

The fact of the matter is this concept has been in circulation around the business since last November. IS got 5 days to do a project estimate (which is not an estimate as that will be the project budget) and they expect it delivered by July as its regulatory.

Isn’t it fair to ask for the business priorities when you already have resources working on other ‘business critical’ projects? It seems No, for the deficiency in the way the business operates it is always easier to blame others (especially if they are now third party). Where’s the NO BLAME culture? When will my customers learn? You have humans in IS not robots and ensuring you know what you want and when you want it in advance will ensure success.

However, it’s not all the businesses fault, IS have to take some blame. Stop bending over backwards and learn to say ‘NO’ this will ensure the business learn a valuable lesson in planning and prioritising.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail

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From all the places I have traveled Jordan, Dubai, India, Morocco, France, Belgium and Holland this must be the second best place I have visited to date. The only thing that beats it is Mecca and Madina in Saudi Arabia. The views, the freshness of the air, words cannot describe it, was just amazing. Having lived traveled and worked in heavily polluted cities and towns it was a breath of fresh air.

We got to the town of Bangor, 20 minutes drive from Mount Snowdon Saturday afternoon. We had stopped at a beach on our journey down just to admire the beauty of the sea and for the first time see some living crabs. Damn, I did not know the United Kingdom had such beauty.

Thanks to Abi, a friend and his Tom Tom navigation we got to the hostel in one piece. However, we did see a poster supporting the BNP, which got a few people worried. The BNP in Wales, Labour get your act together.

We met up with the Birmingham lads in the evening, had a bite to eat (pizzas and b-b-q), had a game of football as you do, read our salaat and went to bed in the most uncomfortable bunk beds. Did I sleep, yes for 4 hours in total probable due to Tabz snoring bearing a close resemblance to a broken generator and ‘Ammmiiiiiii’ moaning of our Sri Lankan roommates. Also, waking up at 3.30am to read the morning salaat.

The trek lasted 6 hours in total with us reaching the peak between 1.30 and 2pm admiring the views and battling against the arctic conditions. We faced rain, sleet, snow and blizzard on the way up and down. Typical British weather, meeting all four seasons in a space of few hours. On the way down, we stopped for a warm cup of coffee at a place called the halfway house. Having battled the weather it was well deserved.

We met a couple who had done the trek numerous times and they mentioned

this is the worst weather we’ve experienced in Snowdonia

Just amazing, it is an experience I recommend to everyone reading the blog. Get yourself out there. Everyone just loved the experience and we are hoping to arranger a trip to Ben Nevis, Scotland later on in the year. Again, it will be to raise money for a local charity.

The amount of money raised will be on this blog once I have had the opportunity to collect it and count it.

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As a result of the new business setup, there is a team or bunch of individuals known as the book people. Who or what are they? No idea at all. However, it is clear that once IS complete the proposal it goes to a shared mail box, disappears for a few weeks and reappears at the demand side. This is getting absolutely ludicrous and hopefully this can be resolved.

From my point of view, not knowing what, whey and when thing will happen and not having any control of it is causing major concerns and is potentially a high risk to all deliverables on all of my 11 projects currently in development.

Time to read my prayers and ask for help and guidance from the all mighty.

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