• 11 NODs (Note of Distinction)
    		•
  • Managing Projects: Think Process not Methodology
  • The Art of Productive Laziness Workshop
    • Justify Project
    Having worked internationally for several years with different clients. consultants and markets exposed me to various cultures and mind-sets. The only thing that was common between all is Presenting the Business case. Care should be taken when preparing the business case, especially linking the project description to the desired objectives of this proposal.
    Create Business Case
    Rami has correctly answered 35 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Identify Project Team Member Requirements and Critical Knowledge Sources
    I've worked on many large scale projects where identifying requirements and critical knowledge sources was not easy at all. In some cases we used to breakdown this task into phases in order to make sure that we accounted for almost everything required.
    Rami has correctly answered 2 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Present Business Case
    Rami has correctly answered 5 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Plan Project
    Planning the project is the key to success. It is exactly like planning your career or planning your kids future. The more effort you put in obtaining the best plan, the more is the tendency for this plan to succeed. The team and managers involved in this should be very knowledgeable and highly experienced because this will draw the path towards the success of the project.
    Define Project
    Rami has correctly answered 183 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Determine Project Objectives
    Rami has correctly answered 1 PMchallenge Question on this topic
    Define Project Scope
    Rami has correctly answered 1 PMchallenge Question on this topic
    Select Project Approach
    Rami has correctly answered 5 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Make Project Plan
    This is one of the most critical steps in any project. Decent effort should be spent on each task as the more precise you are, the more successful your project will be in terms of proper resources allocation, efforts estimated, schedule activities and all others. If care was not taken while doing this step, sometimes the Control and Monitor Process might not be able to save the project if all these item under this step were under estimated.
    Rami has correctly answered 348 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Define Work Breakdown Structure
    Rami has correctly answered 26 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Estimate Effort
    Rami has correctly answered 1 PMchallenge Question on this topic
    Obtain Project Plan Approval
    Rami has correctly answered 13 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Activate Project
    I've learned a few golden rules from being exposed to various decent projects:

    1- Communicating with stakeholders at all times, understanding their needs and being transparent with them plays a pivotal role in the project success.
    2- Investing in your team members will payback on the short run towards the success of the project. Training is a core task.
    Publicize Project
    Rami has correctly answered 17 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Equip Project
    Rami has correctly answered 16 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Train Project Team
    Rami has correctly answered 4 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Control Project
    I've worked on projects where sometimes we faced some slippage in schedule or we ran over budget so we had to do mitigation plans to overcome these situations. The last thing you need to consider if everything else fails is to add more manpower to resolve delays. This will incur additional cost and will definitely affect the productivity. Motivate your staff, acknowledge them and above all assign tasks properly based on skills and capabilities. I always believe in the rule that General Moltke created which is categorising individuals based on their smartness and diligence and then assign tasks accordingly. This comes with experience of course and a piece of advise: It is not always an asset on site when someone is physically energetic but mentally dull as this category of people will always create problems faster than they could be managed and will require full time supervision.
    Rami has correctly answered 1 PMchallenge Question on this topic
    Assign Project Tasks
    Rami has correctly answered 19 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Motivate Project Participants
    Rami has correctly answered 40 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Track Project Progress
    Rami has correctly answered 186 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Revise Project Plan
    Rami has correctly answered 83 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    End Project
    If all stages preceding this stage were monitored and controlled properly, you will find closing the project the easiest part no matter what was the project scale but if there were slippages in the previous stages especially the quality control then you will end up with an endless punch list and this could delay the handing over of the project to the customer if there were some serious items on the punch list.
    One more thing I've learned: Always make sure to archive and documents every single document properly and never under estimate the power of such task should any future problems arise.
    Prepare Completion Report
    Rami has correctly answered 13 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Turn Over Results
    Rami has correctly answered 3 PMchallenge Questions on this topic
    Release Project Resources
    Rami has correctly answered 1 PMchallenge Question on this topic