Project Management Adventures...

The verdict is out, Darren Wilson walks, the streets burn, the media talks, and activists shout. The family hurts and everyone else talks and yet at the end of the day, work done will equal ZERO.  

I know crazy and half baked journalism has always been a part of the Nigerian press, and I know Sahara Reporters has always claimed to be the people's voice, but continues to thrive on gotcha news articles. Recently they seem to be becoming the "Faux News" of Nigeria. For the record, I am NOT in favor of GEJ seeking re-election considering he has been unable to put and end to the BH insurgency. But I am at a loss how SR manages to skew reports just for sensational headlines and gain. Consider the following report: Headline: "Police To Shut Down Abuja For Jonathan's Declaration Tomorrow" Really??? Okay immediate sub headline reads: The Nigeria police plans to shut down most parts of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on Tuesday for President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration of his intention to seek reelection. Remember the headline tells us that Abuja will be SHUT DOWN. Well next we read: The Nigeria police plans to shut down most parts of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja,

This is a presentation I prepared after hearing so many "horror' Stories from small contractors who in many cases got themselves into trouble by their own practices! If the video does not show up, sorry for the technical difficulties, but please click click on the title below for a link to the video! 6 mistakes small construction businesses make

Providing a path of light... I have always been attracted to teaching. Possibly I feel this comes naturally to me as I come from a teaching household, one parent a retired professor and the other a retired high school principal and director of education. (I guess that means you now have the right to call me out on my spelling and grammatical errors!  I jump at opportunities to share and impart the little knowledge I have to those working with me and I get to know, and I am eager to learn from those around me. But many times, one does wonder if those efforts have any impact at all, as in many cases, I would move, change jobs and those I worked with and/or mentored I would lose contact with them.

As the developed nation pay more and more attention to sustainable living practices, it surprises me when I many times hear comments noting developing nations also need to be taught sustainable ways of living. Having grown up in a developing nation, I have always found those comments rather amusing. In my opinion, it appears from my recollections of how and where I grew up, the developed world might be able to learn a thing or two from the sustainable practices of the developing nations. In developing nations, the saying necessity is the mother of invention is apt.

In today's world with technology allowing us to enjoy release after release of new action packed 3-D movies featuring our child hood Marvel and DC Comic heroes, being an ordinary person with a cool heroic resume is cooler than ever. Hence on many projects, Project Managers take pride in being able to gloat about saving a sinking ship or putting a project way off track back on track, essentially everyone now wants to be a Project Management super hero. Nothing wrong with that! However... I believe the goal of  managing your project should be avoiding the need to have a Project Management super hero come and save the day. Essentially, if you run the project the right way, you won't need anyone to come and save it from calamities and collapse. And where is a number one place for project failures? At Project Initiation.

Welcome to the new blog. So I just changed my blog to a focus on Project Management in the Construction sector. Why?  Easy. How having spent over 20 years in this crazy design and construction business I realize I might have some insight, opinions and observations on how this industry works and how to make things potentially a tad bit better. Even with my rambling! Many of us change what we do in life as the years roll by, for those of us that have kept doing the same thing in different shoes for decades, I guarantee you have something great to say that people can benefit from. So the blog will highlight my thoughts on various aspects of the design and construction industry, taken from my past and present experiences and design and construction adventures. It really helps to like what you do, your profession, your job, it make going to work daily a pleasure rather that a chore done to simply pay the bills. And most importantly it help you get through those very contentio