Geo TV...not again!

I was watching a program on Geo TV titled “Hum Sub Umeed Say Hain” on this Saturday and was shocked to see the way it was humiliating Islamic Law. A dummy newspaper advertisement was shown stating that Taliban is hiring people for executing Islamic law and the job description was like “Qasai”, “Kochwan”, etc…

In my point of view, we can argue about whether a punishment given to an individual is right or wrong but as far as the method of punishment is concerned there should not be any doubt in our minds; and we should respect the method as it is not created by any human being (for immediate reference, please refer to Surah Noor)

I was also thinking about the disrespect for our beloved Prophet (SAW) by European newspapers…..is this of the same category???

Job satisfaction

People often talk about job satisfaction. There seems to be another job/position somewhere else in this world which is better than the one you are currently working with and if you manage to get hold onto that job, another job/position pops up and you find yourself in the very same situation. It seems like a never ending cycle searching for job satisfaction.

How to avoid this…. well one needs to consider that every job is satisfying provided you think like that. Every job has problems and probably there is no job in this world which is problem free. The problem category might vary but problems never vanish. So one needs to be optimistic about the way a person approaches his/her job.

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) v3.0 - A brief introduction

ITIL v3.0 Introduction

• A set of books that describes best practices for IT management
• It provides body of knowledge useful for achieving ISO/IEC 20000
• ITIL is developed by OGC (Office of Government Commerce), an independent Office of the Treasury reporting to the Chief Secretary, previously known as CCTA (Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency)
  

ITIL v3.0 Components

• ITIL Core

1. Service Strategy
2. Service Design
3. Service Transition
4. Service Operation
5. Continual Service Improvement
   

• ITIL Complementary Guidance

1. ITIL v3.0 - Service Strategy

• Focuses on the identification of market opportunities for which services could be developed in order to meet a requirement on the part of internal or external customers
• The output is a strategy for the design, implementation, maintenance and continual improvement of the service as an organizational capability and a strategic asset
  

2. ITIL v3.0 - Service Design

• Focuses on the activities that take place in order to develop the strategy into a design document which addresses all aspects of the proposed service, as well as the processes intended to support it

3. ITIL v3.0 - Service Transition

• Focuses on the implementation of the output of the service design activities and the creation of a production service or modification of an existing service
• There is an area of overlap between Service Transition and Service Operation
  

4. ITIL v3.0 - Service Operation

• Focuses on the activities required to operate the services and maintain their functionality as defined in the Service Level Agreements with the customers

5. ITIL v3.0 - Continual Service Improvement

• Focuses on the ability to deliver continual improvement to the quality of the services that the IT organization delivers to the business

ITIL v3.0 - Certification

• ITIL Foundation Certification
• ITIL Practitioner Certification
• ITIL Service Manager Certification
  

References:
http://www.ogc.gov.uk/
http://www.itil-officialsite.com/
http://www.itil.co.uk/
http://itservicemngmt.blogspot.com/2007/12/itil-v3-qualification-scheme.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/

PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL (PMP) EXAM - LESSON LEARNED

1. My exam preparation was not continuous as I had to do the exam preparation with my job. So the time span for the preparation was from 5-7 months. Initially it was roughly one hour per day including gaps between days.

2. My initial plan was to learn different concepts presented in PMBOK so for some topics I was going into a bit of detail which later helped me in the exam preparation.

3. It is recommended that you should try to implement what PMBOK is saying at your workplace as it was quite easy for me to remember earned value/planned value and performance reporting as I was involved in preparing monthly progress reports for three projects at my work place.

4. If you have not done your training yet, make sure you schedule the training after going through the course once. As five days are quite hectic and one can easily lose way in the middle of the training. Remember training is important.

5. Regarding Input/T&T/Output; rather than learning by heart just try to understand the concept.

6. Sample questions are VERY important, make sure you understand and theme behind your incorrect answers. Free sample questions are available from different website (Google will help you in this).

7. Joining different groups on yahoo also help a lot as some the material there is quite helpful especially the lesson learned from those who have appeared in the exam.

8. Make sure you visit the exam site once before your exam. Even the exam center was in my city, it took me some time to find the site on my first visit.

9. Four hours is quite ample time for answering 200 questions. So don’t worry if some questions are taking a bit more time. I recommend you to take at least one break (I personally took two breaks).

10. I tried to answer almost all the questions in my first attempt. If I was 80% sure about the answer I still marked that answer for later review.

11. PRAYERS; the most influential ingredient for my exam success. I did not have the expected build-up to my exam. Two-Three days before the exam my grandfather was quite sick and I even though about rescheduling my exam. Last day before exam, the electricity went off for four hours. BUT ALLAH ALMIGHTY HELPED ME AND I MANAGED TO PASS THE EXAM.

Measuring Customer Response for Process Improvement

In a rapidly changing competitive environment, the importance of information gathering and analysis cannot be underestimated as famously quoted “You Cannot Manage That Which You Cannot Measure”.

The best source of information in any industry are the customers and the employees in the customer service department, especially those who are receiving customer complaints via UAN number or helpline email, can be the source of some very valuable information that is required for effective process management and improvement. The information received can uncover issues which may not even be on the executive agenda.

It is important to plan this initiative as carrying out this initiative on ad hoc basis can lead to undesirable outcomes including unexpected process variations, low staff morale, etc. It is also important to define broad categories or areas that you want to concentrate on. Mostly technical complaints are received via UAN number or emails so your need to take this factor into account.


For an ISP, typical technical categories will include:

• Connection Setup Problem

• Internet Speed Problem

• Disconnection Problem

In addition to technical categories, the general categories can include:

• Accessibility Problem

• Support Staff Behavior Problem

Once the categories are defined, the next step is to collect data based on the categories defined above. The customer service representative can perform this data categorization. If a software solution is not available, a simple excel sheet can be used.


Once the data is categorized the next step is to do the data analysis. The most suitable technique might be to use Pareto chart to identify major problem areas as it is not feasible to resolve all the problems at the same time. There are software programs available that can draw a Pareto chart based on the available information (As a sample I have shown the extract from MINITAB).


Now at this point in time you will have an idea about the areas you need to focus on for improvements. It is important to realize that one should look at this information in totality (e.g. if you have 1,000,000 subscribers then receiving around 80 internet speed complaints is not a major issue as opposed to having 200 corporate customers out which 80 of them are complaining about the internet speed).

In case of corporate customers (which are an important source for maintaining cash flow), one needs to be proactive so a regular survey should be conducted to listen from those customer which, despite having problems, are not willing to tell them to their service providers.

By doing such activities, it will be much easier to justify the need for improvement projects as it directly relates to the main source of revenue i.e. the customers.

Freedom of Speech

The twofold policy of the West on the subject of “freedom of speech” is quite visible in their law making. One example is the holocaust (term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II) and its related legislation in the West.

It is quite surprising to know that the so called “freedom of speech” is quite restricted when it comes to holocaust. Only denying holocaust is explicitly or implicitly illegal in 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Switzerland. E.g. in Austria, you can be punished with imprisonment up to twenty years.

It is even more surprising to know that the word denial means denying the following major claims:

1. The Nazis had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews.
2. Nazis did not use gas chambers to mass murder Jews.
3. The figure of 5-6 million Jewish deaths is a gross exaggeration, and the actual number is an order of magnitude lower.
4. Stories of the Holocaust were a myth initially created by the Allies of World War II to demonize Germans. Jews spread this myth as part of a grander plot intended to enable the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and now to garner continuing support for the state of Israel.
5. Documentary evidence of the Holocaust, from photographs to the Diary of Anne Frank, is fabricated.
6. Survivor testimonies are filled with errors and inconsistencies, and are thus unreliable.
7. Nazi confessions of war crimes were extracted through torture.
8. The Nazi treatment of Jews was no different from what the Allies did to their enemies in World War II.

Now if someone says any of the following, he/she can be jailed in many of the European countries:

1. It was not an official policy of the Hitler to exterminate Jews.
2. The figure of 5-6 million Jewish deaths is questionable.
3. Holocaust is propaganda for the creation of a separate state of Israel.
4. Some of the images of the holocaust are fabricated.
5. The survivors of the holocaust are exaggerating the matter.
6. And the most fascinating of them all is that if I only say that Hitler did this to everyone without specifically targeting Jews.

Now when the Muslims say that stop making fun of our beloved prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) the west claims that it freedom of the speech. But in case of holocaust denial…. It’s highly illegal and there are legislations available in many of the European countries.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_denial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_against_Holocaust_denial

Key Performance Indicators for Job Description

Imagine you are being offered a new job with a lucrative salary and fringe benefits; when you ask for a job description, the human resource department provides you a single page stating KPIs along with their current values, target values and the time frame. Surprised??

In a rapidly changing business world, one should not be surprised to see such kind of an attitude from organizations striving towards business excellence. As process management and improvement is making more inroads in daily operations of organizations, the need to measure and improve processes is very tempting.

There are advantages for using this approach:

• One can eliminate biasness as now everything is quantified and if you are doing well it is visible to everyone.

• By using this approach one can provide a consistent interface to employees so incase of promotion, the human resource department can add one or more KPIs to the employee portfolio of KPIs.

• Now days the process management and improvement is a buzzword so by having such a distinctive job descriptions you can use that to attract potential clients.

But this approach can also have potential drawbacks:

• The cost could be the primary factor as measuring each and every aspect of your organization can be costly and time consuming.

• The data collection can be at the center of conflict as promotions are now tied to the results from the data collection and analysis process.

• “How much you love your company or how loyal you are to your company”… try quantifying this! Sometime it’s very hard to quantify everything.

So probably, a mixture of qualitative and quantitative criteria is the ideal formula for effective job descriptions.