PMP - Project Managment Professional Certification Course - Day 3

Today we finished off Project Time Management and covered Chapter 7 - Project Cost Management and Chapter 10 - Project Communication Management of the
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)

Chapter 7 - Project Cost Management
This is section is a bit heavy-going especially if you don't have much experience or real-world practical, day-to-day hands-on as part of your normal job function. In my case, being a Software Development Project Manager, and a somewhat internally focused with 20-30% external customer facing activity, not to mention my company's organisational structure - prevents me from doing any Project Cost Analysis, Measurement and Control. It is very interesting that PMI mandates that this is indeed within the remit of every project manager, surprisingly in my company being pretty large with 5000 people, all the PMs in the training, including senior managers at director level, had little or no visibility of this rather fundamental part of the Project Management Knowledge Area.  But in order to pass the PMP exam, one has to master this area and add it to your PM toolbox, even though I personally will not be using most of this in my current company, but nevertheless will stand me in good regard, when applying for positions outside.

So what is Project Cost Management in a nutshell??  Basically, just as we have to manage the schedule/time throughout the Planning & Control Process groups, we need to ensure that project costs and budget is managed in a similar way. After-all, doing work does cost money. The pot is not bottomless. So the project manager must estimate at the outset the costs likely to incur, and ensure that a budget is allocated that is realistic enough that at the time of execution we are reasonably confident that we'd planned and accounted for the likely costs, and also accounted for contingency, a reserve buffer just in case some unforeseen situations need to be dealt with.  And throughout the Monitor & Control Process group, we have to measure the planned versus the actual costs, and use that to predict the end result.  And in this measurement, make decisions along the way that could steer the success of the project.

In order to do this, there are some definitions, mathematical formulas and graphs that you need to learn, master and apply.

There are three processes to Project Cost Management:
1. Estimate Costs - Done at Planning
2. Determine Budget - Done at Planning
3. Control Costs - Monitor & Control

Important term for Exam: LCC Life Cycle Cost   Aggregates the total costs through all the phases of the product life cycle. 


How do we typically calculate Profit and Loss - P&L?
We start with
     Revenues (amount of money you're going to make)
Minus/Less
     Cost of Sales (direct costs incurred as result of supporting this sale)
Equals
     Gross Profit
Minus/Less
     Overheads (indirect costs - rent, lights, telephone, travel, etc)
     General Admin
     Legal
Equals
     Operational Profit (or EBIDTA - Earnings Before Interest Depreciate Tax)
Minus/Less
     Tax
     Depreciation
     Interest Rates
Equals
     NET PROFIT (money in the bank)

How do we estimate Cost?
We use the following as inputs to the costing exercise: Scope Baseline (SOW), Project Schedule (Timeline), Human Resource Plan (Resource Estimates at planning), Risk Register (table of scenarios likely to upset the outcome of the project), Enterprise Environmental Factors (Regulation, laws, etc), Organisational Process Assets (list of assets required to help project).
Tools and techniques to cost estimating similar to Time estimating:
1. Expert Judgement - a.k.a. Delphi technique - go ask independent experts
2. Analogous Estimating - use past project experience, hunch-base, gut instincts
3. Parametric Estimating - a multi linear polynomial function linear regression - basically a model
4. Bottom-up Estimating - working from the WBS upwards, aggregate costs
5. Three-point Estimates - use the PERT model formula: Best case, Worst case, Most Likely
6. Reserve Analysis - allocate a buffer - cost of taking care of risks
7. Cost of Quality - if you have a measurable way of determining quality and the costs associated
8. PM Estimating Software - computer-aided tool
9. Vendor bid analysis - compare costs with alternatives, e.g. outsource versus in-house

Exam: How Accurate does PMI expect the Cost Estimation to be?
There are three levels to the cost estimate. Example, say the actual cost is £100k.
During the initiating phase, the rough order of magnitude estimate should be: -50% to +100%.  (£50k to £200k)
During the planning phase, the budget estimate can be: -10% to +25% (£90k to £125k)
During the execution phase, we should be converging on a definite estimate: -10% to +15% (£90k to £115k)

Once you've estimated the costs, you then use this information to determine the budget. The tools and techniques for determining the budget:
1. Cost Aggregation - add up all the costs
2. Reserve analysis - estimate a buffer to deal with unexpected situations
3. Expert Judgement - again, Delphi technique
4. Historical relationships - past data
5. Funding limit reconciliation - be aware of the limits. E.g. You budget £500k, your boss says £300k. What do you do?

Exam: Terminology to memorise
Capital/Depreciation - two forms
1. Straight line - value depreciates linearly and can be predicted over time quite easily (straight line graph - think of PCs)
2. Accelerated - non-linear, immediate depreciation followed by some asymptotic levelling out. Think of a car's value over time. Learning curve. Two Types mentioned in exam: Sum-of-the-Years-Digits and Double Declining Balance

BCR - Benefit Cost Ratio
Compares the benefits with the costs. BCR > 1 means the benefits are greater than the costs

Opportunity Cost
The opportunity given up by selecting one project over another

Fringe Benefits
The "standard" benefits formally given to all employees such as education benefits, insurance, profit sharing
Other terms also include PERK, benefit, bonus

Discounting
Discounting - the time value of money, might need to follow-up more here

Net Present Value (NPV)
Value in terms of time zero - what is the value that you would have today, given the interest rate for the period. If you are paying upfront for a cost, and then being guaranteed a rate of return over a period, the NPV must be greater than zero to be a worthwhile investment. To calculate NPV, this is the opposite of calculating compound interest. In the exam, tables will be provided, like here

Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Average rate of return earned over the life of the project. No need to learn formula for exam. IRR must be bigger than bank rate in order to invest.

Sunk Cost
Sunk Cost - Amount already invested; irrelevant for future decisions.

Profit
Profit - Operating income or fee, the amount the organisation may earn for its work over and above the cost of performance

Margin
Profit or fee as a percentage of the cost of performance

Payback Period
Payback Period - Amount of time that revenue exceeds the costs, also known as break-even point

Controlling Costs - more equations
Now that you've estimated the costs and come up with a budget from the planning phase, now you enter the project execution phase and you need to monitor and control the beast. What tools and techniques do you use:
1. Earned Value Measurement - measure planned versus actual
2. Forecasting - using the earned value, predict the future
3. Cost Performance index - how well are the costs measuring up against actual performance
4. Performance reviews - are we working the way we should?
5. Variance analysis - analyse the reasons why we're slipping
6. PM Software - use some computer based tool to help

Earned Value Measurement (EVM)
The Earned Value (EV) approach ascribes monetary values to the work contents

Planned Value (PV) or (BCWS Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled)
The value of work scheduled to be accomplished

Actual Cost (AC) or (ACWP Actual Cost of Work Performed)
The cost actually incurred in accomplishing the work performed

Earned Value (EV) or (BCWP Budgeted Cost of Work Performed)
The monetary value of the work actually accomplished

Earned Value Measures of Performance
Scheduled Variance (SV)
      SV = EV -  PV

Cost Variance (CV)
      CV = EV - AC


Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
      SPI = EV / PV
      SPI = 1 on schedule, SPI > 1 ahead of schedule, SPI < 1 behind schedule

Cost Performance Index
      CPI = EV / AC
      CPI = 1 on budget, CPI > 1 good saving money, CPI < 1 costly wasting money

Earned Value Completion Estimates
Budget at Completion (BAC)
The total budget based on the original work plan

Work Remaining (WR)
Budget cost of work yet to be completed:   WR = BAC - EV

Estimate to Complete (ETC)
Updated estimate cost of work remaining (WR)

Estimate at Completion (EAC)
Updated total cost of the entire project. Two approaches: Original Estimate and Revised Estimate

Original Estimate Approach
Based on the assumption that the original estimate of the cost of remaining work is valid
      EAC = AC + ETC

Revised Estimate Approach
The data collected during the past performance can be used to improve the estimates
      EAC = BAC / CPI

------------------------------------oOo---------------------------------------


Chapter 10 Project Communication Management
All project managers should already be familiar with the art of communication. Well, that's the hope anyway. It is surprising though that most companies don't know how to communicate, and misuse the tools of communication. As a project manager, communication is the most important skill to have in your toolbox. I'm going to quickly rush through this chapter, since much of this was old news - and focus on the stuff that'll be asked in the exam.

Communication Processes
As expected, Communication Management is expected in all the groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Control. I personally would also include it in the Closing group, but PMI doesn't. Five processes:
1. Identify Stakeholders - the PM needs to know who's on the project, his allies, etc
2. Communications Plan - document that describes the communication being used (meetings, whos' who, etc)
3. Distribute Information
4. Manage Stakeholder Expectations - private tool the PM should keep close at heart to know how to handle stakeholders
5. Report Performance - project must adopt a suitable method for reporting project performance

Exam - Communication time Breakdown
Project Manager should spend time as:
- 9% on Writing
- 16% on Reading
- 30% on Talking
- 45% on Listening

Exam - Communication Facts
We retain/absorb:
- 10% of what we read
- 20% of what we hear
- 30% of what we read and hear
- 50% of what we discuss with others
- 80% of what we experience
- 90% of what we teach to others

Communication retention:
- 50% now
- 25% in 2 days
- 10% after 7 days

Communication complexity:
The number of communication channels increases geometrically with the number of people involved
Between N persons there are N(N-1)/2 communication links

Active Listening - Facilitating Listening Behaviours
Verbal: Restate the main ideas expressed to show your interest. Verify you correctly understood what was meant.
Non-Verbal: Show Interest (nod, lead forward, maintain eye-to-eye contact). Be patient, accept moments of silence, be relaxed, show openness.

Good Communication Styles
- Authoritarian - gives expectations and guidance. "Guys, this is what I expect to do, and how we should go about it...."
- Promotional - cultivates team spirit. "People, we can do this if we work together, I know we can, I believe in you..."
- Facilitating - gives guidance as required. "In order to get this up an running, do this, that and...."
- Conciliatory - friendly and agreeable. "Jo, you know I got your back right? Just carry on doing this, you won't go wrong..."
- Judicial - uses sound judgement. "Guys, according to my opinion, it is best we proceed in this way..."
- Ethical - hones, fair, by-the-book. "Look guys, according to company rule book, we shouldn't be doing this...."

Bad (Not-so-good) Communication Styles
- Secretive - not open or outgoing. "Information is power, people must come to me..."
- Disruptive - breaks apart unity of group, agitator. "You will not believe what Paul said about Dave...."
- Intimidating - tough guy, can lower morale. "Do this now you idiot, or else I'll do it myself..."
- Combative - eager to fight or be disagreeable. "Don't even bother approaching John, he's always right..."

Clip 1 of the day: Communication Improve your English





Clip 2 of the day: The Italian man who went to Malta

PMP - Project Managment Professional Certification Course - Day 2

So day 2 covered all of Project Scope Management and half of Project Time Management. Chapters 5 & 6 of the PMBOK.


Before we get all PMP, lets get the tutor's jokes/anecdotes out of the way.



What is the origins of the word "Sandwich"? Lord Sandwich, gambling, didn't want to mess his hands so put the meat in the bread, and that became known as the Sandwich. Read the real story here.

The word sandwich that we use today was born in London during the very late hours one night in 1762 when an English nobleman, John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792), was too busy gambling to stop for a meal even though he was hungry for some food. The legend goes that he ordered a waiter to bring him roast-beef between two slices of bread. The Earl was able to continue his gambling while eating his snack; and from that incident, we have inherited that quick-food product that we now know as the sandwich. He apparently had the meat put on slices of bread so he wouldn’t get his fingers greasy while he was playing cards. It’s strange that the name of this sex fiend should have gone down in history connected to such an innocent article of diet.

Funny clips, not related to the course:



Second clip - Public Health Agency of Canada

Chapter 5: Project Scope Management
There are 5 processes to the Scope Management Process:
1. Collect Requirements - part of the Planning process group
2. Define Scope - part of the Planning process group
3. Create WBS - Planning process
4. Verify Scope - Monitoring and controlling process group
5. Control Scope - Monitoring and controlling process group

What you need to know
- Scope Management Process
- Scope baseline
- Requirements documentation
- Requirements traceability matrix
- Requirements management plan
- Work breakdown Structure (WBS)
- How to create a WBS
- Benefits of WBS
- Scope Management Plan
- Project scope statement
- Work package
- Activity
- Decomposition
- WBS Dictionary
- Definition of Scope Management
- Product Scope
- Project scope
- Constraints
- Product analysis
- Validated deliverables
- Requirements gathering techniques

Things to know about Scope Management for the Exam
Taken from Chapter 5, Rita Mulcahy's Exam prep PMP Exam Prep, Sixth Edition: Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam:
- You must plan, in advance, how you will determine the scope, as well as how you will manage and control scope. This is part of your scope management plan
- Scope must be defined, clear and formally approved before work starts
- Requirements must be gathered from all stakeholders
- A work breakdown structure is used on all projects. It's central to all other steps. Without a WBS a project manager is in the dark
- Always ensure that whilst the project is ongoing that only the work as defined in the scope is being progressed and nothing else
- Gold plating should be avoided - it's not allowed
- Any change to scope must be evaluated for its effect on time, cost, risk, quality, resources and customer satisfaction
- No changes in scope are allowed without an approved change request
- Scope changes should not be approved if they relate to work that does not fit within the project charter
- You need to continuous determine what is and is not included in the project

Chapter 6: Time Management
6 process make up the Time Management process:
1. Define Activities  - Planning process
2. Sequence Activities - Planning
3. Estimate Activity Resources - Planning
4. Estimate Activity Durations - Planning
5. Develop Schedule - Planning
6. Control Schedule - Monitoring and controlling

What you need to know
- Time Management press
- Schedule Baseline
- Schedule Compression - Crashing & Fast Tracking
- Activity list
- Network Diagram
- Dependencies: Mandatory, Discretionary, External
- Precedence diagramming method (PDM)
- Critical Path
- Float or Slack: Free Float, Total Float, Project Float
- Three-point Estimate
- Monte Carlo Analysis
- Bar Charts
- Milestone Charts
- Resource levelling
- Leads and Lags
- Heuristics
- GERT
- Variance
- Milestones
- Resource breakdown structure
- One-point estimate
- Padding
- Analogous Estimating
- Parametric Estimating
- Critical Path Method
- Near-critical path
- Reserve analysis
- Re estimating

Further Reading Recommended

PMP - Project Managment Professional Certification Course

So today was the first day of my PMP course, expected to last a week. It's an intensive course aimed at covering the essentials for the PMP exam. Study guide is 500 pages long,
and the PMBOK is equally as long. Registration for PMP is tedious process since you need to detail all the hours spent on past projects and get them reviewed, signed off my your respective managers.


Day one: Monday 28-Feb
Israeli tutor,from RBS Training. Been working with my company for 6 years, and contracted to push through PMP training worldwide, and also to follow through and assist the management teams in developing a PMI process as a company-wide process for project management.
Very lively guy, full of action and confidence - likes humour and other anecdotes
This guy firmly believes that project management is a very real profession, and the PMI/PMP movement is growing stronger year on year, with more and more companies demanding project managers must have PMP certification. Not everyone can be a project manager, so he says. Not everyone can be a very good project manager, there are some skills that one has to be born with, a "PM has to be charismatic...can you go on a training course to be charismatic??" No, says everyone.


I'm not so sure I agree 100%. Yes, management is hard, I firmly believe that. It also relies on skills one wouldn't necessarily have coming from a technical engineering background. But most of the skills can be learnt through on the job training, and sheer perseverance on the the individuals part. It is an opportunity to learn new skills, appreciate and measure in an objective manner the desired skills required from a PM, benchmark against your skills/personality and build in plans for yourself to improve. Yes, it's hard work, but with lots of practice, it'll eventually pay off. Granted, some charisma and on-the-feet thinking can't come naturally to a person who's default position is careful analysis before proceeding, but over time, should you be thrown in the deep end enough number of times, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it....


Anyway, what the guy said did make some sense - and made a few people think. I questioned my own goals because I know I have many interests, and that project management is an interesting role for me to explore the areas I feel I'm competent in, but not given the opportunities to prove them...


The first half of the day was spent discussing the spirit of PMP, the value of the project manager and the responsibilities/accountability's thereof. Practical guidelines into approaching the PMP exam itself, that this one week course isn't enough and one requires at least 50 hours minimum to prepare for the exam. The exam is computer based, 200 multiple choice questions, 4 hours duration, about 70 seconds to answer. It covers the 9 areas of PMBOK and is based not only on theory, but expects people build and rely on their experience in the field. The requirements for PMP exam varies according to one's educational background/experience. Firstly in order to qualify for the exam, you must prove you've got the minimum amount of hours of valid PM experience: 4500 hours if you have a bachelors degree, 7500 hours if you don't have a formal degree. You have to describe in detail how you spent 4500 hours, which should be signed off by appropriate managers, and proof of education. There is a 15% chance of being audited, so you have to keep all your paperwork just in case.


The trainer likes jokes - so as part of his course he's got this rule that at least one of us should tell a joke after lunch.

He also likes riddles. His riddle went something like this:

A father and his son are driving to town. They meet an accident, the father is immediately killed. The son is injured and rushed to hospital. After a while the doctor comes out and says "I can't operate on this boy because this boy is my son"....How can that be??

The answer of course being "The doctor is the boy's mother, the wife" - Interested how fixated we become and assume the masculine answer...


His joke went something like this:

A couple was moving house, they were well to do, but wanted to move to a better place. Whilst they were packing, reaching the last stages of packing the bedroom, the husband finds a box under the bed that he couldn't recognise. So he takes the box out, opens it and sees something rather strange. He sees 5 chestnuts and £150000 in cash. Astonished by this, the husband confronts the wife...the wife breaks down and confesses that she'd been unfaithful in the past, and she kept that box to remind her of the times she slept around. Every time she messed up, she'll place a chestnut in the box....So the husband thought, well OK, over the years then, that's 5 instances...i could forgive...but what's the £150000 for?? Well the wife said, every time she accumulated 30 chestnuts, she'll sell them for £50000....

He also showed us some video clips that convey the message of project management. The first clip was from a Superbowl ad: A young boy is playing football on his own, realises this isn't too great, he needs company. That was his project. So he arranges a dinner, romantic evening for the parents, and 9 months later baby is born. The boy is proud his plan worked and delivered...






Today we covered Project Integration Management process that included a 15 question multiple choice teaser for the exam ...will update this section when I go through the slides again - see how we remember all the funny parts but not the real content ;-)

We ended the day by watching a clip from Pulp Fiction, the scene where they had to clean up the mess of the dead teenager who was accidentally shot in the car, and needed the Wolf to come and clean up the mess. The scenes have parallels in Project Initiation, Charter, Objectives, etc...



Tomorrow is Scope and Time Management.

Pyschometric / Personality / Emotional Intelligence Testing - Part 2

CPP - Cognitive Proficiency Profile
I'm sure most of you might not have heard of this CPP Test being used by certain recruitment consultants. Apparently this is quite a mainstream subject, CPP being the brainchild of a Dr. Maretha Prinsloo, to quote PyschometricsForum:

The Cognitive Process Profile is a computer-based assessment that helps individuals to understand their preferred style of thinking along with an insight into the level of complexity they can handle (in bothquality andquantity). The assessment is the brainchild of aSouth African neuropsychologist, Or Maretha Prinsloo whowanted to develop an assessment that would overcome thecultural issues inherent in her country and demonstrate 'true'potential in individuals who may have only had up to 5 yearsschooling compared to the UK standard 11 years

Recently I had to take one of these tests under the examination of a South African contractor based in London. They were so specific about the test itself and stressed the importance of the test being the first thing one does in the morning, the test must be taken in the morning when the brain/mind is most fresh and active. They also stress that if you've taken a similar test before then it defeats the purpose and the results will be invalid, the test itself should be taken just once in a person's life time because familiarity of the test itself defeats the purpose.  They were so serious that because there was a problem with the test venue, the building was closed due to essential buildings work that we had to re-schedule. Apparently, because it's computer-based, the computer logs the date/timestamp of the test, and on submission the auditors review the logs and can tell whether or not the test was indeed taken in the morning or not.  So I'm going to tell you a little bit of the CPP based from memory, but I won't go into too much detail, such that you grown familiarity and result in a void test should you get the chance to attempt one in future.

The context behind my test was as a result of another recruitment process, a company in South Africa. I'd passed the face-to-face interview, the next step was a Pyschometric assessment. If I thought the BBC experience (See Part 1) was bad, it pails in comparison to this assessment. This assessment consisted of the following:

• Computer-Based CPP Test (2-3 hours)
• 10 minutes to answer 35 multiple choice questions based on Abstract shapes and Pattern recognition
• 8 minutes to answer 25 multiple choice questions on English vocabulary
• 8 minutes to answer 25 multiple choice questions on mathematical numeracy
• 120 questions on Personality tests
• 120 questions on Emotional Intelligence

All in all, it was a full morning's worth of non-stop evaluation....being the weekend, I was impatient to get this over and done with, and basically did the whole thing in 4 hours, without double checking my responses. The timed multiple choice questions, in my opinion, were designed so that it's nigh on impossible to complete all...I'd previously played with the Mensa Brain Test app on my ipod for about 1 hour before the assessment as a mini preparation, and that test allowed 1 minute per question, even the BBC questions were time to at least two minutes...so 8 minutes to answer 25 questions is a bit of a tall order!

So what is this CPP anyway?
The CPP is a computer-based testing program that is based around a card game. It's not a game so to speak, there is a collection of cards. Each card has a symbol drawn on it. Each symbol has a meaning. The way in which the symbol is drawn, for example, the accent of the line (thick bold lines, thin lines), colours convey meaning (e.g. a symbol in red indicates severity), dotted lines. Symbols can have more than one interpretation. There are helper cards offering clues. Some helper cards have no meaning and can be discarded. Some cards change the meaning of the symbol. Some cards change direction, etc.

The program first starts off by introducing you to the rules of the game. It takes you through the motions of using your mouse to drag and drop, to turn cards over, etc. It then has a few practice examples to show you how things work.

Essentially, there are about 8 scenarios or stories. Each story contains a collection of these cards. The cards are left covered, and you have to turn each card over to know what it means. You then have to use the available cards to put a story together. Based on the symbols revealed by turning over the cards, you decide which cards to keep for your story, and which cards can be discarded.

The computer is noting down your every move, every mouse click and time on each story. It expects you to remember the symbols without turning the cards over too much, it expects you to remember useless cards.

A story can have any interpretation you like. There is no right or wrong answer. It tries to measure ones ability to understand symbols, and measure how one translates those symbols into a coherent story in your mind.

Computer presents a series of symbols. You then look up the cards from available pool and then place the cards next to the given series, and build up a story. When you're ready, you then write down in words you see.

Take for example the following symbols:

Hospital

Lightning or Accident

I or Me

And then the computer presents following series, to be interpreted left-right:

So what story can we write about this sequence?

• So the colour red indicates seriousness or emphasis
• A bold/thick line indicates past tense
• So you could say: 
• I had a very bad accident and landed in hospital or
• I was struck by a the worst lightning bolt in history, but thankfully due some protective gear I had on, managed to survive and landed in hospital to recover or
• I was struck by lightning and now find myself waiting in hospital to be seen by an ER attendant

So you're free to write down any story that makes sense to you. And in doing so, some brainy psychologist will interpret your results, and then through some black art assess your mental stability, ability, cognitive reasoning, creative disposition, creative flare, professional attitude, cognitive proficiency and make recommendation if you're good enough for the job, or progress through the next round of the recruitment process...


By the way, I did make it through the next round, and waiting for my test feedback. Once I have that report I'll update this post!


Cheers

When an Expat decides it's time to go back home...

For an expat, deciding to return back to one's home country is possibly one of the most stressful periods in one's life, even more stressful than the period when leaving home the first time round. In my earlier post about myself, I mentioned I left South Africa to settle in United Kingdom, and now have feelings of returning back home to South Africa (even though I'm in a messy situation with my citizenship-status, according to SA Law, SA citizenship is lost automatically on acquiring foreign citizenship)...

It's been 10 years that I've been away from home. I left in April 2001 to brace the shores of Ireland. A recent graduate with one year's work experience, it was a chance in a lifetime to be offered an overseas job, so I jumped at the opportunity, it was an obligation I couldn't really refuse. Whatever I earned went back to home to support my family, I kept funds just enough for me to survive....Of course, at the time I was a single guy, free to do what I wanted, the whole world was waiting for me to make my mark....I turns out, that even though I settled quite well in Ireland, had good friends and thought my work was going well - it all ended abruptly when the internet bubble finally burst, EU started losing money and companies started to shed off their excess baggage, so jobs were cut, people sent back home. I did return home to SA in late 2002, but was lucky to land a job in the UK roundabout the same time. So, as every decent Muslim boy does when he's around 25 years old, thinks about marriage, because I had the funds saved up, and as we're told if we reach that age and can afford it, then we should marry....and the thought of living in the UK without companionship didn't go down too well with the folks and family, so I found my wife and decided to marry, take her with me to UK to start a new life, afresh...

Eight years onwards, happily married with three children, we find ourselves, despite living a fairly comfortable life in the UK, wanting to go back home. The truth is, even though, being from South Africa made it very easy to integrate with British life, and not feel isolated or separate from the people - the lack of having immediate family around you to support you, or even the social events with family - can really get one down. Making friends is also challenging, it's much easier to make friends with similar expats from other countries, than to break the ice with native english folks. So with a handful of friends, we try to live a life...but more recently though, with the kids growing up, we notice they're really growing up in isolation: The people that they know is just their mom and dad. Yes they've got to see both grandparents for short stints during holidays, but that's not enough time for them to experience their grandparent's love, warmth and sincere affection. They're also not getting a chance to spend time with their aunts and uncles & cousins - there is no sense of family...whilst it is true that the life we've started to build together in the UK can be the beginnings of my very own family legacy/heritage in the UK, I think it's a bit unfair on the kids not really getting to know who their family are....ignoring the saying "You can choose your friends but you can't choose your family". Yes, family can be a bit of a pain, but no matter what happens, family are there to support you when the going gets tough, they are your life line, your support network when things get bad...something that is absolutely absent in our current life....you live in this world only once, when you die you leave behind people who care for you, memories and the result of your work if it had an impact on people's lives...when I look at it like this, suppose we die in the UK, it'll be very empty and almost meaningless...I grew up without the love of grandparents (apart from my mom's step-mother), I'd really like my kids to cherish memories of their own grandparents whilst they still around...

Perhaps it's just the way we were brought up. Muslims have a strong sense of obligation and duty to family, especially their parents. We are taught the values of parents, especially that of the mother first, then the father, immediate family and extended family. We are taught to be kind and gentle, to love them even despite their misgivings. And when parents are getting old, it's the child's responsibility (and the right of the parent) to take care of their parent's needs financially and emotionally...This has been growing on me for some time, even though I provide financially for my family back in SA, it seems a little impersonal and detached being so far away. In times of crisis, I'm not able to travel home...My in-laws are elderly and not in the best of health. My parents are also seeing their age take a toll on them: My father may have prostrate cancer, my mom has trouble with her vision, my eldest sister now has breast cancer and is undergoing radio therapy, my second eldest sister has also just been diagnosed with breast cancer [correction - they assumed she had cancer, it turns out it's benign now 18/03/2011]. My youngest sister lost here husband aged 32 (5 years ago) to stomach cancer. My brother's second wife died soon after what supposed to be a routing operation...all of these things happening, and I'm not around to be there in person to offer my support....

But emotions aside, the decision to move back to SA must be based on some logical reasoning as well. Granted there are tensions within SA and SA is a country that is in its teenage years of true independence, politically there are concerns that SA could follow the route of Zimbabwe...but if people keep the spirit of Mandela alive, SA can become the best African countries to live in. The SA constitution is one of its kind in the world, it offers total freedom of expression to live, the right of people of all colours, races to live side-by-side, offered equal opportunities - a true multicultural, free society...if this country maintains its standard of human rights and constitution, what better country to have my kids grow up in and experience life. There are many challenges, but the opportunity to make a difference is great - something that I've always aspired to contribute - is to make a difference. Contrasted to the UK on the other hand, the UK is so developed, so well organised, everything works like clockwork, society is so used to things that it feels almost boring to live here, there are no real challenges - there isn't any real poverty, which is a danger because children growing up in this environment have to sense of hardwork and don't appreciate that life is hard, nothing comes for free...

When I first left home, my aim was to learn as much as I could, in the hope of returning one day to SA and contributing back to the development of the country. Since then, times have changed, the world is gone flat. South Africa is no longer behind, yes it could still be considered a third-world country. But the world is within the reach of people's fingertips, thanks to advances in telecommunications, the internet, the ever increasing availability of affordable consumer electronics and web technologies. In terms of IT infrastructure, SA companies are utilising the state-of-the-art technologies, in some cases setting the standard for other countries to follow, this is most apparent in the mobile communications world. One of my reasons for leaving SA when I did was the lack of opportunity for real world programming, that is writing real software systems from the ground up - to work for real software development companies. Instead of being users and managers of systems, or doing minor integration, I wanted to be part of the teams that actually wrote the underlying software, that's why I moved. There just wasn't that opportunity...In the eight years of being away, things have changed. Take Canonical for example, a local SA company embracing the culture of open source software. Ubuntu a very popular open source Linux distribution is an African inspiration. Cape Town is becoming the centre of investment, and is being touted the Silicon Valley of the Africa. The opportunities are just beginning...South Africa is no India, it's definitely not a Bangalore. South Africa doesn't have two hundred thousand IT graduates or 74000 MBAs (according to Friedman) and cannot even compete with the likes of India and China...but still, SA as a country has a growing economy, is a prime candidate for investment.... The world is flat, people are able to travel overseas often, all it takes is an overnight trip...

Just look at India - people used to leave the country in droves for Europe and the US...not anymore. In my recent trip to Bangalore, I saw first hand the opportunities that city presents for its people. The top companies are located in India, not just workshops for maintenance works - companies are investing huge amount of resources to setting up state-of-the-art R&D facilities. What once started off as a place for cheap, cost effective outsourcing has now changed such that innovation, and inventions are coming out from India itself...and the people that work for these companies can travel to company headquarters located throughout the world. The salary is excellent, the amenities are just as they are in a western country, why leave India at all??

The same can be said of South Africa in the next few years, well that is the hope...but it's still good to hope right? What else is good about SA? The weather is much better than the UK, there is more land, and the natural sceneries are breathtaking...

So where are we in deciding what to do?? Well, we did a little brainstorm and currently we've got the pros and cons of both countries on our local whiteboard - see pics below.... We are leaning towards going with the heart, rather than the head - and should an opportunity present itself, we're willing to give it a try ;-)

UK pros and cons

SA pros and cons

Kids whiteboard overtaken for brainstorm