Seeking Info: Project Management Courses

[Rexchris66]

hey F1GP,

i am in the process of gathering info on some project management course, seems like there's more than few out there, and its hard to decide.....

- APMP (Association for Project Management Professional)
- CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management)
- PMP (Project Management Professional

i guess i will start by reading some related books first and hopefully have some insight on it before i enrol in some of those courses/exams.....

btw, what feild are you in F1GP if you dont mind me asking......?

Thanks
Chris W.

[links]

hi guys,

maybe i can share some of my experiences here, i am a certified six sigma black belt and i was a six sigma black belt in a motorola's supplier, its hard to say which cerification organisation is good in hongkong. but i am quite happy with my certification organisation which is six sigma institute, i did my black belt certification and completing my professional registration there. you may also consider HKSQ which is working with the ASQ in usa. I was trying to pick up black belt course in motorola university but the cost was too high so i gave up the idea. one thing to note is the demand for Six sigma in hongkong is not very high.

For the project management, i think PMI (project management institute) certification is fine. There are a couple of institutes offering the course for PMI certification and prices ranging from hk$5k to $15k. I be joining the PMI course offer by ABRS in Nov.

if you have interest in Lean, Six sigma institute also offer the course. I complete my lean leader certification there and the course outline is not bad.


by the way, if you decided to take up six sigma you must really work well with statistics and have interest on it because you got tok customise and make use of statistic alot in the six sigma projects.

So far i have complete around 6 six sigma projects, what i learned is practice make perfect, you must do more actual project in order to really pick up,by reading book and pick up some theory is not very helpful.

[F1GP]

Rexchris66: What kind of tuition cost are looking at for these type of courses?
Another deciding factor for me when considering courses of any kind is whether the course will be taught in English.

Links: Would it be alright to call you Yoda - Jedi Master? May I ask how long have you been Certified Six Sigma Black Belt? I realize in HK that Six Sigma is not as popular as in other countries, but for personal and professional development, any certification is worth having for the future. Are you able to share any more details or experiences about your Six Sigma projects?

[tomkitten]

Dude, not to put to fine a point on it but the point was made above - the best way to learn project management is to manage projects. It's bloody hard jumping straight in and you're likely to make many mistakes (I certainly did) - but the mistakes you make teach you far more than a course ever will. Having the paper should be proving the knowledge you've earned - not vice versa, and then be about taking you to the next level. So get a PM role first (if you haven't already).

One thing I tend to find in HK is a distinct lack of, um, bullish confidence and assertive communication amongst local PMs. It's all about being a driver, and ensuring that you (politely) set agendas. If you have that, all else follows.

[F1GP]

I agree that nothing replaces first-hand experience. But I do not find any problems in seeking peoples' experiences (as long as they are willing to share, just as you had). Whether it is applicable to ones' own situation, its up to that person to decide whether or not to assimilate the educational value.

[links]

F1GP,

i got my BB certification about 2 years ago. been trying hard to persuade my bosses to let me have a try to implement it. Eventhough with a motorola supplier in my previous job also cant garantee a full management support to grant some minimal resources. The management in here doesnt really know whats that and many of the organisations are very reluctant to cross department process improvement activities.The individualism cuture here is something i spent most time to tackle when doing a project. Departments tend to work indivually and doesnt like to share and having collective projects with other.

I would suggest you pick up the GE Work-out first because its a good way to generate collective improvement culture in an organisation. you can test the acceptance level of your men and then plan for a customise six sigma implementation.

In a corporate world here, most of the cost reduction programs are usually through job cut therefore, people tend to be very cautious on "cost reduction" program. So must be careful with the words used in the campaign. Companies are having jobs cut all the time now regardless of the economic cycle, so it has impact on the organisation morale and hard to maintain a positive culture in the workforce.Talents retention is also another problem, i trained 4 green belts in my previous company, 3 of them leave right after the completion of training and thus delayed the progress.

For the project management, i just started my class last week. the course work are quite theory oriented so i still recommend you guys to run some projects in order to really master the skills, anything from toilet service improvement to stationary procurement in your company will do :P

[F1GP]

links,

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

HK isn't as forward as it claims to be. The "medieval" narrow-mindedness is a problem that I am encountering everyday.

So as a certified BB, you haven't actually been able to get the support from your current employer to implement cost savings?
What reasons does upper management give you for not deploying a six sigma project?

[links]

links,

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

HK isn't as forward as it claims to be. The "medieval" narrow-mindedness is a problem that I am encountering everyday.

So as a certified BB, you haven't actually been able to get the support from your current employer to implement cost savings?
What reasons does upper management give you for not deploying a six sigma project?

There was no significant reason given. In their opinion, six sigma is a problem solving tool to put down the fire. so we ran a few projects and the heat was reduced then they are happy and reluctant to stop the team to further develop fire prevention program.....

its really important the management must know what is six sigma really about and do they really need it with a vision or ready to put in substainable comittment to make things works.

Its not easy as you can see many companies here dont even have a proper strategic plan like those MNC in the western countries. It is not "how much we will make next year or how much market share we should capture". Its like "where we want to go, how we get there and when we start to get there".......

The thinking for many of them are : make money---make more money--less expenditure- lesser expenditure---make much more money.

I really wished to have a chance to work with a company having a serious six sigma comittment and with an experienced Master Black belt. But the chances of getting this is quite rare in hk as so far i know the companies which truly practice six sigma in hk are very very rare.

There is only a handful of MNCs here really working on it.....some other get localised too much and just work like normal local companies.....