PMP Hints

Construction Industry, Construction Technology, General Management, PMP Hints, Project Management

COVID-19: How to make the transformation into online operations more effective?

By Dr Samer Skaik

With the unprecedented outbreak of the coronavirus across the globe, many universities and schools have been initiating projects to transform their operations from ‘face to face’ to virtual environments aided by various technologies. This call seems to be inevitable since the outbreak will continue to evolve for at least another six months. In this context, three demanding questions come into play:

Civil Engineering, Construction Industry, Construction Law, Construction Technology, Contract Administration, General Management, PMP Hints, Procurement Management, Project Management, Statutory Adjudication

Launching My Channel on YouTube

By Dr Samer Skaik

Very recently, I have launched a channel on Youtube. This channel aims to provide integrated, handy and focused educational materials for those interested in developing their competencies in construction project management, professional practice and leadership. My aim is to help raise the bar by providing sound, solid and up-to-date knowledge for students, graduates and professionals in the construction sector. The channel, in addition to the videos, includes other interesting educational playlists. You can display the playlists chronologically if you are keen to develop a robust understanding in the field and advance progressively towards mastering the subject. …

Civil Engineering, Construction Industry, Construction Law, Construction Technology, Contract Administration, General Management, PMP Hints, Procurement Management, Project Management, Statutory Adjudication, Sustainability

Launching CMGuide Inaugural Mentoring Programme

We are very delighted to launch the Inaugural Mentoring Programme targeting graduates and early-career professionals in the construction industry.

This is a free service initiated and operated by CMGuide and led by CMGuide Founder (Dr Samer Skaik). The mentoring programme is targeting ambitious graduates and early-career professionals in the construction industry. The programme is only available in Australia. We encourage prospective and interested mentors in Australia who have the experience in any of the mentoring areas to join our ‘Mentors Panel’ ASAP so we can serve and enrol more mentees in the programme. Interested mentors should mention the mentoring area and availability arrangement so we can properly match mentees (protégé) with appropriate mentors. It is completely up to the mentors and mentees once to discuss and agree the mentoring arrangement during the mentoring year such as mentoring duration (not less than 6 months), communication method, frequency of meetings, level of support, etc.  …

Civil Engineering, Construction Industry, Construction Law, Construction Technology, Contract Administration, General Management, PMP Hints, Procurement Management, Project Management

FIDIC’s biggest Contract Users’ event is just two weeks away

You can benefit from the FIDIC Contracts Committee’s direct guidance by attending this year’s official FIDIC International Contract Users event. They’ll be joined by world-class lawyers, top engineers and contract users from a range of leading companies to make sure that delegates go away with a comprehensive and balanced understanding of the latest contract developments. …

Civil Engineering, Construction Industry, Construction Law, Construction Technology, Contract Administration, General Management, PMP Hints, Procurement Management, Project Management

Beware fast tracking complex high rise buildings

By Samer Skaik

In complex high rise projects, employers tend to fast track works where construction can begin while design is still incomplete following three main phases of procurement. Shoring system and piling are firstly procured and awarded to an enabling contractor. Upon completion of enabling works, main design and traditional tendering of the second phase can be concluded in order for main construction works to commence on site. While main work is progressing, design of specialist packages will be completed and nominated subcontractors are appointed in a timely manner shaping the third phase of procurement. Such common phased construction usually results in substantial time saving in project life cycle. However, many fast track projects suffer time and cost overruns due to inherent risks of fast tracking such as design deficiencies and ambiguities in risk allocation between involved parties. This paper aims to investigate pros and cons of fast track procurement approach for complex high rise projects and examine how relevant risks are allocated among enabling contractors, main contractors, nominated subcontractors and project consultants in theory and practice. …

Civil Engineering, Construction Industry, Construction Law, Construction Technology, Contract Administration, General Management, PMP Hints, Procurement Management, Project Management, Sustainability

CMGuide Founder spoke in Melbourne Convention 2014 by Engineers Australia

Samer Skaik at Meloburne ConventionSamer Skaik, the CMGuide Founder delivered 30 minutes oral presentation in “Mastering Complex Projects Conference” at Melbourne convention 2014 which was organized by Engineers Australia.  The Convention is the largest engineering event ever held in the southern hemisphere. Convention bring together all areas of the engineering profession, with national and international keynote speakers exposing delegates to megatrends and thought leadership that will influence the future direction of engineering in Australia. …

Civil Engineering, Construction Industry, Construction Law, Construction Technology, Contract Administration, General Management, PMP Hints, Procurement Management, Project Management, Sustainability

First-hand advice from the FIDIC contract drafters – tailored for the Middle East

FIDIC’s 5th Middle Eastern Contract Users’ conference is your annual opportunity to get best practice contract advice and updates on the contract amendments directly from the very people who drafted them!

Samer Skaik, the Founder & Principal of Construction Management Guide, will once again be sharing his regional expertise at the event and will be joined by 18 other world-class experts. …

Construction Law, Contract Administration, PMP Hints, Procurement Management, Project Management

CMGuide Founder to Speak in AACEI Conference in Dubai

AACEI – UAE Section announces the one day Technical Conference on “Claims Management Practices” to be conducted at Hotel Gloria, Dubai on 09th November 2013. This Conference has been designed with a focus on Understanding claim events through the whole project life cycle right from Inception to the execution phase of the project. Along with understanding the claim events, early mitigation measures right from FEED stage and through various risk study methods become vital. Major claims of the days being on time related issues, a sheer attention is given on the topics related to Schedule preparation and Extension of Time studies during the one day conference.  …

General Management, PMP Hints, Project Management

Six Ways to Develop Your Project Team

Regardless of how a project team gets assigned, the project manager needs to make sure that the team members have the right skills to complete their assigned tasks. In fact, if the team members do not have all the right skills and the project manager cannot help them acquire the skills, the project would appear to be at risk.
This does not always mean sending a person to class. There are many other learning events that can help, including:

PMP Hints, Project Management

Learn About Earned Value Management (EVM)

Have you ever been asked how far along you were on a project? Of course you have. If you do not have a valid schedule, or if you are not keeping the schedule up-to-date, you know that your answer is pretty much a guess. If you have a good schedule and you are keeping it up-to-date, you should have a sense for how much work is remaining and what the projected end-date is. But are you 50% complete? Or 90% complete? It is not always easy to know.

Earned value metrics were established to remove the guess work from determining where you are at in relation to a baseline. Using it allows a project manager to know precisely how far along he is, how much work is remaining, what the expected cost will be, and all sorts of other interesting information. …

PMP Hints, Project Management

Seven Steps for a Project Quality Review

In some cases, such as a government project, periodic audits may be called for as a part of the overall contract. This “outside party” could be any qualified person outside of the project manager. In some cases, your organization may have an internal project audit specialist. It is possible that the Project Director or the Project Sponsor could also perform this audit. The outside party could be an outside contractor or consultant, but they do not need to be. …

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