Feb15Chaos & Project ManagementPosted at 11:15 in Chaos, My Work, Project Management

You might have noticed that I have renamed my blog to "Lost in Chaos". I'm not talking about my geographical location, although some people might argue that it would be a perfect match. No, I'm here talking about Chaos in Project Management, which is my favorite field of research, and I intend to post more about it in the future.

The word chaos did not initially mean "disorder", but this became the common acceptance of its meaning as of today. Mathematically, Chaos means "an aperiodic deterministic behavior which is very sensitive to its initial conditions" (i.e., small perturbations of the initial conditions lead to large variations). A chaotic system typically looks random but is not: It is very difficult to predict accurately, but still predictable if you have enough information (it is called a deterministic system, e.g. weather forecasting). The whole idea behind my work, and this re-branding of my blog, is to be able to reveal patterns of order out of seemingly chaotic systems (a.k.a. Projects), and why not use this information to "Control the chaos" !

Nov05One more landmark in DubaiPosted at 14:50 in Dubai, My Work

There is a new landmark in Dubai, as you can tell if you drive on Al Ain Road, just before the Outlet Mall.

Oct17Halloween Horror NightsPosted at 13:23 in My Work

Last night, I attended the Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida, and I have only one single word to say: WOW! In terms of experience, this ranks very high amongst what I have done in my life. It was tense, scary, spooky, and really fun. Here are my top 5 reasons why:

• It is my first halloween in North-America, and coming from Europe, this event was really taking it to another level
• I have always liked horror movies, and this event's is built around horror movies culture, background and references
• Costumes, make-ups and prostetics are really movie quality, and you can see that actors and employees have as much fun as guests
• The scare zones are absolutely thrilling, all around the Park, and - believe me - actors are litteraly scaring you to death
• In terms of Project Management & Operations approach, having seen it behind the scenes, I am puzzled to see that they deploy everything between 5PM when the Park closes, and 6:30PM when the Horror Nights open. Great job guys!

I have only one thing to add, next time, I'll take Universal Express, and this would be my single advice to you. Queues were absolutely insane to some of the haunted houses (60 to 90 minutes, almost from start to finish of the night). It is said to be the best Halloween event in America, and from what I saw, I have no problem to believe that, I have enjoyed it a lot.

Oct1335 yearsPosted at 01:00 in My Work, Personal

I turned 35 today, spending 16 hours in the plane and finally landing at Orlando, Florida. I'm staying at the Hard Rock Hotel for one week of meetings and discussions with our Orlando colleagues. I'll be back in Dubai late next Saturday, right before the CIO conference 2008. That will be a busy week...

Jun24No Walk in the ParkPosted at 18:09 in My Work, Project Management

Today was my last day at Interoute, and despite everything that's going on these days, I'm almost done with my books and magazines backlog, and while going through April's PM Network, I stumbled upon thebuzz column titled "No Walk in the Park". The article is really interesting and depicts the trend in theme park projects in various areas of the world, describing some of the big projects ongoing in Americas and Asia. However, I'm seriously questionning the numbers provided by the PWC study Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2007-2011, that ranks Middle East as the Top 5 spender in the amusement park segment by 2011, with "only" $200 million. That number has to be much higher if you look at megaprojects like Dubailand, which Universal Studios will be a part of.

Anyway, my point is that considering the amount of high end projects in that segment that are already ongoing, or due to be launched pretty soon, and the well known global shortage in project talents, it will be a real challenge to beef up my team overthere. If you are a top notch Project Leader, Program Manager, Risk Manager or Change Manager, if you feel like working for a big player like Universal Studios in a challenging geographical area like Dubai, please send me your resume and cover letter. If you know a top notch Project Leader, Program Manager, Risk Manager or Change Manager, who feels like working for a big player like Universal Studios in a challenging geographical area like Dubai, I would be grateful if you could foward this post to them.

May27Orlando, Day EightPosted at 02:02 in My Work

I flew back to Prague on Friday via Atlanta, but before going to the airport in the afternoon, we went to SkyVenture for two skydives in winds up to 145 mph (234 km/h). The instructor is a top notch guy, who really masters that sports, and I eventually got certified for my jumps (stability, left & right turns, up and down). This was a fantastic experience to finish this week in Orlando, and I was quite happy to take some rest before my flight in the Delta Crown Club Room.

May26Orlando, Day SevenPosted at 02:53 in My Work

Thursday morning, we had a very interesting meeting with Mike Melhorn (Technical Services), Jeff Lind and Phil DiPaula, about the design of the audio systems across the park in Dubai. Another first for me, as I never went that deep into this aspect of technical discussions. Michelle McKenna took us to lunch at the Mythos restaurant (Best theme park restaurant for the fifth year in a row, click here for a full review). Two great meetings in the afternoon gave us an overview of the technical services software (work orders, assets management, etc) and of the datawarehouse project.

Meetings for the week finished, information overload ;).

May25Orlando, Day SixPosted at 11:01 in My Work

On Wednesday, we had a deeper look at the PMO processes and framework (they are PMI aligned as well). Rod Schrag and Roxana Castillo took me through their PMO intranet, and I'm quite happy to have changed my mind about Sharepoint as a CMS, as this implementation is quite nicely done.

We took a break and did the Fury of Poseidon before having lunch at Thunder Falls Terrace, with a view on the splash zone of the Jurassic Park River Adventure.

After the lunch break, we met with Jeff Lind, from Creative Team, and visited the old Nickelodeon studios, and the Blue Man Group studios. We then met with Marcus Lopez, their ticketing systems guru.

In the evening, Tim Arnst (VP of Human Resources) took us to dinner at Seasons52 (very nice modern american cuisine) after a quick handshake with Tom Williams (chairman and CEO, Universal Parks and Resorts). Here I discovered the traditional Key Lime desserts of Florida, before going to the Première of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at midnight. Definitely not worth it, and this time would have been better spent sleeping...

May24Orlando, Day FivePosted at 09:49 in My Work

Tuesday was another busy day. In the morning we went with the Infrastructure team, across the Parcs, the Back of House and CityWalk to understand how they built their network, and see how they answered to business requirements. As it is the season for lovebugs and thunderstorms, we got showered right before going back to the office. Despite still being wet, we had lunch at The Enchanted Oak Tavern, in one of the most fabulous decor I have ever seen, where I enjoyed a delicious smoked turkey leg.

In the afternoon, we met with Rita Sanchez and the TRM team, and Jackie Diaz and the PMO team (very instructive, and I'm glad to have the opportunity of interworking with them in the future). We had dinner at Shooters (quite close from where it all started in 1983), and after some very hot shrimps and chicken, and a huge hamburger, we enjoyed a couple of billard games in a nice typical bar, listening to country music.

May23Orlando, Day FourPosted at 09:47 in My Work

On Monday, we met with Meeting with Supra Dey (CTO) and members of his team; Rita Sanchez and Greg Walker, for a couple of very interresting meetings. These guys do have a wealth of knowledge to share, and are extremely helpful for people like me who are brand new into this business. It was a very busy day, and I ended up close to information overload, but an easy night watching Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian at the CityWalk Cineplex (not a bad movie, but way to many similarities with some scenes from Lord of the Ring), after which we had dinner at Bubba Gump (the Viacom franchise restaurants inspired by Forrest Gump).

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