Zeinab Khazaei
PMP, PMO Director at an IT solutions provider company
Location UAE, Dubai
Activity
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Hi everyone. My name is Zeinab. I am a certified PMP currently working as a PMO Director in an IT Solution Provider company in Dubai. This is the second course I am taking here. As a PMP I need to earn PDUs and learning with futurelearn is a simple fun way. Good luck to all!
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Scope:
Develop a fully functional website to:
Allow easy comparisons across different plans
increased competition among insurance issuers
improved affordability of health insurance coverage
supported by:
a federally facilitated marketplace (FFM), and
a federal data services hub that could route and verify consumer information with other... -
Another aspect to consider is other stakeholders such as insurance issuer companies, general public.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
One of the stakeholders that could have negatively affected my Changing the Attic Room to a Workplace project was my mom. She used to use the attic to store quite a few unused items. We decided to make a good cupboard for her to store her things. She was considered a stakeholder with high power and low interest in the project. And had to keep her satisfied and...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
The goal of your project:
Make a small workshop at home
The scope of your project:
Change the attic room to a workplace
The time for your project:
20-30 Days
The budget for your project:
USD 2000
The organization you need to establish to get things going:
We need these resources:
Project manager
Interior designer
Purchasing Manager... -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Some examples of projects in our company:
1) Installation and configuration of an ERP System for an Pension Authority in an African country
2) Preparation and submission of a comprehensive technical proposal to participate in a tender
They surely create a specific result which is unique. There is a start date and a finish date. Meaning, the work must be... -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Hi all. This is Zeinab from Iran. I work for an IT Solutions provider company in Dubai. I got my PMP in Nov 2019. I start prepping for my PMP exam right here on future learn with a course named Business Fundamentals: Project Management. And I am back here to again to learn more and broaden my knowledge. Wish you all good luck!
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Hi there. I would like to know how many PDUs a certified PMP will get for this course?
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Hi there
My name is Zeinab and I am from Iran. I work as the PMO Director in an IT Solutions provider in Dubai.
I am preparing for my PMP exam. As I had a very good learning experience with Future Learn, I decided to take this course to deepen my understanding of Agile Methodology.
Wishing you all a happy new course and success. -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I am preparing for my PMP exam. I started my project management education with future learn by a course named "Business Fundamentals: Project Management". It was an absolutely informative and useful course. That encouraged me to take another course on Project Planning and Management by Virginia Darden School of Business.
Well-structured lessons, simply-put... -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
1. No WBS, No Network Diagram
2. I am certainly gonna devote time for the brainstorm session in the initiation phase. We will surely have WBS, Network Diagram, and the Gantt chart. -
Well, it depends on the stage of the project we are in when we need to reduce the duration. Imagine activity 8 on the critical path is completed and this the point where the change in plan is needed. Well, it is not possible to shorten the next activity on the critical path by 5 days because it is gonna take 3 days. So we have to reduce the duration of task 12...
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We can say the project was a success in terms of timely completion of project objectives. Though they had to amend the project plan at some point of the project, they managed to deliver the behind-schedule tasks on time by shortening the initial allotted time to the respective tasks.
The success of the project can be evaluated in terms of budget... -
The Project is going to take 233 days.
Jane needs to focus her attention on the critical path activities which are 8., 9, 12, 40, 41. She also needs to pay attention to the late start and late end of other activities which are not on the critical path. They should not exceed the late end date. -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
It was perfectly explained... so useful ...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
1. Simply because the PM or the team leader believes that they know everything about the project; what needs to be done, what resources are needed. I have seen that having a set of clear milestones to be hit is not enough at all.
2. I would draw their attention to the fact that many projects face big challenges or fail due to skipping the detailed planning...
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Before taking a look at the WBS, one may fail to realize that this project entails a lot of tasks. It was intimidating :))
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Though website was launched on the scheduled date, it failed to support the number of requests. The following reasons led to the project failure:
- Erroneous estimates of the number of users (There were high traffic volumes than expected)
- Missing with the critical path: delaying in establishing regulatory guidelines which led to the moving of the... -
SCOPE: Providing further coverage for young adults and women, and making health insurance more affordable and accessible for all Americans including the establishment of affordable insurance exchanges, or “marketplaces,” to allow consumers to compare and select from different qualified health plans
TIMING: 31 Sep 2011- 01 Oct 2013
BUDGET: Approximately...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I really liked one lesson she mentioned about: front-loading tasks. It is definitely better to get a bigger portion of the job done during the first half of the project execution. This can be applied in many cases if not all.
Sticking rigidly to the Critical Path is definitely another factor in the success of the project. There are some tasks that need to be... -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I have seen that amending the initial project plan was needed a few times throughout the project. Once due to delay in receiving data or requirements from the key users in the requirements gathering phase, once due to the introduction of new requirements by the client, and sometimes it may be needed because simply a member of the project implementor team fails...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I can talk about a project where improper monitoring by the Project Manager led to a disaster in the project. Implementation of one of the modules had fallen behind the schedule and it was neglected by the Project Manager. The unrealistic report provided by the Module lead also contributed a lot to the challenge. But in my opinion, it was mostly the PM...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Well, I think the Boyhood Project was a success because the scope, time, and the budget were well-defined upfront. The director knew what exactly he was going to film and how long it would take. Who is going to be on the project and for how long? The budget definitely had been rightly estimated. What was impressive for me about this project was the amount of...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Goal: Project Planning and Management Course
Scope: Complete the Project Planning and Management Course
Time: 15 Sep- 17 Nov
Budget: $74 + $20 (Internet Connection and Electricity Charge, printing)
Project Team: ZeinabTrade-off and Priorities among the five objectives: Schedule is of the essence and I need to finish the course ASAP. On this...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
The most recent personal project I worked on was "Business Fundamentals: Project Management" Course on Future Learn. It meant to take one month. Here are some Details about it:
Scope: Course "Business Fundamentals: Project Management"
Start Date: 12 September 2018
End Date: 15 September 2018
Budget: $74 to upgrade the course + $25 (Internet Connection... -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
HI there. My name is Zainab from Iran. Currently, I work as a Project Administrator for a Dubai-based Company. This is the second course on Project Management I am taking. I hope one day I will become a competent Project Manager who is able to run all her projects successfully, within budget and time.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Hi Everyone. My name is Zeinab. This is the second course on Project Management I am taking. So excited to learn more! Good Luck to all...
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Zeinab Khazaei replied to Zeinab Khazaei
@JaneKing Exactly. That is true.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Some learners here believe that it is not really beneficial to use such an evaluation grid. I think this template can be used differently by the Project Manager on a regular basis to identify the dimensions which need improvement. For instance, when the evaluations show that a member of staff is not doing really good in meeting the requirements and standards,...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I really enjoyed reading the comments. I found whatever I thought of to answer the questions and even much more. It was great. Thank you all for the insightful comments.
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I completely agree.
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@RiccardoOrfei Great points. Duration and priority of activities are definitely of great importance without which one cannot have a good WBS.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
It is critical to create and maintain a sense of cooperativeness and equality among the team members throughout the project. Specifically, on teams where different groups of technical and non-technical resources are working together. Sadly, in such situations, the ego-related issues show up quickly. I have seen the problem of discrimination on the...
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Zeinab Khazaei replied to Zeinab Khazaei
@LizetteGrobler I think the concept of cost is always present in project. Let's say "studying a book within a month". We can see it a project: with a specific scope (the book itself); timeline (one month); cost (the amount you pay to buy the book, for instance).
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Hi there... you may find a nice article on EVA at
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/make-earned-value-work-project-6001
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
This seems to be a cool approach to track and manage the cost and time. This really helps mitigate the possibility of getting stuck in a situation where the team needs to rush to complete some tasks or cut off some items.
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@PhillyDesai I should say you are lucky to work with a team which easily replace people. There are some cases where replacing a human resource is not that easy. The project manager needs to be answerable to the client (project sponsor). There is also another possibility. The removed person can do damages to the project by spreading rumors around to show that...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
When I was reading the article I told myself this seems to be written for you only. umm... I need a little bit of practice to teach myself to be focused on the objectives and to avoid unnecessarily expanding the topic.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I believe, on every single "Original Scheduled Date" there must be a Review Meeting to check whether the respective milestone has been achieved or not. In addition, regular task monitoring on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis (depending on the duration and number of the tasks) helps in detecting possible delays quickly or rather timely. Deferring...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Even thinking about the worst-case scenario makes me stressed out. It, however, is very likely to happen on projects. It inevitably will impact the quality in a negative manner. It can decrease the benefits of the project implementor(s).
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Zeinab Khazaei replied to Niamh Hogan
@NiamhHogan I agree. The key point is that the chart needs to be updated appropriately and correctly. To do so the PM needs quantitative reports.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I think the most important role of a PM throughout the whole project is to keep the team A TEAM, a group of people who are unitedly working towards achieving a goal. Keep everyone motivated and inspired is vital.
Other issues, technical or administrative, can be solved. In my opinion, the most difficult challenge or risk that can bring a project even to a...
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@PhillyDesai
I do not like the question of "who has the most important role?". We better look at it from a different angle. I am gonna ask:Will the project manager be able to deliver an IT project by himself and without the help of the technical resources?
Will the technical staff be able to deliver the same project without the help of the project... -
Hi Bibian. As it is explained in the article, the kick off meeting is to formally and officially communicate that the project is starting. It happens on day Zero on the project timeline, to put it simply. It is during the same meeting that the scope and objectives of the project are introduced/reviewed.
When a milestone is attained, the project manager may... -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Thank you so much, team. I learned a lot in the second week.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I worked on my dad's shop renovation project. Most of the activities are parallel before the repair job. Activities to complete the "Repair Milestone" are all critical. As the time is not too much of the essence for this project, I set a schedule of 10-15 days to complete the project (It is a quite small shop), more attention is needed to be paid to the...
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Learning the CPM Method made me think of the same. Only if we pay enough attention to the critical path on the project, a lot of better things will happen...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Very useful method. At first, I had difficulty finding the late finish date. I failed to pay attention to the point that when calculating the finish date we need to consider the successors.
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@GraemeScott
Hi Graeme. Well, to create a work breakdown or to draft a Gantt Chart for your project, simply to plan a project, I think the first thing you need to know is a deep knowledge and understanding of the project itself. You need answers to the following questions:What is the project about? What are you supposed to do?
What is going to be the... -
@BibianChristineBaralemwa Perfectly explained, Bibian. Thanks for sharing.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Thanks for the easy-to-understand video. It made me think it would be great if we asked every single consultant on the team to prepare a Gantt Chart for their respective modules. This will make the tasks of controlling and follow-up very easy and effective.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
This topic and the comments were pretty insightful. Using the probability and impact matrix can be a great way to identify what needs to be done to manage a likely risk.
As I was reading the article, I recalled a case of significant risk one of our projects faced, simply because PM failed to realize that false reports had been given by one of the team...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Can anyone introduce any reference for further reading on "Areas of Likely Risks"?
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Matthieu, I believe this matrix is to make identifying and assigning of the responsibilities easier. Though I agree with you that the task can be perfectly done without the matrix, particularly in small groups where assigning responsibilities is not that difficult and time-consuming for the PM nor that complicated for the team members.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
According to Belbin's roles our internal team consists of:
(1) Project Mentor (Planter, Resource Investigator, Evaluator, team worker, shaper)
(2) Project director (coordinator, shaper, evaluator)
(3) Project Implementor (Completer/Finisher)
(4) Consultants (Specialists/Completer or Finisher)
Though at first glance Belbin's roles Method looks quite... -
Thanks Matthieu
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I completely agree with you, Porcia. I have seen a case where a team member's struggle to be recognized and proven as the only important person and source of the success. That created anger in the team. Well, finally he was left out by everyone.
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@JonathanLopez-Real Well, like a specialist who has expertise in a particular subject, a PM possesses skills and knowledge in managing the project. So, both are skilled but each in a restricted field. Though, having a rudimentary knowledge of the technical work which is being implemented on a project is essential for the project manager.
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This was insightful. Thanks for sharing Petrus. As you said it is really important for the Project Manager to fully understand the situation and needs to be able to find the best solution.
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Mathew, I did not get what you mean by financial cost? Are you talking about cutting the resources to reduce the total budget cost of the resources? Could please explain?
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Categorizing the project's resources (human resources, materials, and equipment) is cool. It makes the budgeting task pretty manageable.
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@MatthieuViteau Very well said Matthieu
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
To be honest, having come to know about online project management tools, the first thing that crossed my mind was security. Using such online tools means that people outside the project team can easily gain access to the project information. So at least for projects with some levels of confidentiality in what is being done, less advanced methods and tools are...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I still remember how impressed I was when I went through the Gantt Chart created by the project manager for one of our company's projects. Then I thought it was really smart to use such an efficient tool and that with Gantt Chart in hand, everybody on the team had a clear image of what was supposed to be delivered. Now I am gonna learn how to make one and it...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
What we learned last week helped me a lot to get a far better understanding of project phases and activities. I am really excited to learn more. And I wish to be more active in group discussions this week. Good luck to all of you.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
1. Is it feasible at all; changes it may pose to timescale and cost; who are the new stakeholders of the project; what competencies are required to meet the new objective.
2. As long as the change is not a major one and in line with the final outcome(s) of the current project, it is tweaking. An objective tweak is the one which does not change the scope of... -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I have learned to look at every single item on my Things-To-Do as a project. Let's say reading a book. It can be a project with three constraints:
1. cost (It can be fixed-- this month you can spend only so and so amount to buy a new book, or flexible – you have to read a specific book to learn about a specific topic to improve your performance at work)
2.... -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I have never been in charge of managing a project, but in addition to the routine daily and weekly tasks at work, I have some responsibilities that can be considered small projects. There might not be a cost constraint on all, but there are always specific tasks that must be completed in a specific period of time (so at least 2 parameters exist). Coordinating...
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
Providing that the scope, deadlines, and budget are clearly defined, setting the goals and objectives of a project cannot be a tough task. I agree that the challenging part is dealing with people because different stakeholders have different expectations, and it is a pretty difficult task to address their expectations from the project and keep them happy...
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I completely agree with you. As you put it short and simple: "Never assume anything". In most cases, assumptions lead to wrong and sometimes disastrous decisions and actions.
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Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
I was not surprised at all. I agree that the biggest challenge is handling people. In addition to difficulties you may face when working with people from different cultural backgrounds, a bigger problem is that many people tend to defer tasks to the 11th hour. As the project admin, I am one of the least favorite people on the team.
No wonder!! Well, to make... -
Zeinab Khazaei made a comment
One of my responsibilities is managing tender submission. Every time a request for proposal (RFP) is released by a government entity to which we are interested to respond, here are the tasks to do:
1. Prepare the checklist within 24 hours after receiving the RFP Document- Share it with the responsible resources
2. Send notification on the Pre-bid Meeting to...
