It took Nur Hasyimah Mohd. Afandi, known as Syima, just 30 minutes to complete her Green Project Management (GPM) online examination. The allocated time was 3 hours. This petite bundle of enthusiasm, Head of Corporate Services at LW’s collaborative partner ThinkPlus, had taken a week to revise her GPM Reference Guide to Sustainable Project Management. Understanding that each question would be based on that text, she mastered the material. As part of her work, she is familiar with tendering documents, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS). She knows her Project Management (PM) terminology, and is familiar with ISOs. “The GPM course reinforced my experience and prior knowledge,” says Syima. “I worked for the exam by hitting the ground only once. The exam was a non-stop run-through.” Before training in GPM, 29-year-old Syima used to think that other established PM courses were the ones for businesses. She thought the GPM training would be simplistic by comparison. She has since changed her mind. “I have to say that it was cruel of Joel (Carboni, GPM founder) to invent this tool because we are forced now to re-think our processes for a business case!” she jokes. In reality, the fresh new approach of GPM impresses her.
She finds other PM courses rigid: “They spell out what and how to execute projects,” she observes. “Instead, GPM shows us,” she emphasises, “what needs to be done in a holistic way.” Syima admits that she could not find any other business case process tool that reduces the gap of making process decisions between the management and the technical person.
For Malaysia, Syima feels that GPM is the answer. “Malaysian projects are out of context,” she asserts. “They need to be re-aligned the GPM way to make projects sustainable.” She finds GPM is the only tool that relates the technical to the management environment, across the board. It helps coordinate business projects from ground zero to sustainable progression.
Not only does she like to personally practise Projects Integrating Sustainable Methods (PRISM) she has learned, she also aims to go further. Continue the project. Spread the word. And eventually become a Lead Assessor. Although Syima whizzed through her exam in record time, she feels that on-line examining is not altogether conducive and could be more friendly. “For one thing, I couldn’t go back to previous questions in case I wanted to re-check my answers.” Also, lack of language proficiency “… may impede someone because of the terminology employed in the questions set.” Overall, though, she finds the GPM programme very informative and well-presented.Having completed the facts-from-memory, knowledge foundation part of the course, this adult learner now has an opportunity to showcase her PM knowledge and skills via a real-life analysis of a business case. This will reflect her PM background and allow her to skilfully apply the learning gained in the GPM training. So, with her information recall beyond reproach, Syima now goes on to GPM Part 2 – focussing on her live projects.
