How much is one billion? I am surprise to find out no many people know this word represents two numbers difference by a factor of 1000 depends on who you talk to. In US, 1 billion is 1000000000, 9 zeros, but in UK, 1 billion is 100000000000, 12 zeros. Today at lunch, we talked about the dream for all guys, marry to a rich woman and settle for life. One friend declare he will sell his body (probably his soul) to any woman, even an ugly, old and stingy woman, for 2 billion dollars. Then we joked about what currency this 2 billion dollar is, some insist it has to be in US, but some one say 2 billion HK dollars is enough. Then I bring up the question which definition of billion he is refering to, since it makes a big difference. Actually, I am the only one in my lunch group knows there is a difference, and no one believes me at first. To be honest, I couldn’t remember the exact difference either. It is hard to convince others when everyone think you are wrong and you have no external authoritative reference. Fortunately, I have Oxford dictionary installed in my Treo, so I simply look up the word and prove I am right. It is so convenient that technology brings all information to your finger tip. Just imagine if there is unlimited broadband internet connection to my Treo to bring together the power of Google and Wikipedia as well. Many unnecessary arguments are often caused by inaccurate information, if everyone can access reliable source of information at anytime, the world would have less argument and be more quiet.

Now, here is the billion dollars question, how much is 1 billion worth in HK? I assume it would follow the UK definition since it was an English colony, but somehow I sort of remember HK follow the US monetary system. Anyways, next time when you have a deal worth a billion, make sure both side agree on the same definition of a billion.

Today I had beer and wings with some colleagues after work to celebrate success of our previous the project.  Between beers, we chatted about environment issues.  The boss talked about a documentary he saw on global warming.  It is the controversal one that calls the environmentalist crying wolfs.  The theory is not new, I have read it somewhere else a few years ago.  The environmentalists think global warming is caused by green house gases, but the theory said the climate change is caused by solar cycle, which is a natural phenomena spanning cycles of a few several hundred years.  Then the documentary accuse the whole environmental industry are created out of thin air to profit from people’s fear of global warming.  Well, the topic could have been a heated debate, but since the boss is in charge of the conversation, I just play safe by repeat what we usualy hear form the mass media to join the converation.  You don’t have to truely agree with the view point you say, it can’t go wrong if the points are on the newspaper and everyone knows those points as facts.  People will preceived you have said something intelligent but in fact you are just being a recorder without giving too much thoughts.  When in doubt or want to hide your ture self, side with the majority, so that you don’t have to think about how to defense your points.  The burden of proof is always in the side of the minority.

To blog or not to blog, that is the question. I have been thinking about why do I blog lately. Newspaper, magazine have been talking about the blogsphere for quite some time. Some people think blog is just an open dairy, some other blog is the new media that can revolutionize the traditional mass media. Technically speaking, blog is just an online content managment system. There is no limitation on what content can show up in a the blog, that all depends on the blogger’s personal perference. Writing blog is just like writing a notebook, if you write dairy then your blog is a dairy; if you report news then your blog is a journal; if you write stories then your blog is a novel. People write blog for different reasons, some want to share his thoughts with friends, some write for popularity, some want to change the world, some simply want a place to keep track of his own writing.

I start writing blog two years ago. At first I just want to write something everyday to practice my writing skill. Later, I want to capture my thoughts before they are lost forever. Then writing blog become the mean to force myself to think, trying hard to squeeze out the last ounce of creativity. For a while, I saw some bloggers rank high in the blogsphere and wanted to chase after popularity. Although not many people reads it but I still want to do a better job and I gave myself unnecessary pressure. I stopped for a moment and think it over. I should just return to the root of writing blog, just write for fun and express myself. My blog is a projection of my mind. If my writing is kinda messy, so be it, because my mind is also a mess.

If I have learned a single key concept from the project management training that is project management is all about ownership and accountability. You are accountable to make some deliveries in the project, and that may depends on the deliveries that is out side of your control. You have to communicate with all your stakeholders who is accountable for what and hold them accountable for what they promise to delivery. If something is changed, there is always a ripple effect that affect everyone down the line. That is where the dependency chart comes in place and have to communicate well ahead of time to all stakeholders the line of responsibility. The other concept I learned is contingency plan. Contingency is different from padding. Padding is hidden in the schedule or resource allocation but contingency is shown as a separate item in the project plan, it is not meant to be use but allow flexibility to handle risk that may arise in the project. Stating the obvious assumption and constraint in the project plan is also very important, since many obvious thing are not that obvious. Unless you write it down explicitly, people tends to ignore them. Fundamentally, effective communication underwrite all the project planning practice. The instructor told us eventually what determine whether the project will success is not how well is plan, but how good the relationship the people involve in the project. The soft skill is more valuable than the hard skill in project management. Everyone in class agree we need to improve in our communication, we are all engineers who talk to computer more than people after all. In short session about communication, the instructor reinforce the concept I have learned Archibald Putt and Dale Carnegie. The end of communication to archive what you want, but the mean is to talk about what other people want. Effective communication is that your proposition can be summarized in less than 25 words. When making a presentation, left out the details or you asking for unwelcome questions distract the audience from your goal. All idea has fit well in a 15 minutes presentation, which is the amount of time people willing to hear form you before they lost their interest. I think I have learned a lot in this 2 days training, not any new knowledge in particular, but some high level concept that is universally useful.