Friday, June 29, 2012

The Future of Quality and Lean Six Sigma

ASQ and FMM is working together to bring you this interesting topic. We are in the midst of finalizing the line up of speakers. The main speakers are all firmed up and we have some minor details to settle. I think this topic is important for professionals working in the quality field. I felt that the idea behind it is part of innovation in the quality movement. For e.g. we have Six Sigma and we have Lean Management Concept. Putting those two together, we have Lean Six Sigma. Of course, it would be interesting to see expert dissect and explain the details of what it is all about.

Future of quality relates to me personally about my own walk as a quality professional. As I am involved in software testing, I do ask the question what is the significance, contribution or will it even exist 5 to 10 years from now with technology changing in a very fast pace. Would it get evolved into something else, that, perhaps, if I know now, I could work on carving those skills for future use. Similarly the 2 day seminar will cover this topic as well. Anyone who wants to sign up, do contact me or do so directly with our partner FMM.

This is pretty near the deadline, but I think it could be worked out if you are interested. And the fees is really good, I know for a fact that you couldn't find this rate anywhere else for the topic as well as the speaker that we are trying to bring in.

http://www.fmm.edu.my/trainingView.aspx?trainingID=fb577d9d-b1fd-413b-bbe9-8b80cbad3b12

Rock on, Quality Professionals!!

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Perhaps


Quiet yet restless,
Wandering yet thoughtful,
Tired yet Unwilling to rest,
Staring blankly at 3am.

Sleep? Perhaps to be awaken by the feeling of drowning in the sea...
Rest? Perhaps the worries floods my mind...
Nothing to do? Plenty, yet, the feeling of I don't feel like doing it...
Purpose? Many roles and responsibilities, yet unfulfilled...

Why then, when I am suppose to be thriving on this that I felt the weight too heavy on my shoulder?
Perhaps I need a holiday, perhaps I need rest
Perhaps I should be looking outward for the answer,
Perhaps I should look to God for an answer,
Perhaps I should look inward and ask my unknown self.

Perhaps I don't know myself well enough until now,
That I may have made decisions that my 'self' don't agree to.

What do you want, 'self'?
Perhaps I should continue telling my 'self' and tell him to obey
Perhaps I should try asking my 'self' and ask him what he wants?
Perhaps conversation with close friends and family may be able to help me?
Perhaps a quiet conversation with my 'self' would be interesting...

Where do I find my 'self'?
Perhaps, the Bible...
Perhaps, with all the Gurus and Teachers of motivation...
Perhaps, in meditation and isolation...
Perhaps, in giving and helping others, I may help myself...
Perhaps, in self indulgence, I may appease myself...

Perhaps...
This is how human feels, just that it is not talked about
Perhaps...
I am mentally disturbed and require medical attention
Perhaps...
That I am thinking too much, and I should just chill off and go back to life
Perhaps...
This is a call for journey of self discovery, that I need to embark in the one thing,
That will spark me to life again, the one thing that may be the purpose of my life.

Perhaps...


~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Little chat with Ethan

Early in the morning somewhere this week, while I was about to go to work....




Me: Daddy wants to go to work already
Ethan: Don't go, don't go
Me: Daddy don't go to work no money to buy milk for you
Ethan: (silent with stone look)
Me: Daddy don't go to work no money to buy toys and raisins for you (his favourite)
Ethan: Daddy go work la..
Me: "

Obviously raisins and toys are more important to him than milk. I hope he has a great time growing up :)



~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Ethan (2 years 2 months)

What a 2 years old toddler is capable of? He made sure that he tires me enough so that I am not able to try to stay up and watch football at night, and he made sure that I am so tired I couldn't even touch my PC and do some work at home.

By now, he has developed a strong set of teeth, always wanting to munch on something, be it raisin, bread, fruits and of course like every other toddler, he loves sweet stuff, so I have to be very careful what I feed him. We enjoy going to the park as well, walking around, looking around and I notice he loves to observe what other kids are doing, and he later goes and try it out on his own. Not that it is a bad thing, but sometimes it gets real tough trying to tell him not to do what other kids does, especially they are doing, well, dangerous or naughty stuff.

Enjoying himself in the shopping mall

At this stage, he developed a habit of asking questions. He really applied the "5 why" better than the professionals does at work. You know what is 5 why? Well you ask why, you get an answer, and you ask why again based on the answer, and you continue doing that for 5 times to go get to the root cause of issues or problems. So, here he goes asking why for everything under the sun, and I sometimes struggle to give him a simplistic yet logical and truthful answer for him to think about further. I somehow realize from the look of his face, that he is able to think and comprehend a lot more than I can imagine, so I wouldn't want to tell him a lie just to get off my back.

Whatever and however tired, however frustrated, I am going to try to enjoy myself watching him grow up. It is not easy at all but, what is easy in this life that is worth anything to us? Something that worth a lot to us usually requires an equal amount of effort as well. Happy Father's Day to me and all the father out there with toddlers. Thank you Dad.


Full of Expression...
Cheeky smile
~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Innovation put into Focus

Last few months to almost a year now has been somewhat challenging for many people ( I was referring to 2009). The economic slowdown inflicted directly or indirectly from the collapse of loan system and ultimately the banking system slowly sink in to almost every industry and alerted an immediate caution in all organization and individuals alike. Given the gloom outlook, people stop buying, organization produce less, less worker needed, subsequently retrenchment is a continuous and vicious cycle that affect worldwide economy almost every 10 year cycle.

My thought would be to save up for the rainy days ahead and caution on spending my pocket money. Is there more to it? No.... wait.... What happen 5 years from now and during that time, can I or the organization I work in continue to challenge the market space and market segment we are in? Why I ask this question is because every economic downturn, and its eventual recovery (it will always recover), and at that time, where am I or my organization?

Innovation is never a one time thing, it should be ingrained in the K-economy. In the K-economy, people contribute best by inter-mixing and sharing knowledge to be put to innovative use. Knowledge on its own is of not much use, knowledge overloading would be the same as well, meaning if you do buy 1000 books and not reading it at all, is no use. Now knowledge shared and applied is the key to opening up the k-economy. The best way I can think of is then by applying and using Internet sharing and collaboration tools which by the day is increasingly entrenched into our every day life, that innovation begins to flourish. By sharing and tossing ideas with almost anyone connected to the Internet in this planet, we have a platform for success.

With the technology, we are continuously being challenged, in terms of producing our work the most efficient and effective way. We continuously improve on the things we work on and perhaps to a certain extend revolutionize the way we work. Of course the pressure on workers or entrepreneurs of our time increases as well, as more people are being enabled, those of us who did not keep striving and improving will then fall behind, especially those involved in the Internet businesses.

Perhaps it is time to move a gear and ask what can we Evolutionize in our organization today. The challenge to do so has never been stronger. And the need to do so has never been more urgent. It is interesting to see the rise of Samsung and Apple iPhone to topple Nokia and Sony Ericsson almost out of existence as far as I am concerned. Success today just takes a matter of months to be toppled, evidently from what we see with Nokia and Sony.

I can only conclude that the opportunity is great, and the challenge seems greater. Hitting success may just be a start, and if not maintained will go the very next day. We have to be on our feet, whatever we do, to ensure that we stay at the top of our game. The tools available to us today, is helping us and also putting pressure on us to buck up, as we can be easily overtaken if we do not concentrate on the tasks at hand.


~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Another Scam in my Mailbox

Scam comes in a lot of ways and shapes. Now I have another piece. I don't know if someone who stands to gain 7.2 million USD would want to come and give any share of it to me. Sorry scammers, my philosophy of life is always 'you have to earn everything, except for grace of God'. Have a nice day and don't fall for this...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good day,

This is a personal email directed to you for your consideration alone, I

request that it remain and be treated as such only. Please bear with me for

now and do not ask my name. I am a banker with HSBC here in Malaysia

I have an interesting business proposal for you that will be of immense

benefit to both of us. Although this may be hard for you to believe, we

stand to gain 7.2 million USD between us in a matter of days. Please grant

me the benefit of doubt and hear me out. I need you to signify your interest

by replying to this email..

Most importantly, I will need you to promise to keep whatever you learn from

me between us even if you decide not to go along with me. I will make more

details available to you on receipt of a positive response from you.

ooi Tek
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Father's Day

My dad is a man with few words. Not that he does not say anything, but I sometimes find it hard to talk to him. The time that I have talked to him, he usually listen quietly, with a frown and later on, he will always come back to me with an answer, guide or already solved that issue for me. Even though he may be busy, he wouldn't dismiss my problem as something trivial and send me off to go find a solution for myself. He'll come back, maybe not immediately, but always ready to offer advice as well as solution and even help me solve the problem itself. That's the way he shows love to me and my siblings.

I remembered there was an occasion that I got stuck in a road accident situation. I was young then, and I panicked. I called him, and he came like 5-10 minutes later, went on and talked to the folks involved and settled the situation immediately. Well, I got a lecture after that, but it feels great to have dad to settle the issues and I still have the feeling up till today that he is capable of handling any situation in the world.

With dad, sometimes, I take things for granted, and I know that I should not. Learning now, really to be more thoughtful wherever possible. As I take care of my son now, I realize how much that dad has sacrificed for us and given his very best for the family. Well he took care of the three of us and I am only taking care of one right now, and already I am exhausted :p And in my dad's case, he has three children, all with our own unique set of needs and wants. He groomed us well, at least in terms of moral value as well as good values in life.

I get grilling all the way from when I was a kid to now an adult, but I know that he has walked the path and just wanted to make sure that we don't fall into the same set of problem all over again. I sometimes don't take it seriously and argue back, but, where I stand right now, I know that all those advice given were for my own good.

Dad gives many small and little advice throughout the years. I think all this forms the my personal value as well as principle in life. I remember a postcard which he sends to me when he was flying off to US to work. It was but a few words and it goes something like this "He who works hard has everything". At that time I was just in early secondary education and that somehow gave me a lot of encouragement as well as enthusiasm at that point of time. I still remember it now and cherish that little but important message he has for me.

My dad is a work-horse. He believes in good work, he believes that we must work our way to success and not by taking short-cuts. He shares with me ideas that he hears from reading as well as from friends that he heard of. Like all dad, he wants the best for me.

Thanks dad for preparing us for everything, and we love you for a great dad that you are.

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Cow Scandal

I am just wondering, where do we get a one stop all truth, non-spinning, truth account version of any story that is in the news today? Everything seems to be biased, either way, and I don't see that this is a good thing. If I have all the time in the world, I would read both side of the argument, think through it logically, get supporting facts and then make a conclusion myself of what is or is not the truth.

However I think 99.9% of Malaysian are busy, hence, unable to do the above. What is then left of us who reads one source of news? We will be biased. It is time to re-think press freedom and I think how Malaysian think will be very much rooted to the type of news that we subscribe to. Not everything that is within reach should be used to fight political war. We need a society that is able to receive neutral and truthful information and let them think what is right and wrong in their own perspective. No?

And a side stuff, I have just replaced my blogger profile with that of my google+ profile. My google+ profile is a little bit more of my professional profile. I just figured that I might have one less profile to worry about then. So goodbye blogger profile.

Profile
"I tend to take my life simple, like to achieve a lot of different objectives in life, want to strive hard to achieve things because I feel that life is too valuable to be wasted on not getting anything done."



~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

The Urban Poor - Another Side of Kuala Lumpur


We are all capable of running into a routine that we are so rooted to that we do not want to change it at all after a while. I am guilty of this, having rooted myself into my daily work routine, taking a day off for my organization's Global Impact Day. The question of whether it is going to be fun, will I learn something, will I be penalized for not ensuring that the work is done and so on filled my selfish mind.

Fortunately, I decided, whatever the outcome it would be, I would just sign up and offer up myself to do my bit whether it is lending a hand or spending some time for a cause. And I must say that I am handsomely rewarded, much more than I could have imagined.

The mission that I took was to distribute food to the urban poor. The other three choices was to offer donation, offer to help up in an office fund raising event or to take the children for a visit at the National Science Center.

Somehow the 'urban poor' captured my attention and I decided that is what I want to be part of and that is what I really want to see with my own eye. We went into the heart of KL, Jalan Imbi if I can remember correctly for a place called Kechara Soup Kitchen (KSK), a place that distribute free food to the needy as well as the urban poor. From the shoplot itself, we can see people dropping by for a meal. We loaded the food required to be brought to the village, and waited for every participant to get ready. Some of us travelled in cars while others travelled with the KSK van.

As we arrived, the folks, mainly old folks from the area starts to line up for their food. We distributed food, biscuits and fruits. After we are done with the folks that has waited for us, we then carry the ration in boxes to distribute them to who were not able to come forward. We went though several houses, spent some time interacting as well as took some photos. To me, it is really a mixed feeling as I would not have imagined somewhere in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, we have a village area, with mainly older folks and are classified as urban poor. They are friendly and are open to us.

What can we do more for this folks? I'll probably not dwell too much into that, but if any of you are into giving time and resources back to the society, there are plenty and it is time for us to take action if we have not done so.

On mission accomplishment, not to be outdone by our colleagues who is having an extended makan time at the all famous Yut Kee Restaurant. All the blogs and recommendation on the Internet seems to be true. It is pretty good. And I just managed to capture one shot of my colleague who happen to be sitting between me and the menu board behind her. She is an awesome driver!! And here is the photo of us on the way back as well. Thanks Team.

P/S: After I have given a few thoughts, I purposely removed the name of the place that I visited along with those photos so that no one feels hurt for classifying a certain area as 'urban poor'. People who is in need are everywhere actually, and as much as this folks that I visited needed food, they need as much attention and friendship as well. Have a good day :)



~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

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