In realizing its mandates, visions and missions, SEAMEO BIOTROP manages various projects related to the Center’s respective programs and activities.  The main question is how to effectively and efficiently run a project for achieving a successful project.  Management strategies are thus, essential for reaching the goal. In many ways, sharing of experience in managing a project is very much needed, because each project has its uniqueness and therefore, requires different approaches.

SEAMEO BIOTROP invited Mr. Ketut S. Kamayana, DS ECE, MBA who has vast experience in project management in various companies.  In the last 12 years, Mr. Ketut Kamayana had built a company called PT Soltius Indonesia in Jakarta from having 70+ employees in 2008 into having 200+ employees last year prior to his retirement from his position as the President Director of the company.  Prior to building the company, Mr. Ketut worked in the NCR Corporation in San Diego, CA, USA for 10 years, in the Pricewaterhouse Coopers Consulting in Jakarta, Indonesia for 10 years and in the IBM Global Business Services in Jakarta, Indonesia for 6 years.  Mr. Ketut graduated his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Oregon State University and earned his Master in Business Administration Degree from the University of San Diego, CA, USA.  His strong technical and leadership skills in project management grew along with his experience in working with those companies.

During his presentation, Mr. Ketut mentioned that a project is a temporary endeavor, constrained by time, funding and deliverables, undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to reach beneficial change or added value.  He also stated that a project has several characteristics, such as having clear start and finish dates, creating new outcomes, requiring resources, having boundaries and having focused and specific goals (not merely business as usual). In running a project, it is pertinent to have management strategies, defined as the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, managing, leading and controlling resources to achieve specific goals.  

Therefore, Mr. Ketut shared the 7 keys to project success, consisting of: 1. Having a realistic and managed scope; 2. Having business benefits realization; 3. Having committed stakeholders; 4. Having a high-performing team; 5. Having predictable workload and schedules; 6. Having clear risks mitigation plans and actions; and 7. Having clear realization of benefits for the delivery organization.

In concluding the share of 7 Keys to Project, Dr Zulhamsyah Imran, the Director of SEAMEO BIOTROP mentioned that a project has to be clearly identified in terms of its objectives, goals and benefits in order to define the workloads and schedules which leads to the required competence of the human resources, fundings and stakeholders.

This event was participated by 50 participants from SEAMEO BIOTROP and the other 6 SEAMEO Centers in Indonesia. (sis).