The Strategic Project Manager’s Guide
“ In dealing with Project management, we need to know the methodology, good analysis, and evidence (sometimes experience) to guide us to formulate a decision at all times. This book can guide you and sharpen one’s decision route. Remember that every decision has its time factor especially in running a construction project.
Moreover, the author takes a strong approach to tackle decisions in relation to background of Hong Kong and Asian development. This is seldom seen. He made a good decision to select such a topic and well addressed.”
By Mr. Leung Hon Ming
Registered architect, Authorised Person List 1
Managing Director of Seniorman Design Limited.
Ir. Dr. Peter Kwan (First revised for e-book Edition in 2017)
BSc(Eng), DBA, CEng, CDCFM,
FCIBSE, FHKIFE, FIDCE, MCIOB
Acknowledgement
- I am grateful to the following genius who assisted to proofread and make suggestions to this book during my busy time schedule:
Ir. Joseph Lai (MCIBSE)
Mr. Perry S P Lam (ARICS).
Mr. H M Leung (RIBA), Director of Seniormen Design Ltd.
Miss M Ying. Director of PSA Management.
- My thank are also due to my dearest parents, who had taught me endurance and determination; my primary school English teacher Miss L S Cheung, who had given me the biggest assistance in fulfilling my great expectation for university education.
- I would also like to thank my beloved children, Joseph, Kelly, Christie and Kelwyn Kwan, who had to do their homework themselves while I struggled with sleepiness and laziness when writing this book since 1995.
- Finally, without HIM and His arrangement, my dreams can never come true. For this, I would like to share two best sentences that I have ever heard in my life:
✦ “ Happy are those who dream dreams, and ready to pay for the price to make their dreams come true.” – Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.
✦ “神未嘗留下一樣好處不給那行動正直的人! “ – 聖經詩篇
Ir. Dr. Peter Kwan
Hong Kong May, 1998
PREFACE
- In 1978, I was determined to be a mechanical/building services engineer after my second attempt for school certificate examination had not been very successful. At that time, one of my brothers was an electrical engineer, one was a civil engineer and the other one was a building engineer. For ten years, I worked my way up from a technician trainee and became a professional engineer in 1988.
- After studying and working in Scotland for over ten years, I returned to Hong Kong and worked on the construction of the United Christian Hospital in 1992. From then onwards, I realized how big differences the training and work practices between UK and Hong Kong were. At that time, my ex-colleague Ir. K K Chan (MCIBSE) asked me if I was interested to teach a short course on energy conservation. Of course, I had waited for so long to offer my good training and learned experience in building services engineering and management to my fellow engineers
- The draft of this copy started in 1995. The core principles of this book came from my six weeks training as a project manager in UK in 1990, together with my 17 years of bitter experience with over 70 number of both public and commercial projects in UK and Hong Kong.
- Some of the questions in the progress tests were similar to those raised by the students/engineers in my course conducted at the University of Hong Kong SPACE Programme and the Hong Kong Productivity Council.
- Finally, I am sure that this first book of mine will be of great value to those who are practising in project management, be they the young and the experienced, the engineers or the architects, the surveyors or the project managers, the client or the developers etc. It is also a very useful reference book for the university and college degree students who are taking an advanced subject in project management or construction management.
AUTHOR
Ir. Dr. Peter Kwan. MHTI Dip, TEC Dip, BSc(Eng), DBA, CEng, CDCFM,
FCIBSE, FHKIFE, FIDCE, MCIOB began his career by taking an organized training course at the Morrison Hill Technical Institute in 1978. After graduation, he further his study at the then Hong Kong Polytechnic. As he was not satisfied with his development, he applied for a scholarship successfully from the Hong Kong Marine and Fisheries Department and pursued his dream in university education. In 1981, his tears went down his nose as he stepped on the soil of Scotland alone and took a joint honour degree in Naval Architecture and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Glasgow. Later, he also obtained his MBA degree at the University of Strathclyde by specializing in strategic management.
After graduation in 1984, he has been holding earlier responsibilities in UK and HK as consulting engineer, senior project engineer, senior hospital engineer, hotel chief engineer, energy manager, project manager and maintenance manager. He was one of the CIBSE (HK Branch) Principal Interviewers, a registered VTC Engineering Supervisor. He also devoted his evenings in lecturing short courses at the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The Hong Kong Baptist University, the Hong Kong Productivity Council and the American Hotel & Motel Association (HK Chapter) till 1999.
