The Hindu Business Line : Project manager, the hub of communications

Ninety per cent of a project manager's time is spent in communicating, says Joseph Phillips in CAPM/PMP Project Management Certification (www.tatamcgrawhill.com). "In the movie Cool Hand Luke, the prison captain says, `What we got here is a failure to communicate.' It's a famous line that has been repeated by musicians, politicians, and even muttered by project managers."

The book, designed as `all-in-one exam guide', covers topics of Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) and Project Management Professional (PMP).

Managing project communication is all about `the creation, collection, distribution, storage, and handy retrieval of project information,' explains the author, in a chapter devoted to communications. "The project manager is at the hub of communications."

One of the questions at the end of the chapter reads: "You are the project manager for the PMU Project. Your project has 13 members. You have been informed that next week your project will receive the seven additional members you requested. How many channels of communication will you have next week?" The answer is, not 20, but 190, according to the formula N (N-1)/2, where N represents the number of stakeholders.

Make reading this a worthwhile project.

Wells, vertical and horizontal

When the demand for oil grew, one of the technical innovations was the introduction of horizontal drilling during the 1980s. "Horizontal wells can intersect and drain multiple fractures within, and penetrate larger volumes of, the oil-bearing rock: many can produce two to five times as much as vertical or slightly deviated wells drilled into the same reservoir," writes Vaclav Smil in Energy: A Beginner's Guide (www.vivagroupindia.com). "By the 1990s, the longest horizontal wells reached four kilometres, while vertical wells are now frequently drilled to depths below five kilometres."

A recent press release datelined `Calgary, Alberta' informs that GSPC has completed drilling the KG#16 (in Krishna Godavari basin) well "to a total depth (TD) of 5,372 metres measured depth (MD) (5,369 metres total vertical depth (TVD))."

Also, that GSPC has entered into a contract with Essar Oilfield Services Limited (EOSL), a subsidiary of Essar Shipping & Logistics Ltd. of Cyprus, for a semi-submersible drilling rig named `Essar Wildcat'. This `cat' is "a self propelled drilling rig suitable for deployment in water depths of 400 metres and has a drilling depth capacity of 7,600 metres."

Power read to fill up energy gaps.

Tailpiece

"Consensus at the meeting was that we should continue doing what we do, better and more."

"How nice!"

"But it meant meetings became our main activity! So much so, we could work only during the breaks."

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

D. Murali