<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701215448041422344</id><updated>2011-11-27T16:16:43.889-08:00</updated><category term='PMP Test Questions'/><category term='Innovation'/><category term='Andy Crowe'/><category term='Oliver Lehmann'/><category term='Kano model analysis'/><category term='Project Management'/><category term='PMP'/><category term='Nokia'/><category term='Burning Platform'/><category term='The Energy Project'/><category term='Stephen Elop'/><category term='PMP application sample'/><category term='Project Experience Spreadsheet'/><category term='PMP application template'/><category term='PMP Exam Prep'/><category term='Tony Schwartz'/><category term='Rita Mulcahy'/><category term='PMI'/><category term='Kano Model'/><category term='Project Manager'/><category term='Quality'/><category term='PMP Training'/><category term='PMBOK Fourth Edition'/><category term='Productivity'/><category term='PMBOK 4'/><category term='Kano'/><category term='Indian Traffic'/><category term='Customer Satisfaction'/><category term='PM Experience excel sheet'/><category term='PMP Certification'/><category term='Prioritization'/><category term='Memo'/><category term='too many projects'/><category term='Marketing'/><category term='Project Management best practices'/><category term='Kano model of Customer needs'/><category term='Humor'/><category term='Outside View'/><category term='HBR'/><category term='Mobile Strategy'/><category term='Lessons Learnt'/><category term='Zenhabits'/><category term='Lawless'/><category term='PMBOK 4ed'/><category term='Sample PMP Application'/><title type='text'>rex's pages</title><subtitle type='html'>Making a fine point of an interesting topic.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Rex</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07181154381414825537</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>8</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701215448041422344.post-943626491794814705</id><published>2011-07-22T07:28:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-07-23T04:25:59.571-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Tony Schwartz'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Productivity'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='The Energy Project'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='HBR'/><title type='text'>Improving people productivity, the Sony Pictures way</title><content type='html'>&lt;div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;I have been a fan of Tony Schwartz' talks @ Ted and found it to be very insightful. The June'11 edition of HBR carried this very interesting article by Tony on how Sony Pictures manages people productivity using the Energy Project's guiding principles.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;The Idea:&lt;br /&gt;"Human beings don’t work like computers; they can’t operate at high speeds continuously, running multiple programs at once.People perform at their peak when they alternate between periods of intense focus and intermittent renewal.Employees can increase their effectiveness by practicing simple rituals that refuel their energy, such as taking a daily walk to get an emotional breather or turning off e-mail at prescribed times so they can concentrate.If companies allow and encourage employees to create and stick to such rituals, they will be rewarded with a more engaged, productive, and focused workforce."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/Div&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XaCBPIJgF8Y/TimH3uOxKAI/AAAAAAAADew/4Cg806i3y1A/s1600/thumbnail.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="125" width="100" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XaCBPIJgF8Y/TimH3uOxKAI/AAAAAAAADew/4Cg806i3y1A/s320/thumbnail.gif" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Visit &lt;a href="http://hbr.org/"&gt;Harvard Business Review&lt;/a&gt; for the latest articles. All copyrights where applicable.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;Found a copy here:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.thedresdengroup.com/HBR-%20Jun10%20Schwartz.pdf"&gt;http://www.thedresdengroup.com/HBR-%20Jun10%20Schwartz.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;Hope this link stays on for a while...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8701215448041422344-943626491794814705?l=levigate.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/feeds/943626491794814705/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8701215448041422344&amp;postID=943626491794814705' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/943626491794814705'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/943626491794814705'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/2011/07/improving-people-productivity-sony.html' title='Improving people productivity, the Sony Pictures way'/><author><name>Rex</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07181154381414825537</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XaCBPIJgF8Y/TimH3uOxKAI/AAAAAAAADew/4Cg806i3y1A/s72-c/thumbnail.gif' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701215448041422344.post-7315361373610077505</id><published>2011-02-14T00:35:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-02-14T00:39:52.151-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Stephen Elop'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Nokia'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Memo'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Burning Platform'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Quality'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Mobile Strategy'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Innovation'/><title type='text'>Nokia CEO Stephen Elop rallies troops in brutally honest 'burning platform' memo</title><content type='html'>&lt;div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"&gt;I found this online and thought it was interesting reading. Personally, I feel Nokia needs to resolve Quality and reliability issues urgently before even thinking of moving into the innovation space.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana;"&gt;Below is a memo that Stephen Elop sent to his employees urging them to notice the "burning platform" and take the dive towards change:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hello there,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;There is a pertinent story about a man who was working on an oil platform in the North Sea. He woke up one night from a loud explosion, which suddenly set his entire oil platform on fire. In mere moments, he was surrounded by flames. Through the smoke and heat, he barely made his way out of the chaos to the platform's edge. When he looked down over the edge, all he could see were the dark, cold, foreboding Atlantic waters.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;As the fire approached him, the man had mere seconds to react. He could stand on the platform, and inevitably be consumed by the burning flames. Or, he could plunge 30 meters in to the freezing waters. The man was standing upon a "burning platform," and he needed to make a choice.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;He decided to jump. It was unexpected. In ordinary circumstances, the man would never consider plunging into icy waters. But these were not ordinary times - his platform was on fire. The man survived the fall and the waters. After he was rescued, he noted that a "burning platform" caused a radical change in his behaviour.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;We too, are standing on a "burning platform," and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Over the past few months, I've shared with you what I've heard from our shareholders, operators, developers, suppliers and from you. Today, I'm going to share what I've learned and what I have come to believe.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;I have learned that we are standing on a burning platform.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;And, we have more than one explosion - we have multiple points of scorching heat that are fuelling a blazing fire around us.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;For example, there is intense heat coming from our competitors, more rapidly than we ever expected. Apple disrupted the market by redefining the smartphone and attracting developers to a closed, but very powerful ecosystem.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;In 2008, Apple's market share in the $300+ price range was 25 percent; by 2010 it escalated to 61 percent. They are enjoying a tremendous growth trajectory with a 78 percent earnings growth year over year in Q4 2010. Apple demonstrated that if designed well, consumers would buy a high-priced phone with a great experience and developers would build applications. They changed the game, and today, Apple owns the high-end range.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;And then, there is Android. In about two years, Android created a platform that attracts application developers, service providers and hardware manufacturers. Android came in at the high-end, they are now winning the mid-range, and quickly they are going downstream to phones under €100. Google has become a gravitational force, drawing much of the industry's innovation to its core.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Let's not forget about the low-end price range. In 2008, MediaTek supplied complete reference designs for phone chipsets, which enabled manufacturers in the Shenzhen region of China to produce phones at an unbelievable pace. By some accounts, this ecosystem now produces more than one third of the phones sold globally - taking share from us in emerging markets.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;While competitors poured flames on our market share, what happened at Nokia? We fell behind, we missed big trends, and we lost time. At that time, we thought we were making the right decisions; but, with the benefit of hindsight, we now find ourselves years behind.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don't have a product that is close to their experience. Android came on the scene just over 2 years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;We have some brilliant sources of innovation inside Nokia, but we are not bringing it to market fast enough. We thought MeeGo would be a platform for winning high-end smartphones. However, at this rate, by the end of 2011, we might have only one MeeGo product in the market.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;At the midrange, we have Symbian. It has proven to be non-competitive in leading markets like North America. Additionally, Symbian is proving to be an increasingly difficult environment in which to develop to meet the continuously expanding consumer requirements, leading to slowness in product development and also creating a disadvantage when we seek to take advantage of new hardware platforms. As a result, if we continue like before, we will get further and &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;further behind, while our competitors advance further and further ahead.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;At the lower-end price range, Chinese OEMs are cranking out a device much faster than, as one Nokia employee said only partially in jest, "the time that it takes us to polish a PowerPoint presentation." They are fast, they are cheap, and they are challenging us.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;And the truly perplexing aspect is that we're not even fighting with the right weapons. We are still too often trying to approach each price range on a device-to-device basis.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The battle of devices has now become a war of ecosystems, where ecosystems include not only the hardware and software of the device, but developers, applications, ecommerce, advertising, search, social applications, location-based services, unified communications and many other things. Our competitors aren't taking our market share with devices; they are taking our market share with an entire ecosystem. This means we're going to have to decide how we either build, catalyse or join an ecosystem.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;This is one of the decisions we need to make. In the meantime, we've lost market share, we've lost mind share and we've lost time.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;On Tuesday, Standard &amp;amp; Poor's informed that they will put our A long term and A-1 short term ratings on negative credit watch. This is a similar rating action to the one that Moody's took last week. Basically it means that during the next few weeks they will make an analysis of Nokia, and decide on a possible credit rating downgrade. Why are these credit agencies contemplating these changes? Because they are concerned about our competitiveness.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Consumer preference for Nokia declined worldwide. In the UK, our brand preference has slipped to 20 percent, which is 8 percent lower than last year. That means only 1 out of 5 people in the UK prefer Nokia to other brands. It's also down in the other markets, which are traditionally our strongholds: Russia, Germany, Indonesia, UAE, and on and on and on.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;How did we get to this point? Why did we fall behind when the world around us evolved?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;This is what I have been trying to understand. I believe at least some of it has been due to our attitude inside Nokia. We poured gasoline on our own burning platform. I believe we have lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times. We had a series of misses. We haven't been delivering innovation fast enough. We're not collaborating internally.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Nokia, our platform is burning.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;We are working on a path forward -- a path to rebuild our market leadership. When we share the new strategy on February 11, it will be a huge effort to transform our company. But, I believe that together, we can face the challenges ahead of us. Together, we can choose to define our future.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The burning platform, upon which the man found himself, caused the man to shift his behaviour, and take a bold and brave step into an uncertain future. He was able to tell his story. Now, we have a great opportunity to do the same.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stephen.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"&gt;Source: &lt;a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/08/nokia-ceo-stephen-elop-rallies-troops-in-brutally-honest-burnin"&gt;http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/08/nokia-ceo-stephen-elop-rallies-troops-in-brutally-honest-burnin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8701215448041422344-7315361373610077505?l=levigate.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/feeds/7315361373610077505/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8701215448041422344&amp;postID=7315361373610077505' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/7315361373610077505'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/7315361373610077505'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/2011/02/nokia-ceo-stephen-elop-rallies-troops.html' title='Nokia CEO Stephen Elop rallies troops in brutally honest &apos;burning platform&apos; memo'/><author><name>Rex</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07181154381414825537</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701215448041422344.post-7980158576889359139</id><published>2010-12-09T11:27:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2010-12-09T11:28:48.052-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Zenhabits'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Project Manager'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Project Management best practices'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='too many projects'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Prioritization'/><title type='text'>Too many Projects?</title><content type='html'>So how many projects is too many projects?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I found a very interesting link that talks about this topic:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://michaelgreer.biz/?p=138"&gt;Too Many Projects? Prioritize Them!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another interesting blog that I'm beginning to like is the &lt;a href="http://zenhabits.net/"&gt;Zenhabits&lt;/a&gt; site. Check out the &lt;a href="http://zenhabits.net/haiku-productivity-limit-your-projects-to-achieve-completion/"&gt;Haiku Productivity approach to Project Management&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8701215448041422344-7980158576889359139?l=levigate.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/feeds/7980158576889359139/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8701215448041422344&amp;postID=7980158576889359139' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/7980158576889359139'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/7980158576889359139'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/2010/12/too-many-projects.html' title='Too many Projects?'/><author><name>Rex</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07181154381414825537</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701215448041422344.post-7012507951160182250</id><published>2009-11-10T11:29:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2009-11-10T11:37:29.915-08:00</updated><title type='text'>PMI Examination Methodology.</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;I'm posting excerpts from an interesting thread in PMZilla (for the complete version visit &lt;a href="http://pmzilla.com/how-are-pmp-exam-questions-weighted-pmp"&gt;PMZilla&lt;/a&gt;). The thread was originally posted by &lt;/span&gt;dbissonn &lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;and his question was:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;"&lt;i&gt;How are PMP exam questions weighted?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After passing numerous prep exams, including Rita's, I failed my first real PMP exam.&amp;nbsp; I called PMI, and while they would not use the term, apparently some questions wieighted, are given more credit than others.&amp;nbsp; It used to be a straight 61%, but no more.&amp;nbsp; Here is a quote from an email they sent me:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Scaled Scoring is not a percentage-based scoring system, that is, the assessment passing point is assigned to a point of difficulty instead of a number or percent of correct responses."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The problem is no one will say anything about what is more or less weighted.&amp;nbsp; I suspect that, for example, not being able to do EV, or Crit Path, or float, will cost you more than not knowing what a fixed fee contract implies. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;Does anyone know how PMI actually determines how one has passed or failed?&lt;/i&gt;    "&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;He continues...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;"&lt;i&gt;The PMP exam report does not give % at all.&amp;nbsp; There are three ratings for each of 5 process groups plus professional and social resp.&amp;nbsp; Results are not broken down for KNOWLEDGE AREA).&amp;nbsp; Proficient is highest, Moderately Proficient, and Below Perficient.&amp;nbsp; I got the lowest in three. I have no way of knowing what I missed or their weighted value, in fact I am sure PMI does not want that made public.&amp;nbsp; It is possible, and this is a rough guess, to score 74% right for the whole test, but miss several high weighted questions, or score below 61% in one area, and still fail. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;On the last 10 or so practice exams I was never below 70%, and consistently above 75.&amp;nbsp; I think the real issue here is not how PMI does things, they are trying to judge if someone is truly knowledgeable, and they are using sophisticated testing methods to do so.&amp;nbsp; I have no problem with that.&amp;nbsp; But I think we need realize that preparation exams like Rita Mulcahy's FASTrack (US$299!!!) use a much less sophisticated method...they only consider a straight percentage, which is NOT the way the real exam works. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;I suggest no one call himself prepared with less than 80% right on practice exams.&lt;/i&gt;"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Here's a consolidation of my responses:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;"&lt;i&gt;We all would like to hear how the exams are evaluated, wouldn't we? But I guess from the way the exam and the grading is setup, PMI is trying to ensure that there is no way to dis-assemble or reverse-engineer the exam process. Why?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First a look at what we know:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;The exam would result in a "pass" or "fail" and does not annouce the percentage or grade scored. We know that of the 200 questions 175 are actually used for evaluating the candidate and one must have answered atleast 106 out of 175 correctly in order to pass. (A combination of "Modified Angoff Technique" and psychometric method adopted by PMI since Sept 2005.) That's 61% of the questions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now the exam transcript, after you finish the exam, actually breaks the exam into Process Groups and your profeciency in it. And according to PMI the spread of questions is thus: &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Initiating - 23 Questions&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Planning - 46&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Executing - 53&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;M&amp;amp;C - 42&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Closing - 18&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Professional &amp;amp; Social Responsibility - 18&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The transcript does not merely say, "Pass/Fail" for each of the knowledge areas. It rates it as "Proficient", "Moderately proficient" and "Below Proficient". And you need to have Moderately Proficient and above in 4 of the 6 knowledge areas to pass. (correct me here, if i'm wrong) (moderately proficient in 4 of 6 KAs will result in a MAX score of 100, which is 6 less than the requisite 106. Which means the scores have to be a either Moderately Profient in all the areas or a combination of Moderately proficient and Proficient in 4 of 6 Knowledge Areas.)&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;One could try to reverse engineer this and say that a 61% pass on each of the knowledge area (14 in Initiating, 28 in Planning, 32 in Executing, 26 in M&amp;amp;C, 11 in Closing, 11 in Professional Conduct. Moderately Proficient on all, sums up to 122) could fetch us passing results, but it needs to be confirmed if it is just that or more. In reverse-engineering, we need to ensure that the number of correct answers sums up to 106 or more and then we could look at the areas that the correct answers come from and rate it on proficiency.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;Add to this the fact that the questions are rated using the Modified Angoff method, where volunteers for PMI adjudge the difficulty level of the questions. The tougher a question, lower are the points gained from getting the answer right, and easier the question, higher the points.One would therefore notice that the way the exam goes, we'll see a whole bunch of easy questions appearing together followed by a series of really tough ones.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is no sure fire way of determining how the results would appear. But to be on the safer side, ensure that you are proficient on all the individual Knowledge Areas while taking mock exams. And by Proficient I'm presuming 80% and above. Then go for the complete exams.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is another point to the way the exam is structured and evaluated. Well, like all the big kahunas of PMP training and preperation have been saying, no one person can get all of the answers right in the exam. That's because of the nature of the exam and each person's take on the subject. But end of the day, the reason some of us are PMPs is because of a common understanding of the practices of Project Management. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On a side note, I really don't understand how RMC's products got so much of a hype. They are good, but really not that great! Especially when you consider what they charge for it. There are free products out there that should be making a killing for the kind of quality they deliver (case in point &lt;a href="http://oliverlehmann.com/"&gt;Oliver Lehmann's&lt;/a&gt; 75 and 125 questions).&lt;/i&gt;"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;So... Your thoughts or comments?...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8701215448041422344-7012507951160182250?l=levigate.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/feeds/7012507951160182250/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8701215448041422344&amp;postID=7012507951160182250' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/7012507951160182250'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/7012507951160182250'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/2009/11/pmi-examination-methodology.html' title='PMI Examination Methodology.'/><author><name>Rex</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07181154381414825537</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701215448041422344.post-3981502302034423581</id><published>2009-10-14T13:40:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-09-25T04:20:10.933-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMP application sample'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMP Exam Prep'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Sample PMP Application'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PM Experience excel sheet'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Project Experience Spreadsheet'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMP application template'/><title type='text'>Sample PMP application spreadsheet - v3</title><content type='html'>&lt;div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Finally,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;div class="adbriteinline"&gt;Here's the 3rd cut of the PMP application spreadsheet. Thanks to everybody who took a moment to share feedback. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://rapidshare.com/files/451532973/Sample_PMP_Application_RCut3.xls"&gt;Sample PMP Application Version 3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c46YpLjUYFg/TntvDGwBCRI/AAAAAAAADfg/nHt8E4qNlYI/s1600/PMPExpSheet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="162" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c46YpLjUYFg/TntvDGwBCRI/AAAAAAAADfg/nHt8E4qNlYI/s320/PMPExpSheet.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://rapidshare.com/files/293214204/Sample_PMP_Application_RCut2.xls" target="_blank"&gt;pmp-application-spreadsheet version 2.xls&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;***For people having difficulty downloading from Rapidshare, I have hidden the .xls file in the following image file (cause blogger does not support uploading of any other file types). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V5GLsK3bIK4/Tnttr4FugdI/AAAAAAAADfc/rgvNj-xf0GQ/s1600/XLS_Hide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="186" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V5GLsK3bIK4/Tnttr4FugdI/AAAAAAAADfc/rgvNj-xf0GQ/s320/XLS_Hide.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Download this image file and open it with WinRar (download an evaluation version of winrar from here: www.rarlabs.com)***&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Updates and fixes:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;More columns for people who have a lot of project experience to fill in. ;)&lt;br /&gt;Computes project experience just like the online PMI form: unique, non-overlapping months only.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Has similar interface but with a little more validation, etc.&lt;br /&gt;Inserted the excel sheet into both the image files. The excel spreadsheet can now be extracted from images above. Just download to your system and open with winrar.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;I do appreciate any comments or feedback. This spreadsheet is free to use and distribute, but please do provide credits where due. I'd like to thank the gurus Colin Legg and Barry Houdini for helping me with some tricky formulas.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Cheers! &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8701215448041422344-3981502302034423581?l=levigate.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/feeds/3981502302034423581/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8701215448041422344&amp;postID=3981502302034423581' title='15 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/3981502302034423581'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/3981502302034423581'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/2009/10/pmp-application-spreadsheet-v20.html' title='Sample PMP application spreadsheet - v3'/><author><name>Rex</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07181154381414825537</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c46YpLjUYFg/TntvDGwBCRI/AAAAAAAADfg/nHt8E4qNlYI/s72-c/PMPExpSheet.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>15</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701215448041422344.post-1153554104593253075</id><published>2009-09-22T05:00:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-09-29T07:06:05.631-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Kano model analysis'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Kano Model'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Kano model of Customer needs'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Kano'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Marketing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Customer Satisfaction'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Quality'/><title type='text'>Kano Method - I</title><content type='html'>Introduction to the Kano Method&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As part of a Dissertation work, I used the Kano Method to evaluate Customer Satisfaction. Below are excerpts from the dissertation. (Marketability of Solar Home Systems in the Rural Areas of Thumkur and Doddaballapur - &lt;i&gt;Ranjit Arvindakshan &amp;amp; Deepak Sriram&lt;/i&gt;)&lt;br /&gt;When one talks about Product features and Customer satisfaction, it is generally assumed that customer satisfaction is somehow directly proportional to how functional the product is – that is, the less functional the product, the less satisfied the customer is likely to be, and the more functional the product, the more satisfied the customer. This was a very one-dimensional way of looking at Customer Satisfaction.&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;st1:city w:st="on"&gt;Kano&lt;/st1:city&gt; model for understanding product features and their influence of Customer Satisfaction was created by Noriaki Kano, Professor at &lt;st1:place w:st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:placename w:st="on"&gt;Tokyo&lt;/st1:placename&gt; &lt;st1:placename w:st="on"&gt;Rika&lt;/st1:placename&gt; &lt;st1:placetype w:st="on"&gt;University&lt;/st1:placetype&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; in 1984. In his model, &lt;st1:city w:st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place w:st="on"&gt;Kano&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;, suggests a 3-dimensional model to relate product features with Customer Satisfaction. Since then the &lt;st1:city w:st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place w:st="on"&gt;Kano&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt; method has been used by many a Marketing Strategist while considering product features and specifications. The power of the &lt;st1:city w:st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place w:st="on"&gt;Kano&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt; model in Marketing lies in its requirement to collect the Voice of the Customer for product specifications. It classifies product features into Delighters, Linear Satisfiers, and Must Haves.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Pq5RWfq1PfI/Sri4Ox7TfFI/AAAAAAAACpA/vNDplKr39Zk/s1600-h/Kano+Graph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Pq5RWfq1PfI/Sri4Ox7TfFI/AAAAAAAACpA/vNDplKr39Zk/s320/Kano+Graph.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;Fig: Kano diagram &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"&gt;&lt;meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"&gt;&lt;/meta&gt;&lt;meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"&gt;&lt;/meta&gt;&lt;meta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Generator"&gt;&lt;/meta&gt;&lt;meta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Originator"&gt;&lt;/meta&gt;&lt;link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDeepa%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"&gt;&lt;/link&gt;&lt;o:smarttagtype name="place" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"&gt;&lt;/o:smarttagtype&gt;&lt;o:smarttagtype name="City" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"&gt;&lt;/o:smarttagtype&gt;&lt;style&gt;&lt;!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face	{font-family:"MS Mincho";	panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4;	mso-font-alt:"ＭＳ 明朝";	mso-font-charset:128;	mso-generic-font-family:roman;	mso-font-format:other;	mso-font-pitch:fixed;	mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}@font-face	{font-family:Tahoma;	panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;	mso-font-charset:0;	mso-generic-font-family:swiss;	mso-font-pitch:variable;	mso-font-signature:1627421319 -2147483648 8 0 66047 0;}@font-face	{font-family:"\@MS Mincho";	panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;	mso-font-charset:128;	mso-generic-font-family:roman;	mso-font-format:other;	mso-font-pitch:fixed;	mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal	{mso-style-parent:"";	margin:0in;	margin-bottom:.0001pt;	mso-pagination:widow-orphan;	font-size:10.0pt;	font-family:Tahoma;	mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho";	mso-fareast-language:JA;}@page Section1	{size:8.5in 11.0in;	margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;	mso-header-margin:.5in;	mso-footer-margin:.5in;	mso-paper-source:0;}div.Section1	{page:Section1;}--&gt;&lt;/style&gt;  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"&gt;The curved blue line running across the top two quadrants show Attractive requirements. Notice that as the number of Attractive requirements increase, the more satisfied the customer is likely to get. The curved red line running across the bottom two quadrants indicate the Must-have requirements. These features are a given and the absence of the features is likely to get the customer increasingly dissatisfied. The diagonal green line is the One-dimensional requirement, indicating satisfaction versus functionality. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"&gt;It is to be noted that as the customers get used to the Delighters (Attractive Requirements, or differentiators), over time they become Must-have requirements as the customer begins to expect those features in all the models.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"&gt;The &lt;st1:city w:st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place w:st="on"&gt;Kano&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt; model requires that we ask specific questions that assess Customer Requirements against functional and dysfunctional features. The questionnaire is designed such that the questions have two parts: 1) How do you feel if a feature is present in the product? 2) How do you feel if that feature is not present in the product? The questions are rated on a 5-point scale:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;1. I like it that way&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;2. It must be that way&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;3. I am neutral&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;4. I can live with it that way&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;5. I dislike it that way&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"&gt;The responses are then classified into one of six categories: &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;A: &lt;/b&gt;Attractive&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;M: &lt;/b&gt;Must-be&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;I: &lt;/b&gt;Indifferent&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;O: &lt;/b&gt;One-dimensional&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Q: &lt;/b&gt;Questionable&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;R: &lt;/b&gt;Reverse&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"&gt;Category &lt;b&gt;Q&lt;/b&gt; stands for questionable result. Normally, the answers do not fall into this category. Questionable scores signify that the question was phrased in-correctly, or that the person interviewed misunderstood the question or crossed out a wrong answer by mistake.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"&gt;Category &lt;b&gt;R&lt;/b&gt;, indicates that this product feature is not only not wanted by the customer but he even expects the reverse. For instance, when offering holiday tours it might well be that a specific customer segment wants pre-planned events every day, while another would dislike it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Pq5RWfq1PfI/Sri5cKy2TjI/AAAAAAAACpI/S9-qYUMitVw/s1600-h/Kano+evalutaion+table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Pq5RWfq1PfI/Sri5cKy2TjI/AAAAAAAACpI/S9-qYUMitVw/s320/Kano+evalutaion+table.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Fig: Kano Evaluation Table&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8701215448041422344-1153554104593253075?l=levigate.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/feeds/1153554104593253075/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8701215448041422344&amp;postID=1153554104593253075' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/1153554104593253075'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/1153554104593253075'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/2009/09/kano-method-i.html' title='Kano Method - I'/><author><name>Rex</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07181154381414825537</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Pq5RWfq1PfI/Sri4Ox7TfFI/AAAAAAAACpA/vNDplKr39Zk/s72-c/Kano+Graph.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701215448041422344.post-5954233034264597710</id><published>2009-09-21T08:25:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-09-29T07:26:16.581-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Rita Mulcahy'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMBOK Fourth Edition'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Lessons Learnt'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Project Management'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMP'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMBOK 4ed'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMP Test Questions'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMP Exam Prep'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMP Training'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMP Certification'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Andy Crowe'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Oliver Lehmann'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMBOK 4'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMI'/><title type='text'>My PMP Lessons Learnt</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;That's right. I got PMP certified!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;I realised, from my efforts to prepare for the certification, that the network of Project Managers is all about collaboration and sharing. There are countless forums that share information on preparing for the PMP, or resources to help in the studies. In the spirit of that, I thought I'll share some of my lessons learnt from the exams before the news of it gets stale. :)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;I underwent training in July (4 days, all weekends at Quahance) and registered for the exam during my second day of the training. I realised from my last adventure that taking the time to register for the exam puts you off track and therefore not ready for the exam.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;Some of the highlights from the exam:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; There were no negative-type or trick questions (questions with "not" in them eg. Which of these is NOT an example of Risk mitigation?)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; I thought the Activity on Arrow was done away with the introduction of the 4th edition, but i got an AOA question that required me to compute the critical path. Not so tough, but would be good to be prepared.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; Lots of questions on different types of EAC and earned value. The problems were not the straight forward "Calculate CV, given EV and AC" type, but a little more trickier. Good thing i was prepared.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; Lots of questions on contract types, Risk.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; It was easy in parts and tough in parts.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;I thought there will be lots of wordy questions but I only got a couple like that and it did not bother me much.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;Most questions were on Earned Value, Risk, Procurement, communication and conduct (not in any order)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;Finished the exam in 2hrs and 10mins. This is with me taking the time to read and also go over a few questions that i had marked for review.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;I did make changes to the original selection for the questions that i had marked for review&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;When the questions got tough, it got tougher and tougher before easing up again. Some of the choices on the tough questions seemed like all choices could be right (i'm guessing these were the sampling questions). The moderate and easy ones could easily be spotted with just one right choice.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; I finished the exam with about 30 mins to spare. Could have spent some more time going through some of the answers i guess, but i had a full bladder by then. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;Exam prep LL&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;I'm glad that i registered for the exam on the second day of the PMP prep training. The more you delay your application and registration process, the less likely you are to succeed in the exam itself.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; I tried my best to get some of the guys from my training batch to get together for a joint study, but that never worked and i put in my efforts on my own. - Don't bank all your efforts on a group study. If the motivation levels are not the same across your group, be ready to hike it by yourself.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; Always be in study mode. If you have a small study material that you got from the training institute, go over it daily irrespective of whether you have put in hours to study or not. This will ensure retention of key topics.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; The podcast from Cornelius Fishner is really good. I heard a few samples from his site and wish i had invested some money in it. But i did not have the time for that.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;My resources: PMBOK, Andy Crowe and Oliver Lehmann (both the 75 questions and the 125 questions: www.oliverlehmann.com), and no i did not read Rita. I used Rita's fastrack questions for one sample exam but gave it up after using Oliver's questions. Though the questions he has are a little tougher, what i really liked is instead of explaining the correct answer he would point to the source. A lot of the source happened to be books in the PMI library, so i must have read quite a bit about a lot of things that were in addition to what was in Andy Crowe or the PMBOK. Highly recommended!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;There were a few questions that still stumped me and I contacted Sameer, my trainer from Quahance, for the answers and he was kind enough to respond to me over the weekend despite that being his busiest time! Thanks, Sameer! Also helpful was his mnemonic of the processes which laid the foundation to retaining a lot of the knowledge in the PMBOK.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;Also, if you can get your hands on the "Q&amp;amp;As for the PMBOK guide, Fourth Edition" from PMI; It will be very helpful. I saw a couple of questions today that were straight from the Q&amp;amp;As from the 3rd edition that was available to me in the PMI library. (Curiously the Q&amp;amp;As fourth edition is not available in the PMI library though it is out on print and also on amazon etc). Bottom line, PMI membership = value for money.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;I did not memorize the ITTOs but i knew the process well enough, but i guess it might help to remember what Tools and Techniques are used in which process. There were a lot of questions on these - especially in Quality, Communication, Risk and Procurement.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;In retrospect, i wish i had spent some more time studying. Would have breezed through the exam. But i suffered from the two classic symptoms of most projects: Parkinson's law and the student syndrome. Even in the last week before the exam, i lost 3 whole days due to some issues at home.&lt;br /&gt;But what the heck, nothing beats seeing "Congratulations" on the screen soon after the end of test survey is done - I did not read what was on the screen beyond that. :)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;On with the job hunt now. Good luck to you all!  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: xx-small;"&gt;Disclaimer: PMP, PMI, PMBOK etc are registered trademarks of Project management Institute. Other trademarks and copyrights as applicable.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8701215448041422344-5954233034264597710?l=levigate.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/feeds/5954233034264597710/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8701215448041422344&amp;postID=5954233034264597710' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/5954233034264597710'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/5954233034264597710'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-pmp-lessons-learnt.html' title='My PMP Lessons Learnt'/><author><name>Rex</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07181154381414825537</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701215448041422344.post-8453657641666448715</id><published>2008-12-04T07:20:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2009-09-22T06:24:29.770-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Indian Traffic'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Lawless'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Outside View'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Humor'/><title type='text'>On the Indian Traffic Situation - a really old mail.</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;This hilarious article was written by an Expert from Baan, Netherlands who spent two years in Hyderabad..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Driving in India For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting India and daring to drive on Indian roads, I am offering a few hints for survival. They are applicable toevery place in India except Bihar, where life outside a vehicle is onlymarginally safer&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where youdo yourbest, and leave the results to your insurance company. The hints are asfollows:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Do we drive on the left or right of the road? The answer is "both".Basically you start on the left of the road, unless it is occupied. Inthat case, go to the right, unless that is also occupied. Then proceedby occupying the next available gap, as in chess. Just trust yourinstincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed. Adherence to road rulesleads to much misery and occasional fatality. Most drivers don't drive,but just aim their vehicles in the intended direction.Don't you getdiscouraged or underestimate yourself except for a belief inreincarnation, the other drivers are not in any better position.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Don't stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants tocross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in theback. Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only whentraffic is moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because someminister is in town. Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then,let us not talk ill of the dead.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries. We hornto express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust (twobrisk blasts), or, just mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of thebazaar. Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may readthem during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister's motorcade,or waiting for the rainwaters to recede when overground traffic meetsunderground drainage.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking coloredlights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminatedbus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans. These pilgrims go atbreakneck speed, seeking contact with the Almighty, often meeting withsuccess.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Auto Rickshaw (Baby Taxi): The result of a collision between a rickshawand an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on an externalcombustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil and creosote.This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders or passengersthree times its weight and dimension, at an unspecified fare. Aftercareful geometric calculations, children are folded and packed intothese auto rickshaws until some children in the periphery are not incontact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags are pushed intothe microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisions with othervehicles on the road cause no permanentdamage. Of course, the peripheral children are charged half the fare andalso learn Newton's laws of motion enroute to school. Auto-rickshawdrivers follow the road rules depicted in the film Ben Hur, and arelicensed to irritate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Mopeds: The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noise likean electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol and travelsat break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too rough for aride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road; theywould rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around them and areoften "mopped" off the tarmac.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Leaning Tower of Passes: Most bus passengers are given free passes andduring rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengershanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings and theoverloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity but obeyinglaws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (so manyRupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steer clear ofthese buses by a width of three passengers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;One-way Street: These boards are put up by traffic people to add jestin their otherwise drab lives. Don't stick to the literal meaning andproceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms,it means that you cannotproceed in two directions at once. So drive as you like, in reversethroughout, if you are the fussy type. Least I sound hypercritical, Imust add a positive point also. Rash and fast driving in residentialareas has been prevented by providing a "speed breaker"; two for eachhouse.This mound, incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for thatresidence and is left untarred for easy identification by thecorporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for year-end accounting.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience (forthose with the mental makeup of Chenghis Khan). In a way, it is likeplaying Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst thedrivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turnsout to be a truck attempting a speed record. On encountering it, justpull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenonpasses. Our roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do notblink your lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in thetruck is the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he hashad at the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little morethan a naught.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and are licensed to kill.Often you may encounter a single powerful beam of light about six feetabove the ground. This is not a super motorbike, but a truck approachingyou with a single light on, usually the left one. It could be the right one, but never get too close toinvestigate. You may prove your point posthumously. Of course, all thisoccurs at night,on the trunk roads. During the daytime, trucks are morevisible, except that the drivers will never show any Signal. (And youmust watch for the absent signals; they are the greater threat). Only,you will often observe that the cleaner who sits next to the driver,will project his hand and wave hysterically. This is definitely not tobe construed as a signal for a left turn. The waving is just anstatement of physical relief on a hot day.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;If, after all this, you still want to drive in India, have your lessonsbetween 8 pm and 11 am-when the police have gone home and - The citizenis then free to enjoy the 'FREEDOM OF SPEED' enshrined in ourconstitution. Having said all this, isn't it true that the accident rateand related deaths are less in India compared to US or othercountries!!??&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt;var sc_project=5138165;var sc_invisible=1;var sc_partition=58;var sc_click_stat=1;var sc_security="ca868a61";&lt;/script&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;script src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js" type="text/javascript"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;noscript&gt;&amp;amp;lt;div class="statcounter"&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;a title="blogspot visitor counter" class="statcounter" href="http://www.statcounter.com/blogger/"&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;img class="statcounter" src="http://c.statcounter.com/5138165/0/ca868a61/1/" alt="blogspot visitor counter" /&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;gt;&lt;/noscript&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8701215448041422344-8453657641666448715?l=levigate.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/feeds/8453657641666448715/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8701215448041422344&amp;postID=8453657641666448715' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/8453657641666448715'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8701215448041422344/posts/default/8453657641666448715'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://levigate.blogspot.com/2008/12/on-indian-traffic-situation-really-old.html' title='On the Indian Traffic Situation - a really old mail.'/><author><name>Rex</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07181154381414825537</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
