Project Management Tools

yes. pm tools. i’ve tried netoffice and dotproject during my uni days. all these online tools are only useful if people are hardworking enough — yes, i just said hardworking enough — to log in and UPDATE the tasks. i’ve found out that the best tools for this is still Gmail+pen+paper. no hassle at all.

nevertheless here’s a list for online pm tools if you guys are interested. can use it for any sorts of project based work. it’s not sorted in preferences btw. just search them in my google reader subscriptions list. i am actually looking for a different thing. something to track inventories. not too complex. just a simple one. yeah excel maybe the answer.

1. Zoho Project
2. Co-op
3. Task2Gather
4. Tempo
5. LiquidPlanner
6. Project2Manage
7. TaskBlaze (this is a little bit different)
8. Basecamp (this is not free i think, but its one of the most popular)

I haven’t tried any of them yet. don’t think have the time to do so. just gathered the list, who knows you guys might need it more than i do.

taswif

istilah yang memang semua orang penah dgr. dan mungkin kita juga terkait dengannya. akibatnya juga kita tahu. apakah itu makna taswif?

procrastination. sikap menangguh dan bertangguh.

ingatlah ahli badar, kaab bin malik yang didenda oleh Allah swt kerana sikap berlengah yang menyebabkan Allah tidak menginginkan mereka menyertai rombongan perang tabuk.

akibat bertangguh, Allah telah ungkapkan di dalam alquran,

99:(Demikianlah keadaan orang-orang kafir itu), hingga apabila datang kematian kepada seseorang dari mereka, dia berkata: “Ya Tuhanku kembalikanlah aku (ke dunia)

100. agar aku berbuat amal yang saleh terhadap yang telah aku tinggalkan. Sekali-kali tidak. Sesungguhnya itu adalah perkataan yang diucapkannya saja. Dan di hadapan mereka ada dinding sampal hari mereka dibangkitkan

(Al-Mu’minun:99-100)

anda bertangguh, mungkin orang lain yang akan merasai kesannya.

anda terus bertangguh, memanglah…menyesal tak sudah.

saya telah merasainya. tak mahu mengulangi. harap anda begitu juga.

the chicken and egg

in order to get a job, you need a visa
in order to get a visa, you need work experience i.e. job

to get the first job, most of them say we need experience people only
to get the experience yes of course we need a job

my friend’s dad told me once about the importance of being one-mindedness. whenever you decide something, please stick to it and don’t easily give up. i thought about it, and added that this can be applied if that something is a right thing to do and the judgement that you made for it is base on the correct source (quran and sunnah).

it’s not about whether the chicken or the egg that comes out first. it’s about what you do to get either one of them as a start. get the chicken and you will have the egg. get the egg, and there you have the chicken. if you think too much, without doing anything, you won’t go anywhere. and then people start asking me how can you get either one of them?

Here’s the answer: pray, think, pray, plan, pray, execute, and pray

notice that i didn’t include any complaints, relax, being lazy and et cetera as part of the answer.

most of the time, things seems so difficult, and you can hardly see the solution. but subhanallah, Allah is always there with His blessings. just keep praying bro. Allah is just a prayer away.

bersangka baik (dengan diri sendiri)

Ibnu al-Qaiyim berkata: “Sangka baik terbadap diri sendiri menghalang pemeriksaaan yang sempurna. Seterusnya diri akan keliru, memandang kejahatan itu baik dan kecacatan itu kesempurnaan. Tiada sesiapa yang bersangka buruk pada dirinya kecuali orang yang mengenali dirinya. Sesiapa yang bersangka baik pada dirinya, bermakna dia adalah orang yang paling jahil tentang dirinya. (Darjat Muhasabah: Madarij as-Salikin, m.s. 131)

Jangan bermasam muka

Maksud hadis: “Senyum anda di hadapan saudara anda adalah sedekah. Jangan menganggap remeh suatu kebaikan, meskipun hanya menampakkan wajah yang berseri saat anda bertemu dengan saudara anda”.

Demikianlah Rasulullah SAW mengajarkan kepada kita, kerana bermuka masam di hadapan orang lain, secara langsung pasti akan membuat orang lain lari dari anda dan memusuhi anda. Setiap orang yang didekati pasti ketakutan. Kerana itu, barangsiapa yang ingin menarik simpato orang lain, ia harus bisa menahan perasaan peribadinya saat bertemu dengan orang lain. Jangan sampai kegundahan hati anda terlihat di hadapan saudara anda. Ada sebahagian orang menyangka bahawa sedikit senyum menunjukkan keseriusan yang membuat orang lain bersimpati dan menghormatinya. Pada kenyataannya tidak demikian.

Petikan di atas saya ambil dari sebuah buku tulisan Muhammad Abduh, Maza Ya’ni Intima lil Dakwah. Tulisan ini dipetik dari salah satu bahagian bagaimana menarik simpati dan rasa hormat orang lain. Disambung lagi selepasnya, akibat dari perbuatan sedikit senyum dengan harapan menggambarkan keseriusan, mungkin akan menarik simpati orang lain, namun ia lahir dari rasa takut, bukan rasa senang. Ia lahir dari rasa benci, bukan rasa kasih dan sayang. Maka, barangsiapa yang ingin mencari simpati orang lain dan mengambil hatinya, hendaklah senyum ceria selalu menghiasi wajahnya ketika bertemu dengan orang lain.

Wallahu’alam.

A verse a day keeps the syaitans away #1

Al-Faathir, 35:5

english: O mankind! Verily, the Promise of Allah is true. So let not this present life deceive you, and let not the chief deceiver (Satan) deceive you about Allah.

melayu: Hai manusia, sesungguhnya janji Allah adalah benar, maka sekali-kali janganlah kehidupan dunia memperdayakan kamu dan sekali-kali janganlah syaitan yang pandai menipu, memperdayakan kamu tentang Allah.

Easy Way To Quote Quranic Verses In Your Blog Entry

yes. the title speaks for itself.

here’s how:

1. go to this link http://quran.islamicnetwork.com/
2. find the verses of the surah
3. there you have it. either right click save image or just copy the image location. i prefer the latter.

Credits to Bro Naim for this link

assumption

In engineering, you always need assumption. Same thing goes with science. But in real life, when you are dealing with people (and emotions), it is a very dangerous thing to play with, especially with the “help” of the ‘aduwwu mubeen. Yes, the syaitan laknatullah. We do this and that, and we see people do this and that, and there goes the conclusion. This is beautifully crafted by our brain, based on past history. What should we do with it then? Just let the mind deduction passed by unattended?

Hai orang-orang yang beriman, jauhilah kebanyakan purba-sangka (kecurigaan), karena sebagian dari purba-sangka itu dosa. Dan janganlah mencari-cari keburukan orang dan janganlah menggunjingkan satu sama lain. Adakah seorang diantara kamu yang suka memakan daging saudaranya yang sudah mati? Maka tentulah kamu merasa jijik kepadanya. Dan bertakwalah kepada Allah. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Penerima Taubat lagi Maha Penyayang. (Al-Hujuraat:12)

Here’s a few tips for us to implement:

1. “Jauhilah prasangka kerana prasangka itu adalah perbicaraan yang paling dusta” (riwayat Muttafaqun Alaihi).
2. Dari Haritha bin an-Nukman berkata: Bersabda Rasulullah sallallahu ‘alaihi wa-sallam: “Tiga perkara yang sentiasa ada pada umatku: Kepercayaan sial. Hasad dengki. Prasangka. Beliau bertanya: Apakah yang boleh menghilangkan dari itu (semua) wahai Rasulullah bagi sesiapa yang telah ada pada dirinya perkara-perkara tersebut? Baginda bersabda: Apabila berhasad dengki mintalah ampun, apabila berprasangka janganlah diteruskan dan apabila mempercayai tataiyur hendaklah dihapuskan“.
   H/R at-Tabrani.
3. “Hindarilah prasangka buruk, karena itu adalah sebohong-bohongnya ucapan. Jangan pula saling mencari-cari kesalahan. Jangan saling iri, jangan saling membenci, dan jangan saling membelakangi“ (Diriwayatkan oleh keenam ulama hadis, ke An-Nasa’i, melalui Abu Hurairah).
4. Berfirman Allah:“Aku berdasarkan prasangka hamba-Ku terhadap-Ku. Dan Aku akan bersamanya ketika ia mengingat-Ku. Jika ia mengingat-Ku di dalam dirinya, maka Aku kan mengingatnya di dalam diri-Ku. Jika ia menyebut-Ku di di tengah-tengah orang banyak, maka aku akan menyebutnya di tengah-tengah orang-orang yang lebih baik dari itu. Jika ia mendekat kepada-Ku sejengkal, maka Aku akan mendekat kepadanya sehasta. Jika ia mendekat kepada-Ku sehasta, maka Aku akan mendekat kepadanya sedepa. Jika ia datang kepada-Ku dengan berjalan, maka Aku kan datang kepadnya dengan berlari.” (Hadis Qudsi riwayat Muslim)
5. “Dari Umar bin Al-Khatab beliau berkata: Janganlah kamu berprasangka (buruk) dengan kalimah yang keluar dari (mulut) saudara kamu yang mukmin kecuali yang baik“. Lihat Tafsir Ibn Kathir, jld. 4, m/s 271.

Moreover, it is also as much important for us to avoid situations that could place us in a vague condition, vulnerable to these “mind-attacks”.

Hadis riwayat Abdullah bin Masud ra., ia berkata: “Rasulullah saw. bersabda: Apabila kalian bertiga orang, maka janganlah dua orang berbisik-bisik tanpa menyertakan seorang yang lain sehingga kamu dapat bergaul dengan manusia, karena dapat membuatnya sedih.” (Shahih Muslim No.4053)

It simply means, if you want to talk secretive between the two of you, make sure either there’s only two people there, or more than 3. Get it? Here’s the equation:

That should be clear. All the assumptions that I meant above only refers to bad assumptions towards another muslim brothers/sisters. Most of them are bad anyway.

Well, for sure, making good assumption towards our muslim brothers/sisters is definitely easier and accurate than those that we crunched in during our engineering and science class.

persuasion

The art of persuasion is something that we all should need to master. most people (no citation here just based on observation) usually end up being on the extreme side. either they are too dictating, or end up being too happy-go-lucky if you know what i mean.

you want to ask this guy, hey let’s go  with me there’s a very exciting event tomorrow. how do you really ask him/her? one answer to most of the question i have ever encountered in this world is this: It Depends.

yeah it really depends. i know there are some people out there that just doesn’t like to be “watch” and “stalked” all the time (well who does?) sorry. let me rephrase. i know there are some people out there that just doesn’t like to be bossed around, and just hate people busy-bodying around him. Note: the term “bossed-around” and “busy-bodying around” are just a matter of perspective and perception. (i will elaborate this in the footnote).

to handle this type of people, you need to apply to them a skilled and not-so-frequent touch of magic (not sihir, just a figure of speech). it’s like you pass him by,and walla, there it goes, the message is delivered. do not be too direct. not too scheme (i’m trying to say “jangan jadi skema sangat”). usually this habit or characteristic are found inside a teenager. about the age of 15-17. but yeah although he’s 21 it’s somehow still there. it can hardly work if you go with the usual way of “hey would you like to go here and here”, you will keep getting a “i’ll think about that” or “tengok la nanti”. it’s just not cool to follow your order. get what i’m trying to say?

but when we encounter too much of this people, and suddenly when we meet the other extreme, we will find it very hard to tune up our mind. these people really want you to ask about him/her. but not to stalk them. just show that you care. anyhow this is still just my personal opinion. it may be right it may be wrong (just another version of “it-depends”). and for the second type of people. please do reduce the “its-up-to-you-lah” attitude when delivering him a message. do not be afraid from being caught as a “busy-body”, because they kind of like it i guess.

Footnote: it’s not busy body or even bossy when you are awake, and people are still sleeping in a house burning with flame and fire, when you put an effort to wake them up. as i said earlier, it’s just a matter of perception. things that you do may be seen  differently. So just try to reduce this perception, so that his decision about waking up from sleep wouldnt be affected, or at least minimised. i’m not saying that you should wake them up in a harsh way. i’m saying that the problem that concerned me more is people are minimising their effort to wake people up because of their own perception about other people’s perception.

this enry, like other entries, are dedicated especially for me and if applicable, to you dear readers as well.

selamat hari raya

it’s almost there…

sometimes, if not always, we strive to get something we want, but it seems to be so near, and yet so far. that’s what i felt in my job hunting, and some other things happening around me. when this happens to one of you guys out there, it’s really up to us to look at it in what perspective. how do you see yourself really determine how people see you. for best results, i suggest you look at it this way…

you work very hard to get it. and after all those effort, you earn the fruits. or, you might work really slow and lazy, and easily get it. i can guarantee, the latter fruits produced will be easily slipped out of your hand in no time.

why? because we hardly appreciate something that we easily obtained. this is the nature (fitrah) of human. you all knew this already so i don’t really need to elaborate more on this.

so my dear brothers and sisters, i’m telling you this. everytime you feel something is almost in your grasp, and you are about to grab it, but eventually failed, please don’t give up. just KEEP trying, and KEEP praying. because Allah, He never fails His Promise. If He didn’t give you what you really want, He truly has something far more better for His ibaad (slaves). hehe. seriously.