Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.

William A. Foster

International Advisory Panel

Introduction

In an increasingly globalized business environment and a connected universe, collaboration and knowledge sharing among professionals is an imperative. To further this need, mfQ Asia set up an international panel of performance improvement specialists whose expertise will help enrich other professionals in Malaysia and create a network of individuals and organizations with similar developmental goals.

Purpose of the International Advisory Panel (IAP)

The purpose of the IAP is to help foster a greater professional understanding of global and practical issues related to technology, technology development, project management, people management and related matters by sharing insights and ideas through mfQ Asia's web space and by participating in periodic forums organized by mfQ Asia in Malaysia

Broad Goals of the IAP

1. To share knowledge and insights related to software development standards, practices and processes
2. To help promote development approaches that integrate the best practices of Maturity Models, Project Management and Quality Management Systems
3. To share best practices in the importance of people management – a key element in technology development and diffusion.
   

Professor Dr. Martin Siegel is Executive Associate Dean and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research and Professor of Informatics at Indiana University. He is also Professor of Cognitive Science, College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Instructional Systems Technology, School of Education.

His Research Interests include the design of digital learning environments; e-learning; new collaborative discussion spaces, visualization tools for time- and space-based data; and tools for tracking life events, a kind of alter ego or über-me.

From 1991–1999 he was the director of research and development at the Center for Excellence in Education. In this context he founded Indiana University’s first start-up company, WisdomTools founded in 1999).

The company focuses on the development of “next generation” e-learning tools for the Web. The “Scenarios” product is designed to develop deep, insightful learning, a kind of “practical
intelligence” or tacit knowledge.

Marty is among a group of pioneers in computer-based learning, beginning with his work in the 1970’s and 1980’s on the PLATO system. At the University of Illinois, Marty was a professor in the Departments of Information Science and Educational psychology. Additionally, he was the assistant director of the Computer-based Education Research Laboratory (CERL) and head of CERL's Curriculum and Applications Group. Between 1990 and 1991, he served as director of professional services at Authorware (now Macromedia, Inc.). In 1988, he was Microsoft’s first faculty fellow.

At the School of Informatics, Marty’s research focuses on the design of Digital Learning Environments, including the development of deep conversation spaces as well as and time- and
space-based visualization tools.

Marty also serves on Indiana University’s Judicial Hearing Commission

Over the years, Marty has published extensively. Among the notable ones are the following:

1. Siegel, M. A. (2003). Falling asleep at your keyboard: The case for computer imagination. Training Today, The Magazine of the American Society for Training and Development, March/April, pp. 13–15.
   
2. Siegel, M. A. (2003). The future of education. In Zolli, A. (Ed.), Catalog of Tomorrow: Trends Shaping Your Future. Indianapolis, IN, Que.
   
3. Siegel, M. A., & Kirkley, S. (1998). Adventure learning as a vision of the digital learning environment. In Bonk, C. J., & King, K. (Eds.), Electronic Collaborators: Researching the Discourse of Learner-Centered Technologies. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
   
4. Siegel, M. A., & Kirkley, S. (1997). Moving toward the digital learning environment: The future of Web-based instruction. In B. H. Khan (Ed.), Web-Based Instruction. Englewood Cliffs,NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
   
5. Siegel, M. A. (1995). From content-centered to problem-centered design: The need for information processing and critical thinking skills. In B. Seels (Ed.), Instructional Design Fundamentals: A Reconsideration. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
   
6. Siegel, M. A., & Sousa, G. (September, 1994). Inventing the virtual textbook. Educational Technology.
   
7. Siegel, M. A., & Davis, D. M. (1986). Understanding computer-based education. NY: Random House.

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Ahmad Fauzi is a seasoned Technology Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist. He has a successful track record as a Management Consultant in technology, technology policy development and intellectual capital strategy to large corporations and Governments world wide. He has also had extensive operational experience in shaping and directing a number of strategic National Information Technology Projects in Malaysia and the region.

His experience in both strategic technology management and execution is the culmination of a distinguished career starting in the early Eighties.

Between 1982-1984 he was a Management Consultant with Arthur Andersen & Co. in its Management Information Consulting Division (Later known as Accenture) As a pioneer member of the Kuala Lumpur Office, he consulted for UMW (United Motor Works) and Rothmans Malaysia in software development, designed systems supporting the maintenance of Mobil Oil’s gas liquefaction plant in Sumatra and led the company’s Asia regional marketing activities in maintenance management systems and software

He then joined Dataphone Sdn. Bhd as its Managing Director & Chief Technology Officer. He founded a startup which became Malaysia’s first Telemarketing contractor at the age of 24. During this period he successfully sourced corporate venture capital, and launched Infoline 2-300-300, a public, customer information service in 1987. The company had a sales force of 25 persons and 35 telemarketers, handling 200,000 phone calls a month.

In 1989 he he founded a Systems Integration and IT consulting company which partnered with Sapura in promoting the use of IT in strategic decision making (Executive Information Systems). Projects included PLUS, North-South Highway project and a leading Malaysian Advertising Agency. He also designed and developed an Expert System for analyzing election demographics for a political party.

Between 1991-2001 he served as General Manager, Sapura Advanced Systems and established its Systems Integration Business which was transformed into Malaysia’s premier Systems Integrator with a total annual group turnover of 1billion ringgit. within 7 years. The company was listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange in 1997. During this period he oversaw the procurement and implementation of over 40 IT projects among which were:

• The Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Total Airport Management System
  
• The MiG20 Jet Fighter Full Mission Flight Simulator
  
• Royal Malaysian Air Force Integrated Logistic System
  
• Multimedia Super Corridor Webshaper and Flagship Project
  
• Electronic Government (Generic Office Environment for the PMO)

Between 2001 – 2003 he served as the Chief Strategist, Technology & Innovations Head of Intellectual Capital , Sapura Telecommunications Berhad
During this period he was a key member of the core team responsible for restructuring the group of over 15 subsidiaries and 800 staff around new lines of business.

His swansong at Sapura was the CMM project which he initiated and which brought the group to attain Carnegie Mellon’s CMM Level 3 Certification in a record 11 months.

He is currently the co-founder, FirstFloor Capital. A Venture capital company with technology ventures including :

• The Neuramatix Group: a Developer of software algorithms that mimic parts of the brain. Currently applied to the fields of genomics, language translation and anti-spam.
  
• Flare Studios: A talented multimedia production house.
  
• Holista Biotech: A manufacturer and market leader in pioneering health products.
  
• Afoofa: A regional leader in internet travel software.
  

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Yan Bello Méndez has extensive experience in all process areas related to software development and project management. The highlights of his professional career and experience are detailed as follows:

• Software development and process improvement: About 10 years plus experience with large and medium software projects. Numerous process improvement projects using CMM/CMMI. He has been leading several SW process improvement initiatives as an internal consultant for a large SW development company. Consulting for about five years, helping more than dozen large companies improve their SW quality and performance through better software processes and increased project management maturity using the SEI maturity models and PMI’s standards (PMBOK® Guide and others). Among the organizations he has worked for are best of its class large, local and international companies in Spain, Europe and Latin America.
  
  Yan Bello has been pioneering the introduction and use in Spain of the SEI CMMI models since their publication, having defined, sell and lead several CMMI based projects (initial assessments, implementation, formal appraisals, consulting/advising), including the Caja Madrid (Spain second largest saving bank) CMMI project which resulted in the first organization in Spain that publicly reported being assessed at CMMI-SW/SE maturity level 2. A column about the highlights of this project was featured in PMI’s PM Network magazine June 2004 issue. He co presented a case-study of this project at PMI Global EMEA Congress 2004 in Prague – Czech Republic and in the Ninth European SEPG 2004 in London (UK).
  
  
• Certified Project Manager and Leader: Certified by the Project Management Institute (PMI®) as Project Management Professional (PMP®). Over a decade of experience as project manager, leader and mentor. Most relevant projects have been on software & systems development, software engineering consulting, on establishing and leading project management offices, on developing software project management methodologies, training software engineers, on developing process/quality improvement practices and implementing them in a variety of organizations, on large software development projects, and on the localization of ERP software to localinternational markets.
  
  
• Professional training and speaking: Yan Bello is a frequent speaker delivering trainings and presentations to varied audiences, ranging from technical people to CIO’s, CEO’s, presidents and executive managers.
  
  Most frequent topics has been on software management, quality management, software process improvement strategies, people leadership & management strategies, coaching & leadership skills for managers, effective time & personal management skills, the SEI’s Capability Maturity Models (CMM/CMMI), PMI’s PMBOK® Guide, OPM3®, Program Management Standards, software testing methods, object oriented programming, developing localized multi-tier applications, use cases based functional designs. He has designed and developed several training courses on Effective Project Management, Successful Consulting Skills and Software Project Management which he regularly deliver.
  
  
• Recognized PMI® Volunteer: Member of the Project Management Institute, and actively involved in PMI activities. Recognized as significant contributor to the PMBOK® Guide Third Edition. He was also the President of the official translation verification committee for the Spanish PMBOK® Guide 3rd edition, coordinating over 30 volunteers from more than 10 different Spanish speaking countries. Currently he is Vice-President for International Relations for the PMI® Barcelona Chapter.
  
  
• Multi-cultural scope: He frequently works in international, distributed, virtual and/or multi-cultural environments and teams.

Speaker experience:

Over the past years, Yan Bello has delivered hundreds of presentations and many training courses to technical and management people. Below is a list of some of the courses and presentations delivered:

• “1st Excellent Development Conference”, Excellent Development, 1998, Rotterdam - Holland. Presentation on “Object Oriented Programming and Design”. More than 70 people attended.
  
• “3rd Excellent Development Conference”, Excellent Development, 1999, Brussels Belgium. Presentation on “Localization of Excellent Software” (Customizing the ERP package to the domestic Colombian market).
  
• As part of the roll-out of a project on implementing a “standard code review practice”, I performed a series of training sessions to more than 40 programmers over a two months period in Brussels, Delft, and Bremen.
  
• Presentation about “Quality assurance and requirements management”. February-2001, Banc Sabadell, Barcelona SPAIN. More than 25 participants.
  
• “Project management fundamentals” training course. A training course I developed based and consistent with the PMBOK® Guide. Delivered regularly in Madrid and Barcelona Spain since 2001.
  
• As part of a project: Half-day workshop about the SEI’s CMMI-SW/SE model, and the preliminary results from the initial maturity appraisal. At the client’s site. Madrid SPAIN, September 2002. (Around 30 participants, project managers, project (department) directors, middle and high level management)
  
• Same project above: Half-day workshop / training on Project planning and Project monitoring and control. CMMI Level 2 process areas. Madrid SPAIN, January 2003.
  
• “Effective Project Management” training course. A training course I developed based and consistent with the PMBOK® Guide. Delivered regularly since 2003 in the ExcellencE Center, Barcelona, SPAIN.
  
• “Essential Project Management for Consultants (and Their Managers)”. PMI Global Congress Europe 2003 Presentation. 25 May 2003. Congress Centrum, The Hague – The Netherlands.
  
• “Methodology and best-practices in software development” Keynote presentation at the Professional Development Day in the Plaza Hotel in Madrid, organized by PROFit-Gartner. 10 June 2003. Spain. More than 60 participants from major Spanish companies and organizations.
  
• “Effective consulting through successful project management”. 4th Ibero- American Project Management Congress, Sao Paulo – Rio de Janeiro, 17-21 November 2004. Brazil.
  
• “Project Management and Organizational Consulting: Effective Synergies” presentation. 16 January 2004. PMI Barcelona Chapter Kick-off meeting. Hotel Tryp Apolo, Barcelona, SPAIN.
  
• “Effective Project Management for Entrepreneurs” training course. February 2004. ExcellencE Center, Barcelona, SPAIN.
  
• “Project Management for Software Process Improvement”. PMI Global Congress Europe 2004 Presentation. Hilton Hotel, Prague – Czech Republic.
  
• Speaker at the Ninth Annual European Systems and Software Engineering Process Group Conference. (European SEPG 2004) in London, 14th-17th June 2004.) Presentation “CMMI & PMBOK®: the synergies between two leading models”.

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