Ramadhan dan hal-hal yang penting di dalamnya

Dibawah ini adalah beberapa hal yang penting dalam menyikapi bulan Ramadhan, bulan yang dipenuhi keberkahan di dalamnya.

1) Ramadhaan satu2nya bulan yg disebut namanya dlm Al-Quran, dan itu menunjukkan keistimewaannya. Adapun makna Ramadhaan berasal dari kata "Ramdhaa-u" yg bermakna "Syiddatul-Harr" (yg sangat panas). Ibnu Hajar mengatakan: "Li-annahu Tuhraqu Fiihadz-Dzunub" (Karena sungguh dibakar dosa2 di dalam bulan -- Ramadhaan -- itu). Itulah sebabnya sebagian orang menyebutnya bulan suci, karena terjadinya proses pensucian manusia dari dosa2nya di bulan itu. Inilah kedahsyatan Ramadhaan.

2) Nabi saw bersabda: "Idzaa Dakhala Ramadhaan Futihat Abwaabus-Samaa-i..." Wa Fii Riwatin: "Abwaabur-Rahmah".. Wa Fii Riwayatin: "Abwaabul-jannah" (Apabila masuk bulan Ramadhaan, maka seluruh pintu langit di buka. Dalam riwayat yg lain: "Pintu2 rahmat dibuka". Dalam riwayat yg lain: "Pintu2 Sorga dibuka". (HR. Bukhari dan Nasa-i). Dibukanya pintu langit berarti terbukanya waktu mustajab utk berdo'a kpd Allah selama 24 jam dan terbuka utk menerima semua 'amal shalih. Dibukanya pintu2 rahmat berarti betapa luas rahmat Allah yg tercurah dlm bulan itu. Dibukanya pintu2 Sorga, betapa luas jalan menuju Sorga bagi setiap muslim yg wafat pada bulan itu. Allaahu Akbar.

3) Nabi saw melanjutkan sabdanya: "..Wa Ghulliqat Abwaabu Jahannam, Wa Sulsilatisy-Syayaathiin" (Dan dikunci pintu2 Neraka, dan syaithan2 dirantai). Jumhur 'ulama mengatakan yg dimaksud "syaithan2 dirantai", ialah: syaithan2 tdk lagi mampu menggoda atau membisikkan pengaruhnya kpd manusia, sehingga setiap muslim tinggal menghadapi bisikan2 negatif dari dalam dirinya saja, secara teori ini tentu lebih mudah dihadapi. Inilah situasi kondusif yg Allah berikan pada bulan Ramadhaan, agar setiap muslim dimudahkan menggapai rahmat Allah, serta membangun karakter Taqwa yg merupakan tujuan dari Shaum.

4) Yaa-ayyuhalladziina Aamanuu Kutiba 'Alaikumsh-Shiyaamu, Kamaa Kutiba 'Alal-Ladziina Min Qablikum La'allakum Tattaquun. (Al-Baqarah:183).
"Hai org2 yg beriman, diwajibkan atas kalian melaksanakan Shiyam sebagaimana diwajibkan atas org2 seblm kalian, agar kalian bertaqwa".
Ayat yg mulia ini dimulai dgn seruan "hai org2 yg beriman". Al-Ustadz Sa'ad Shadiq Muhammad mengatakan bhw seruan dgn menyebut "iman" spt ini, hanya khusus bagi org2 yg beriman, krn iman kpd Allah merupakan dasar bagi seluruh kebaikan dan sumber bagi semua keistimewaan.

5) "Diwajibkan atas kalian melaksanakan Shiyam..". Makna Shiyam dari segi bahasa: Imsaakun 'Anil-Kalaam Wal-Fi'li (Menahan diri dari pembicaraan dan perbuatan). Pengertian ini sesuai dgn sabda Nabi saw: "Laisash-Shiyaamu Minal-Akli Wasy-Syarabi. Innamaash-Shiyaamu Minal-Laghwi War-Rafatsi" (Bukanlah Shiyam itu menahan makan dan minum. Sesungguhnya Shiyam itu menahan diri dari ucapan dan perbuatan batil (sia2) dan dari kata2 kotor).HR Al-Hakim dan Al-Baihaqi. Hadits ini menjelaskan makna yg hakiki dari Shiyam, yaitu: menahan diri atau mengontrol diri dari ucapan dan perbuatan yg batil.

6) Mengapa lisan (berbicara) harus ditahan (dikontrol)? Krn menurut Nabi saw lisan adalah anggota tubuh yg paling banyak memproduksi dosa, sabda Beliau: "Aktsaru Khathaaya Ibni Aadama Fii Lisaanihi" (Sebagian besar kesalahan/dosa anak Adam/manusia, terdapat di lisannya").HR. Ath-Thabrani dan Ibnu Hibban).

7) Imam Al-Ghazali memaparkan secara lengkap apa yg dimaksud menahan lisan diwkt Shaum. Beliau berkata:

Menjaga lisan itu ialah dari:
1) Al-Hadzyaan; yaitu bicara ngawur spt org ngigau. Asal nyelutuk dsb.
2) Al-Kidzbu; dusta, bohong, ngibul dsb.
3) Al-Ghiibah; membiacarakan aib org di belakang.
4) An-Namiimah; adu domba.
5) Al-Fuhsy; ucapan2 keji.
6) Al-Jifaa'; ucapan2 batil (sia2)
7) Al-Khushuumah; bertengkar.
Al-Miraa'; berdebat dgn sengit.
Dan konsisten bersikap diam, dan menyibukkan lisan utk berdzikir kpd Allah atau membaca Al-Quran dsb. Inilah Shaumnya lisan.

8. Selanjutnya Imam Al-Ghazali mengatakan: Termasuk --kewajiban-- Shaum memelihara telinga dari mendengarkan hal2 yg makruh dan diharamkan (spt mendengarkan gosip2 dan acara2 tdk bermanfaat lainnya melalui TV, radio atau mendengar hal2 tsb langsung dari teman bicara), berdasarkan sebuah riwayat:
"Al-Mughtabu Wal-Mustami'u Syarikaani Fil-Itsmi" (Org yg menghibah dan org mendengarkan, sama2 berdosa). Dan juga termasuk --kewajiban-- Shaum memelihara anggota tubuh yg lain, seperti tangan dan kaki dari perbuatan haram dan makruh (lihat Al-Ihyaa' juz 1 hal. 271). Inilah yg dimaksud menahan diri (Imsaakun) dari perbuatan batil.

Sebuah video menarik mengenai Ramadhan di Korea Selatan
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=569910769732978

Saluran berkah

Allah bersama bapak2 penarik becak yang sore itu harus tetap bekerja walaupun otot betisnya terasa sakit.

Allah bersama para pengambil belerang di lereng gunung Arjuno yang hutan pinusnya tandus terbakar

Allah bersama sang bayi yang sedang menikmati ASI dari Ibunya di gubuk nelayan sederhana di kala senja

Allah bersama para petani yang baru menanam benih dan bersiap menikmati tempe goreng untuk makan siangnya

Ya Allah berikanlah aku kekuatan untuk menjadi saluran berkahMu di dunia

Holy month of Ramadhan

Ramadhan is just around the corner, it's amazing to know the fact that Allah sent one of his most powerful angel Gabriel to deliver His word to our prophet Muhammad PBUH. It was a life changing experience for him.

And I will also set my mind to utilize Ramadhan as my life changing changing medium.

To make it life changing it has to be; meaningful as well as impactful. There are at least three steps I can try to make it happened;

1. Reflection
• Consumed by my ego and daily mundane I tend to forget that I am a strong spiritual being.
• By fasting naturally I can see beyond my physical boundaries and get connected with my inner self.
• Thus I can "observe" myself find the loop holes and patch it with Nurullah.
2. Upgrading our humanity
• Ramadhan is a great training ground for our spirit. People nowadays know the importance of having physical training to increase body immune, but only few people realize the importance of training our spirit.
• Our objective by having Ramadhan training is to transform from mukmin to muttaqin (Al-Baqarah 185)
• By intensifying my Ibadah (which is not only in ritual form) will I able to restore my spiritual energy.
• Syawal means betterment,  everything we do after Ramadhan has to reflect it.
3. Back to my root
• In Indonesia we have this "Mudik" or going to hometown ritual. It's an epic journey especially in Java island. Involving millions of people, very risky lots of accidents happening during this period of time.
• I really enjoy it for several reasons; one the whole people's attitude towards Idul Fitri is completely different in the rural area. They are more enthusiast, festive and emotional, two I live the landscape of my hometown, nestled in the mountain feet of Ciremai the climate is cool and the view is to die, three I feel connected to my root, and feeling grateful of what I have received.

Hope everyone's enjoying their Ramadhan happily.

Science Day

On May 20 2013, I took my family to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah to visit two places; Taman Burung (Bird Park) and Science Museum.

It was a very fun day, Raka, Razan and  were having a blast especially when we were exploring all facilities in Science Museum.

As predicted the Park was crowded, our first start was Taman Burung. The reason why I took them to this place is to make them re-connected again with the nature. I have a huge concern of my kids are addicted to digital devices and game consoles. Me and my wife have this objective of taking them to wide open space on a weekly basis to make them understand that there’s a lot of cool and fun activities beside playing /watching all those digital products.

They really enjoy watching wide arrange of birds in that park , it was amazing when we were encountered with big flamingo in the pool, the flamingo was looking for food and closing in to us, with its big beak and strange proportion it’s really surreal to watch it interacted with the people there.

Shortly after that we rushed in to Science Museum. To my surprise this museum has tons of cool apparatus to experiment with; this is my first visit there and definitely would like to come again with my sons.

There were two experiments which excites Raka and Razan the most; one was Water Rocket and the other one was liquid nitrogen experiment on which of these two experiments they were volunteering so happily. It was a great joy to see their expressions!

In life there are so many things are taken for granted either because you tend to ignore it or simply because you consumed by daily mundane. Taking my family to a simple trip is one way of reminding me on focusing on the priorities in life.

It made me realizes so many things need to be done to strengthen my love and emotional connection with my family. Ya Allah please give me strength to always support my family and shower them with your love and blessings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PtYHdjIihQ&feature=youtu.be

One fine day with Razan

One fine day

I was blessed to finally given the opportunity to spend the whole day with my second son Razan on May 14^th 2013 to accompany him on a field trip to Cisarua. I look forward for the day, I knew that I hadn’t spend adequate time with him since I have to run my companies. So this consolation trip really means a lot for me.

A bit of background about Razan, he’s really a car guy like me, he knows many car brands and types and he’s able to differentiate the car manufacturers’ type of car simply just by looking at the body design of the car. He is one great ball of energy a very opinioned child and his comments are smartly hilarious. A very expressive little boy who always thinks that winning is everythingJ.

I love him so much, and love the way he expressed his excitement of going to Taman Safari Cisarua with me. He kept on asking about how close are we to go to Cisarua, on daily basis, really cute.

So on Tuesday morning he woke up enthusiastically and with such energy I’ve never seen before he jumped frantically. His smiles were on fire that morning. So i took him to Catterpillar parked my car and as soon as we parked he held my hand and rushed to go up in the bus.

We sat behind this cute little girl named Ellis she is three years old and always look behind her seat. The first 3o minutes was peaceful and not long after that he began to join his friend jump up and down and making noisy sounds J.

When we arrived we straightly went in to the safari zoo where we can see all the animals in the wild. Taman Safari has wide range of animals and we really enjoy watching and get more knowledge.

The climate was cool and the wind breeze was very nice. We bought plush toy in the shape of snow leopard and we call him Safar, his full name is Taman Safari Indonesia Razan said J

Truly one fine day

My first 10 k

My first 10K

I did my first 10 K on Sunday May 12 2013, it was really one enjoyable experience for me.

Started in mid of April 2013 just after my birthday, my brother and two of my best friends Audy and Manov  were discussing about participating in UI running competition. Back then I was just started to run again and I can barely catch my breath just running for 400 meter. So the thought of joining this 10 k was quite absurd at that time.

But I like challenges, and I decided to participate in this event, I didn’t got a chance to practice properly but I was confident enough to do it because I used to run in long distance when I was in high school for Merpati Putih martial art and up to my college years for mountain climbing.

Just two days before the race, I realize that this UI run is actually for a good cause, money collected from each participant will be utilized to buy a tree in Ciliwung river bank. I always fall in to this kind of idea, and make me even more excited to do the run.

 I woke up 4.30 on the racing day, and after Subuh prayer I quickly preparing my race gears and rush to Depok area. It was still 5.15 when I was arrived in UI campus. The air was very fresh and the cool climate is really promising.

I parked in one of the building near the entrance, and have to walk quite a long distance to the starting line, which I thought really good for warming up my body.

There were around 850 runners in the starting line, with two races the 10 k and the half marathon. As for 10 k we were started around 6.30 AM.

Me, Kresna, Audy, Reno, Manov, Indra and Thysa were get ready in the starting line and off we ran. The first 1 k was really fun but just when I reach 2 k I started to feel pain in my right stomach which made me decelerate to help ease the pain. But the pain was still there, so I started to walk at around 4 k which coincides with the uphill terrain. The guys was already ahead of me, and I started to find myself a pacer to keep me running in a steady pace.

After 6 k, the exhaustion was really tempting me to keep on walking, this was the hardest challenge. I feel like fighting with myself, part of it said that it’s ok to run my body is still in good shape, but the other part said that hey your muscle is not trained to do this you were not prepared to do it.

So from 6k to around 8.5 k I mostly walk, then I saw Manov on the other side of the road and he said go Hendra go, which was really a mood booster and I started to do small run again.

The one of the official informed me that it’s already 9 k, so I began to push myself to really run. Throughout the run I’m using Endomondo to help me keep the time and when I reached the finish line it was indicated 1 hour and 21 minutes. Thysa did great her time was 1.01, this small girl is really something.

Officials handed me over glass of water and a big banana and I finish it directly. It was a very tiring but rewarding experience for me.

Even though the day after the run my legs muscles were aching, but it gives me new spirit to keep on running. What I like about running in long distance is that meditative condition you experience which enables me to see things clearly or to questions many steps I took in this life.

So mari lari guys J

Product development Part 3

Secara spesifik dari sisi bisnis juga kita harus memperhitungkan perubahan budaya kerja yang akan terjadi dengan diimplementasikannya sebuah system baru di perusahaan.

Banyak system yang dibuat dengan tujuan untuk memperbaiki system monitoring dan hal ini tentunya akan lebih meningkatkan transparansi di setiap lini kerja di perusahaan. Dan sering team developer menghadapi rejection yang kuat dari berbagai pihak.

Terkadang lebih dibutuhkan management solution dibandingkan technical solution dalam menghadapi situasi seperti ini. Hal inilah yang mengharuskan strategic planner dari perusahaan developer untuk bisa membaca peta politik daripada hanya sekedar business process review saja.

Sesuatu yang bisa didapatkan melalui jam terbang yang tinggi dan membutuhkan people skill yang juga tinggi

Product development Part 2

Meneruskan blog saya sebelumnya beberapa yang bisa dilakukan untuk memitigasi resiko-resiko dalam IT product development ketika kita mengoutsource project ini adalah;

1. Full background checking, cari companies/developer yang bisa divalidasi project implementasi sebelumnya. Linkedin, friends recommendation, client testimonial sangat membantu untuk proses pemilihan.
2. Good communication skill, dalam proses hiring cari developer yang bisa menyampaikan message dengan jelas dengan grammar yang baik. Saya pelajari dalam proses product development banyak sekali developer yang tidak bisa mengkomunikasikan; objective dan juga problem yang mereka hadapi.
3. Firm contract, berkaitan dengan banyaknya developer yang tidak profesional, kita butuh perlindungan hukum dengan membuat kontrak yang di klausulnya memproteksi perusahaan kita dari kemungkinan2 penyimpangan. 
4. Great project manager, proses product development melibatkan banyak pihak dan juga mengharuskan kita bisa mengantisipasi problem dengan cepat. Dibutuhkan project manager yang handal untuk bisa rectify problem dengan cepat dan tepat.
5. Progress report, untuk memastikan semua pihak mengerti progress yang terjadi kita harus secara disiplin meminta progress report dari developer.
6. Comprehensive understanding, system analyst harus mengerti business requirement client secara mendetail.

Will add some more in my next blog

Product development

Di Oktober 2010 saya resmi keluar dari Young and Rubicam untuk membesarkan usaha keluarga yang bergerak di bidang IT dengan nama Pandawa Holding.
As a group kita memiliki visi untuk bisa mendevelop IT related product sendiri dan bukan mengerjakan custom product dari client. Namun dikarenakan kendala modal akhirnya kami mengerjakan beberapa project custom dari client kami.

Sudah ada beberapa product development yang saya kerjakan dari tahun 2011 sampai tahun 2013 ini. Dan yang menarik untuk dibahas adalah mengenai dealing with local developers terutama untuk pekerjaan yang berkaitan dengan pihak client. Sering sekali perusahaan kami dalam kondisi yang pelik yang disebabkan oleh;

1. Tidak jelasnya brief yang tertuang dalam business requirement documents dari client. Business process, database integration dan report generation sering sekali tidak dicapture dengan tepat sehingga ketika sudah di sign off dan dikerjakan team developer, banyak terjadi change request yang membuat pengerjaan menjadi terdelay karena antar modul yang ada saling berhubungan secara database.
2. Timeline yang tidak masuk akal.
3. Kurang strategisnya Head of IT/System architect dalam membuat approach yang  sistematis dalam mendevelop sebuah product.
4. Tidak adanya profesionalisme dari developers/third party company yang menyebabkan pihak perusahaan mengalami kesulitan dalam memberikan solusi bagi client.
5. Tidak komunikatifnya developer yang menyebabkan banyak terjadi ketidak efektifan dan keefisienan dalam pengerjaan.

Kalau disimpulkan pokok dari problem diatas adalah; komunikasi, project management dan profesionalisme.

Hal yang sangat mengecewakan mengingat secara skill dan knowledge sebenarnya sangat berpotensi untuk bisa dijual ke level global. Dan sangat sulit membayangkan kita bisa menyaingi India dan negara-negara Scandinavia dalam hal product development.

Hal yang sama juga pernah saya diskusikan dengan Pak Budi Rahardjo dari ITB dan Pak Izak Jenie dari MMS, dan hal yang sama yang mereka temukan. Itulah kenapa sangat sulit mencari project manager yang handal di negeri ini, dan kalaupun ada menjadi rebutan banyak pihak.

Will post more blog regarding this situation shortly.