PMP, InfoSec & Chan

PMP, InfoSec & Chan
easy to understand
lifetime to master
Chuan Lin, CISSP, PMP

What are these
• PMP
– Project Management Professional
• InfoSec
– Information Security Professional
• Chan
– A method of meditation that observes
breathing and inner thoughts

What are their goals
• PMP
– To bring about organizational process into
anarchic projects
• InfoSec
– To bring about organizational information
security in a chaotic business environment
• Chan
– To calm the mind through regulated
breathing and inner perception

Why Chan
• Chan is both spiritual and practical.
• While spirituality is subjective, practicality
is backed by science and study.
o Physical benefits – reduce blood pressure,
bowel syndrome, and flare up in
ulcerative colitis
o Mental benefits – increase creativity and
prioritization while reduce anxiety,
depression and insomnia

What’s the Purpose
• Back in Chinese Song Dynasty (around
12th century AD), Chan Master Kuòān
Shīyuǎn (廓庵師遠) mapped out stages of
Chan through poetry and images called
Ten Bulls.
• This is an attempt to demonstrate the
systematic similarity among PMP, Infosec
and Chan through these ten stages.

Undisciplined
With his horns fiercely
projected in the air the beast
snorts,
madly running over the
mountain paths, farther and
farther he goes astray!
A dark cloud is spread across
the entrance of the valley,
and who knows how much of
the fine fresh herb is trampled
under his wild hoofs!
猙獰頭角恣咆哮奔走溪山路轉遙
一片黑雲橫谷口誰知步步犯佳苗
Source: http://www.santosha.com/philosophy/oxherdingpictures-1.html

Undisciplined
Black Water Buffalo
represents our moods and
thoughts.
Cowherd represents our
conscious.
When we first attempt to
meditate, we find that our
moods and thoughts are
running rampant in our
minds.
In Chan
Source: http://baike.baidu.com/view/454346.htm

Undisciplined
Black Water Buffalo
represents a company’s
culture and/or norms.
Cowherd represents info sec
profession.
A company without a
security policy is like a wild
buffalo running amok and
unknowingly bringing harm
to itself and those around it.
In InfoSec

Undisciplined
Black Water Buffalo
represents stakeholders in a
given project.
Cowherd represents project
manager.
When a project manager
initiates or inherits a project,
he has to take control of
stakeholders else project will
go awry.
In PMP

Discipline Begin
I am in possession of a straw
rope, which passes through its
nose,
at once it makes a frantic
attempt to run away, but is
severely whipped and
whipped;
The beast resists the training
with all the power there is in a
nature wild and ungoverned,
But the rustic oxherd never
relaxes his pulling tether and
ever-ready whip.
我有芒繩驀鼻穿一回奔競痛加鞭
從來劣性難調製猶得山童盡力牽

Discipline Begin
Straw Rope represents
disciplines that we used to
calm our moods and
thoughts.
But it is not something we’re
used to. Our body, moods
and thoughts rebelled
against the rein that we’ve
put ourselves through.
In Chan

Discipline Begin
governance risks and
compliances (GRC), along
with policies and standards
that imposed on a company
culture.
If not effectively conveyed,
the buffalo will attempt to
thwart the control from
InfoSec Profession.
In InfoSec

Discipline Begin
disciplines, guidelines, and
rules for this project.
Project Manager uses it to
rein in stakeholders.
This is similar to Tuckman’s
Team Formation – Storming
whereas previous slide
(Undisciplined) may
represent Forming.
In PMP

In Harness
漸調漸伏息賓士渡水穿雲步步隨
手把芒繩無少緩牧童終日自忘疲
Gradually getting into harness
the beast is now content to be
led by the nose,
crossing the stream, walking
along the mountain path, he
follows every step of the
leader;
The leader holds the rope
tightly in his hand never letting
it go,
All day long he is on the alert
almost unconscious of what
fatigue is.

In Harness In Chan
Buffalo turned white at its
head which represented our
gradual control of
conscience over moods and
thoughts.
At this stage, we began to
get a glimpse of tranquility.

In Harness
InfoSec Profession has to
win the support from the top
management.
At this stage, the company
may seem docile but it does
not fully embrace the need
for information security.
InfoSec Pro has to lead and
to maintain a tight control.
In InfoSec

In Harness
Project Manager gains
control of stakeholders
who’re slowly accepted him
as their leader.
But PM still has to pay close
attention to stakeholders
because any negligence
could release them.
In PMP

Faced Round
日久功深始轉頭顛狂心力漸調柔
山童未肯全相許猶把芒繩且系留
After long days of training the
result begins to tell and the
beast is faced round,
a nature so wild and
ungoverned is finally broken,
he has become gentler;
But the tender has not yet given
him his full confidence,
he still keeps his straw rope
with which the ox is now tied
to a tree.

Faced Round In Chan
An intermediate stage of
meditation where moods and
thoughts are gradually
receded.
Our conscience is still
maintain a tight rein over our
moods and thoughts.

Faced Round
Now, a third of the company
has adopted GRC and
security policy as part of
corporate culture norm.
InfoSec Pro can now step
away from enforcing GRC
and security policy which are
still visible and view as
constraint.
In InfoSec

Faced Round
Project Manager wins about a
third of the stakeholders.
Even though they seem
compliant, PM still needs to
have the straw rope around
as the mean of control.
In PMP

Tamed
綠楊蔭下古溪邊放去收來得自然
日暮碧雲芳草地牧童歸去不須牽
Under green willow by the
ancient mountain stream,
the ox is set at liberty to
pursue his own pleasures;
At the eventide when a grey
mist descends on the
pasture,
the boy wends his
homeward way with the
animal quietly following.

Tamed In Chan
Discipline is no longer a
discipline but mature into a
part of our habit.
Our moods and thoughts are
calmed in two-third of the
time as we meditated.
In Chan, we only need to
spend a third of our time to
quiet our mind.

Tamed
Two-third of a company has
adopted GRC and security
policy.
By now, the straw rope is no
longer needed, rather it is
gradually absorbed in parts
into corporate culture norm.
In InfoSec

Tamed
Project Manager has gained
enough trust with two-third
of stakeholders that they no
longer need to be rein by the
straw rope.
In Tuckman’s Team
Formation, we’re begin to
see the transition to Norming.
In PMP

Unimpeded
露地安眠意自如不勞鞭策永無拘
山童穩坐青松下一曲升平樂有餘
On the verdant field the
beast contentedly lies idling
his time away,
no whip is needed now, nor
any kind of restraint;
The boy too sits leisurely
under the pine tree,
playing a tune of peace,
overflowing with joy.

Unimpeded In Chan
nearly calm during chan.
Outside of chan, our moods
and thoughts will not
disturb us while we focus on
our tasks.

Unimpeded
Nearly ninety percent of
corporation has adopted
GRC and security policy.
InfoSec Pro is free to work
on other security related
projects and only need to
maintain casual contact to
administrate GRC and
security policy.
In InfoSec

Unimpeded
The rapport between project
manager and stakeholders is
jelled that they can dispense
with the straw rope.
This is not to say that rules
and regulation are ditched.
Rather, PM and stakeholders
are working closely together
that they are not hindered
by it.
In PMP

Laissez Faire
柳岸春波夕照中淡煙芳草綠茸茸
饑餐渴飲隨時過石上山童睡正濃
The spring stream in the
evening sun flows languidly
along the willow-lined bank,
in the hazy atmosphere the
meadow grass is seen growing
thick;
When hungry he grazes, when
thirsty he quaffs, as time
sweetly slides,
while the boy on the rock dozes
for hours not noticing anything
that goes on about him.

Laissez Faire In Chan
fully subsided in chan and in
our world.
Because there is no obstruction
he has no fear, and he passes far
beyond all confused
imagination and reaches
Ultimate Nirvana.

Laissez Faire
Now that the company has
fully embraced GRC and
security policy as a part of
business culture or norm,
InfoSec Pro can be gone for a
duration and not worry
about information security
breach.
In InfoSec

Laissez Faire
There is a trust between
Project Manager and
stakeholders that the former
could be away from the
project, and nothing is
deviated.
In Tuckman’s Team Formation,
we’re begin to see the
transition to Performing.
In PMP

All Forgotten
The beast all in white now is
surrounded by the white clouds,
The man is perfectly at his case
and care-free, so is his companion;
The white clouds penetrated by
the moon-light cast their white
shadows below,
The white clouds and the bright
moon-light-each following its
course of movement.
白牛常在白雲中人自無心牛亦同
月透白雲雲影白白雲明月任西東

All Forgotten
Our moods and thoughts
began to transcend into our
inner conscience.
We experience a serene and
benevolence state both in
and out of chan.
In 2008 US animation, Kung
Fu Panda, Oogway can be
seemed as have reaching this
stage and beyond.
In Chan

All Forgotten
GRC and security policy are
all forgotten in the sense that
they are fully absorbed into
corporate norms.
They do not restraint a
company but allow it to
move with greater certainty
and confidence as if they are
travelled through clouds.
In InfoSec

All Forgotten
As project nears completion,
stakeholders no longer
maintain their identities.
They are assimilated into
project closures. Their needs
are met, and their supports
are concluded.
In PMP

Solitary Moon
Nowhere is the beast, and the
oxherd is master of his time,
He is a solitary cloud wafting
lightly along the mountain
peaks;
Clapping his hands he sings
joyfully in the moon-light,
But remember a last wall is still
left barring his homeward
walk.
牛兒無處牧童閑一片孤雲碧嶂間
拍手高歌明月下歸來猶有一重關

Solitary Moon
no more. Our inner mind
emerges and we begins to
realize that all are
impermanent.
Our mind begins to awake.
But our body is not ready.
In Chan

Solitary Moon
Understand that GRC is not a
permanent fixture but a cycle
of change.
Core ideas remain the same,
but physical means of
protecting, layering and
defending are ever changing.
There is a loop of new threats
overcoming old defenses which
in turn are remediate by newer
security.
In InfoSec

Solitary Moon
Project Manager, in closing
out the project, reviewed its
charter, and documentation.
Project life cycle embodies
the idea, “All things are
impermanent.”
There is an initiation,
execution, and conclusion.
In PMP

Both Vanished
Both the man and the animal
have disappeared, no traces are
left,
The bright moon-light is empty
and shadowless with all the
ten-thousand objects in it;
If anyone should ask the
meaning of this,
Behold the lilies of the field and
its fresh sweet-scented verdure.
人牛不見杳無蹤明月光含萬象空
若問其中端的意野花芳草自叢叢

Both Vanished
The final stage of chan, we
are ready to move on at the
moment of our choosing
with both body and soul.
By being empty of our body
and souls, we are able to
contain myriads of things
without influenced by them.
In Chan

Both Vanished
GRC no longer sticks out as
an inhibitor but as a
competitive leverage.
Like vitamin, it no longer
exists as a distasteful pill. Its
essence spreads through
corporate structure and
strengthens information
security.
In InfoSec

Both Vanished
Project completion by
meeting project objectives
and acceptances of end
results by requesters.
Other than an archive record
in company, the project itself
is no longer existed. There
might be same project
manager and same
stakeholders, but it will
never be the same project.
In PMP

Summary
• While there are no Chan Professional,
nonetheless, there existed a systematic
mapping of Chan progress/stages which
are no different to that of modern
professional system.
• Another word, current professional
system are no different than ancient
schema on bringing order to chaos.

Summary
• Again, the focus of Chan Meditation
demonstrated here is on the practicality
that is both measurable and repeatable.
• Confucian meditation favored this form of
Chan Meditation whereas Taoism and
Buddhism favored its spiritual aspect.

Summary
• Meditation is gaining traction among
Western business elites as a mean to cope
with information overload and to find the
center within themselves.
• Personally, my meditation borders
between the Undisciplined and
the Discipline Begin.

References
•牧牛图
• Ten Bulls
• The Ten Oxherding Pictures
• National Institute of Health: Meditation

PMP, InfoSec & Chan

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