PMI Newsletter July · 2017. 8. 17. · Henry Laurence Gantt (1861-1919) was a mechanical engineer, management consultant and industry advisor. Chapter. [email protected]

Thanks and Best Wishes

Soumen De, PMP

[email protected]

Chapter News- Capt. L. N. Prasad

PM Primer

PM Article: Impact of Organization Culture . . . - Avinash Rao, IT Consultant

Spotlight: - Raghavan S.S.V., PMP

Changing perception of value . . .- Piyush Jain, PMP

What does cloud computing mean . . .- Deepak Vijayaragavan, PMP

The Lighter Side of PM - Rajiv

DID YOU KNOW?

Page 1

Co

nte

nts

Editor’s NoteEditor’s NoteDear Friends,

On behalf of the Editorial Board, I am happy to present the July 2013 edition of PM

Essence. I am sure you must have seen the digital (HTML) version of Essence that we had

launched last month. Apart from the regular articles in this edition, I am pleased to

present the views of one of the most active and senior volunteers of our Chapter,

Mr. Raghavan. He demonstrates a deep passion and infectious enthusiasm in whatever he

does for our Chapter and I am sure our volunteers will get inspired from hearing him. Read more about him

in our spotlight section. We are presently rigorously preparing for the next major event, PMPC 2013 to be

held on 12-14 Sep 2013 at NIMHANS Convention Centre, Bangalore. We had sent mailers

requesting volunteers for the events and we got an overwhelming response, too. As you all know this

Chapter is run primarily by volunteers and I would like to thank all those you have shown interest to

volunteer. Thank you for your continued patronage of this Newsletter and hope you would like this edition.

Please feel free to get back with your suggestions and feedback by writing directly to the contact details

given below.

The Financial Report for the Year

2012-13, as well as Reports on the

various programs, regular as well as

new initiatives - were presented. The

Program concluded with a lively

Question and Answer session.

The Annual volunteer awards were

also presented on the occasion. This

year Seven Gold and Three Silver

star awards were presented. The

names of the award winners are as

follows:

(a) Mr. Vittal Vijay Kumar

(b) Mr. Vijayaraghavan Seshadri

(c) Mr. Venkatraman L.

Continued on Page 6...

PM FOOTPRINTS FOR MAY 2013

On 09th May 2013 Mr. Piyush Kumar Chowhan

the Lead Program Delivery Manager from Tesco

Hindustan Service Centre gave a talk on

Coaching and Mentoring skills for Project

Managers. Nearly 60 Chapter members were

present. The talk focussed on the importance of

coaching skills for project managers and the

various ways of coaching. The talk also gave

good insights into the subject with some real life

examples.

On 23rd May 2013 Mr.Avinash Rao spoke on the

Impact of Organization Culture and Stakeholders

on a project in an NGO. The talk was very well

received by the audience.

ACTIVITIES IN JUNE 2013.

The Chapter held its Annual Members Meet on 01

June 2013 at Hotel Wood Lands. Nearly 80

members were present. The members were

briefed by the

President of the

Chapter on the

administration

and various

activities of the

Chapter.

Chapter News

Editorial Board

Murali Santhanam, PMPRaghavan S.S.V., PMPSoumen De, PMP

Editorial AssistanceShikha Vaidh, PMPRama K., PMP, PMI-ACP

Volume -1 - Issue 06 July 2013

-Capt. L. N. Prasad

Q. This is a common scheduling

tool used by all project

management practitioners.

However it was quite a radical

concept and an innovation of

world-wide importance in the

1920s. What is this tool.

2 Page


PM Event

The 5th Annual PM Primer program is to

create an awareness of the project

management profession within the student

community. As part of 'give back' to the

community, the Chapter organizes a

complimentary annual PM Primer program

every year. Since 2009, more than 1,500

students from over 50 colleges have

participated in this program. PM Primer touches

upon the ten knowledge areas and five process

groups of a project along its life cycle through

a single-easy-to understand method. The course uses the case study methodology to

explain concepts and definitions. The student

receives a handbook on Project Management as

a takeaway from the course.

Date :

Venue :

To Register

September 12, 2013

NIMHANS Convention Centre

Near Dairy Circle, Bangalore

• Download the PM Primer 2013- Coordinator

Nomination Form from

http://pmprimer.pmibangalorechapter.org

• Update coordinator details and email to

• Online access to coordinator to nominate up

to 20 students / faculty from college

[email protected]

We bring to you

Project Management

Concepts for the

Student Community

mailto:[email protected]

- Avinash Rao, IT CONSUTLANT

Page 3

PM Article

v

v

Develop and maintain a professional work

environment at all times. Never

compromise on professional ethics

because you are working for an NGO.

Committed entirely to the project.

Being punctual, disciplined and

professional yet friendly.

Respect the valuable time of others.

A professional is responsible and

accountable.

Don't shy away from taking

responsibility of the project. I did this

which increased confidence and

credibility in the entire organization.

Accept and embrace failures openly.

Don't be afraid of getting

embarrassed as the mindset becomes

a barrier for most achievers.

Ex: Accepting & acknowledging missing

schedule deadline OPENLY.

Be persistent in enforcing project

processes throughout the project life

cycle.

Project managers should be persistent

and not hesitate to enforce processes

put in place to those who are

reluctant to follow them. Doing this

will indicate that you are serious

about the way you want to handle

your project. Above all, follow the

process ourselves no matter what!

My six mantras to project success! Effort,

commitment, perseverance, persistence,

patience and smile.

Nothing can be achieved without Effort

and I believe this is the starting point.

Be Committed. Performing an activity or a

task willingly has proven to be more

effective than doing it unwillingly.


Ø

Ø

Ø

Ø

Ø

§

§

§

§

§

Typically, the motive of NGO's is community

service performed by volunteers from all walks of

life. Enforcing a structure or a process in such an

atmosphere is a daunting task. On the contrary,

it is much easier in companies and even

employees realize the importance of

organization's culture and policies.

Envisage managing an enterprise software

project for an NGO and how would you go about

your project? Here's how I did it for one of the

largest nonprofit, non-government organization

in the world. As a project manager, I was

bestowed with a responsibility of designing and

delivering online ERP software to suit the needs

of over 10,000 users.

It was indeed a satisfying experience but it didn't

come easy. NGO's follow an open culture

implying many having an influence in decision

making. Despite taking into confidence the 'key

stakeholders', the culture doesn't restrict the

entrant of new ones. Imagine each volunteer

contributing to the 'scope' and providing

feedback after each release?

When processes, hierarchy, authority or structure

fails, one is left with no choice than to rely on

'power', not political, but 'soft power', referred to

as interpersonal skills. The ability to connect and

persuade people plays a crucial role in assessing

the influence & impact of stakeholders in project

success. The following helped me resolve issues

with stakeholder management.

Regular face to face meetings with demanding

stakeholders.

• Don't hesitate to meet or speak with new or

demanding stakeholders. Developing a cordial

relationship will add to project success and in-

turn enhance our own skills.

Follow-up meetings with emails and/or

updates until the resolution.

Be honest and truthful.

• Dealing with people is inevitable and as

project managers we are always watched or

looked upon as responsible problem solvers.

• Never promise something that you don't

believe you can accomplish.

• To communicate thoughts, feelings, and

opinions you need to choose words that are

direct, honest, appropriate, and respectful. If

you are assertive, choose assertive words

carefully. This comes by practice and

awareness.

v

v

v

Identifying stakeholders

and understanding the

organization culture is one

of the first activities

performed before any

project kicks-off. As we are

aware, stakeholder's

impact and influence on

the project is much higher

in the initial stages and

reduces gradually as the

project progresses. So,

how different are

stakeholders and culture in

a nonprofit organization

when compared to an

established corporate

company?

Most companies with an

established organization

structure have hierarchical

arrangement of lines of

authority, communications,

rights and determines how

roles, power and

responsibilities are

assigned. It controls how

information flows between

different levels of

management. Whereas,

the voluntary sector has a

philanthropic side to it,

thus making it difficult for

corporate like

professionalism or profit-

driven accountability

standards. The

stakeholders in an NGO

seem to have a stronger

influence on the project

than observed in a well-

structured organization.

I believe it is the nature of

work that actually results

or drives the structure of

any organization.


influence on a project in an NGOImpact of organization culture and stakeholders Impact of organization culture and stakeholders

influence on a project in an NGO

4 Page

Spotlight

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I feel motivated by the favorable feedbacks from the participants at my training sessions. The

inspiration as well as the satisfaction of having been of some use to others come whenever I get

their e-mails sharing their happiness at their success in the examination.

Technical skills or Project Management skills, which is important and why?

Project management skills. I would not have been become a PMP or teaching project management

otherwise.

What is your description of an effective team work?

Team work is another name for project management.

PMI Volunteering, Professional commitment, Personal commitment - How do you balance

the three?

Even as a superannuated person without regular office hours, I find it difficult to balance these.

A good manager has also to be a a good leader - your thoughts

He / she should lead by example, like a performing cricket captain.

The greatest project management lesson you have learnt

Each for all and all for each.

An accomplishment, professional or personal that you cherish and like to share with us

I do not think I have 'accomplished' anything. However I do cherish the sense of gratification at

overcoming the odds in terms of memory loss, failing health and advancing age to obtain the PMP

professional qualification when I was well into my sixties.

Tell us your hobbies, or things you are passionate about

Sharing whatever little knowledge I have with others, i.e. my training classes.

S.S.V. Raghavan brings over 50 years of experience in Commercial

and Contract Management. He is an Honors Graduate in Physics from

University of Calcutta. He has worked with MNCs and also in Government

sector - his former employers include Greaves Cotton, Otto India, IBM,

Compaq, HP and Aeronautical Development Agency.

His project experience encompasses a wide spectrum of industries such as Heavy Industries and

Construction - Coke Ovens, Ore Beneficiation plants, Rolling mills and Chemical plants, textile and last

but not the least Information Technology in both Government and Private Sector.

He retired in 1996 as head of Commercial Wing of ADA, where he was engaged in one of the largest

and most prestigious projects ever undertaken in the country - viz the development of the Light

Combat Air Craft. Post Retirement, he was full time consultant with IBM, Compaq and then with HP.

Presently he is a freelance consultant and Honorary Vice President (Education and Certification) at PMI

Bangalore India Chapter. He had been instrumental in setting up the Chapter program, PMP Quest,

which is the program for training project managers for the PMP certification examination.

He is one of the oldest people to appear for the PMP examination at the age of 63 and got certified.

He is also a former Honorary Editor of the official journal of IIMM and has to his credit a few published

papers on Material Management and Contract Management.

Raghavan S.S.V., PMP


A. Henry Laurence Gantt

(1861-1919) was a mechanical

engineer, management

consultant and industry advisor.

Gantt charts were invented by

him in the second decade of the

20th century to provide a visual

aid to show scheduled and

actual progress of projects.

Accepted as a common-place

project management tool today,

it was quite a radical concept

and an innovation of world-wide

importance in the 1920s. Gantt

charts were first used on large

construction projects like the

Hoover Dam, started in 1931

and the interstate highway

network which started in 1956.

The book “ Organizing for Work”

by Henry Gant is available in

public domain at

http://www.ganttchart.com/Org

anizingforWork.pdf

[source – Internet]

Page 5

“World is Flat” said Thomas

Friedman in his book on

globalization. On the same topic

Mr. N R Narayanamurthy quoted

“I define globalization as

sourcing material from where it

is cheapest, talent from where it

is best available, producing

where it is most cost-effective

and selling where the markets

are -- without being constrained

by national boundaries”. This is

now reality. Walmart is one

example of this reality.

What has changed with

Globalization is the way value is

being delivered to customers.

Companies who want to reach

global markets must design

products and services beyond

the borders. They must

constantly explore new markets

with increasing business

complexity. Despite their size,

they should maintain agility in

adopting changes to avoid

becoming out-dated. They

should constantly adopt newer

technology that simplifies their

operations and helps reach out

to more customers.

It brings an essential shift also

to the way they engage

employees, suppliers and service

providers and the way they

manage technologies. Global

companies have realized

that IT outsourcing which started as a means of

containing IT costs can now deliver much more

capabilities beyond cost reduction.

Cost reduction has become the least reason for

companies to outsource. Companies now

leverage outsourcing to deliver increased

business value. Larger work-force, global talent

pools, 24x7 operations and many more have

become key drivers for outsourcing. According

to Wikipedia® business value is an informal

term that includes all forms of value that

determine the health and well-being of the firm

in the long-run.

You can see the business value drivers that can

benefit from strategic outsourcing approach

(marked by red star).

• Achieve faster time to market for their

products and services to gain competitive

advantage and increase their market share.

• Improve competitive positioning of their

products and services through larger product

development teams.

• Develop sustainability by increasing

resilience of operations; and of course.

Piyush Jain, PMP

PM Article

Larger work-force,

global talent pools,

24x7 operations

and many more

have become key

drivers for

outsourcing.


• Optimize costs by adopting

suitable outsourcing

engagement model.

Most of the times, the companies

are unable to achieve the above

business values under limited

existing arrangements with

outsourcing vendors. The reason

is that the existing arrangements

neither make the vendors

responsible for such outcomes

nor provide them incentives for

achieving the outcomes. If so,

what should companies do for

achieving these objectives?

Most of the time outsourcing fails

to deliver even cost optimization

because the cost of managing

work outweighs the cost

reduction achieved. Companies

should learn to engage

“Partners” to whom they can

transfer higher degree of

responsibility with suitable

returns. The outsourcing

companies must have the scale

and capability to handle such a

relationship.

Partners can no more be

managed by traditional cost

based engagement models like


A. Acquire “Partners” not

“Delivery Boys”

B. Adopt newer engagement

models

Changing Perception of Value

in Outsourcing IT Servicesin Outsourcing IT Services

Changing Perception of Value

6 Page

(d) Mr. Sreenivasulu R. Chittamuru

(e) Mr. Ravi Murthy

(f) Ms. Rama K.

(g) Ms. Padmaja Raghavendra

(h) Mr Binod Malial

(i) Mr. Manish Chandra

(j) Mr. Vilas Kadival

Ms.Valli was presented a special award in recognition of her

contribution to the Management of Chapter volunteer

activities.

PM FOOTPRINTS

On 06 June 2013,

Mr. K Venkatachaliah Babu

spoke on “Effective

Collaboration for Large and

Complex Project Success”

at the PM Footprints. The talk focused on understanding

complex environments from a human network perspective,

collaboration, and a few solution options to address the

barriers. The talk was attended by nearly 50 Members.

On 20th June 2013 Mr.Pradeep C. Senior Manager IT Projects

Global PMO from the Harman International India Pvt Ltd. spoke

on 'PMO – delivering success globally' The talk focused on best

practices on building a lean PMO and Governance in the

context of emerging and growing markets.

PM ENRICH

The second PM Enrich Program

was held on 22 June 2013 at

Hotel Royal Orchid, Manipal

Centre. The topic for the

Program was “INNOVATION

FOR INNOVATORS AND

PROJECT MANAGERS'.

Mr.Sudeendra Kaushik. conducted the one day workshop. The

program was well attended and nearly 22 Project Managers

participated in the program.

PROJECT MANAGERS CONFLUENCE

TCS, in collaboration with PMI, organized a Project Mangement

Confluence at TCS on 24 Jun 2013. The primary objective of

the conference was to share the best practices in industry and

try to get them institutionalized. This forum provided an

opportunity for the Project Management practitioners in TCS to

learn the best-in-class solutions from the industry, develop

their expertise and to showcase the success stories and case

studies from TCS and other companies. On behalf of the PMI

Bangalore India Chapter, Mr Vijay Paul gave a presentation on

the Chapter activities and highlighted the advantages of

enrolling as Chapter members. Nearly 60 members from the

Chapter and 110 from TCS Participated. The TCS team gave a

presentation on “A LARGE INSURANCE PROGRAM CASE

STUDY”. In addition, a presentation on' PROJECT MANAGER'S

ROLE IN A MATRIX ORGANISATION AND CHALLENGES FACED”

was made by Ms. Nandita Rao of CISCO.


Chapter News ... continued from Page 1 Impact of Organization ... continued from Page 3

In our June edition, we had asked you to express your

thoughts in 10-15 words to continue the following sentence

Project Management approach helps in transforming

potential challenges into opportunities …………..

And the best response is..

... and the Winner is Pradeep Chankarachan

“…within a well-defined and predictable framework,

while managing the risks with educated information..”

We like to hear what you think!!

Please complete the sentence below with your

thoughts in 10-15 words and send them to

. The best entry

will win attractive goodies from PMI Bangalore India

Chapter.

This edition's slogan

Please provide your response by 24th July 2013

Chapter will select the best slogan and felicitate the

winner during a Chapter event.

[email protected]

Project management approach helps me to minimize

the problems associated with unclear or changing

requirements by............

Ex: Commitment to self-learning and enhancing

one's skills.

Committed to maintaining good health – morning

jog, exercises and meditation.

Perseverance – Continuous effort, diligence may be

required to complete an activity

Persistence – Endurance and grit to complete the

project.

Patience – Maintain calmness and display maturity &

willingness to endure. One's capacity to endure and

being patient without getting angry or upset is a

sign of a true leader.

Smiling is a great way to make yourself stand out.

Smiling makes you and others feel good! It can help

you see things in a more positive light so smile

often.

Lastly, enjoy working in your project! Being friendly

builds relationships. It enhances any personal

connection and turns an acquaintance or a colleague

into something more meaningful. It helps ease

stress in tense situations. People are often happier

to make more of an effort and learning happens

naturally in a friendly atmosphere.

Celebrate project success happily!

§

§

Ø

Ø

Ø

Ø

v

What does Cloud

Computing mean to Project Managers

the uncertainty and complexity in

delivering different type of projects. Many

unknowns are causing the failure of

Project Managers to deliver faster, better,

cheaper and steadier services.

Cloud computing has immediate appeal to

the business community in that, when

compared to the traditional on-premises

enterprise IT systems, it has the potential

to:

Lower IT operational cost

Deliver much faster IT project

implementation times

Simplify some of the complexities

associated with enterprise IT systems,

Foster innovation through viral projects,

and

Release working capital by moving IT

system's costs from capital to

operational expenditure.

We are seeing a paradigm shift: The

conventional enterprise system

implementation methodology is as below:

Define requirements > specify > build/

buy > implement > maintain

This could change to:

Subscribe > configure > deploy with

cloud-based services

Key Challenges

Project Management is taking a paradigm

shift with the evolution of Cloud based

applications.

With the advent of Cloud Computing,

there is an added need and urgency for a

Page 7

As the new buzz in the industry, Cloud

Computing is envisioned to revolutionize

the way Information Technology will be

procured, implemented and managed.

How will this impact how we do business?

How can a Project Manager prepare for

the upcoming big way? Why is managing a

cloud computing project any different?

What should be the focus when managing

a cloud computing project?

The answer to the above questions is

discussed in the paper in two parts:

Firstly, the types of IT projects that

businesses will work on are changing. A

move to the Cloud requires businesses to

rethink how they do business.

1. More focus will be spent on

requirements and how these

decentralized applications can meet the

business needs of an organization. This

will require business process re-

engineering.

2. Additional time will be spent by the

project manager in building

relationships with vendors such as

Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure,

Salesforce.com, Google and IBM.

Secondly, project management will

become more decentralized. The amount

of information available, and the speed at

which users gain access to it, is

increasing.

'Reforming' Project Management is the key

for India to become a global leader in

delivering variety of cloud computing

projects...Let's prepare ourselves!!

Emerging technologies like cloud

computing have been increasing the


PM Article

Deepak Vijayaragavan, PMP

formalized project management

methodology across

organizations. The successful

delivery of Cloud projects

depend on the Project

Managers, empowered with

project management

frameworks and proven

methodologies combined with

experience. Project Management

acts as catalyst in building the

robust service delivery engine to

deliver faster and cheaper.

Some of the cloud computing

project categories include:

IT strategy and architecture

projects – E.g., Re-architecting

existing architecture into cloud

base solution, Cloud transition

projects etc.

Organizational capability

Improvement project – Develop

Cloud Pricing Models and Cloud

Contract and Revenue Models,

Develop DRP/BCP etc.

Development, Integration and

Migration Projects – SaaS

application development (PaaS),

On Premise to Cloud migration,

Migrate applications to private

cloud etc.

Testing and Validation Projects

- E.g. Testing and validation of

Cloud Integrations/Migrations,

SaaS application development

(PaaS), Performance Testing on

Cloud


What does Cloud

Computing mean to Project Managers

PM Article

8 Page


PMI Bangalore India Chapter# 13, Suryastan Apartments, Andree Road, Shanthi Nagar,Bangalore - 560 027, Karnataka, India

[email protected] +91 80 6583 3671, +91 80 2211 5772, +91 98868 14078http://www.pmibangalorechapter.org

ValueWorks; [email protected]

PM Essence

Disclaimer

“The mission of PM Essence is to facilitate the exchange of information among professionals in the field of

project and program management, provide them with practical tools and techniques, and serve as a

forum for discussion of emerging trends and issues in project management. PM Essence is YOUR

Newsletter and Bangalore Chapter welcomes story ideas and/or suggestions to make it still better. More

information can be found on the Chapter's website.”

All articles in PM Essence are the views of the authors and not necessarily those of PMI or PMI Bangalore

India Chapter. Unless otherwise specified, it is assumed that the senders have done due diligence in

getting necessary copyright and official clearance in respect of all letters and articles sent to PM Essence

for publication. PMI Bangalore India Chapter is not responsible for loss, damage, or any other injury to

unsolicited manuscripts or other material.

“Time & Material” or “Fixed Price”.

Adopt newer engagement models

that transfer more responsibility to

deliver with commensurate

returns. Adopt engagement

models based on value delivered

rather than work performed. Make

them partners to outcomes. Make

them an inherent part of your

business.

Establish clear ways of

determining how the

measurements related to the

engagement deliver any of the

business impacts for which the

outsourcing arrangement was

entered into. Define Risk-Reward

matrices at all levels from service

delivery to business outcomes

with clear correlation and

contribution factors at each stage

of measurement.

In Conclusion, the road ahead?

Outsourcing is now matured to the

extent that it is not an option, but

an essentiality that clients need

for their business. But to truly

gain the benefits from outsourcing

in the days ahead, both clients

and their outsourcing partners

need to up the ante for enhanced

collaboration to achieve higher

value returns on their business.

Measurement of success for

business will not be restricted to

value-for-money based cost game,

but rather will be determined by

the all-round values client derives

from its outsourcing partnerships.

C. Define ways of measuring

Business Value delivered

Changing Perception ... continued from Page 5

What does cloud ... continued from Page 7

Infrastructure projects – E.g. Data migration from on premise data centers to cloud

data centers, Remote Management of servers, virtualized access to servers, databases.

Product Development Projects – E.g. PaaS, Integration Projects, Develop Enterprise

Applications, Mobile Applications.

Meeting the Challenges

Cloud projects are different than traditional projects in many ways. There are many

specific skills that a project manager needs to acquire to deliver cloud projects

successfully.

New Cloud Skills for project managers / Team are summarized below :

New tailored project life cycles and methodologies

Country law and regulatory compliance practices

Security standards

Cloud provider agreements, SLAs and Penalties

Cloud Based Architecture technical skills like Hadoop, GridGain, Multicasting etc

Encourage Team Collaboration using WIKIs and other collaborative tools

Optimization of infrastructure

Information sharing between delivery team members, customer team members

and Executive management

Use of Rapid dashboard info on portfolio of projects

Testing on cloud and challenges

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

The Lighter Side of PM

PMI Newsletter July · 2017. 8. 17. · Henry Laurence Gantt (1861-1919) was a mechanical engineer, management consultant and industry advisor. Chapter. [email protected]

Documents