I like reading, although I must confess that my breadth of reading is not much. I am slow to move on to new genres, topics or authors and do not mind reading one book more than once. I was nestled in with the third volume of Miss Marple omnibus for like the n+1th time the other day when these lines caught my interest – “…I have learnt one thing about a man who I wish to employ. He has to have a flair. A flair for the particular job I want him to do. It is not knowledge, it is not experience. The only word that describes it is flair.” This got me thinking “Do we, as project managers, also need to have a flair for the role of a project manager? Something that goes beyond our knowledge of say, the best practices or the tools and techniques of project management, something more than just experience of handling and successfully delivering projects? And if yes, then what is it that we need to have a flair for?

Some pointers that readily answer that question – a flair for getting along with people. Because at the end of the day, it is only people who deliver projects and people come in a wide variety of personalities, attitudes and moods. No book can ever hope to teach us the technique for getting the work done of every person type who we encounter and no amount of experience in handling projects will guarantee that we do not meet one or more people who tend to be ‘difficult’ and therefore who need to be managed in a certain way. It is our innate ability to empathize and win the person over that ensures that the project goes on with no major hiccups on that front.

A flair to ’see the future’ maybe…an ability to determine the prognosis of the current task or situation as well as any unforeseen circumstances that may come its way and therefore need to be managed in a certain way. True, experience over similar projects does provide us with a sixth sense by which we are able to do this, but let’s say, tomorrow we move to new domain, a new company or a new country where the situation may be totally different. Even in such a scenario, it is an added bonus if we are able to utilize our basic flair of gauging the entire scene and making efficient use of project resources. Related to this is the flair for being able to accept that bad things happen. Despite the team’s best efforts and the individual’s own super-efficiency, things do tend to change and change for the worse. A project manager can ill-afford to lose her cool in the face of adversity or flee at the first sign of trouble. Rather she needs to have the flair to accept that things have gone wrong and they now need to be corrected. A sense of detachment of oneself from the success or failure of the project helps a great deal in such situations.

What happens if an individual lacks the flair to be a project manager? Does that make her a bad project manager? Not necessarily, I think. A manager who tends to get nervous when things go wrong may still recover her cool and steer the project back on track. A manager who is unable to get along with a certain person may be able to use her authority and influence to get another person capable of doing the job. But notice that there is a tiny blip associated with these workaround solutions, a small feeling of negativity, tension or disappointment. There is a short moment in time when we are bound to feel uncomfortable with what we are doing to the extent of not even wanting to do it. I guess the absence of the flair does not make an individual less successful, but the presence of the same certainly makes the job more enjoyable!

One of the earliest lessons of our project management classes teaches us to distinguish between projects & operations. Projects are finite, we are told, unlike operations which comprise existing procedures repeated over time. We are given to understand that projects create unique outcomes which are missing in operational activities. All fine, I wonder, but is it possible that in our enthusiasm to engender “unique” products or services, we are ignoring the downstream use or implementation of the same? The proof of the pudding, it is said, is in the taste. Are we giving due attention to our project ingredients to ensure that not only is the project pudding ready in time, but that it actually tastes good?

These thoughts were triggered while driving along the streets of Hyderabad a few days back. The congested junctions in the city were recently equipped with flash cameras with the intention of capturing images of individuals and vehicles that violated traffic rules. What was done with these images or whether anything was photographed at all is another topic to discuss, but at least the intermittent flash ensured that bewildered two wheelers stopped behind the Stop line or prevented certain vehicles from screeching through the last few seconds of a Go light. A month or so later, today the cameras seem to be non-functional and the chaos appears to have returned to the junction jungle. No device or stratagem is available to keep the vehicles in check with the result that these congested junctions have gone back to demonstrating how “might is right”. As I try and maneuver my vehicle through this mayhem, I wonder, whether we should classify the ‘project’ of setting up the cameras at these junctions a success? Was the project definition so narrow that it only visualized the setting up of cameras with little or no attention being paid to the subsequent use of the devices and the associated system? What happens to the tax rupees that go into a public project such as this if they cannot yield any sustainable benefit for the public itself? Is this the same situation in most of our projects, are we also simply taking a narrow vision of the final outcome of the project? Are we able to see beyond the product/service created, into its actual use, operation and maintenance? No time to ponder over this now, need to get through this junction with my car and myself unharmed!

A widely known but rarely acknowledged truth is that business and IT are two parts of the same whole – if one is at the heart of every organization’s strategies and long-term objectives, the other is the brain that drives the company towards achieving the same through intelligent tools and techniques. The coordinated effort of both is crucial in the realization of the goals as set by the business body. It is therefore logical to believe that all projects including IT endeavors are driven and supported by a strong business need and belief and that there is hardly any scope for any unproductive conflict between the two; in reality, this is not very often true. What starts as a united effort soon peters out to just “another project that was envisioned to do wonders” and almost everyone is eager to wash their hands off it at the earliest.

The primary reason that contributes to this business-IT misalignment is the lack of or limited understanding of the role essayed and challenges faced by the other party. It is human nature, after all, to look at every situation, every individual from his or her own perspective. Hence while business users may be perceived to be people who do the same job, day in and out and “hardly understand technology” by the IT team, they in turn may think of the IT consultants as “geeks who sit in cubicles throughout the day and churn out fruitless lines of code or systems without actually understanding what is actually needed”.

Almost every practicing project manager will agree that business requirements are seldom simple. Business users seem to speak from 20,000 feet above the air and almost always want the sun, moon, the stars and everything else that comes in between. When these requirements are actually translated to technical specifications, it is well possible that only a fraction of the wants are actually achievable. It is crucial that both business users and the IT team arrive at a concerted understanding of what is actually required, what can be achieved and how that is likley to be achieved. A pictoral representation, say in the form of a WBS can help everyone visualize the work required and the final end product. In absolutely green field endeavors or highly complex systems, the team may decide to adopt prototyping and close customer partnership as recommended by the Agile methodology and thus assist in easier understanding of the project requirement and deliverables.

Just as the difference in backgrounds results in differences in understanding project outcomes between the business and the technology team, it also shapes their project management methodologies differently. Take project schedule for instance. The end users are typically interested in knowing what they are getting and when and a high level schedule that describes these milestones is sufficient to provide them this information. The project team on the other hand needs a more detailed timetable that highlights even the minutest detail as well as takes care of inter dependencies and hand offs. A project manager therefore needs to be able to cater to both these tastes – the high level, result oriented needs of the business and the detailed, task oriented focus for the team members.

Business – IT alignment acquires an even greater significance in recent times as companies grow as much through mergers and acquisitions today as they do through normal organic growth. The data associated with the organization multiplies by leaps and bounds as does the IT system landscape. Pretty soon, there arises the need to either streamline or upgrade the vast range of disparate systems which may turn into an increasingly difficult project. Business users are typically used to accessing the information in one particular way from one particular system and in one particular format. More often than not, they may be reluctant to accept the new process of data submission and retrieval; it is after all human nature to resist anything new. In such a situation, the role of project manager, the IT team as well as the senior management becomes highly crucial in easing the process of change as far as possible. An open and logical approach to the entire process ensures that the organizational needs of the project are met with as minimal heartburn as possible.

Alignment between different departments needs to be driven from the top. The senior management in the organization needs to build an atmosphere of trust and partnership where co operation and diversity are desired and appreciated while hostility and mistrust is not tolerated. Meetings, knowledge sharing sessions as well as fun events like parties, games across normal departmental boundaries helps individuals understand and appreciate the nuances of the other parties’ work and the challenges it faces. This, in turn, facilitates co ordination in project teams as well as serves as a shot in the arm for human factors such as motivation and a sense of belonging. It also widens the know how of the individual team members who now can appreciate both the business as well as the technical aspect of things and thus is a huge investment in team development.

Participative governance as envisioned above also needs to be extended to parties external to the organization. No project today is executed by one person, one team, one company or even in one country. Parity in behavior towards all the stakeholders in a project, internal and external, is crucial to break down the information silos that we tend to build and this speeds up the project success. Display of a sense of inclusion and appreciation, equality in behavior and regular information exchange also portray the organization in a more mature light which does wonders for the company brand image.

I was recently involved in planning and organizing a program here at Hyderabad and this gave me a chance to interact with different individuals interested in attending the same. Innumerable phone calls, emails and meetings later, I can safely claim to know enough to dispense advice (yes, it’s free) on how one should choose a project management training program (here I restrict my thoughts to classroom courses, e-learning programs have their own set of “how to’s”).

Firstly, before you even talk to a second individual about the training, ask yourself why you wish to go for it. Think out and maybe even write down your objectives – perhaps you want to clear a certification exam, maybe you are interested in learning new concepts or possibly seeking a career change, maybe it is a culmination of more than one reason. Now when you come across a training program, look for its objectives. What does it claim to provide? Is there a match between the two? This is crucial; even the slightest mismatch means avoidable wastage of time, effort and money, not just for you but also for the other party.

Once you establish why you wish to go for the project management training, you need to employ all possible means to search for associations and organizations that can service your need. Ensure that you do your homework on the training that you wish to undergo. Read up on all the parties that are involved in the delivery of the program. There is an abundance of information on practically every topic under the sun today; make sure that you scratch more than the surface of these sources. This yields many benefits. Not only does it provide you enough information to discuss and ask the right questions, but also it increases the confidence of the training provider and makes the entire interaction easier and more productive.

When you talk to the training provider, there are some questions that you can simply NOT miss asking – faculty, audience and testimonials. Firstly who is the faculty member? Many a time, the program brochure is extremely loquacious about the institute, the program and the course material but silent about the person delivering the same. This is unacceptable in every way; even the best of training material is unhelpful, even dangerous if not interpreted rightly. It is the instructor who can transform the bookish concepts into thoughts and ideas that you can relate to and even apply. By virtue of past experience, he / she can simplify the process of learning and maybe even make it fun. The next thing to check is the target audience, your classmates in the program. This is vital since learning occurs as much from the teacher as from the collective knowledge of your fellow professional members. Evaluating the profile of the target audience helps you validate if the program can provide you the intellectual platform that you need. Lastly ask for the list of the client base of the training provider. Check their testimonials, if possible contact them directly. It may not provide a fool-proof means of evaluation, but it definitely helps in making an informed decision.

Remember the adage – “All that glitters is not gold”? This holds true even in this case. Do not be misled by freebies and perquisites. These only divert your attention from what should be your main and only point of concern – the training delivery. Ensure that you have all the information concerning this and only then look at the additional benefits. Finally remember that training is no easy job, nor is it a mere monologue. Most of us have been guilty of using training programs as a means to escape our normal routine and so obviously do not look at spending too much time or money for the same. In today’s world however, every small initiative is a project and so every individual is a project manager. A cavalier attitude or a lazed out approach to the program that attempts to educate you in this vital discipline can not only mean a lost investment but also spell bad news for your professional career.

The dawn of a new year is the time to make plans for the future. Businesses draw up strategies for future goals, governments plan for new initiatives and individuals make up their personal and professional agendas. Despite our best efforts and most well thought out plans, the future is always one up on us with its own plans and tactics. At such times, it is not unnatural to wish for some means to “see” the future, know what it holds. I know it is impossible to do so with bulls eye accuracy, but given the contemplation and design that our plans involve, one can at least attempt a calculated guesstimate. Take the discipline of Project Management itself; as practicing professionals, what do we think is the future of this line of work? Here are my thoughts.

Contrary to the science of Project Management which is still in its infancy, projects have been around for quite some time. Projects have been planned and executed by man even before recorded history. Of course, the scale and complexity of these has increased over time and it is safe to assume that this will continue to be the case even in the coming years. As human beings, we are constantly in competition with ourselves, challenging ourselves to do better, faster, higher or cheaper. I believe that this race will still hold ground in the near future.

In the past, the focus was in getting the best of that is available, keeping competitors and vendors on their toes by liaising with various parties and minimizing risk through continuous competitive bidding and building redundancy in the system. But increased costs of maintenance and focus on efficient utilization of bandwidth has now shifted the advantage to integrated solution providers. Businesses will no longer go shopping for different piece meal solutions. Companies are more and more looking at partners who can offer a complete suite of applications for their business needs. Given this fact, project managers and performing organizations will increasingly have to widen their service offering or seek out and forge partnerships with entities that can provide competencies that they are unable to develop close at hand.

Volatility in the global landscape and recent recessions will impose stricter criteria on project selection. The process will mainly be driven by two factors – the criticality of the investment and the sustainability of the value it is expected to provide. No more will short term endeavors that provide short term benefits be the way to go. The ends will more than ever justify the means; project managers will necessarily need to demonstrate that their projects provide value and provide value over a longer duration of time, over repeated use, over a wider base of users and over a more adverse situation than the current.

Project governance is an area that will assume pivotal significance. Single person sponsorships are on their way out and management by committees will take its place. Request for Proposals from clients now contain questions on Project Management Office experience as well as other areas of project control. In the light of increasing regulatory mandates, the “how” of project execution will be scrutinized to great detail. This translates to a metamorphosis in the basic idea of project execution; no longer will managers be able to get away saying “I got the job done”. They will now have to account for how they got it done as well as why they got it done the way that they did.

The changing times are slowly blurring the lines between the roles of a sales personnel, a project manager and a relationship manager. The future project managers will be expected to be equally conversant with sales techniques used in clinching a deal as well as in engagement management principles of customer retention. Gone are the days when a project manager was only concerned with the delivery of the project on time and within budget. Sales and marketing will soon become a part of project management and a project manager will need to graduate to the role of an engagement manager.

Writing this blog entry was at the back of my mind for a few weeks now; however other seemingly more important activities vied for and won over my attention and hence the delay. By now, the comments on the conduct of this year’s CAT – Common Admission Test for the most reputed B schools in the country have ranged from grief, anger, harangues to sober confessions and regrets. What I find remarkable is that the same staff and institutions that offer courses and executive development programs on project management could mismanage a project of such scale and significance! Could this be an example of the classic “shade under the lamp”? Is this a sign to the IIMs and other stakeholders involved to recognize, appreciate and imbibe the true essence of the discipline of project management?

I have very often said that we are surrounded by projects, almost every activity that we take up is a project. But perhaps no other task fits the definition as closely as the conduct of the CAT exam. And like any other project, it includes different process areas that need to be handled appropriately to contribute to the overall success of the event. The authorities and the students alike are pros at the paper based version of the test. However the movement to a new mode of execution is a first for all the parties involved. A Big Bang approach to this transition is a sure shot recipe for disaster. Who is to say what surprises might jump out at the authorities and the students on the D day? Surely, not all of these could be pleasant. As is done in the software and technical world, a project that involves a shift as huge and as basic as the mode of execution itself could have been carried out in a phased manner. There are hundreds of coaching centers of varying sizes across the country where thousands of students train for the exam. Not only would a “test phase” conducted in these centers help uncover hidden problems, but also would have served as a crucial means to win over the support of these stakeholders in this new endeavor.

An initiative as novel and as scrutinized as the administration of the computerized CAT is bound to be fraught with risks. Careful identification, analysis and mitigation of these risks is mandatory; after all, not only are we talking about the futures of 2.4 lakh students, but also the respect and admiration of one of the most significant events in the national academic community. Mitigation strategies, however have been conspicuous by their absence in this case. Glitches that surfaced on day one of the exam continued unabated and affected close to 8,000 students from across the country. This clearly demonstrates that the authorities had no plan in place to manage any eventuality that might take place. While they do concede and regret that exam aspirants have been affected, they are quick to point out that an endeavor this complex was bound to have some teething problems and should be treated as a case study for such initiatives in the future. Sure, this is a case study; but can we really afford such an expensive case study? Individuals who attempt the CAT put in months and years of effort into the process. A setback such as this plays havoc on their minds and spirits. And the lesser said about the dent it causes to the reputation of the best B schools in the country, the better.

The CAT exam or the system that it is administered on may be impersonal, but the administrators can hardly afford to be apathetic to the sentiments of the student and parent community. And just as in any other project, people issues such as communication plays a very significant role here. Even the worst of calamities can be assuaged through timely, open and sympathetic communication. However reports of dropped information regarding exam schedule, cancellation and rescheduling during CAT 2009 reveals a huge hiatus in this area on the part of the authorities. Complaints regarding names missing at the exam center, problems with identification at the time of entering the hall, delays in announcement of cancellation or rescheduling have all been met with silence. Outstation students and their parents had no clue about the confusion that awaited them and hence were rightly miffed over the lack of communication. Some of the students have reported that none of the authorities present at the center addressed them after the cancellation of the exam. A detailed plan taking into account communication needs of outstation aspirants, prompt requirements in the event of a problem could have saved the day here. Also a sympathetic attitude demonstrated during a short address to the students would not only have assuaged the disappointed students but also shown the authorities in a more positive and responsible light.

The first of its kind PM Conference in India was held between November 13th and 15th in Hyderabad. The turnout was impressive – close to 700 dynamic professionals participating and interacting among themselves as well as with the likes of Mr. Jagdish Khattar, Mr. Som Mittal, Mr. Fredrick Harren and Dr. Prahlada. Great ambiance, great food and although at times, the air-conditioning threatened to freeze the marrow in your bones, great facilities. But perhaps the most profound feature of the conference was the theme – Unleash the Power of Project Management for a Better Tomorrow. Honestly, it was refreshing and enlightening to discuss the application of Project Management beyond the usual industry, client and performing organization domain; to consider its use in making a difference to our individual daily lives as well as those around us; to moot its relevance in building a better society and a better country.

So here are my thoughts on some of the projects that need to be undertaken to do exactly what the theme suggests – unleash project management for the greater good. These are in no particular order; I simply believe that these are areas which badly need attention and also the process-oriented approach advocated by project management. Space restrictions and other considerations prevent me from going into the nuances of responsibility allocation or means of execution, but I would love to discuss these with you, in case you are interested.

Provision of safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities is one project that I would love to see taken up. Despite best efforts by the government and community organizations, the situation in the country in these two areas still leaves a lot to be desired. Conventional approaches have made little headway, so these need to be supplanted by other innovative projects. Community consciousness needs to be sparked in these areas; I had once read an article where an entire village in north India stepped up to the task of setting up proper sanitation facilities simply because the erstwhile situation had become too embarrassing for their own comfort. Promotion of water supply and sanitation through micro-credit has met with success in the state of Tamil Nadu. This concept needs to be extended to other pockets too.

Project management is probably the only doctrine that can be applied both at the professional and at the personal level. It talks of approaching every initiative in a disciplined manner, taking all possible scenarios into account and working towards a definite goal in time, costs, quality and such other considerations. If we are to develop a better tomorrow, this regulation needs to be made a part of the lives of the future citizens of the country. A project to incorporate the basics of project management in education of young children can serve the purpose of securing the nation’s posterity.

As a nation, we are serious about being considered along the same lines as the other countries that are popularly referred to as “developed nations”. In addition to other steps being taken in this regard, I believe that there is an urgent need to improve the traffic situation in our cities. If we are to hope to stand in the same stead as some of our neighbors, we need to adopt a two-pronged focus to alleviate our city surface transport. One would be in the area of infrastructure – provision of safe and dependable means of citizen passage. Flyovers are only a part of the solution to improve vehicular passage; in most cases, they only move the bottleneck from one area to another. A reliable, mass rapid transit network can not only do much more in reducing the pressure on our already overburdened roads in the major cities, but also provide a safe and convenient means of transit to the people. The second focus needs to be on traffic education. How many of us have not complained about the poor traffic sense prevailing among the drivers in India? How many of us have read or even heard about the Motor Vehicles Act and know what it entails? How many of us are even aware of “right of way” or “lane driving”? A project undertaken to raise the knowledge of basic traffic etiquette will go a long way in improving the lives of this country’s citizens.

Integration management forms a key knowledge area in the overall framework of project management. What this basically implies is that it is not enough to individually manage costs or risks or project schedules; the collective management of all of these is required to complete the project, only by the integration of each of these areas with the others can the project be deemed to be completed and successful. Sadly, this coordination seems totally absent in the city authorities. One arm of the civic department functions independently, almost oblivious of the existence of the others. None of these units seem to appreciate the need to involve others who are crucial stakeholders in their particular endeavor or evaluate the impact of their disconcerted working on the plight of the citizens or be bothered about the huge revenue loss caused by such ad hoc method of working. There is the need for a project to establish a link between the different public departments like roads, telephone and water so that the inconvenience as well as the loss caused by this misalignment can be minimized.

Project management is no esoteric concept; it is the application of certain tools, standards and simple common sense to all initiatives that we take up in our lives. Whether it be the development of a crucial missile program or the planning of a vacation, project management provides the discipline and process-oriented approach to execute the same. Such method and regulation does not always guarantee success, but it sure reduces the chances of failure.

Corporate governance has increasingly captured the attention of the professional world in these times. Concerns in this area are hot on the heels of considerations of how “green” the organization & its activities are and what is being done to minimize its adverse impact on the environment. And just as initiatives taken at the corporate level to address global warming concerns have an impact on individual projects and project managers, so also an understanding and appreciation of the organizational concerns on accountability and transparency is crucial to today’s project managers. Given recent reported irregularities in the national and international corporate scene and the resultant system of legal and regulatory checks that has been instituted in most countries, businesses and individual managers can ill afford to be caught by surprise in this area.

A cursory study of the main requirements of corporate governance reveals an increasing stress on more explicit, clear and accurate representation of financial and such other information. For even the remotely projectized organization, this implies the communication of project data thus establishing a direct link between key project management information and corporate governance. It would not be incorrect to say that project communication management is the process area that is most affected by the stringent needs of corporate governance. As a result of strict regulatory mandates, senior management and audit teams are increasingly “interested” in individual projects; hence the project manager needs to be doubly sure that the information being shared to all stakeholders is consistent, complete and most importantly, accurate.

Effective corporate governance also aims to ensure that no project that clearly exhibits signs of failure be allowed to continue into the next phase without clear issue resolution. As a result, most projectized organizations impose reporting formats that allow easy determination of the project performance. A format that is increasingly being used is the “Traffic Light” representation where green, yellow or red color is used to indicate if the project is doing well, needs attention or is headed towards disaster (I shamefacedly admit that when I first saw this format, I decided it was one of those “new fangled” ideas of my boss; it is only now that I recognize its popularity and ease of use). In order to ensure uniformity in reporting across the enterprise, managements insist on reports in a format that they are familiar and comfortable with. In some cases, the Project Management Office (PMO) implements guidelines regarding information presentation and distribution that all managers need to adhere to. This may present a deviation from the project manager’s usual “way” of doing things. However she needs to quickly fall in line and comply with the guidelines laid down across the enterprise.

In addition to project communication management, corporate governance also shares a relation with some of the other process areas. Corporate governance monitors the use of organizational resources that are normally shared across projects. Use of large amounts of resource or inconsistency in usage may sound an alarm to the audit team. Project and portfolio managers need to ensure that their resource usage is in line with the governance guidelines. Likewise regulations, such as the Sarbanes Oxley act, require that organizations implement an Enterprise Risk Management Framework. This translates to a more formal and frequent approach towards project risk management than some managers are wont to display today. Frequent and more rigid & detailed audits are here to stay; internal audits scrutinize every inch of the project to ensure that the firm does not receive so much as a slap on the wrist from external auditors. Another increasing point of focus for project managers in the light of corporate accountability requirements is to ensure that their projects align to strategic objectives and goals. Rather than focusing on her individual project, today’s project manager needs to consciously evaluate the impact of her project on the overall business strategies.

Which leads us to a crucial transformation in the role of a project manager today. No longer can a manager narrow her vision to the task in hand and concentrate on its completion oblivious to the bigger picture outside. Corporate governance entails that she be completely aware of the business environment at large, recognize how and where her project fits in, know what information can be shared or solicited and what cannot and understand the legal and ethical implications of deviation from the guidelines. Project managers of most performing organizations handle initiatives for a variety of clients across multiple business domains. Failure to understand the nuances of corporate governance in the client domain or an inability to recognize its impact on her individual project will spell disaster to the client, the performing organization and worst – the individual.

I recently attended this training on Sales Advantage conducted jointly by PMI, India and Dale Carnegie Training. It was a long time since I had been a part of a classroom setting and I shamefacedly admit that there were moments when my attention wandered. Luckily the capable delivery by the facilitator and the stimulating discussion in the group steered my focus back to the session. But the most inspiring moment, almost my “ah moment” was the conference on how I, as a training provider, am contributing to the returns of my client organization. My contribution to the client’s returns? How on earth does that even take place? Until then, I was convinced that I was providing a training program to the client- that was it. A simple but effective training program.

What I had totally missed out on was seeing the bigger picture, taking the story a bit further. How does one decide if my training program is effective or not? Obviously by measuring its impact, the changes that it engenders in the participants against some set goals. These goals are no doubt a part of a wider organizational strategy and their evaluation takes into account the effort invested in order to attain them. So if my training program successfully routes the participating individuals towards the goals, then I have most definitely contributed to organization’s performance!

It was indeed amazing how this simple realization had got past me; it was equally exciting when the truth dawned on me. We all know the necessity and the advantages of having a broad vision, but more often than not, we forget to do so. Amid the mundane daily routine of meeting schedules and adhering to budgets and attending to half a dozen other purportedly important things, we slip to focusing only on the current time, the task at hand and the result that it will yield. What gets ignored is the analysis and realization of where my task fits into the global scheme of things, into the bigger picture. What difference, if any at all, am I making to a wider audience, a diverse profession, a deeper need.

Coming back to the real significance of project management training, a closer look at the different aspects covered reveals that the topics are actually aligned to principles of general management – finance, HR, operations. Thus these programs not only train individuals to become better project managers, they actually groom them into tomorrow’s business leaders. Further constant training ensures constant improvement and innovation. Over time, even the most mature of professionals may turn into “a frog in the well”. Having displaced the ability to see the bigger picture, he / she may be content, even possessive about their performance. Training on new ideas and techniques forces them to question and evaluate their performance as well as come up with better and more efficient way of doing things.

Sadly during tough economic times, training initiatives are among the first to be axed. Organizations begin to cut corners in their attempts to derive more from the same and therefore either defer or worse, do away with training and development programs. Instead this time can be effectively used to build the organizational repository of skills and expertise needed to carry the enterprise forward when conditions improve. It is proven that organizations that maintain a consistent focus on training and development not only fare better in the market but are actually chosen by individuals as a preferred place of employment. Any organization developing strategies for long term sustainability will want to ensure its employees are well equipped for the uncertainties ahead. Project management training fits the bill.

I have been in the IT industry like forever. All my career highs & lows, all my professional achievements & misses have taken place in this domain. Over the years of my association with some of the strongest Indian brands in this field, I have worked & delivered projects following the Waterfall model. As you are probably already aware, this is practically the cornerstone of the software industry, a phased process going from requirements specification, design, development to review & testing and deployment. From an academic perspective, we were educated about other development methodologies like the Agile method of software development and project management, but on the shop floor, we stuck to the tried & tested phase wise model. Recent curiosity spurred me to learn more about the Agile methodology. Thus enlightened, I began wondering why the Agile model of project management has not witnessed greater acceptance in the IT or the overall professional community.

Traditional project management draws a great deal from the construction and manufacturing industries. A part by part approach is crucial in these domains and most of the time, the preceding phase feeds its successor. Given this, it is desirable to plan out the entire project upfront in great detail at the very onset of the work. Such a plan can exactly state what features and what tasks are planned, say six months or a year down the line. Typically such predictive project planning includes a change approval & control mechanism to ensure that only the most critical changes go through. Such a rigid model leaves little scope for the constant adaptability which is the key feature of Agile methodologies.

Hold that thought for just a minute. Haven’t most business leaders repeatedly stressed the need for organizations to constantly innovate & adapt to the environment? Do we not all believe that change is inevitable and the smart ones are those that can at best anticipate change or at worst accept it and modify their workings accordingly? So why are we ruling out Agile methodologies altogether? It is common knowledge that no process is singularly suited for project management. In our daily lives, we constantly make choices based on the situation at hand – should I take the bus or drive down, should we launch brand A now or three months later? So why not apply a similar analysis to our choice of management style taking the best of both methodologies depending on the project needs and on the ground situation?

So how do we marry traditional management principles with Agile methodologies? Again, the decision depends on your situation at hand and may differ from what I say here or even between your own different projects. However a common complaint is that Agile methodologies breed an atmosphere of chaos. The discipline of iterative development core to this stream of thought strikes at the very heart of the established philosophy of project management which assumes increased control results in increased order and that rigid procedures are required to regulate change. And names such as eXtreme Programming, one of the many Agile methodologies, do little to help the situation! Before you panic and discard this line of thought completely, ask yourself “How critical is this project? What are the needs of the customer?” If it is a known product that your team has built before and detailed procedures are available for the same, maybe its easier to follow the traditional path. If the customer wants a detailed sketch of what he is going to get when, that is what you have to give him. If on the other hand, it is a new product and the customer needs to experience it before he can decide what he wants, successive iterations may help define the product quicker than an elaborate requirement solicitation phase.

The world has never been as small as it is today. Most of our work is carried out in large geographically dispersed teams. Months pass before team members even see each other as development continues within the confines of a cubicle. Also most communication today is need based and either electronically enabled or via the telephone reducing the need for face to face interaction. My work day could have ended when my client gets into his office. After the initial phase of requirement solicitation, I probably interact with the client only periodically giving him the status of the different deliverables. So how does one apply the Agile methodology where daily face to face communication is the norm in this situation? How does one accommodate roles such Product Owner, a dedicated and co located customer representative for each agile team? Our project teams may be large and spread across the world. But even within these, we do have smaller co located groups that carry out one particular function or work on one feature. What is to prevent them from interacting on a daily basis? Basic communication theory suggests that choice of email as the communication medium is best suited for broadcasting information. In case of discussions or feedback, face to face conversation is the better option. Even if the user cannot be involved in the development full time, they can definitely plan for their presence in discussing prioritization of deliverables and during testing.

Perhaps the greatest roadblock to the acceptance of the Agile philosophy is the human factor. Quick adjustment to changes requires the team to be extremely knowledgeable. This is far from the ground reality that most of our projects are staffed with people who have the basic know how and are smart enough to learn the rest in the course of their work (or so we hope!) . Expectation of a quick turn around from them would be foolhardy. And even if some stroke of luck brings a fully qualified team to our project, where does that leave us project managers? We are used to the role of a task master, laying down elaborate plans and telling each person exactly what to do. If the team manages its own plans with the customer, where are we to go? The answer is in a concept taught at most business schools – the difference between a manager and a leader. The answer is that we need to evolve into being leaders from being managers. Because every project needs a leader, one who can inspire the team, who can stay focused on the final outcome & promote the team to collaboratively work towards the same. Once the team starts performing on its own, not only is the risk due to absences and attritions minimized, but also the manager is free to concentrate on higher goals.