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.