Consulting Skills For Project Managers PRAKALP - 2010 Annual Edition

MUMBAI
From Good to Great
"Tangential thinking
is when you add
the question of “why”
to lateral thinking.
When you have
the courage to question
linear and lateral thought -
you arrive at possibilities
that the world takes time
to comprehend...."
Hari Kumar
Partner and Managing Director - Deloitte U.S. India
Prakalp - PMI Mumbai Chapter Journal

Volume 12 - Issue 1 : January 2010
PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE - Mumbai Chapter
CONTENTS
Page 1 From the desk of the President
Page 1 Message from the Chief Editor
Page 2 From good to great
MUMBAI CHAPTER Page 9 Measuring the Intangible value of HR
Page 11 Transition from Project Manager to CXO
Page 12 Consulting Skills for Project Manager
Page 13 Initial Mobilisation & Infra Development
Page 16 Experience of handling a greenfield project
Page 18 Managing Project - the PMI Way
“To be recognized as the Page 19 How PM is important in troubled Economy
organization of choice by Page 20 Operation Succesful, Patient Died
evangelizing Project Page 22 Greater than Yourself
Management”. Page 23 Knowledge Transfer - A PM view
Page 26 Recruiting the right candidate
Board Members
President Tejas Sura - president@pmimumbaichapter.org
VP Finance Chandrashekhar Joshi - finance@pmimumbaichapter.org
VP Communications R V Joshi - communications@pmimumbaichapter.org
VP Certification Training Sharad Harale - certification@pmimumbaichapter.org
VP Branches Rakesh Gupta - branches@pmimumbaichapter.org
ß
Evangelize project Management
VP Volunteer Development Hari Thapiyal - volunteer@pmimumbaichapter.org
across industry, academia, VP PMP Club Yagna B - pmpclub@pmimumbaichapter.org
community and government. VP Publications Kummar Vaalsalam - publications@pmimumbaichapter.org
VP Programs Zubin Kika - programs@pmimumbaichapter.org
ß
Provide a forum for project VP Corporate Relations Madhav Prabhu - corporate@pmimumbaichapter.org
management professionals to
List of Executive Committee Members
promote the principles and Rajesh Rupani - Publications
ethical standards of PMI. Nilima Prabhu - Publications
Pradeep Sonawane - Programs
ß
Promote networking among Amithanand D’silva - Communications
professionals, sharing project Gautam Gangoli - Communications
Sudhir Garg - Communications
experiences and best practices, Sunil Shetty - Communications
imparting training and enabling Mitra Wani - Awards
PMI certifications and ultimately Vikas Jain - Branches
Anand Rao - NGO Training
enhancing quality of life.
Harish Nair - Branches
Yagna Boorada - PMP Club
ß
Provide infrastructural facilities
Munnawar Sharifi - Interior Committee for new office
like library, portal & knowledge
Disclaimer
repositories The information contained in this document represents the views of individual writers on the issues discussed as of the date of
publication. It should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of PMI Mumbai Chapter, and PMI Mumbai Chapter
cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented in this publication.
This Journal is for informational purposes only.
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from the desk of the President

Dear Prakalp Follower,
It has been a fantastic year for the Mumbai Chapter. There have been a number of achievements
worthy of mention and it is my pleasure to present the highlights of the past year. The work on the
chapter owned office cum training premises was completed & the premises should go into operation
very soon. The chapter had the highest Membership count increase in the Region, approaching a
figure of 900. In fact it was one of the only 2 chapters that showed a growth in Membership indicating
high satisfaction of Members. The satisfaction survey conducted by the chapter in September 2009
also showed similar indications of high membership satisfaction in almost all aspects. The chapter has
created a Membership portfolio that will further enhance membership value.
The chapter representatives received the PMI's Component of the Year Award - Category II 2009 at a grand ceremony in
Orlando, FL, USA. The chapter was the first in the region to submit the mandatory Strategic Alignment Scorecard (SAS) to PMI.
The chapter was represented at 3 Global PMI Leadership Institute Meetings by 2 Board members each.
The chapter upgraded its PMP Preparatory Course to the PMBOK 4th edition and continued to conduct the monthly course. 6
Corporate trainings were conducted and 2 trainings for NGOs were conducted. The library boasts of over 130 titles on project
management and related subjects. The chapter continued to update its membership through monthly e-newsletter updates and
weekly website updates. New member orientations were conducted every month. Online presence on LinkedIn was established
and online webinars were introduced for the first time. The branches at Ahmedabad and NMIMS’s MPSTME Student continued
the regular programs throughout the year and Local Interest Group of ISSIG was initiated.
PMP Club monthly Professional Development activity was held with impeccable regularity at Matunga, Thane & Navi Mumbai
locations. Also, regular programs were held by the programs portfolio covering PM Tools to Soft skills. The Annual IPM Day event
was once again a thumping success.
The chapter management is in the thought process of enhancing its organization structure to cater to the increasing volume of
activities, volunteerism and membership. It seeks to maximize value addition to membership, collaborate with other chapters, &
establish corporate support through “Corporate Council”. It plans to develop and deliver additional PM courses and conduct
Project of the Year competition locally. The chapter will be the host chapter for the PMI India National Conference 2010.
We hope that you will continue to support the chapter activities in the new year and encourage the PMI Mumbai Chapter
Team to continue to deliver the Best. Wish you a roaring 2010!
Tejas Sura, President. - PMI Mumbai Chapter, India | president@pmimumbaichapter.org
Message from the Chief Editor

Dear PMI Champions,
I am sure all of us started the New Year with some resolutions! For one your friendly Editor has started a
project management centric blog on Business Leadership Excellence. Look forward to your comments on
the blog, to share, to learn and grow together! Below is a Letter to the Editor from an esteemed reader that
pretty well sums up 2009 and sets the goal for 2010.
Kummar, I am a PMI fan. I am a recent member and read the magazine editions. It is great to have a
professional magazine like this to read, others are mostly vague, this one is precise and crisp.
Regards, Shweta Seshadri.
May I encourage all members to write Letters to Editor, send article (cannot commit when it will be published) and most
importantly send us 'humor snippets' and all content to be original work, copyright/IP free for use. As per our understanding, you
may claim 15 PDUs per article (author) and 10 PDUs per article (co-author) with a max of 15 PDUs ONLY in one 3 year reporting
cycle under Category 2B. Author or co-author of an article pertaining to project and/or program management published in a non-
refereed journal. Prakalp articles are not evaluated by a panel of experts before acceptance for publication & hence is a non-
refereed journal. Please individually cross verify PDU eligibility for 2B with customercare@pmi.org.
Sincerely,
Kummar Vaalsalam, PMP | Chief Editor (Prakalp) and Vice President (Publications) | www.kummarvaalsalam.blogspot.com
1
From good to great By Hari Kumar,

Partner and Managing Director, Deloitte U.S. India
Greatness is a state of mind. It is different others are a rung below you - and, it is
for different people. It is not absolute. always lonely at on the top. So if you
From world leaders to mothers, fathers, want to be great, you not only have to be
and spouses - all are great in their own different, you also have to get used to
way. Ask a mother and she will tell you being lonely - in creating a vision, oozing
that her child is the greatest. confidence when the whole world is
How does one move from good to great nervous around you, being there for
in their own minds? For me, it is defined your people when it matters most, and
by the “standard of life.” delivering with unwavering attention on
the vision. A leader is like a swan - calm
While “standard of living” is defined in
and collected visibly above the surface,
terms of money or wealth, standard of
while paddling frantically below the
life is defined in terms of personal
water.
happiness and individual satisfaction.
Money or wealth is not the solution to In my view, the top 10 rules that I believe
everything in life. The “standard of life” will move the needle from good to great
is the index of life. Ask yourself, “Are you are as follows:
driving toward it makes you good. What
happy and satisfied? Am I doing the makes you great is commitment to it.
Rule #1: Have a vision, commit to a
things that I want to do?” When Winston Churchill was asked
goal
Defining the standard of life is during the war what his aim was, he
dependent on your attitude to life. If you said, “One word, Victory.”
are a consummate optimist as opposed Life is full of deviations and forks in the
to a consummate pessimist, you will road. If the journey is to become great,
always see the glass half full. Life is all one has to be committed. Goals are
about choices. The question that you personal. There are no perfect goals;
want to ask yourself is, “Do you want to they are yours. Start with a giant vision of
follow the world and be good or do you where you want to be. If you can see the
“I have a dream”
want to be different and let the world path to get there, then the vision is not
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING
follow you and be great?” big enough. Then understand the first 2
Being different is also about taking risks. Yes, Dr. King had a big dream. He had a milestones to move toward the vision -
vision and most importantly, he was and plan goals for them.
When you are in a forest and have the
committed to achieving it.
choice of two paths, the normal person If you believe in a goal, you commit to it
would take the path that is visible, clear, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru summed up and then you work toward it with the
and smooth. It takes a great person to the Indian freedom struggle as “Long passion and rigor that would be missing
choose the off-beaten path. Great ago, we made a tryst with destiny and otherwise. If during the course of action
leaders are different. They do not follow now the time comes when we shall toward a goal, you learn something new,
the pack; they set the direction for redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full feel free to change or modify it. The sign
others to follow. One must always measure, but very substantially.” of greatness is not in following your goal
remember, being a leader and being Nothing has been achieved in this world blindly, but in adapting and adopting
great means you are on the top and all without having a goal. Having a goal and change at every step.
2
Rule #2: Believe in yourself When you are faced with something A quick rule of thumb when you are
new that you have not done before, do caught between two things that are
not hesitate; inform the people that this equally important is to ask yourself,
is new to you and that you will work “What will I remember most two years
hard to learn & deliver on it. That is what from now?” - that is what I do.
great leaders have always done. The Working smart is also about saying “no.”
best way to handle the situation is by Saying no to things that are not relevant
believing in yourself. and don’t matter in the long run. Most
When believing in yourself becomes importantly, it is about saying no to
you - you have the courage to be people - telling that you cannot get
different. No one can achieve greatness something done when you don’t know
doing the same thing that someone else how to do it or don’t have the time or
“The greater our knowledge has done before. Great people dare to resources to do it. In the corporate
increases, the greater our ignorance be different. world, we use terms such as “pushing
unfolds” back” for this. When you master the art
U. S . P R E S I D E N T , J O H N F. of prioritization, and then choosing
Rule #3: Hard work
KENNEDY, on his vision to land men
when to say “No,” you take a big step in
on the moon
moving from good to great.
“I am the best. If you don’t believe it, This brings me to the most important
that should be your issue, not mine” - part of working smart - it is about setting
this is attitude that defines belief in expectations. Greatness is when you
oneself. Reminding yourself everyday exceed expectations and create the
that you are the best and can do “wow moment.” So what is a “wow
anything that you set your mind on is moment”? When expectations are set,
critical to achieving your goal. Constant people expect a certain level of service,
reminder and actions that follow it will product, or delivery. Now if you exceed
“It is not the mountain we conquer
get you to a state of maturity when it but ourselves” that by a long stretch, the audience is
becomes a part of your grain; a part of SIR EDMUND HILLARY “positively shocked.” The only reaction
who you are. You then start living it. after being the first to conquer they have is “wow.” That’s when you
Mt. Everest. know you have done a great job setting
One of the biggest traits that great
people and leaders exhibit is belief in expectations.
There is absolutely no substitute for hard
themselves, irrespective of the odds. As I Great people are masters at setting
work. No human has become great in
have mentioned before, great people expectations and exceeding them. This
this world without working hard. What
are on the top of whatever they are does not mean that they are constantly
is hard work? 50 hrs/wk? 100 hrs/wk?
doing - and it is lonely on the top. The setting it low. They set realistic
130 hrs/wk? Greatness is not based on
path ahead to be traversed is expectations and work hard and smart
the quantity of the work, it is about the
unchartered and hence the at exceeding it. In a professional
quality. It is about working smart.
apprehension of uncertainty is high. But environment, you have to do this with
great leaders never waver - they believe Working smart is about knowing what to your clients, peers, and bosses and,
in themselves and their ability to adapt work on. The key word that most importantly, with people that work
in an ever-changing world. Most differentiates the great from the good is for you. I don’t believe that anyone
importantly, great leaders are never 'prioriti-zation'. People that succeed works for me - I believe all my
scared to admit that they were wrong know how to prioritize; know what employees work with me, not for me - I
and get corrective actions in place matters most and what to invest their am saying that for clarification of
immediately. time & energy in. thought.
3
This is also true about your personal commitment, the love for what you do. which I can get to know the people in
front. Greatness is about a total person - Once you commit, right or wrong, stick the room. Each time there has been an
professional and personal. Setting with it. Don’t waver. Change and adapt opening, I have walked up to my boss
expectations with your friends, spouse, if you have to, but never doubt yourself. and said, “I will do it till you find
and children is equally important. On There are two kinds of leaders in this someone else to do the job.” The best
your personal front, you will find a lot world. The first kind never wants to be part is once you start doing well, there
more leeway to do that. When you are wrong. They will never make a decision will never be that someone else. You will
amongst friends, think of the remark - for the fear of going wrong. They will become that someone else.
“He is great. I really like him.” Are you navigate the corporate world and If you accept an opportunity that
the person they are talking about? If so, always have others make the decisions presents itself, do it with passion. Enjoy
what makes you that person? A quick for them. They believe this helps them every moment of it - live it. When you
introspection will tell you that you have to be right always since they cannot be do that, you don’t do things well, you do
been doing a great job with setting wrong. Master this technique and you them exceptionally well. That’s when
expectations. can become a good leader. Yet it will you move from good to great.
never make you a great leader.
Rule #4: Be passionate Rule #5: Stand tall and DARE to be
The second kind is the one who never different
hesitates to make a decision. They
weigh all possible data and information
that they have at any given time and
make the best possible decision. Then
they constantly monitor the situation
and adjust as needed. They never shy
away from accountability - for the good
or the bad. That’s what makes them
great. The biggest attribute of a great
leader in this context is that they stand
“I am convinced that the only thing up for the people around them and who
that keeps me going is that work with them.
I love what I do. You've got to find “It's the answer that led those
what you love If you are not passionate, you will not who've been told for so long by so
STEVE JOBS succeed. If you are not doing something many to be cynical and fearful and
that you are completely passionate doubtful about what we can
Passion is a strong feeling or emotion; about, don’t do it. Life is short and if you achieve, to put their hand on the arc
of history and bend it once more
the trait of being intensely emotional. plan to be great, do things that you are toward the hope of a better day”
When I hear the word passion, one of passionate about. BARACK OBAMA, President -
the individuals that come to mind is United States of America.
There are times when I am asked, “I am
Steve Jobs. When he walks onto the not sure what I am truly passionate There are two ways to move up in your
stage in his trademark mock neck and about. What do I do?” My response is career. The first one involves doing
jeans and starts explaining the latest simple: Try everything that you can, and everything that the others do; but you
innovation, you can see the sheer you will find your passion. In my career, I have to do more of it. So, if others work
passion for what he loves most – have never said “no” to any job - 12 hrs, you have to work 15 hrs. If others
innovation. This passion has propelled however big or small. I always believe do 5 things, you have to do 6. This is
him through all the tough times that you can learn something. Even if I what we refer to as the “rat race.” The
(personally and professionally). have to get coffee for a room full of other option involves doing something
So what is passion? Passion is the people, I look at it as an opportunity by different and proving to the world that it
4
is the right way. The choice that you Rule #6: Dress smart every day. Others seem like they just got
make will make the difference between up from bed with wrinkled clothes and
“Nothing succeeds like success.
whether you are good or you are great. unkempt hair. Which one would you
So dress for success!
Personally, I believe in this saying I am not talking about the clothes on relate to better?
“Unless you try & do something beyond your body. Nor am I talking about Dressing smart is not just about the
your degrees & credentials.
what you have already mastered, you clothes you wear or the external
I am talking about the personality
will never grow” (Anonymous). your mind wears. In fact your
appearance. It is also about “dressing
Everyday, we are pounded with sugges- personality is your real attire” your personality.”
tions on what we must & must not do. Anonymous
The concept of “Steak and Sizzle” - This
Each one of us can relate to the state- is an American concept that I use to
ment, “This is your role. Don’t ask. Just You have to dress not for the job you are explain what differentiates great from
do it.” Greatness comes from not disob- in. You have to dress for what you want the good. Steak, the bulk, the meat - this
eying or ignoring the rules, but by chall- to be; what job/position you want to represents the content; the subject
enging them by your thoughts & actions. hold. As much as one can say that matter expertise that you have; the
beauty is skin deep and that we must not depth of knowledge you have. The
The word that comes to mind to
judge a person by his or her appearance, sizzle is the magnetic power that
describe this is a “maverick.” I believe
every human being does exactly that. radiates from you by which people
that as long as you can do everything
ethically, morally, and legally without For example, if you were to consult the relate to you, are attracted to your ideas,
the intention of hurting anyone - you world’s best cardiac surgeon in rags, will and want to listen to you. This is your
should do it. Every great leader has you trust him with your heart? Now personality. This is combination of how
paved the path, never followed it. translate that to the work environment. you “appear” - externally and, most
Take the example of a meeting that I importantly, how you “dress” your
It is extremely difficult to be different.
have to attend wherein I have not had conversation. How you speak, how you
Imagine: Everyone has taken the path to
prior acquaintance with most of the formulate your thought, and how you
the left. You think differently, so based
folks and I have quite a bit of express your ideas are critical in defining
on that, you take the path to the right.
information that I want to share. your personality.
Over the next few days or months, you
work hard on proving that the path that Scenario 1 calls for me dressed in a Great people have great personalities.
you took (to the right) is the correct one. casual or ill-fitting outfit. Even if I am Not all great people are good looking
When the world realizes that you are on very knowledgeable, it will take quite a externally. Great people have the
the right track, there is a frantic process bit of time for people to accept me and “steak,” but they also have the sizzle.
to catch up, but you are so far ahead that my ideas. This translates to a very limited
you already have an edge. Consider one of the greatest human
time that you have. You have lost
beings that walked this earth - Mother
A big part of this is the confidence that precious minutes to help get your ideas
Teresa. What made her great? She had
you exhibit that you are on the right across.
one of the biggest magnets in her heart.
track. In a situation where everyone is
In a contrasting scenario, if I were Her personality was such that people
uncertain, your confidence will let you
dressed smartly to begin with, the time flocked to hear her.
speak up and determine the best course
that I have to spend convincing people
of action, given the parameters that exist She transcended the best of the best -
to accept me is reduced, I can spend
at that time. Most great leaders are firm people did not just want to listen to her,
most of the time on my ideas. People
decision makers. Even more important they wanted to sacrifice their lives to the
relate to people that are similar.
than that, they ooze confidence and cause that she worked all her life for.
never let the world know that they are Let’s take another example. Look That is the true sign of greatness. She
nervous (though they might be feeling around you in the office. Some folks are had one of the biggest “sizzles” that
that internally). well groomed when they come to office mankind has ever seen.
5
Rule #7: Network effectively person beforehand. Try to say absolutely everything that you
have to say in terms of what it means to
What is the 30-minute rule?
the other person. Any idea, any thought
If I have 30 minutes to meet a person if spoken in terms of what it means to the
that I want to develop a relationship other person become easily palatable to
with, I spend at least the first 20 minutes the other person. The way I do this is by
getting to know the person and trying to asking the “so what” to every “what.”
understand what he or she is interested What do I mean by that? For anything
in and what motivates him or her. This is that I want to say, (the “what”) - I always
what I refer to as “reading the environ- ask myself, “So, what does this mean to
ment.” Look around, ask open-ended the other person?” before I say it.
questions, and try to understand where Suddenly, the entire structure of what I
he or she is coming from. I spend hardly was going to say shifts to what it means
10 minutes trying to explain my ideas, to the person I am talking to.
“We must get rid of this feeling. Our which was the actual reason to meet.
quarrel is not with the British people, we Exploiting simple human behaviors of
fight their imperialism. I know the British Now think about the situation when you
wanting to talk or listen about oneself
Government will not be able to withhold know the person. You can always
freedom from us, when we have made and by using the ‘you’ attitude, good can
explain your ideas in terms of what he or
enough self-sacrifice. We must, be converted to great when networking.
therefore, purge ourselves of hatred”
she can relate to and that makes your
MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI ideas so much more powerful and more Rule #8: Be selfless - be selfish - sell
Networking is about knowing who you easily acceptable. yourself
are dealing with. No one has succeeded The other technique that I employ is to
in this world by themselves. You need to practice my 3 minutes elevator speech.
have a very strong network to move from
What is the 3-minute elevator speech?
being good in what you do to being
great. If I had 3 minutes in a closed elevator
with someone that I really want to get to
“Networking is not about how many
know professionally, what would I say
people you know, it is about how many
such that when the elevator door opens,
people know you.” You can meet and
he or she tells me, “I’d like to hear more.
“know” several people. But, if they
Why don’t we meet?” Think, “How can I
don’t know who you are; most
summarize the value of who I am and “People often remark that I am pretty
importantly, don’t relate to you, you
what I want to say in 3 minutes to a total lucky. Luck is only important insofar as
don’t benefit. Again, remember, people
stranger?” getting the chance to sell yourself at the
relate to people who are similar. Simila- right moment and luck is simply when
rities can be on the work front, common The recipe for greatness lies in a small opportunity meets preparation”
personal interests, or shared vision. If secret that is incongruently unambi- FRANK SINATRA
this is true, knowing a person before you guous, yet almost always forgotten -
The story of any great leader is the story
talk becomes invaluable. Each person every person wants to talk and hear
of the “complete individual.” Being
who has been a great leader takes the about themselves. If one were to
selfless in everything they do. Great
time to know the person before they remember this simple fact of life - every
leaders protect their people - work for
meet them or spend the first several networking opportunity will turn itself
them and with them. They command
minutes trying to understand the person into recipe for success.
respect with their actions and never
before having a full conversation. One of the most important aspects of a demand it. They work with honesty and
I normally adopt the 30-minute rule if I successful networking can be achieved integrity in everything they do. They
don’t have the time to find out about the with this simple technique. spend a good portion of their resources
6
(time & money) serving the community. Tom Sawyer, the fun-loving maverick greatness. Effective communication is
They do this in an innovative manner to and how he gets his friends to paint his 90% listening & 10% talking. Knowing
maximize the amount of time & resour- garage. While it is written in jest, it when to say something is important. But,
ces that they spend. Giving back to the teaches us a fundamental lesson - one more important is patiently listening.
society is integral to being a great leader. that explains the fact that we can make Listening is a virtue that a few possess
If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a anything we do fun to the rest of the and it is these few that become great.
sound? Traditionally one is taught, world with our attitude. Great leaders There are many kinds of listening tech-
“Work will speak for itself.” That will get never wear their feeling of dissatisfac- niques. Aggressive listening - when you
you to being good. tion on their sleeves. They don’t do this are listening with the idea of getting your
for two reasons - firstly, they don’t do ideas across. Passive listening is when you
I have written about great being selfless. I
things that they don’t like &, secondly, are just listening with little or no inte-rest.
would say becoming great is also about
they never show their feelings externally. When I say, listening, as it pertains to
being selfish. One must always remem-
Would you rather be with a person that is greatness, I mean active listening pat-
ber that there is nothing in the world
always positive or always negative? iently listening to people, trying to unde-
more important than you. Who better to
Positive attitude is contagious. Negativity rstand & respond at the appropriate time.
think about you than you? So as the
is always lonely. One of the daily lessons
world talks about being selfless all the When one learns to appreciate the other
that we can take from this is - ask your-
time, one has to be selfish about oneself. person, the conversation becomes
self, “What am I gaining by expressing all
You don’t have to be selfish at the much more meaningful. The advantage
my negativity to other people?” Nothing!
expense of others. But, if you don’t do of active listening is also the fact that you
things that matter to you & if you don’t I am not suggesting that great people can express your ideas better since you
do things that help you, one loses always have a “false front.” Great know where the other person is coming
motivation. I had referred to Mother people work hard to make sure that from. Imagine: You are trying to sell
Teresa as one of the most selfless women “being positive” becomes a part of their products worth Rs. 2000 when your
in the world. If you look deeply, she was grain, part of who they are. Great people customer only has Rs. 1000 to spend. If
selfish to the extent that she did what see an opportunity in every difficulty you actively listen, you can understand
made her happy-she helped others. That and they talk about it, they explain or that and sell products worth Rs. 1000. If
is what I mean when I say great leaders communicate it as something positive. you don’t, you insist on selling Rs. 2000
are selfish - selfish in a selfless way. To be & it results in you selling nothing. While
Rule #9: Listen, listen, and listen
great, we can use the same thought this is a simple example, this is directly
practice in our professional life as well. relevant to everything that we comm-
unicate every day. Very few people have
Great leaders are also great salesmen. In
mastered the art of active listening.
the United States of America, one uses
the word “car salesman” to denote a
Rule #10: Be confident; borderline
person who will stoop to any level to sell
arrogant
his product. When I talk about selling
yourself, I don’t mean a car salesman. I
mean explaining what you do to other
people, with class, which will make
them understand and appreciate better
who you are and, in turn, what you do “If A equals success, then the formula is A
and how you do it. equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y
being play & Z keeping your mouth shut”
“What you do is important; how you sell ALBERT EINSTEIN ““Don't back down just to keep the
what you do is equally important.” peace. Standing up for your beliefs
Effective communication is the key to builds self-confidence and self-esteem”
I am always reminded of Mark Twain’s success and an absolute necessity to OPRAH WINFREY
7
“I am the best.” To move from good to what others follow rather than following that defy linear logic. Leaders are lateral
great, this is possibly the most important what others want you to do. One of the thinkers. I would argue that this makes
trait. All great leaders share the trait of principles that I follow strictly in every- them good, not great. What makes them
self-confidence. Confidence in yourself thing that I do is to make sure that my great? It is what I define as “Tangential
is critical to your success. actions are always ethical and legal. I thinking.” Tangential thinking is when
Every great leader goes into anything talk to people, explain what I am trying you add the question of “why” to lateral
they do with the belief that they are the to do, and always welcome them to join thinking. When you have the courage to
best and they will achieve it. If you don’t me. They can choose to join me and ride question linear and lateral thought - you
walk into something with confidence, the wave. They can choose to stay away arrive at possibilities that the world takes
you will be behind the 8 ball and will be and watch it from the outside. If they time to comprehend. But once the
playing catch-up throughout. When you happen to come in my way and get hurt, world understands, humanity is never
believe in yourself and you are sure of I term that “collateral damage.” In my the same again.
yourself, you will become good. When view, as long as I am doing everything Lateral thinking helps to arrive at innova-
your belief in yourself is so much that ethically, legally, and without any tive solutions that will save time, money,
nothing frazzles you or unnerves you - intention of hurting anyone in my path, I effort, etc But tangential thinking creates
that’s when you become great. The will surge ahead irrespective of the ideas that revolutionize the world. That
confidence in yourself becomes so roadblocks that are thrown at me. is what has defined great leaders
much that you flirt with being arrogant. Great people go through a tremendous throughout the civilization of mankind.
Great leaders are extremely competent amount of introspection almost on a
Remember, being great is all about your
in walking the fine line between daily basis. They analyze almost every
attitude toward one problem at a time.
complete self-confidence and being action they do. They are so secure about
Being a consummate realist (optimistic,
overconfident. themselves that they never hesitate to
yet understanding the implications) un-
Confidence translates into attitude and admit they are wrong. They even think
wavering, determined, actively listening,
attitude almost always dictates success. through all the various plans and options
tangentially thinking & most importantly,
Great leaders know how good they are. that they worked out for a problem.
oozing self-confidence by realizing that
They deeply understand their limitations Their minds are almost always in a
you are the best, is what defines greatness.
as well. They always have executive constant state of “motion” or “churn.”
If you want to determine your “standard
presence. I define executive presence as I have written about great people being
of life,” you have to make a choice. Do
“owning the room” There are different different. Great people not only think or
you want to be good or do you want to
ways to own a room-physical presence, do things differently, they move fast.
being loud & obnoxious, or by shuffling be great?”
Once they have thought through opt-
against the wall. None of these will make ions, they commit to what they want to About the Author - Hari Kumar is the M. D.
you great or help you achieve what you of Deloitte U.S. offices in India & a partner in
do, think forward-atleast 4–5 steps ahe-
Deloitte LLP. As M.D., Hari is responsible for
want. Being great is about owning a ad & move. What is thinking forward? overseeing the operations of 4 businesses:
room because of your attitude, intellect, Consulting, Tax, Financial Advisory Services,
There are 2 kinds of thought processes
active listening & tangential thinking. Audit & Enterprise Risk Services & Enabling
that one can have - linear thinking & Areas. Besides managing Mumbai & Hyder-
Tell yourself every day, “I am the best. If lateral thinking. Linear thinking is going abad offices with over 7500 professionals,
you don’t believe it - that is your probl- by the stated rules always. Thinking Hari also leads one of the largest client enga-
em, not mine.” All great leaders started gements at a Fortune 50 Telecom client in
inside the box. This is essential for the U.S. Hari brings over 14 years of
having this attitude sometime in their everyone in their daily personal and consulting & leadership experience and was
lives, when they started moving from be- professional lives. Most of what we do fits named as one of the top 50 Indian entrepre-
ing good at what they do to being great. neurs in the U.S. by Silicon India magazine.
in this category.
He serves on the founding board of United
Conclusion However, what makes an idea good is Way of India & Junior Achievement. Hari is
Becoming great is all about attitude and lateral thinking. Lateral thinking is about an avid runner and golfer and lives in
Hyderabad with his wife and daughter.
behavior - exhibiting traits that define reasoning that is not obvious & solutions
8
Measuring the Intangible Value of Human Resources

in Indian TELCO's (Tele communication Companies)
using economic value added (EVA)
By Balaji Krishnan Cherukumudi, PMP
Introduction
The world economy is in the process of coming out of recession. The recession has not impacted the telecommuni-cation
technology industry in India , as much as it has affected other industries. The telecom companies in India are aiming at reaching
700 million subscribers in the next year from the current 500 million. Subsequently, these companies have become more
competitive in the last few years as the Indian markets have been opened up to global players and it has grown from a few
players to a dozen . This extremely competitive environment has forced the companies to explore various areas to increase their
productivity and optimise their human resources.
The TELCO’s success in India are directly attributable to the Intangible assets for these companies are now worth on an
large CAPEX intensive investments resulting in key projects average three times more than the firm’s hard assets,
and effective project management that drive the results. according to the Harvard Business School’s Harvard
Implementation of Portfolio management directly linked to Management Update Newsletter (Wagner, 2001).
the business strategies pave the way for success. The business Human capital is basically the ability of employees to
proposition and the business continuity model of TELCO’s , generate economic output through the application of their
terms down to two major factors: former being the cost of education, knowledge and skills; it refers to employees’
acquisition of customers and the latter, their retention, which knowhow, capabilities, skills and expertise. “The best known
is much more than the pricing strategy. indicator of human intellectual capital value is market to
The Telecom Industry uses various metrics :the subscriber book value” (Dzinkowski, 2000: 93).
(customer) base, minutes of usage, average revenue per user Current theoretical approaches in business strategy have
(ARPU). Performance of each employee has implications on given a boost to the concept of human resources generating a
business results as being propagated by many authors, consistent competitive advantage, the new method of
business consultants and strategy practitioners (Norton & measuring competition.(Becker and Gerhart, 1996). This is in
Kaplan),1994. With the economic downturn & the increasing tandem with the resource based view (RBV) of the firm, that
competition, the ratio of revenue per employee and the ARPU businesses can develop prolonged competitive advantage
per employee has been drastically affected. only by creating value that is rare and that cannot be easily
There are various TELCO’s in the Indian market fighting for imitated by the competition (de Charbert, 1998).
their share in the emerging market with innovative ideas, still Much of the research conducted on the link between
the human capital drives the success. The success factor may company performance and human resources has looked at
be easily measured by determining how these organisations individual approaches in this relationship – best practices
value their greatest assets: (Becker and Gerhart, 1996). For example a company may
THE EMPLOYEES. The Human resources factor directly compare recruitment , selection processes, compensation
attribute to the performance and the value the employees and welfare packages, training, industrial relations or
bring in to the organisation. performance Management processes as well as an acceptable
In today’s aggressive telecommuni-cations market, the methodology for measuring the value.
employees can provide an edge over the competitors. An Economic Value Added (EVA): EVA is the financial
employment system that creates a distinct, sustainable performance measure that comes closer than any other
competitive advantage is an “intangible asset” because it is not measure to capture the true economic profit of an enterprise,
carried on the balance sheet, as other traditional assets. EVA also is the performance measure most directly linked to
9
the creation of shareholder wealth over time (Stern Stewart & This document emphasizes and determines the real need and
Co, 2002).The concept of EVA is in a sense nothing more than the purpose for investing in human resource management
the traditional, commonsense idea of “profit,” however, the processes and practices : Talent Acquisition- Recruitment,
utility of having a separate and more precisely defined term Talent Management- Performance Mgt, Compensation,
such as EVA or Residual Cash Flow is that it makes a clear Training , Talent retention as a strategy to develop competitive
distinction from dubious accounting adjustments that have methods that produce value for a TELCO organisation.
enabled businesses such as Enron to report profits while in fact Huge CAPEX interventions are ideally driven through portfolio
being in the final approach to becoming insolvent. management- programs and projects. The Project Human
The advantage of EVA is, it precisely defines value in terms resource Management becomes the key in achieving business
specific to an enterprise. The disadvantage in using EVA is, it is success.
complex to calculate and not widely used. References:
Becker, Brian and Gerhart, Barry, (1996), The Impact of
Intangible Economic Value :
Human Resources Management on Organisational
Calculating EVA: The basic formula is: Performance: Progress and Prospects, Academy of
EVA = (r-c).K=NOPAT-c.K, Management Journal, 39: 779-802.
where r=NOPAT÷K, called the Return on Invested Capital Becker, B. E., Huselid, M. A., Ulrich, Dave, (2001), Making HR
(ROIC) is the company’s return on capital, NOPAT is the Net a Strategic Asset.
Operating Profit After Tax, c is the Weighted Average Cost of Dzinkowski, Ramona, (2000), The value of intellectual capital,
Capital (WACC) and K is capital employed. Journal of Business Strategy, July 2000.
Shareholders of the company will receive a positive value Economic value added,
added when the return from the capital employed in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_value_added
business operations is greater than the cost of that capital. see Huselid, M. A., & Becker, B. E. 2000, Becker, B.E., Huselid,
Working capital management. Any value obtained by M.A., & Ulrich, D. 2001. Making HR a Strategic Asset.
employees of the company or by product users is not included Financial Times, November, 2001.
in the calculations. Stern Stewart & Co, http://www.eva.com.
Relationship to Market Value Added The company’s market

About the Author:
value added, or MVA, is the discounted sum of all future
Balaji is the CEO – Chief solution Architect
expected economic value added:
with HRM Solutions Pvt Ltd.
A Senior Management and IT Consultant
with over 20 years of experience in ERP
Note that MVA = NPV of company. Implementations, Project Management, business process
improvement & Change Management interventions, Balaji
Conclusion:
has served managed large SAP implementations with
Human resources function, systems and processes across a PricewaterhouseCoopers and till recently was the Executive
TELCO are the components of its intangible value Vice President with Reliance Communications
proposition that drive the business model .
PMI MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

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Continuous updating of PM | Access to Library | Substantial discount on PMPCE preparatory course fees.
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10
Transition from Project Manager to a CXO

By Raman Atmakuri
One of the biggest challenges faced by the science of Project Management is the lack Project Managers focus on completing
of understanding of its value by the CXO community. While the CXOs typically are the project within the scope, time, cost,
focused on long term business and strategy, project management professionals are and quality. What is the next step?
focused on short term realization of what is popularly known as triple constraints Project success has to be evaluated for
(scope, cost and time). Even the analyst community seems to be focused on data its impact or value to business. There
around these factors rather than measuring or articulating the value of successful can be many positive ways that a
projects. Question remains on how to bridge this gap. successful project can add value to
Awareness and adoption of project management as a profession has been growing business viz., speed to market or the
incrementally over the last decade, bringing with it the increasing number of project technology innovation or better
managers. Today’s managers are tomorrow’s CXOs. While the current generation customer service or improved
CXOs needs to realize the value of project management, the onus of bringing the productivity and lower costs or
value of project management to the CXO’s table is the duty of current generation something else that mattered to bring
project managers. A first step in this direction for project managers is to learn how to more revenues. Thinking in these lines is
articulate the value of project management. This will help the next generation CXOs an important mindset change needed
understand the value of project management. for a project manager to emerge as a
CXO. To articulate value of the project’s
You may have had a successful stint as a project manager for several years in your
success to executive management, you
career. Before you hit a wall soon, you should think of advancing your skill sets and
must think like an executive.
taking them to the next level – moving from tactical to strategic level. Managing and
executing projects successfully or having a short term view of project execution Project Managers know that they add
based on experience is just a good beginning for transition and not an end. For value to the organization. They know
Project Managers to become effective as Leaders, they must transcend the tactical that their projects improve the bottom
charge and become strategically prudent. line. They often don’t know how to
articulate this value, how to measure it
Tending to complete successfully an activity or a project in isolation is certainly the
correctly. and how to speak in the
measure of success for Project Manager. But will that get you to next step in your
language that a CXO understands.
career? Let’s consider an example.
A motorist observed something strange happening on the pavement. One person Here are some tips to do this:
was digging a pit and the other person was filling it. He stopped, wondering what was - The CXO speaks the language of
happening there. Meanwhile, he saw these two people move 100 meters ahead and money - constantly evaluating the
do the same thing. Curious, he went up to them and asked what their end goal was. value to their business. Project
They explained that they were on a tree plantation drive, and that the third person in success should demonstrate that
the team who was supposed to plant trees was absent on that day. But they value. For eg. delivering a project ah-
continued with their activity as planned. The purpose of their combined activities ead of schedule may result in starting
was to turn the city green but they missed the big picture. If we look at it from the production earlier or reaching the
percentage of work finished, since two out of three activities are completed at any market earlier than competition, or
point of time, 67% of work is considered completed. In terms of time, digging takes resulting in increase of market share,
more time followed by filling and planting a tree. Interestingly, the two most time etc. Just declaring that the project was
consuming activities (say 95% of time) are completed with most critical activity delivered ahead of time & celebrating
missing completely. success, is just not enough.
Moral of the story: it is not enough if I completed my activity or project on time - - While managing the project, think
what matters is the end result or the business impact it has created. what is right for the organization
11
besides thinking what is right for the project success. This way you can soft skills in a CXO that help influence a
demonstrate value at every stage of the project. larger audience. Project Managers
- The CXO receives tons of data from various sources but is eluded from should strive to pickup opportunities to
information needed to make decisions on the fly. Provide a dashboard improve these skills. As a caveat, let me
summarizing the information needed to make business decisions. Convey the mention that there is a whole gamut of
information precisely and elucidate how the information connects to the bottom business and leadership skills required
line. For example, the decision could be that the project should be discontinued to become CXO, which are not covered
given the situation, since it will not be able to deliver as per its initial charter or that in this article.
market conditions have changed since initial charter was defined. Project Managers who demonstrate
Make a beginning today. Start thinking and speaking the language of money and Return on Investment (ROI) for their
business value. Placed below are some key words commonly used by Project projects raise the value of their own
Managers and their equivalent words as understood by CXOs. team vis-à-vis enhance the significance
of the profession. It will be a pity if
flawless execution goes unnoticed.
Project Manager CXO
Measuring the project success in
Objectives / goals Be specific, for example : Cash Flow, gross concrete business terms can bring
margins visibility to that flawless execution and
will catch the attention of the CXO.
Critical Path Priority tasks
The choice of growth in career is yours.
Gantt Chart Timeline
As one philosopher said “Luck is where
Resource Be specific – people, money or material preparedness meets opportunity”.
Prepare yourself for the move to the
Work Breakdown structure List of tasks, Scheduling corner office.
Delays Reveal the problem in conjunction with the
solution About the Author
Project risk Potential issue
Dependency Task Sequence and action needed
Earned Value Calculation Project status in terms of cost and schedule
Cost Performance index On or off budget? By how much? Give data to

facilitate decision making Ramam Atmakuri is the Vice
President at Cognizant Technology
Release Plan Where, how and when the project will be Solutions based at Hyderabad.
delivered
He has been working for more than
25 years in IT and Manufacturing
Also, several soft skills are needed to become a CXO and Project Managers get industry. He serves in the voluntary
exposed to these skills while managing projects. Let us take a look at the skills gained role as PMI Component Mentor for
by experienced project managers – financials (budgets & costs), change manage- Western Asia Region.
ment, risk analysis, stakeholder communication and expectation management,
conflict resolution, negotiation, problem solving, quality consciousness, et al, in
addition to the project management processes. However, the exposure to some of
these skills is limited and based on the demands of the project. These skills need to be
improved in a focused way. CXOs are good at influencing the bigger organization.
Public speaking, mass communication, people management, and leadership are key
12
CONSULTING SKILLS FOR PROJECT MANAGERS

By - Aneeta Madhok
It took a project manager along with architects, craftsmen, and supply chains of over 47 countries as the International
vendors and sources of raw materials to build the Taj Mahal. Of course, Shah Jahan Council of Management Consulting
paid all the bills and provided the vision borne out of love, but he was the client in the Institutes.
system. And all that was before Frederick Taylor set up the rules of scientific There is, however, an art of consulting
management & much later, Gantt laid the foundations of modern project that lies in the realms beyond skill sets.
management methods. This is because project managers, like
This is the new millennium and the rules of the game have changed. We have several consultants, actually land up moving
thousands of project managers in the world who are qualified and certified. beyond simple implementation of
However, not all project managers are effective and successful. The difference projects into actually ensuring
between a successful project manager and an unsuccessful project manager lies not successful value addition to the client.
in the domain expertise of the work being done, and not just in project management The bigger picture comes from
and teambuilding skills, but also in the process by which knowledge and skills are understanding that the project being
deployed in the process of work accomplishment and achievement of objectives. undertaken is not an activity in isolation
For the first time in history we are at a juncture where many consultants themselves but a part of a larger whole. The context
are realising the need for learning the art and science of what makes consultants in which the project is done is an
successful. The three competency groups for successful project management are: important part of the success story and
differentiates the mere project manager
COMPETENCIES FOR SUCCESSFUL PROJECT MANAGEMENT from the much-sought-after consultant.
It is the temples we build and not the
CONSULTING SKILLS walls that count eventually.
So, the proposition of this writer and
article is that today’s project manager
has to be a great performer and, given
excellent domain expertise, project
management & teambuilding skills,
there is a missing piece called
DOMAIN PROJECT
‘consulting skills’ which completes the
EXPERTISE MANAGEMENT SKILLS
skill set required for success. And the
The initial explanation of consulting skills is very simply put as those that are required good news is that while nobody is born
in scoping an assignment, making a proposal, managing client relationships & with these skills, they are definitely
expectations, building credibility with line managers, mana-ging the intervention, learnable.
assessing impact & value added and providing effective closure to the assignment,
maintaining a practice & marketing of consulting services, etc. There is no rocket AUTHORS PROFILE:
science in the learning & training in the skills that make an effective consultant. The Aneeta Madhok,
body of knowledge & learning content, & also qualification, certifications and MBA (XLRI), PhD, CMC,
accreditations, in the area of consulting skills is newly evolving and headed in the GPHR., is a global
direction of other benchmarked professions like accounting and law. management professional.
She is the Director of Open
The subject of consulting skills is now finding place in B-school curricula and on the
Spaces Consulting (Pvt.) Limited and
training agenda of some organizations sparsely scattered across the globe. The Chairperson for the International Council of
emergence of bodies of professional interest in the realm of management consulting Management Consulting Institutes.
is local, in the form of Institute of Management Consultants of India as well as global
13
Initial Mobilisation and Infrastructure Development

- Key to Timely Completion of a Project
By Pawan Agarwal
Today there are several examples of time and cost overrun. The live example is Bandra Worli Sea Link Project. The
original cost and time frame of same was 432 crs which now costed the Government to the tune of 1600 crs .It was
scheduled to be operative by 2003 which finally was inaugurated in Jul 2009. Time overrun of 6 years and cost
overrun by nearly 1200 crs.
IS OUR COUNTRY IN POSITION TO ACCOMMODATE SUCH LAPSES?
Impact of Time and Cost Over run starts the work in its own pace & finally 7 Mobilisation advance given against
India estimates about 423 projects in the work is delayed. Initial mobilization Bank Gaurantee rather than actual
industries such as coal, petroleum, & setup is prime thing to initiate rhythm mobilization
railways and ports will cost Rs38,660 to work & start achieving progress. Even
clients do not pressurize the contractor Way Forward
crore more because of delays in
for initial mobilization like equipments, To have proper mobilization following
completion. Of the 925 infrastructure
infrastructure, manpower etc. But these step's should be taken by both Client &
projects costing Rs20 crore or more
things hold key to successful & timely contractor. This will help in resolving
being monitored by the government,
completion of the project. Another thing major issue of time and cost overrun.
about 423 are running behind schedule,
usually observed in a infrastructure Point wise way forward to issues
Sriprakash Jaiswal, minister of statistics
projects is that the contractor commits mentioned above are listed below:
and programme implementation, said
resources with abnormally high prod- 1 During the tender stage itself, the
in a statement in Parliament. The cost
uctivity & hence reduces the quantum of equipment deployment schedule
overrun in these delayed projects
critical resources in his commitments. should be made part of commitment
amounts to a 15% increase in the last
from contractor. This is normally
approved cost of Rs2.5 trillion, he said. ( Issues
done, however usually the contractor
Posted on Live Mint dated 8 Jul09 ) In this article would like to highlight
shows high productivity and
According to AEP Study “Delayed issues and way forward.
accordingly reduces the resource
Projects and lost job opportunities,” the The key issues with respect to Initial requirements. To avoid this Clients
18 strangled projects of India Inc to the mobilization are should estimate resource require-
tune of INR 244,815.5 crore remained 1 Contractors resources already ment on their own and this should
on papers, in the form of MoUs and engaged in other projects form part of contractual document
agreements over the past 3 to 4 years, 2 Clarity on scope, as well as techno with commitment from contractor
however the smooth implementation commercial issues before signing of the agreement.
could have created job opportunities for 3 Easy go attitude of the contactor 2 Client should do proper homework
at least 164,000 people directly and 4 No monitoring system of mobilisation prior to floating of tenders. Brain-
270,000 people indirectly. by the Clients storming sessions of all the techno
5 Delays by client to provide layout and commercial issues to be discussed as
Current Scenario setting out data well as of scope should be available
One of the prime reasons of delay is 6 Delay in vital inputs of drawings, free with them .
improper initial mobilization & setup by issue material and encumbrance free 3 Contractors should be made
the contractor. The contractor normally land committed towards mobilization &
14
setup in the first place. Intimation / ization is done. A typical example is About the Author
notice should be given to the listed below Pawan Agarwal,
contractor in case of shortfalls If contractor have promised to bring 100 PMP
4 Client should have a detailed equipments , 500 labour and 50 staff. I am a graduate
monitoring sheet for monitoring and Then 50 % of mobilization amount can Civil Engineer
controlling of initial mobilization. be given after receipt of the above from IIT Roorkee
This should be religiously followed mentioned commitment ( if part w i t h P o s t
with the contractor. resources received then weighted Graduation in Construction
payment can also be done ), balance 50 Management (NICMAR) & a certified
5 Ensure Layouts & setting out drawings
% on development of infrastructure like Project Management Professional
to be available prior to award of
labour colony, installation of batching (PMP). I am having 14 years of
works.
Plant , Crusher plant etc. Industry experience & worked on
6 Land for development of infras-
major infrastructure projects in India
tructure as well as for project site Conclusion
namely TELCO Lucknow, Dabhol
should be available by the time work With insistence and a proper monitoring LNG Regassification Project, Delhi
is awarded to contractor along with system by both client and contractor the Metro, LAVASA Hill City Project ,
vital inputs of initial mobilization and setup will be as Bhatinda Refinery etc .
7 The provision of mobilization per the requirement. This will not cost
advance to be modified in a manner any thing extra to any one but definitely E-Mail: agarpawan@yahoo.com,
such that the contractor to be paid help all the stakeholders to achieve the pawan02_1971@rediffmail.com
only the amount for which mobil- project objectives.
"IPM Day Event"

MUMBAI
15
EXPERIENCE OF HANDLING A GREENFIELD PROJECT

By Jacob Zachariah
State Bank of India, the premier Indian Bank, has a large Here, I must let you into a secret. SBI is a huge organisation as
complement of foreign branches, spread across all the you all know. 200 thousand employees and almost as many
continents of the globe (save Antarctica!). The need was felt departments! Getting appropriate approvals is equivalent to
that the Banking processes in these foreign offices (back-office going to the moon and coming back - safely. O.K., I am
clerical work-load like opening of accounts and customers, exaggerating, but I guess you get the picture. I will not go into
Maintenance of accounts, Letter of Credit opening, Treasury the details of the structure within the organisation, but there
related work, Cheque issuance and all such back office are a lot of lateral movements of papers and approvals –
processes) should be out-sourced to a B.P.O. type model in popularly called in SBI parlance as ‘notes’.
India. The idea was that this would help in freeing the staff in
It took us more than 2 months to work on the Service Level
the branches from mundane work to more productive
Agreement (SLA), and the Scope of Work (SOW). It went
activities like marketing and customer service.
through nearly a dozen iterations. I must say that drafting the
When the idea was first mooted about a year and half back, no SLA was a very taxing phase. RFP is always the cornerstone for
body had any clue how to go about it. Will it be an in-house drafting any SLA. The work-flow would be supplied by a Delhi
model or will it be out-sourced? Which are the business based company, who is a pioneer in such software. The System
processes that can be outsourced? Do we go with Requirement Study (SRS) and Functional Specification Details
geographical ramp-up or processes-wise ramp-up? Who will (FSD) was worked upon, reworked and gone over with a
own the project? How do we co-ordinate the various toothcomb. It required much iteration, before all three parties
departments within the Bank for this venture? What about the (Service Provider, SBI and Workflow Provider) decided to sign-
regulatory requirements in the foreign countries? What are the off. Everyone patted themselves on the back on a wonderful
implications of engaging a consultant to work on the job done. But alas, what we were playing out was a modern
framework? How do we work on a budget without any idea of version of ‘Blind Men of Hindoostan’! The software house with
what kind of budget should we set? An excellent recipe for any the coders (programmers) was in Delhi. The System designer
Greenfield project, isn’t it? was here in Mumbai. What SBI said, and what the Service
A Project Manager and a Project Assistant were identified for Provider understood and what the System designer of the
the project. Once it was decided that SBI will outsource it to a Workflow Provider visualized, and what was told by him to his
third-party, and not have it in-house, at least the ball was set programmers in Delhi was a mélange at total variance for all
rolling. parties concerned in the beginning. One said that it is a rope,
another thought it could be pillar, yet another thought it is a
Expression of Interest (EOI) was floated and following which
pipe, when actually the blind men were feeling an elephant! A
the Request for Proposal (RFP) was released. One decision
joint meeting with all the actors in Delhi cleared the air and
that was taken was to go for geography-wise implementation,
once again things started getting on track. The glitches were set
and, within the geography, process-wise.
right and there was clarity of purpose.
A Mumbai-based service provider won the bid to partner SBI
The pieces in the jig-saw puzzle were now slowly falling in
in this journey, and the Letter of Intent (LOI) was handed
place. As the witching hour closed in, the frenzy started
towards September last year. Now the fun and games started
building up. It could well have been an atmosphere straight out
in right earnest. The agents will sit in their office in Malad,
of a typical Indian wedding-eve scenario. Everyone very hyped
Mumbai, and the Core Banking software of SBI is in Belapur.
up, skirting up and down, getting things in order, solving one
Access issue was the first hurdle. We decided to give limited
problem, when another one pops up… you get the drift, right?
access to the agents sitting in Malad on the Core Banking
Phew! Everything is in place now. The Project went live in the
solution to be acces-sed form the server in Belapur. Security &
2nd week of October. It was a tumultuous period of smiles and
Regulatory issues came up and it took a good two months to
tears, ups and downs, hope and despair, quick decisions and
sort it out.
16
slow dithering, hard negotiations and sanctions, for ‘notes’ to get approved, and for deploying necessary hardware and
enduring bonds. It was worth it all. We software which were mission-critical for the project.
learned many things along the way.
Conclusion
When you are very close to the event The challenge in this project was akin to a challenge of an un-chartered voyage.
you don’t have a 20/20 vision to see Satisfaction, like Projects is a temporary endeavor. When one says that he is
precisely, all that were good (and bad) in completely satisfied, it should cause alarm bells to ring. Can I be satisfied with this
the event that have unfolded recently project? Has it met all its objectives? Given a second chance, would I have done
before you. The wisdom in hindsight things differently? The answers are, No, Yes and Maybe. It had a pretty long gestation
always comes later on. And, are we not time. Close to 18 months. Should it have taken that much time? No. However, there
all blessed with wisdom in hindsight?! If I is a quiet happiness at the way things turned out in the end.
were to pinpoint one critical success
factor in this project, it is the ability to About the Author
carry everyone along. By everyone, I Jacob Zachariah is Manager - Systems in State Bank of
mean the stakeholders. As mentioned India. He has designed various systems for theBank and
earlier, in Project Management also involved in system-related projects. He is Oracle
parlance, SBI is not a ‘projectized’ org- Certified Programmer, Certified Web Designer and
anisation. It is a functional organisation Project Management Professional. He is also a trainer
with a lot of departments and inter- and facilitator with PMI, Mumbai Chapter. Besides, he
dependency between these depart- is involved in training young people on soft skills like
ments. A Project Manager handling a Inter-personal relations, Emotional Quotient (EQ) and
project must handle these internal Personality Development.
contradictions. I think, identifying the
He can be contacted at:
stakeholders - active, passive and even
negative was an important and critical jacobjz@hotmail.com. (e-mail)
success factor. It mattered for getting He resides in Mumbai.
MUMBAI
Number
Month of
Members
Jan. 2009 782
Apr. 2009 770
Jul. 2009 829
Oct. 2009 853
Dec. 2009 891
17
MANAGING PROJECT, THE PMI WAY

By Hemant Patil, PMP
This is my experience on how a course that was taken up as a Missing out on Stakeholder:
pastime activity actually helped me in understanding the One of the customer side STAKEHOLDER who surfaced later
various attributes of project management and how they can caused some disruptions & misunderstandings during the
be effectively used in handling projects in an organized initial stage of execution. I had to quickly include him in my
manner. Why only project, the PMP framework can be COMMUNICATION list and convey him my systematic
applied to any task by picking up the relevant blocks from it. approach towards the project to get a buy-in.
I took up PMP as a pastime activity. I was wanting to do some
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
kind of management course though. Being an engineering
Ensuring that right Resources are at work
techie for almost 20 yrs., the obvious thought that came to me
One of the on-field RESOURCE who claimed to have
was to take up a part time MBA. But it would have been a
understood the SCOPE OF WORK was actually not delivering
change in stream of sought. I was looking to do something that
as per SCHEDULE. Identifying this bottle neck and escalating it
would enhance my managerial skills, provide me with some
to the functional manager was critical. With the help of the
kind of knowledge that can be applied and is universally
functional manager the resource was put on non critical path
acceptable and at the same time improve my market value as I
activities and additional resource was deployed on the
move towards second phase of my career.
CRITICAL PATH to catch up on the schedule. I guess, a
While I was in this dilemma, a 40hr. PMP preparation course properly refined WBS would have avoided this situation.
was announced in our organization. I had very little idea of
Reporting Performance
PMP then & decided to attend it, more so because I had time
Since the project was to be completed within a short time
due to lower work load and I was not required to spend a
performance reporting on a weekly basis was not enough as
penny as it was sponsored by the company! (I later realized it
many activities used to elapse within a week. I therefore
was worth attending even by putting in personal money as it
decided to have a more frequent review and reporting. This
would have proved to be an investment rather than expense). I
helped as the team was able to track, identify and manage
completed the course in Jan2009 & was told that the PMBOK
changes on time.
Edition - 3 was valid till June 2009. Our instructor encouraged
the batch to take up the exam before that. I put an additional Procurement Management
months effort & cleared the PMP certification in March 2009. Though the material requirement for the project was budgeted
during planning and the process set to make it available on
As I went through the certification process it generated a lot of
time, certain process had to be pre-empted and alternate
interest & made me realize that its principles / framework can
means adapted to ensure deliveries on time. Additional cost
be applied to any stream of business. It can help tackle any
had to be incurred, but the contingencies considered during
activity in an organized manner keeping in view all aspects
procurement planning came in handy.
thereby reducing the chances of error. My work then was not
related to projects but I started making efforts trying to apply The project is still under way and I am sure I will not have major
whatever possible from the PMP course to my existing job pro- surprises having adopted the PMI guidelines.
file. I later switched job & joined a projectized organization. About the Author
Here I could practically see a PMI framework in action. All that I am a graduate in Electronics & Telecomm-
I had learned – scope, time, resource, budget, risk unication Engg. from Pune University and a
management. A few months later I got the lead role in certified PMP since March 2009. I have been
delivering a project. working in the field of telecom for the past
20+ years. I have been instrumental in broadband wireless
I tried and applied as many things as possible from my PMP
access network design, planning and roll out. Currently
learning. I learnt more as the project progressed as practical
working with GTL Limited as General Manager â€“
difficulties during the execution phase forced me to look back
Engineering, WiMAX & 3G. Formerly worked for Reliance
at my assumptions and brought to my notice certain things that
Communications and Syntel Telecom
I had overseen during planning phase.
18
How Project Management is more important

in the troubled Economy. By Sandep Raut, PMP
In Today's troubled economy all the organizations are surface in the project, rather than finding them when it's too
struggling to survive & sustain their businesses. late.
It has become extremely important to focus on the 3 KPIs for Project Managers are the practitioners of the daily project
organizations to move ahead in these troubled times. activities hence they are aware of poor performing projects
· Reduce costs which can lead to waste of time & money. These when
· Improve Customer services highlighted to senior management can very well be killed or
· Increase Revenue stopped to avoid further damage.
The first KPI of Costs reduction invariably starts with reduction Organizations can look back at the history data collected on
of headcounts, which is looked at as an easy way out. But projects to predict project success, have quick turnaround time
People are asset of the organization. When they go, they take by reusing the material from previous projects. All this wealth of
away all the knowledge, skills along with them which in turn information depends on Project Manager's ability to collate &
may harm the organization in long run. Even in these situati-ons archive for future use.
Project Managers can help Senior Management to identify the To summarize the value of Project Management:
people which they can let go instead of good ones. · Improved schedules-timelines & hence Improved project
In any organization there are only two things happening - profitability by meeting costs, schedule & quality goals
either Projects or Operations. · Ability to collect data for further enhancements in project
Hence managing these Projects / Operations successfully has management
become extremely important for sustenance and profitability · Usage of collected data for betterment of future projects
of the business. · Better predictions of project success
There are several key aspects to executing projects · Save money on poorly performing projects causing waste of
successfully. Let us discuss some of the aspects one by one. time, money & resources
One of the criteria for successful project is effective resource Every project is approved to deliver some benefit to the organi-
management. Projects cannot succeed without right people to zation. Project Management helps in reducing the risk of failure
work on them. Project Managers are the controlling & to achieve this objective & improve the potential benefit
motivating factor in resource management. Happy people are
About the Author
more creative, productive & they deliver ahead of time.
Resource sharing has become important to avoid unnecessary Sandeep has spent over 19 years in the
headcounts & who else can manage the resource sharing software services industry out of which
across projects than the project managers. (S)he knows when over 11 years in the Business Intelligence
& which resource is required at specific time to avoid idle time stream. Conceptualized & contributed
& achieve optimal utilization of available workforce. to the formation of the BI center of
excellence. Developed & managed
Second criteria is attention to detail of tracking scope, time &
Customer relations with Global players across USA, UK &
costs. Project Managers can help team members understand
Asia Pacific. Participated in overall business planning,
the value of recording the right data for timesheets on various
bringing current knowledge & future trends in technology to
phases. This helps in understanding & predicting the costs with
the advantage of the organization's competitive position.
increased accuracy.
Currently working with SAS Institute India Pvt Ltd as Senior
Third & most important aspect is communicating the risks &
Project Manager. Responsible for International Business &
value of Projects to Senior Management. Raising timely red
Supply Chain Intelligence implementations with additional
flags for key issues & risks is very important activity along with
responsibility of organization-wide integration of consistent
normal status of the project. This helps in addressing all the
project management methodologies and terminology
potential issues & risks as soon as they arise or even before they
19
Operation Successful, Patient Died!

By Poorav Sheth, PMP
Let me tell you a story of an emerging offshore team was technically incapable dollars on software development of
company in the US that had an IT and the final product they delivered was tools that were never used but also on
department which was in charge of not “up-to-the-mark”. Not a valid lost productivity that the business users
developing tools & applications for its justification, I thought. That's when I encountered because they could not get
internal business users (Customers). This decided to talk to the internal business the right kind of tools on time.
IT department had outsourced its users. What they told me shocked me. What made this situation worse was that
software development operations to an They told me that whenever a new the Client's IT Manager was seeing this
Offshore Provider in India. Although the project was approved by the business as a failure of the offshore team instead
Offshore Provider delivered most of the team, the IT Manager would contact of seeing it as ineffective leadership and
projects on-time, on-budget & as per them for requirements and would come improper project management
spec (beating the global averages, back after a few months for demo-ing practices on his part. Obviously, I put
Standish Chaos Report 2009), they were the finished tool! Obviously, the forth my observations & recommenda-
always being blamed for technical finished product would be very different tions to the Client's management team
incompetency & not delivering a “good” from what they had expected and some which was mature enough to accept its
product. These were serious allegations of the features no longer satisfied the mistakes and take necessary corrective
that could impact future business from dynamic business requirements. What action to prevent this in the future.
the Client and thats where I was brought ended up happening was that many of
How the patient was revived?
in by the Provider to “save” the account. these tools that got developed were not
The following recommendations were
My first task was to talk to the offshore found usable by the business users and
put forth:
team and understand the process, never saw the light of the day.
1 Involve the Offshore Team -
projects & problems. For any project, This was a classic case of “operation Just shipping the spec to the Offshore
the typical process involved the Client's successful, patient died”. Even though, Team in India and expecting them to
IT Manager shipping the spec to the the project was delivered on-time, on- deliver a great product was myopic.
offshore team which would then start budget and as per spec, the developed Since the Offshore Provider was a long-
with the architecture and design tool was not accepted by the business term partner who would be involved in
followed by development & testing. users and never used. Although, the multiple projects in the future, it made
Upon closer inspection of the project Client's IT Manager contacted the sense to involve them directly when
artifacts, I found the documents in order business users for initial requirements, chalking out the project roadmap and
and an iterative development approach he never kept them involved throughout providing them with a vision of what the
being followed. No problems there. the project. Some of the details of the end goal is.
Next, I flew down to visit the Client and features were provided by him, without
Benefits – This will not only get them
understand the problems from their consulting the users, based on what he
better engaged but will also get them
perspective. My first meeting was with thought would be the right technical
thinking in the right direction for better
the Client's IT Manager who was in approach instead of what the business
ideas & solutions to some of the business
charge of getting the tools/applications users would think as the most practical
problems that need to be solved.
developed by the offshore team. approach. There was a total misalign-
Although, he agreed that most of the ment between the IT department and 2. Identify Project Owner
projects were delivered on-budget, on- the business users it served that not only Once a project has been identified and
time and as per spec, he told me that the resulted in wasting away thousands of approved by the Steering Committee, a
20
Project Owner should be identified form that was to be sent to all involved Moral of the story
from the group of business users that are Project Owners and Business Managers It is imperative to have stakeholder
the target audience for the tool. This on a monthly basis. Besides the overall involvement and sponsor buy-in well
delegate would be the one point-of- rating, respondents were asked to rate throughout the project, from before
contact for the IT Manager/Offshore the project execution team on the project inception to well after project
Provider to discuss requirements, following parameters - Response time, closure.
deliverables, scheduling, user accept- Understanding of business require-
This story also raises an important
ance & signoffs. The Project Owner in ments, Process, Quality of Deliverables,
question – What are the criteria by
turn would be responsible for keeping Proactiveness, Flexib-ility, Innovation &
which one would determine if a project
his group of business users informed Timeliness of deliver-ables. The results
is a success or not?
about the project & discuss any ques- are to be analyzed and necessary
tions that may have come up with the corrective/preventive actions to be At a high-level, some of the obvious
project execution team. It is expected undertaken by the IT Manager as ways to determine whether a projects is
that the Project Owner will have to sp- deemed fit. The consolidated results are a success or a failure-
end about 15% of his time in supporting to be presented to the Client's mana- 1. Has the project satisfied the business
this project but it will be worth it gement team at the end of the year requirements of the primary
considering the better deliverables that when they evaluate the performance of stakeholders?
come out as a result of his involvement. the IT group over multiple projects.
2. Do the business owners believe the
Benefits – Encourages stakeholder Benefits – Valuable user feedback
project was successful?
involvement. Single point-of-contact encourages continuous improvement
enables faster decision-making. and adjustments. Improved customer 3. Were the deliverables produced on
service fosters camaraderie between IT time and within the budget?
3. Weekly stakeholder meeting –
department & business users. 4. Has the project delivered the
Weekly meetings would be conducted
business value promised?
by the IT Manager where the These recommendations were
participants would include the Project accepted by the Client's management
Owner, Business Manager (Project team and I was responsible for
Sponsor) and one or more members implementing them while I was there. It About the Author
from the Offshore Team. The agenda for has been more than a year now and I Poorav Sheth, PMP
these meetings would be to provide must say that it has worked out really is the Founder and
status updates, discuss any risks/issues, well as it has kept all the stakeholders Principal Consultant
changes, feedback etc. involved and interested thereby at Stratellect
Benefits – Keeps all stakeholders in the producing tools that are aligned to the Consulting. He has
loop regarding project status. expectations and needs of the business 15 years of experience in the IT
Encourages collective responsibility. users. It significantly improved the industry out of which more than 6
success rates of subsequent projects. years have been in the US. He has an
4. Monthly feedback
Even the consolidated feedback ratings extensive project management
As far as the IT department of this
showed a significant improvement in background in IT and has led business
company was concerned, it was really a
customer satisfaction. units with global teams to deliver
Service Provider to the business group.
Infact, in the Client management team's numerous successful projects. His
The foremost thing that any Provider
annual review of the IT department's company specializes in Offshore
needs to consider is customer
performance, they were “happy to see Project Management, Offshore
satisfaction. In order to improve the user
a significant improvement in the way IT Sourcing & Project Rescue services.
experience, there needs to be a
structured way to collect user feedback [department] has delivered and kept its For details, visit
on a regular basis. I designed a feedback customers satisfied”. www.stratellect.com
21
Greater Than Yourself

The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership by Steve Farber
- Book Review
Greater Than Yourself is a call to action for every aspiring 3. Replicate yourself:
leader. The challenge is not to become the best leader you can “Pay it forward, and demand that those you teach pay it
be. No, that will come as the consequence of giving the most forward, as well.” As you practice the art of paying it
of yourself to someone who you feel compelled to lift up, forward, you also will become more confident in
support, encourage, teach, coach and mentor. demanding that others give of themselves also. As yo
This book is told as an inspiring “business parable”. Farber is a challenge other to give of themselves, you are in effect giving
highly effective story teller and he does a fantastic job of them a gift they won’t recognize until later down the road,
keeping the reader glued to every chapter. He wraps but then they’ll be eternally grateful for your prodding.
challenging ideas into actionable principles of genuine The author is the first to admit that the process of GTY can feel
leadership. Steve Farber himself is the main character in this awkward at first, even counter-intuitive. Most of us are taught
book. Steve wraps himself and his love of guitars into the story early on to compete hard and to work hard to maintain a
from the beginning in combination with a cast of fictional competitive advantage over anyone who might someday
characters that add flavor to the story. He draws you in to his threaten our position. Farber maintains that while giving of
adventure of finding the original owner of his new guitar, and yourself may feel strange because of how we tend to be
through the adventure teaches you the power that comes from conditioned, giving is actually a human need and the
helping another person to become greater than yourself. perceived risks of giving are myths. Helping our fellow man,
The story is so compelling it keeps you reading and the coaching our subordinates, sharing our best practices with our
combination of real and fictional characters helps you learn peers – all of these actions make us better, stronger – not
how to apply the principles to your own life. weaker. Strong leaders are giving leaders. Leaders who have a
loyal following are those who instinctually work alongside their
The story gives character and life to a principle of truth that has
team members, holding their hands and show them the way to
existed for centuries: the more you lift others the higher you
success. If you want to rise as a leader, read Greater Than
will go. This concept comes to life through the greater than
Yourself, apply its principles personally and make someone
yourself (GTY) framework and is elaborated through several
else greater than yourself.
examples of GTY projects. The following three solid principles
create the GTY framework: By the way the book has received excellent reviews from
leading personalities like Tom Peters, Ken Blanchard, Marci
1. Expand yourself:
Shimoff and Jim Kouzes. You can follow Steve Farber’s own
“You expand yourself in order to give yourself to others.”
GTY project at greaterthanyourelf.com, and if you’re brave
Create a deep understanding of who you are and what you
enough you can add your own story to the site.
stand for in order to pass along those strong qualities to
others. Note: This book is available in the chapter library
2. Give yourself:
“Act instead of just watching others act or hearing about it in
the news.” Give yourself the gift of philanthropy. You will
become better for it and make a meaningful impact in the Tejas V. Sura, PMP, MS (USA), B.E. (Civil)
lives of many. By giving regularly, you will be amazed at how President & Co-Founder of
much more you receive in countless ways. PMI Mumbai Chapter, INDIA
22
Knowledge Transfer
- A Project Management View By Nandini Mahajan, PMP
Abstract
Organizations outsource IT applications for various reasons. The application knowledge, the domain
knowledge and the operational wisdom change hands with the transition. Knowledge transfer phase plays a
pivotal role. More than providing inputs for further planning of the operation, it is the beginning of the
alignment between the outsourcing enterprise and the service provider. Specific project management
considerations apply to the knowledge transfer phase, despite the application configuration.
The application outsourcing market has processes. Transition of the application Based on the packaging of service
seen a steady growth over the last portfolio to the service provider's offering, organizations have bundled
decade. The composition of services premises spans from the due diligence these stages in various ways.
outsourced has moved from the activities to having the infrastructure, Engagements may vary in terms of when
traditional application management teams and processes up and running the first exposure to data and
types to the advanced service provider independently. information is available. The first three
models. The enterprises that outsource This article discusses the specific project stages of data collection, analysis,
both core and non-core systems have management considerations for the estimation and planning are likely to be
moved away from the basic drivers of knowledge transfer activities during the covered fully or partially during the pre-
saving the operating costs to creating a application transition. project stage. It could be at the
knowledgeable partner in handing over multivendor competitive bidding stage
the applications. Knowledge Transfer – A Process through RFI or RFP. It could possibly be
Irrespective of the model and Overview part of a special feasibility study phase.
composition of the outsourced block of Application outsourcing engagements Service providers are also likely to have
work, knowledge transfer remains to be pass through following stages before the the exposure to the data and part of the
a key phase in this journey. The success service provider starts independent know-how due to other related
of this stage lays the foundations of a operation on the scope. projects.
long lasting and mutually beneficial · Information and Data collection Irrespective of the exposure to the scope
engagement for the outsourced · Information and Data Analysis of outsourced application, a due
application. · Estimation and Planning diligence phase before the knowledge
Depending on how the processes are · Knowledge Transfer sessions transfer plays an important role. This is
packaged by the service provider, · Job Shadowing an opportunity to re-validate the
knowledge transfer is either treated as · Job Demonstration information, estimation, assumptions
the first phase or an independent · Acceptance of knowledge transfer known before. Checklists and
project itself. Knowledge transfer phase · Reconfiguration questionnaires for such due diligence
is typically governed by separate set of · Service Provider's ownership are part of the organizational assets
23
which are used at this stage. However, suggestions to create new systems to for knowledge transfer phase contains
the project management team needs to achieve efficiency, configuration of more parallel networks emerging after
think beyond the available checklists operations team across geographies gets the due diligence and terminating in
since every new engagement is likely to initiated. Inputs to initiate delay-prone acceptance kind of activities towards
have a new dimension or challenge to activities are available, e.g. infra- the end of the schedule.
deal with. structure, procurements, installations, Cost estimates for the knowledge
trainings etc. The WBS for knowledge transfer are dominated by geographic
Planning Considerations transfer phase should contain a branch movements of teams & communication
The stakeholders for the knowledge that deals with planning for the steady costs. Third party services are
transfer phase from client's business side state operation. The activities resulting significant. The current TCO for the
are the process owners, end users and from this branch would produce client, expected reductions, set up and
customers of the application. If the deliverables such as: operations cost of service provider for
driver for outsourcing is consolidation of
1. The off shoring plan the first and the subsequent years of
systems due to a joint venture, then
2. The operations plan operation form the complete cost
similar stakeholders from JV partners
3. The infrastructure plan perspective.
also come in picture. From the client's IT
team, the service team and its managers, Knowledge from the handing over team Due to the nature of the schedule, both
SMEs, system architects would have an is available in both explicit and implicit the frequency and information content
active role in the knowledge transfer. form. The activities for knowledge trans- of communication is higher than the
Third party vendors, maintainers, fer include a requisite mix of one-to-one steady state operation stage of the
contractors are also among the sessions, presentations, brainstorming application.
stakeholders. Business analysts and sessions. Job-shadowing or observing Loss of skill and tacit knowledge,
architects of next generation systems for the handing over team closely in the day insufficient definitions of acceptance
the client need to be on the list of to day work is an important activity. criteria and inadequate documentation
stakeholders too. are predominant risks in knowledge
It is possible or rather advisable in many
The time constraints of handing over transfer from the service provider's point
cases to have the knowledge transfer
team makes knowledge transfer a time of view. For the client data privacy and
from one person to more than one
bound activity. Some packaged security, security of intellectual
person. This needs to strike a balance
processes of service providers promise property, loss of business knowledge,
with the cost baseline, however there
fixed number of days for knowledge turnover or dispersal of experienced
are some distinct advantages such as,
transfer phase. This makes the planning personnel are the primary concerns.
· Flexibility in the steady state
processes more critical and detailed operations stage
Execution and Control Challenges
than ever. Requirement collection that · Back up teams during team recon-
nears the completion after the due The time available from the handing
figuration & movement to offshore
diligence needs a review and a sign-off over team at premium, multiple parallel
· Bring out as much tacit knowledge to
from the stakeholders. Scope definition and distributed activities are primary
explicit form as early as possible
based on the exhaustive requirements is points that make the execution
benefitted with SME involvement from Steady state operation does provide an challenging. Withdrawal mindset of the
the service provider's side. This is the opportunity to right-size the team handing over team is a challenge in
time when the operational scenario of eventually. Availability of handing over getting the tacit knowledge converted to
the outsourced applications is visualised team members, their geographies and explicit knowledge. Hence project
& developed for the first time. Consol- their current work load add to the management bandwidth needs to be
idation of systems under consideration, challenges of activity duration estimate increased in quantum and in geography.
suggestions to close some previous and scheduling.
A fast track escalation and resolution
systems/ functionalities in part or full, Unlike a standard project, the schedule mechanism and a fast track change
24
Did
management mechanism should be typically the topmost concern for the
available throughout the life cycle of client. Data security measures and
knowledge transfer. The effectiveness of practises need to be demonstrated as
these two addresses the challenges of part of the acceptance.
limited duration to a large extent.
Project team should be sensitive to
handing over team's morale and
With growing maturity in outsourced
application, client organizations also
expect innovation and ongoing SME
You
mindset. One-to-one interactions
should be carried out tactfully. The team
should have a good mix of SMEs,
technical and architectural experts and
involvement in application
modernization kind of engagements.
Knowledge transfer projects, therefore,
Know
operations specialists. The focus of job
have not remained hand-over and
you can now connect
withdraw kind of activities. These are
shadowing stage should be on imbibing
to other PMI MC Members on
rather a beginning of a more effective
Linked In.
the best practises of the existing team. If business co-operation model.
the scope of application outsourcing is Please join the
for product development, About the Author PMI Mumbai Chapter group
enhancement, migration, architectural and stay connected!!
modifications or modernisation, then
Make yourself visible to the larger
the job shadowing phase should fetch
PMI MC membership base.
important inputs from the client's
technical vision team, technical Remember the three steps of
architects etc. The subsequent job networking
demonstration stage should focus on
VISIBILITY
understanding of both the current and
the would-be system.
Nandini Mahajan has 17 years of CREDIBILITY
Process adherence is at the core of
experience in technical and
knowledge transfer activities. Docu- PROFITABILITY
managerial roles in the IT industry.
ments or any other form in which the
She has lead transition teams
explicit knowledge is available would be
responsible for taking over You can now
the most important artefacts on the
completely outsourced applica-
quality radar. Completeness and level of connect to other
tions & transferring the operations
details of the artefacts available is a PMI MC Members
to India. She has worked as a
quality measure. Performance of the Senior Manager with Accenture through
taking over team during the job and as a Group Head with Tech
demonstration stage is another quality YahooGroups !!
M a h i n d r a . N a n d i n i i s B. E .
measure. (Computer Engg) and a certified
Please join the
Reviewers including the client's SMEs Project Management Professional.
and the service provider's SMEs form the Currently she is the Principal pmpclub yahoogroups
acceptance team. Acceptance phase Consultant and trainer in project and stay connected,
marks the end of knowledge transfer management with Magnimus
share your views
phase. Observing the service delivery Solutions.
and testing important service delivery
and keep yourself updated
She can be reached at
processes are part of acceptance stage. mahajan_nandini@yahoo.com.
with the happenings!
Security of the data and information is
25
Recruiting the right candidate

By Sainath Sherigar, PMP
Summary · SQL Reporting services projects which the candidate has

Every team member either contributes · Web services worked on. List down scenario specific
to or erodes the team's success. No · Enterprise Application blocks questions based on the work already
matter how experienced you are, the art · Enterprise architecture done by the candidate. At times the
of selecting the right person is more art · Design patterns projects in which the candidate has
than science. Personality traits worked may be good but the candidate
· Ability to handle tight deadlines himself may have had a limited role in
Identify clearly what you really need
· Ability to multitask the project.
It is imperative that you list down the
· High degree of endurance / stamina For example: Let's say a candidate has
tasks that the candidate will be required
· Good verbal and written worked in a core banking project and
to perform. If you do not have a clear cut
communication skills his role was to create reports. The
list of job responsibilities in place, it only
· Responsible and is able to work résumé should ideally indicate “project
indicates that you are not clear of what
independently details” and “role” under separate
you really need. On the flip side, this
· Positive attitude headers. If this is not happening,
also sends wrong signals to good
· Honest, sincere & a true professional provide feedback to the consultant and
candidates – a non-existent JD is one
have it rectified. The following scenario
indicator that roles are not clearly Make expectations clear to recruit-
specific questions can be asked:
defined in the organization. A good job ment consultants
· How many reports did you create?
role is one of the key incentives for Share the job description created above · Did you use SQL reporting services?
attracting the right candidate. with recruitment consultants. Ensure
· Could you provide details of the most
Write out a detailed job description that the profile of the person you are
difficult report you worked on? Why
Perform this exercise by asking yourself looking for is clearly understood by the
do you consider it the most difficult?
“What work will the person actually consultant. Often it is observed that
· What kind of stored procedures did
do?” An example is given below: consultants either do not fully
you need to create for the reporting
understand or are left groping in the
Candidate profile (development) requirement?
dark about client requirements.
Job responsibilities · What was the maximum row count of
Remember, your aim is to funnel out the the tables you were querying? What
· Gather requirements from business users
best talent suitable for the job from the measures did you take to ensure that
· Create business requirement
available resumes floating in the market. the queries were optimized and
specifications
Much of the initial filtration work is would not fail as the tables became
· Create system and database design
tedious and time consuming and is best populated with more data?
documents
left to full time consultants. Your job
· Write system use cases · What kind of indexing strategy did
begins only after the initial rounds of
· Estimate requirements you use? Did you need to create
testing and verification have been
· Design and code system modules covering indexes?
completed and the number of potential
· Write stored procedures · What are the stored procedure
candidates has been rationalized.
· Create reports creation standards which you follow
Technical skills Do a detailed study of the short listed in your project?
· C# resumes The responses to above questions will
· ASP.Net Scan the résumés of the short listed tell you a lot about the skill levels of the
· SQL Server 2000/2005 candidates carefully. Analyze the candidate. It is difficult to bluff on this
26
type of questions. Remember, if a object oriented analysis and develop- of technical knowledge. It does not tell
candidate has already done the kind of ment he is actually using or is capable of you how effective he will be on the job.
work which you need to implement in figuring out. Nevertheless, it is important that this
your project he will be productive from For a production support role, the analysis is also done as part of your
day 1. This is precisely what you are scenario could be – Consider the event recruitment process.
trying to determine. You will find a lot of wherein 2 highest priority support calls
candidates who “know” a lot about a Do not always recruit the best
are raised within 2 minutes of each
specific technology i.e. theoretical candidate
other and you are the only team
knowledge but you need to give member supporting the application in By now you have finalized some
preference to the candidates who have the night shift. How would you handle candidates who are suitable for the job.
already “done” some work in an area. this situation? Before making the final offer consider
Give preference to on the job skill over the following:
The candidate's answer will tell you how
bookish knowledge, this will reap rich Every employee goes through 3 stages in
he would actually handle the situation
dividends during execution of the any organization
in real life and whether he is suited to
project.
the role. Trouble shooting and providing 1) Initial stage – the employee is new
Equating the candidate's responses permanent or workaround solutions and is on the learning curve.
against the JD created earlier will help under pressure is a key quality required 2) Middle stage – the employee has
you to come towards a more informed in production support. become an integral part of the team
decision. and is contributing in his role
Asking scenario based questions is
Prepare a ready reckoner of scenario mandatory if you wish to select the right 3) Late Stage – in this stage the
based questions based on the scenarios candidates – asking questions which employee has mastered his job
faced in your current project only test the subject knowledge of responsibilities and is looking for new
Following the questions identified in the candidates is not enough. challenges. If he is not presented with
previous section, you now need to new challenges or a role revision
throw scenarios at the candidate from Assess the technical competency of there is a very high chance that the
the candidate employee may move on in search of
your current project and see what
solutions he can suggest for the same. Finally, also have a ready reckoner of greater responsibilities.
The important thing here is not how technical questions ready to assess the This is the normal cycle for all
many precise solutions he comes up technical knowledge of the candidate. employees who are career oriented and
with but to get a feel on how much the Almost everyone does this – in fact most are looking to progress in their careers.
candidate is capable of thinking. interviews commence and end with
Put yourself into the candidate's shoes
Software development is a 24X 7 technical subject knowledge questions.
and answer the following questions:
thinking job and this is a vital skill. The disadvantage of this approach is · Does the new job provide me with
For example, continuing with the that almost every candidate is prepared growth opportunities?
previous section's core banking solution for such questions. For example, · Is it a logical next step in my career
the question could be as below: questions like: path?
Consider this scenario – We have the · What is the difference between
If the answer to any of the above
following entities in a bank branch – the overloading and overriding?
questions is in the negative, then it might
customer, the cashier, the teller, the · What is multiple inheritance? Is it
be difficult to retain the candidate in the
personal banker, the branch manager. possible in C#?
long run. Of course, if the candidate is
Suggest an object model to capture this · Explain the event model in .Net? comfort driven than all he may be
scenario. What is a delegate? looking for is a better remuneration. But
The candidate's answer would evoke standard responses and only tell most of the better candidates do not
automatically tell you how much of you that the candidate has some degree think in this fashion.
27
One of the ways of identifying a good candidate is that he will usually ask many rather than recruit a wrong person
probing questions – to the point of being offensive. He will do his homework and repent later.
properly when trying to assess a potential employer. Such candidates usually turn out · Despite your best efforts quite a few
to be very good in their jobs. of your recruitment efforts will
The best candidate is the one for whom the offer you are making places him in the 1st inevitably go wrong. If you achieve
stage in the employee life cycle as mentioned previously. This obviously means that 50% success rate in your recruitment
the candidate will be required to stretch and grow in his new role. This also turns out efforts – consider yourself doing a
to be one of the best retention strategies for the right employees. good job.
Find people who are better than you
About the Author
This is a tricky piece of advice. The average, insecure person always recruits people
whom he considers to be weaker than him in ability or skill to ensure that they never
rise to challenge him. But the true leader is usually strong and secure – he
intentionally recruits people who are better than him in at least 1 area. He knows that
his job as a leader is to integrate diverse abilities of people for the common good and
achieve synergy. An insecure leader can never achieve big results.
Post recruitment activities

· Make sure you have an induction plan in place for the new employee
Sainath Sherigar, PMP, ITIL
· If the employee is coming onboard midway through the project then ensure that a
V3F,COBIT 4.1F is a Project
proper knowledge transition plan is in place to integrate him with the team within
Manager & has diverse experience
the shortest possible time.
in the insurance, foreign exchange
· Capitalize on the initial excitement of a newcomer – ensure that some productive
and travel domains.He is currently
work gets done.
· Ensure that the 1st assignment given will provide an opportunity for 'controlled
employed with VFS Global
stretch'. And watch the response of the candidate closely. Services, part of the Zurich based
Kuoni Travel Group.
Final thoughts
He can be reached at
· Never be hasty in your recruitment decisions – better to leave a position open sainath.sherigar@gmail.com
PMI MC is the first chapter in the region to submit

Strategic Alignment Scorecard (SAS) report to PMI USA.
MUMBAI PMI MC exceeds almost all Targets set by PMI USA.
Flash - Survey results are overwhelming: Overall PMIMC Membership Satisfaction 86%
Networking
Join the linked-in group and post a topic of interest in the PM domain,
you will be surprised to see the comments and response on it.
No. of Members in March - 47 | Total No. of Members in September - 261
Follow the below instructions to join
Login to www.linkedin.com
Register yourself with your email ID and login. Once you login, select groups from the left hand side and In the
search window, type Mumbai Chapter . Click on PMI Mumbai chapter and then click Join Group
28
Good things happen
when you stay involved
with PMI!
PMI commends all 2009 PMI Component Award nominees for their service and
contributions to PMI and the project management profession.
PMI Mumbai Chapter is happy to receive the 2009 PMI Component Award -
Component of the Year (Chapter Category II) at PMI Awards Ceremony on
Saturday, 10 October 2009, PMI® Global Congress 2009—North America.
The PMI Mumbai Chapter Board of Directors (BOD) would like to thank Mumbai
Chapter members for making this possible!
MUMBAI
PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE - Mumbai Chapter
36, Manoj Udyog, G. D. Ambekar Marg, Wadala, Mumbai 400 031. Tel: +91 22 24114734

Consulting Skills For Project Managers PRAKALP - 2010 Annual Edition

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MUMBAI

From Good to Great

Prakalp - PMI Mumbai Chapter Journal

from the desk of the President

Message from the Chief Editor

From good to great By Hari Kumar,

Measuring the Intangible Value of Human Resources

Relationship to Market Value Added The company’s market

PMI MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

Transition from Project Manager to a CXO

Project risk Potential issue

Dependency Task Sequence and action needed

Earned Value Calculation Project status in terms of cost and schedule

Cost Performance index On or off budget? By how much? Give data to

CONSULTING SKILLS FOR PROJECT MANAGERS

Initial Mobilisation and Infrastructure Development

"IPM Day Event"

EXPERIENCE OF HANDLING A GREENFIELD PROJECT

MANAGING PROJECT, THE PMI WAY

How Project Management is more important

Operation Successful, Patient Died!

Greater Than Yourself

Recruiting the right candidate

Summary · SQL Reporting services projects which the candidate has

Post recruitment activities

PMI MC is the first chapter in the region to submit

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