Synergy 2015 Q1 by PMI North India Chapter

SYNERGY Collabora ng Project Management for High Performance Business Insight

May 2015

Inside

Leadership Event PMI North India Chapter

Is PMO the black sheep in the organization? Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Layoff

ays of Apprecia on

Synergy May 2015, Page 1

Message from the President Dear Chapter Members and Practitioners, Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you this year as PMI North India Chapter President. The ﬁrst quarter was quite eventful with the new board members taking charge. There were lot of discussions and brainstorming sessions held to deﬁne the directions for the chapter. The vision is to increase the perceived value of PMI North India Chapter, by increasing the value to our chapter members.

Pritam D. Gautam

In a recent survey conducted by PMI North India Chapter and PMI, the feedback is consistent on the need for more Networking & Learning opportunities to be provided by the chapter. Chapter currently offers 5 (ﬁve) PDU earning opportunities viz. (i) speaking at an event, (ii) writing an article for Synergy, (iii) reading synergy, (iv) attending chapter events, (v) volunteering. Beyond this we have been brainstorming on introducing following new opportunities for our members:  Starting Webinar Series: This will help us connect will member base, which cannot travel to attend events.  Conduct Paid Networking Events: This events will be focused on networking, and career guidance. These events will enable participants to get more networking time than, is generally available during PDU focused chapter events.  Mentor-Mentee Programs: This may be needed by those, who are new to Project Management, and may seek guidance at various levels. But, before we proceed with working in depth on each of these programs, we would like to get your feedback on these. Please visit http://j.mp/1FjeyAp to give your feedback on these programs. Apart from new opportunities, we also want to increase the frequency of PDU events, and we would need community support it. Most of the old chapter members would recollect, our most of chapter events have been hosted in collaboration with Corporates & PSUs. This has helped us to deliver free events for our chapter members. If you think, you or your organization can help us in hosting an event of 70-100 ppl, please do so. Please visit http://j.mp/1FjeyAp to share your interest to host a chapter event in your organization. We as Chapter Board will try to work on increasing member value, and would be glad to hear any new ideas, that you believe can help in increasing the member value of our chapter members. Please visit http:// j.mp/1FjeyAp to share your ideas and suggestions for improvement. I would also like to take a moment to apologize for the delay in releasing the Synergy for Q1 2015. I would be glad to hear your suggestions, on improvement areas, and your contributory ideas. Please visit http://j.mp/1FjeyAp to share your ideas and suggestions for improvement and contribution.

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 2

Updates on Ambassador Program The Ambassador program is one of the major initiated started by this chapter. There was an internal communication dialogue done with the board members and the Ambassadors (RCA and CCA) to share the expectation and the need of each other. The list of ambassadors are as follows. We would encourage the members/non-members to reach out and connect with chapter RCAs/CCAs.

Company Connect Ambassador Program Mr. Sridhar Anjanappa (sridhar.anjanappa@gmail.com) – Assoc. PM, M/s Stryker Global Technology Center, Gurgaon Mrs. Paramita Mukherjee (paramita.mukerji@wipro.com, Paramita.mukerji@gmail.com) - PM Consultant, M/ s Wipro Technologies, Gurgaon Mr. Vipul Aggarwal (vipul.b.agarwal@accenture.com) – Manager, Accenture, Gurgaon Mr. Satyajeet Pattnaik, MBA, PMP® (pattnaiks@yahoo.com) - Head- SAP Consulting Delivery, India North Mr. Daya Prakash (daya.prakash@adpinfosystems.com) — Head of Operations, Thinksys. Inc. Mr. Amit Aggarwal (aamitdel@gmail.com) — Global Transformation Manager, Ericsson India Global. Regional Connect Ambassador Program Mr. Suhail Qadir (suhailbedar@gmail.com) – Srinagar Region (Works for JKPCC) Mr. Gursharan Gill (gursharan.gill@gmail.com) – Chandigarh Region (Management Consultant – Construction Projects) Mr. Tanmoy Prasad – Haryana Region (NIC Haryana Govt. ) Ms. Ruchi Singh (Rs23615@gmail.com ) – Madhya Pradesh Region (MD, Juncture Group & Regional Chairperson - Electronics and Computer So@ware Export PromoAon Council of India) Mr. Vinod Garg (vinod@promac.in) – Rajasthan Region (CMD, Promac Advisors Pvt. Ltd) Mr. S.K. Sinha (Sksinha@iffco.in (Work), Sksh03@gmail.com) – Uttar Pradesh (Works for IFFCCO) Once again thank you for choosing us to govern the board, and we will keep on sharing with you the progress as things happen, till then have a nice time.

With best regards Pritam D. Gautam President & CEO PMI North India Chapter pritam@pminorthindia.org

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 3

From the editor’s desk Hello Practitioner,

s the year progress, we see lots of natural calamities happening, things go in for a toss. All the plans are in shambles. As a practitioner of project management It is our duty to be calm and show the way to handle this sudden and unpredictable changes in positive way, be it in project or in life the principles remains the

same. This issue of the “Synergy” contains some interesting articles which touch our professional lives very strongly. The article on change management talks about how to deal with the changes and succeed. Layoff is another aspect which we cannot shy off in discussing, its impact and management is an important aspect to take care about. Related to this also we have an article on appreciation and the classical risk management techniques. Also PMO is one entity where there is always an question on its existence, by the rest of the organization, the article “Is PMO the black sheep in the organization” deals with this issue. We are also re-structuring our PMI North India Chapter Web page, so as to make it more intuitive and should be able to add value to our chapter members. Hope you have an interesting reading and also enjoy the cartoon created by our very own Piyush Govil. With best regards

Nirmallya Kar Vice President ‐ Communica ons PMI North India Chapter nirmallya@pminorthindia.org

Nirmallya Kar

The Secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on ﬁghting the old, but on building the new. - Socrates

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 4

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 5

How to deal with project changes and succeed By Ajay Bhargove

Abstract The most diﬃcult word for every project manager is “Change”. Project Organiza ons find it diﬃcult to ac‐ commodate with the ever changing requirements on the project. Therefore, being the CEO of the Project, the Project Manager needs to take right decisions at right me in the interest of project and his own organi‐ za on. The idea of this paper is to discuss the type of changes, which may occur in the Project and how to deal with Project changes and succeed.

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 6

Introduc on

he strategy is to deal with the Project changes during the project execu on; decided much earlier, maybe during Bidding Phase, while preparing the Risk Assessment Plan. Experienced Project Or‐ ganiza ons are able to ascertain most of the risks, which may evolve, as a change in the project, but many s ll fail to assess. We will discuss about all the possible changes, which may appear in the Project.

What is Change? There are many defini ons in the Project world for anything to qualify as a “Change”. We can define change as: Any deviaƟon from the project plan is suitable to qualify as a change.

Classifying Project Changes Changes can be defined in many ways and in several manners by the dealing business unit, say for Finance, changes will be more of commercial nature, for execu on managers changes will be of “technical“ nature and for procurement changes will be “Quan ty & Volume Variances”. For Project Manager, every‐ thing that has impact over project plan is a change. Hence, Scope of the work, once defined in the contract including in as Customer’s Requirements, Specifica ons, Drawings, Bills of Quan es and Compliances, may require altera ons to adapt to circumstances or events which were not foreseen at project ini‐ a on. Hence, following can be reasons for Project Changes:

Dealing with Project Changes There can be many other reasons for the project changes, but we can always categorize them into two as follows: Some of the reasons for project change might fall into both, like price variance ‐ some me it is driven by the fluctua ons in the market for price of the commodity, say if your project involves copper or any other com‐ modity whose price is dynamic and our contract with the vendor is not with a price varia on clause, then we will have to bear that hit if contracts are not agreed on a back to back basis. So, Price Variance can be an intrinsic factor for change or can be extrinsic to Project. Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 7

Face oﬀ with Intrinsic Factors Dealing with Intrinsic factors depends on the maturity of the Project Organiza on. Therefore, Intrinsic fac‐ tors can be controlled since these are more dependent on the Business decisions taken at the Project Exe‐ cu on or Planning Stage even. The best way is to pass on everything back to back basis, although this is not always possible, since the val‐ ue of the sub‐contracts will change from 1% of the Project Value to 30% of the total Project Value (For organizaƟons which have evolved from Product to Project). So here comes the importance of the Risk Man‐ agement team. The Risk Management team in the Project should consider all such risks and prepare the appropriate risk re‐ sponses, for example, if as an organiza on we have to meet the Project Owner requirements for the Project by sub contrac ng small supplies to third party, then Risk Management team needs to be sure enough that such a supply should not become cri cal for the project irrespec ve of sub‐ contrac ng value. In case if this becomes unavoidable, then such requirements must have been iden fied at Project Incep on and risk re‐ sponse be ready with help of Project Procurement. Cri cal requirements either small or large in value, should be iden fied earlier on the Project and Plan B should always be ready, in case Plan A not working. Way to deal with Price fluctua ons is to have currency hedging, if the commodity and / or services pricing de‐ pends on the interna onal currency varia ons. Although Finance team can have its own limita on regarding what is to be hedged or not, since hedging 100 dollars for a project valuing 50 Million Rupees is not a viable op on, as hedging also involves cost. If the dependency is more than the threshold decided by Finance, then do hedge the currency, this way we can deal with the Currency Fluctua ons. Another way is to hedge against the commodi es, i.e. if you have great amount of steel structure in the project then you need to hedge your com‐ modi es too. The quan ty of commodity to be hedged has to be decided hanged Customer Re‐ based on organiza ons assessment for factors like project dura on and past quirements can always be con‐ trends on prices of raw material. trolled and this totally depends

on the Effec veness of Project For LSTK contracts agreed with the Project Owner, there must be enough Management buffers for quan es which might not be assessable at the Bidding stage and/or have considerable uncertainty for volume variances during project execu on. This is the only way for LSTK Contracts and lesser will be the hit over the Project Margins. There can be a project situa ons which can have impact over the project deliverable to great extent and one of such reasons can be resources considered for execu ng the project, when I say Resources, this includes Man, material and Machines. So, Project Management team along with risk management team to iden fy the Cri cal resources for the projects and must have wri en risk response plan to deal with recourse changes dur‐ ing the Project Execu on. There is nothing in the world which is indispensable or which has no alterna ve, only need is to spare good me over doing proper risk assessment. Changed Customer Requirements can always be controlled and this totally depends on the Effec veness of Project Management team, every customer tries to gold plate the project without any costs paid for ge ng

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 8

the gold pla ng done. However, if Project Organiza on has not assessed the exact requirements for the pro‐ ject although they might have wri en in detailed specifica on or scope for the project, there is only way to deal and that is to execute the project as agreed, although you can make an a empt to recover for wrong an cipa ons with another situa on on the Project. Government Project Owners always be under the scanner of their regulatory bodies and changes during execu on almost impossible, since public money is involved for such projects and government Project awarding oﬃcials will be answerable for addi onal cost drainage from public money. Hence, while bidding for the Government organiza on, bidding organiza on need to consider addi onal buﬀers for unan cipated requirement, they might be wri en in contract or will be imposed through some government no fica on.

Head on with External Factors These are factors that are referred external to the Project Organiza on and cannot be controlled, since these are not going to change even if you take any decision. For example, if government imposes higher rates on import du es on the material that is not available in the country, Project Organiza on cannot do anything about such a change. Similarly, there are situa ons which change from open market to closed market situa on, for example organiza on cannot bring expats on the projects, since country law forces organiza on to hire labor from the local market and that too through La‐ bour Unions. Another example for uncontrolled factors is imposi on of stringent environmental condi ons to safeguard the pollu on situa on within. This is something that cannot be controlled while execu ng the project; the only solu on to handle such situa ons is comply with the law of the land, since Project organiza on has no op on except to withdraw such projects if this is for its own purpose, however, if this is being done for some Project Owner other than the organiza on withdrawing from the Project will not be an easy task, why? Be‐ cause you are going to play with organiza on credibility and can have a long term impact on the organiza on repeat business as well as on business from poten al customers within that market. So, what organiza ons can do to handle such condi ons? All of us can agree that only solu on to handle such an situa on is to have be er Project Planning, meaning while deciding the Go and No Go for the Project, or‐ ganiza on needs to consider long term factor which can aﬀect the Project situa ons. This is the only way to eliminate such situa ons. Nothing much can be done, un l or unless government decide for further changes, which may be in favor of the Project Organiza on, which is a rare possibility, since such changes happen with the change in federal government.

About the Author Ajay is cer fied PMP and have other tles under his hat including Lead Auditor for OHSAS 18001:2007 from DNV‐AS, Chartered Engineer from the Ins tu on of Engineers (India), Manage‐ ment Qualifica on from Symbiosis, Pune and Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical with Honors from Cho u Ram State College of Engineering (Murthal), Sonepat, Haryana, INDIA. He is special‐ ized in Project Procurement, Contract Management, Planning, Scheduling, and Project Management. He has received mul ple wri en apprecia ons for his nego a on strategies and substan al savings to the organiza‐ ons. He has been a Lead for Cos ng Workshop held at Erlangen & Mannheim in Germany for Super Thermal Power Plants. He has authored popular papers on 1)Pros & Cons of NegoƟaƟon 2)Project Risks & Procurement. Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 9

Is PMO the black sheep in the organization? By Ni n Bha a

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 10

Is PMO the black sheep in the organization?

s per a 2012 study conducted by PM Solu ons1, more and more organiza ons are se ng up a Pro‐ gram/ Project Management Oﬃce (PMO) department now. In fact, the propor on of organiza ons with PMO in place has almost doubled from 48% in 2000 to 87% in 2012. It is evident that organiza‐ ons are realizing the value that a PMO brings to the table. There is another report by Standish Group on Project Success rate2 which shows the success rates of projects have increased from 29% in 2004 to 39% in 2012 Graph 1: Project Success Rates

Are there linkages between the two? I would like to believe so… From my perspec ve, an estab‐ lished PMO clearly has a value for an organiza on and plays the fol‐ lowing key roles: Work with the management to iden fy projects that are aligned with goals and the vision state‐ ment of the Organiza on

Establish project management guidelines, processes and procedures. Act as a facilitator between diﬀerent project stakeholders and ensure there is buy‐in from everyone provide coaching, training and mentorship to project managers

ost people Monitor and control the projects to ensure they are in line with the established don’t understand the differ‐ guidelines, proceeding as per plan and being executed successfully ence between a project Maintain project documenta on repository including best prac ces, lessons manager and PMO and con‐ sider it just an overhead learned, etc. over the project managers However, s ll, there is a feeling that PMO is really a costly affair and not a true value driving department black sheep! The idiom black sheep is used to describe an odd or disreputable member of a group. So what is odd about the PMO which makes it stand out, and in a nega ve way? I can think of the following reasons – some real some perceived: Only a small number of projects (<40%) actually meet the desired objec ves and can be termed as successful Most people don’t understand the difference between a project manager and PMO and consider it just an overhead over the project managers There is significant resistance and change management associated with most projects and PMO being the governing body of projects, is usually not the most liked In many organiza ons, PMO department is usually comprised of successful project managers whereas the re‐ quirements of the PMO role are different making them less effec ve in the PMO role. The benefits of PMO may not always be tangible cash benefits Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 11

So how can we change the image of the PMO? Well, the simple answer is to drama cally increase the project success rates but how do you actually do that? It is easier said than done. Also, there are other pieces that we need to solve for, in addi on to improving project success. I think the below can help: Right PMO composi on: While it is important to staff the PMO with experienced project managers, one also needs to include other exper se such as process, change and finance experts. This cross‐func onal exper‐ se will bring in essen al experience and best prac ces to ensure the PMO can perform the various roles to the required level Demonstrate value: PMO needs to con nuously calculate and demonstrate the value and benefits they are bringing and communicate it across the organiza on. A quote by Ovid, a famous Italian poet reads “Adde parvum parvo magnus acervus erit” which translated to English means that if you keep adding li le to li le, you will end up with a big pile. PMO needs to communicate small as well as big wins to ins ll confi‐ dence within the organiza on and to encourage the Project teams Leadership connect: Most organiza ons today have a matrix structure. This means that there are more stakeholders today than ever before. A lot of the me projects get delayed or fail because of conflic ng interests of different par es. PMOs need to have a direct connect with the leadership to not only ensure they are a key part and have a big say in the whole Project iden fica on, evalua on and selec on cycle but also to leverage this connect to drive buy‐in and agreement from all stakeholders. This connect is also needed to clearly communicate project progress, risks, etc. Be willing to taking tough decisions: There is a quote by Woody Williams “If you have never recommended canceling a project, you haven’t been an effec ve project manager”. Those are the kind of tough decisions the PMO should be willing to take. They should be able to say NO to the leadership on projects which they believe will not add value or be successful as well as willing to cancel projects not going as per plan Con nuous improvement: In today’s vola le and dynamic environment, it is very important for the PMO to con nuously adapt and improve the Project Management knowledge and exper se within their group as well as across the various project teams. They need to stay educated on the latest trends, learn from their past projects as well as from other organiza ons and keep building on the knowledgebase. There is no guarantee for PMO success but with the above concepts, hopefully, you would be able to change its image from a black sheep to, if not the leader of the herd, at least a ‘white sheep’. References: PM Solu ons 2012 Study: h p://www.pmsolu ons.com/audio State_of_the_PMO_2012_Research_Report.pdf Standish Group Report on Project Success Rates: h p://versionone.com/assets/img/files/ChaosManifesto2013.pdf About the writer: NiƟn BhaƟa is a cer fied PMP with over 8 years of Project Management experience. He is currently working as an Assistant Vice President at Genpact (www.Genpact.com) and leading the Project Management department for Healthcare ver cal. He is based in Gurgaon, India. You can connect with him at www.linkedin.com/in/ ni nbha apmp

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 12

By Suresh Bansal Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 13

ayoﬀs remain an emo onal charged topic. Although it is triggered due to various environmental and organiza‐ onal factors, it impacts an individual’s finances, his self‐worth and hence all aspects of his personal

well‐being. Let us look at it from all aspects, and what strategy, tac cs and ac ons should be em‐ ployed by you as an employee to mi gate this risk.

We look at lay‐offs in 3 phases ‐ prior to layoff, layoff, and a er layoff. Prior to layoff Organiza on perspec ve In recent past you can see various news items regarding organiza ons cu ng down their workforce because of varied reasons. Some of the possible triggers are ‐  Organiza onal restructuring to reduce flab and improve bo om line  Responding to various market condi ons such as a new technology, or a regula on  Not able to use available skills due to lack of demand in a par cular domain or technology  Employee performance issues

Before going ahead with the decision to reduce workforce organiza on should plan to retain its competen‐ cy / knowledge to minimize the impact on projects. An organiza on should look into all other available op ons, such as trying to retrain the workforce to u lize the manpower in other areas where they see demand. If new area is of value and interest to employee, then this proposi on becomes a win – win situa on. For example suppose in an IT organiza on you do not have work for senior technical resources, and you have a requirement in a project, which requires basic project management skills. Employee perspec ve Contrary to the popular belief, layoﬀs do not happen suddenly. There are always ample indicators. As an em‐ ployee you will not be aware of all the developments in senior management but if you are aware of your en‐ vironment, then you will be able to predict the advancing doom, in me and with reasonable confidence. Alt‐ hough there is no sure shot method, some of the indicators are as follows.  You are not working on a revenue genera ng project for quite some me  Your work has minimal value add and it can be automated  Many of your colleagues are in a similar situa on or are fired

ay-offs in 3 phases: 1. prior to layoff If you do not have a visible pipeline of future work, you should talk to your 2. layoff manager to get some more visibility because this is not the me to be com‐ 3. after layoff placent. You need to brush up your skills, and ghten your seat belts. If your organiza on is oﬀering to retrain you by reskilling, then you should go for it as it is a chance for you to enhance your skill set. Even if the reskilling area is not of your liking, you can use it to buy some me to find a suitable career alterna ve. If you forecast work in a par cular skill, which is new to you, then you can learn it to increase your employa‐ bility. This has been explained very well in a book ‘Who moved my cheese’ by Spencer Johnson. You must also maintain con ngency money to sustain yourself for at least 6 months, without a salary. This money can also be used in case medical and any other emergencies. Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 14

During layoff Organiza on perspec ve Layoffs can be executed in a big bang approach, or in a staggered approach. As the name suggests in big bang approach layoff exercise is done in a short span of me, while in staggered approach layoff exercise con nues for extended period of me. Big bang approach has the risk of employees forming a group and protes ng. Staggered approach will result in bad employee morale, and job insecurity among rest of the em‐ ployees. It is best to execute layoff in one shot with a defined start and end date, like any other project to minimize the damage. It is a must to have as humane an approach as possible including reasonable severance package, good no ce period, and clear one to one communica on with senior HR manager. Employee perspec ve Many a mes it will come as a shock to you as the pink slip is s ll a social s gma in India. Although with changing market condi ons organiza ons are beginning to be more open towards recruitment. The feelings of “why me?”, anger, fear, frustra on, helplessness and depression are natural. It is important to accept the situa on quickly and to use these feelings to mo vate you back in ac on, as it can also become an oppor‐ tunity in disguise. As a first step, you need to nego ate the severance package with your present organiza on, if that is an op‐ on. Apart from standard job search methods which are a material for separate book altogether, you can ask your managers to help you with the reference contact numbers. You can get your resume reviewed by senior people in the organiza on. Most of the me senior managers will be helpful, and you just have to ask. It is important not to burn the bridges as you are moving out, because it is small world. t is a must to have as humane an approach as possiA er layoff ble including reasonable severance package, good notice Organiza on perspec ve period, and clear one to one A er the layoff exercise is over, and emo ons have cooled down, it is im‐ communication with senior portant to communicate within the organiza on to remove any misconcep‐ ons from the minds of the exis ng employees. Organiza ons need to reassure them that they are not in line to keep their morale and produc vity. You need to talk about the business factors due to which layoff exercise was essen al, and what all steps did the organiza on take to ease the process as much as possible.

Employee perspec ve If you are employed with the company, it is in your best interest to avoid any nega vity, and you must not spread of any rumors. In case of ques ons, you should get the clarifica ons directly from the management to understand both sides of the story. If you are out of job now, then it is important that you should not vent out your anger on to your circle of family and friends as they provide you with emo onal support essen al at this point of me to move forward. In absence of a regular salary, you must control and manage your finances. You need to plan out your day, so as to make most produc ve use of it; else it is very easy to fall in the trap of self‐denial. In addi on to looking for a new job you should also

Start exercising. Along with improving your health, it is also a great stress buster

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 15

Explore that alternate career op on, which you always wanted to peruse, but you were not able to be‐ cause of a full me job Spend some part of your day to peruse an interest or a hobby as this will relax and energize you Summary As be er management can go a long way in avoiding layoffs, organiza on must have a ght control on ac‐ tual u liza on Vs capacity Vs billing. Have strict HR prac ces to avoid incorrect hiring. Have a regular exit of low performers. Maintain pyramid structure at organiza on level. Although it is a very difficult me for an employee, it should be viewed as an opportunity in disguise to improve your skills and hence employa‐ bility, rebuild your professional network, spend some me in your area of interest which might have been ge ng neglected and get a job offer which is a be er match to your skills and expecta ons. About the Author: Suresh Bansal, PMP, CSM Senior Project Manager GalaxE Solu ons Private Limited Project management professional with 18+ years of IT experience, and 10+ year of project management experience in PMO and Delivery, in Healthcare and Insurance Domain, and Java and Mainframe technolo‐ gies.

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 16

By Neelima Chakara

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 17

he word ‘apprecia on’ means recogni on, favourable cri cal no ce and gra tude. It is an estab‐ lished fact that employee apprecia on is cri cal to reward eﬀort and accomplishment, reinforce posi ve behaviour, build confidence and self‐esteem and boost mo va on and enthusiasm. Most organiza ons handle it via formal employee recogni on programs which have a defined periodic‐ ity, prizes and criteria for picking the victorious employee, for example, maximum produc vity, minimum errors, apprecia ons from customers, addi onal projects handled, produc vity/accuracy enhancing ideas, no unplanned leaves, etc

This makes the formal recogni on programs very straitjacketed and create the impression that behaviours which get a certain set of results alone are praise worthy. However, accountability, flexibility, communica on, inclusiveness, leadership are just some examples of the traits that organiza ons value in em‐ ployees they want to have a long term rela onship with. They are certainly diﬃcult to weave into a formal program, but organiza ons ignore them at their own peril. Employees with such traits are he word ‘appreciation’ means the ones, management can bank on. recognition, favourable critical notice and Having them feel side‐lined cannot be gratitude. good for any business. In addi on every employee has diﬀerent triggers for mo va on and thus the formal recogni on schemes do not necessarily achieve the objec ves for which they are cra ed. Recognizing that occasions celebrated by formal programs are not the only opportuni es and the only mechanism to appreciate employees, we need to think about alternate ways and occasions to acknowledge them and also figure what kind of behaviours organiza ons want to encourage? In addi on, if cer ficates and monetary rewards do not always work, what else might? Here are a few ideas –

Paying a en on to employees ‐ This is the simplest but effec ve way to make people feel important and build rela onships with them. Common courtesies like remembering employee names, asking about their vaca ons or children’s recent interview/soccer match, saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, listening a en vely and without distrac ons, go a long way in crea ng goodwill. Rela ng with employees at a personal level makes them feel important and tells them that they ma er as individuals and not just as resources in the corporate machinery. Team up with employees – Create occasions to celebrate, be it birthdays in the team or a successful month end close. Celebra ng with employees, adds to their sense of achievement. You may choose to surprise your high performers by randomly asking them to join you for lunch. They would appreciate being no ced. You can also join them for ac vi es outside of and not directly related with office. I read the following ex‐ ample of teaming in an ar cle by Jeff Haden and I think it is the best. Years ago my boss said, "I'm thinking of joining Toastmasters to improve my presenta on skills. Would you be interested in joining with me? It might be good for both of us, since someday you’ll be making lots of presenta ons." I was fla ered he asked and fla ered he saw me as someone who would someday be in a posi on to speak to groups of people. There is implied praise, confidence, aspira on for the subordinate and humility in the boss. No surprise Jeff was won over!

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 18

Keep commitments to your staﬀ – Like with anyone else, only make promises to employees that you can keep. If you set up a mee ng with your staﬀ, show up for it, unless there is a true emergency. Promise a pay hike or a promo on, only if you can make it happen. Treat people as if you believe they are important

Leverage employee skills – To recognize skill and ability, ask people to contribute to organiza onal objec ves unrelated to their day jobs. For example, if someone is always well organized, ask them to help organize departments marke ng collateral so it is easily accessible, or if someone is good at analysing informa on, ask them to analyse, for example, the pre‐purchase queries received for online purchases and recommend if these can be pre‐ empted. Not only would you get great ideas, you would have stretched employees to think in new direc‐ on and expressed your confidence in them. Seeking ideas / help – Research tells that when human beings are offered an opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas, it triggers the brain’s reward system which produces dopa‐ mine, a neurotransmi er hormone that controls brains reward and pleasure centre. Dopamine regulates emo onal responses. It makes us see rewards and work towards them. Asking employees for help is also a sincere way to recognize their abili es and dis‐ play trust in them. It also means a lot for people, if they feel they are helping a leader they admire per‐ sonally. Create leadership opportuni es – Crea ng informal leadership roles is a form of implied praise that serves many purposes. It shows employ‐ ees that you trust their skills and judgement, boosts their self‐esteem and trains them for formal roles when it is me. Asking an employee to mentor new comers tells that you respect their exper se on work and organiza onal knowledge. Asking someone who always meets deadlines comfortably to share their me management skills with the team honours and acknowledges their focus, diligence and commitment Applaud good ideas – Apprecia ng a job well done is a mo va ng factor but giving people credit for their ideas is extremely effec ve. Imagine the impact, when the boss commends in a review mee ng – “John gave this amazing idea and I could not help agreeing”. In fact, to set people thinking innova vely, you may ask them ques‐ ons in a way to make them feel that they thought up the idea. Be generous with your praise for every improvement that team members make Be specific ‐ Acknowledging the impact created by employees encourages them to go beyond expecta ons and take accountability for results. It reinforces good working habits and behaviour. Example – Your delivery excellence got us addi onal $ ‘x’ revenue as repeat business from the customer or your thorough report helped me handle the customer queries effec vely in the mee ng.

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 19

I am sure the above is not an exhaus ve list of op ons but is a good beginning. These simple but powerful ide‐ as can help leaders develop las ng rela onships with people. Making people feel important mo vates them to achieve beyond expecta ons. A workplace with inspiring leaders and commi ed employees is place where eve‐ ryone looks forward to coming to work every morning and transform their world.

References:Jeﬀ Haden(Inc.com), Susan Heathfield (Humanresources.about.com) About the Author: Neelima Chakara is a Management Accountant and a Project Management Professional by qualifi‐ ca on. She has approx. 20 years of work experience in Finance, opera ons and projects manage‐ ment. She is currently work for EYGBS India Private Limited and have worked for organiza ons like Infosys, Oracle, Accenture and ITI Limited in the past.

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 20

By Rajeev Vashista

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 21

review: In its league matches Group B ou ng of ongoing World Cup 2015, the clash of India versus South Africa was a forgone conclusion with Cricket Pandits and be ng maestros’ with the Indian defeat being a foregone conclusion. S rring performance by Indian team by defea ng South Africa by over 150+ runs sent tsunami waves all over the cricke ng world. But, how come a beleaguered team per‐ forming poorly turn the tables on Proteas, lets try to unravel the mystery.

Occurrence. On 22nd February 2015, in Melbourne, Australia, when India faced the South Africa, all odds were sta s cally fa‐ voring South Africa whilst India had the 0.30 probability of winning the match. The astounding turnaround or‐ chestrated by Indian captain M S Dhoni, was owing to prac cal demonstra on of Project Management skills and ability to lead a team.

Project Management Strategies as eﬀec vely applied to the scenario. (a) Decision post Toss. The minute Indian Captain won the toss; he elected to bat as it is always advisable to min‐ imize your risks for success of a Project as in to put in ones best foot forward to make an impact . In line with PMP principles, in Cricket, it is always risky to chase (ba ng) a unclear target in the beginning, especially whence the history is against you. Indian bowling a ack in Australia for the past three months was abysmal and was not something India could bank on. . Hence, the calculated risk of the Indian Captain ba ng first was proven right by the brilliance of Opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan ably supported by Ajinkya Rahane. (b) The ini al setback of Rohit Sharma had put stress on the ba ng side. Such unforeseen con ngencies, if not assessed and planned can be fatal. Since the Indian Captain MS Dhoni had planned for such risk, he kept his cool (as an extremely cau ous manager and a cra y leader) and sent his batsman as per already evaluated plan in spite of the early loss of Rohit Sharma. This planning and tenancy not to succumb to pressure of loss of early wicket send posi ve signal to his mates of believing in their abili es.

Being Overzealous doesn’t guarantee win, proper management does. On the contrary, (i) Overachievers versus underachievers. South Africa under the captaincy of AB De Villiers were overconfi‐ dent as sta s cal analysis had been favoring them. Their team, on paper was much superior both with bat and the ball, the ranks filled with extremely talented and outstanding players both with the bat and ball. Their recent performance in all the recent matches was also commendable. (ii) Incorrect methodology. A er losing toss, and being sent to ball, De Villiers shuﬄed his bowlers too much devia ng from the norm (project plan). This clearly showed his lack of faith on his bowlers and what‐ ever he was doing was impromptu. What resulted in were risks taken without proper risk management. (iii) Mid course correc on. It appeared that the con ngency plan was completely overlooked, team was highly stressed and expecta ons set were too high. No correc ve plans were in place, resultant when the going got tough, the team buckled. Hence the salient points which emerged were:‐ Historical data doesn’t always correctly guarantee future outcome. Faith on Team members is necessary, high expecta ons from them and lack of planning can mar the pro‐ gress of Project leading to lowering of confidence and team morale and jeopardizing success of the project. Unnecessary risks which were not properly analyzed can doom the project thus con nuous monitoring and con ngent planning needs to be carried out to minimize risks manifes ng themselves.

Objec ve: Team eﬀort and not Individual Brilliance. On the contrast, exhibi on of Indian ba ng exemplified by Shikhar Dhawan ba ng prowess indicated the level of trust reposed by Indian Manager MS Dhoni based on the methodical planning done by the manager thereby allowing him to make best judgment as per the situa on at hand. This is what most of the team members want (Managers’ backing) when they are facing frontline projects. Team eﬀort and planning was personified by non Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 22

flustering of the team due to early dismissal of Rohit which ideally should have pressurized the batsmen, but Dhoni’s correct risk management was able to de over the crisis. . Indian Captain had set high standard for his Team (with collec ve contribu on of all members) but did not expect impossible effort from his team. Owing to this factor, Shikhar playing his natural game put in an effort which was past brilliance with his earlier performanc‐ es. . Main lessons worth men oning are: (i) Undue pressure should not be mounted on team members (ii) Early failures if handled properly, generally don’t affect the outcome of the project. (iii) Team members should be trusted and monitored at macro levels. All micromanagement should be avoided at any cost.

Cra y Skills of the successful Project Manager (a) Ba ng performance. At the end of the day,it is always teamwork like the combined ba ng of Shikhar, Ra‐ hane and Kohli which resulted in the Indian total score of 307 and not the result of any Individual Brilliance. Point worth considering is that MS Dhoni’s personal ba ng was not so much significant but then it is his leader‐ ship and managerial acumen that is more desired rather than his personal technical skill. . Apropos, the success‐ ful manager should be good in vital steps as: (i) Timely Decision Making( ii) Mo va ng team (iii) Stress management technique (iv) Trust in team (b) Bowling Performance. Bowling Op ons: But mind you, though the score of 307 was huge, but it didn’t appear unachievable for a strong ba ng team like South Africa since everybody knew how weak Indian bowling was. Also, there were only few choices for rota on of bowling unlike South Africa which played with 6 conven onal bowlers. India fielded only 5 regular bowlers (with excep on of Raina who is a not actually a mainstream bowler and cannot be completely relied upon). But the manner the Manager and Leader MS Dhoni juggled his bowlers kept the South Africans confused and led to their collapse. This can again be contributed to good con ngent planning.

Winning Strategy with Project Management Skills. Ini al strategy. When South Africa came for ba ng, early wickets were the aim for India. But Indian skipper did not deviate from the original laid down plan of the bowling department. With discipline and self‐control, early wickets and slow run rate started to gain ground for India. Fielding skills. Despite minor aberra ons like few misses in the fielding in terms of runs, Team India eﬀected two crucial run‐outs of in form Captain De Villiers and Miller.

Lessons learnt The match is a perfect example of how the whole team fought in unison for singleton objec ve of winning. All those spots where De Villiers stumbled like, yielding to moun ng pressure, demo va on, flustering and so forth. Indian Captain and Manager MS Dhoni remained rock solid which was displayed by his perfect body language. Not once Dhoni exhibited over excitement, he remained calm and composed which had a calming effect on his Team. This is main ingredient for a professional manager as well. In the end, strong team on paper doesn’t guar‐ antee success, whilst consistency and con nuous hardwork pays off. Result, India won by 130 runs which was not a small victory against an established adversary and was display of how simple strategic planning and usage of management tools and prac ces can win situa ons even when sta s cs are overwhelming. Thus, correct ap‐ plica on of proper managerial skills in the projects can differen ate between successful and failed projects.

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 23

By Suneel Wa al Ajay Kumar Abstract This paper studies the scope and impact of Risk Management in IT projects. The study further included the cre‐ a on of an automa on tool to carry out health check and Risk Assessment for IT infrastructure projects. Risk management includes mul ple steps – Risk iden fica on, Qualita ve analysis, Quan ta ve analysis, Monitor‐ ing and Risk Register. The qualita ve and quan ta ve analysis leads to a risk matrix, which is a plot of Risk im‐ pact vs. Probability of the occurrence of a risk. Based on these two parameters, a risk can be classified as Low, High/ Moderate or Cri cal. The authors designed and implemented a spreadsheet based tool for a shared ser‐ vices centre to support IT infrastructure of mul ple customers globally. We have discussed the various a rib‐ utes and parameters to be considered for the Health check/ Risk assessment and then emphasized on the mo‐ dali es for calcula ng the Account Health Score/ Risk index. The paper looks at several aspects of Risk Man‐ agement and highlights the factors that were considered while designing the tool. Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 24

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Risk is the eﬀect of uncertainty on the objec ves or perceived outcome of a project. Risk manage‐ ment pertains to the iden fica on of risks, assessing their impact on the project, priori za on of risks and a plan to mi gate the same. Managing risk is not a one‐ me ac vity, but con nues throughout the project life cycle. Project Risk Management is a five step process:

Risk Iden fica on Qualita ve Analysis Quan ta ve Analysis Risk Monitoring Risk Register

Background

isk is the eﬀect of uncer‐ tainty on the objec ves or perceived outcome of a project

The steps of Risk Management are outlined below: Iden fica on The objec ve of risk iden fica on is the con nuous iden fica on of events that could poten ally delay or pre‐ vent the comple on of a project, thereby impac ng the ability to achieve project goals. For risk iden fica on, we need to examine the various sources. Risks could arise from sources internal and exter‐ nal to the project. Dependencies on factors (within the project and external agencies) and historical data from similar projects provide an insight into areas for considera on of risk. We could start by considering anything that could go wrong, even if it is quite obvious or trivial. Capturing these obvious risks will start the ball rolling and will lead further. Risk iden fica on is an itera ve process. New risks get iden fied as the project progresses through the life cycle. Assessment Risk assessment is the determina on of qualita ve or quan ta ve value of a risk. It includes the evalua on of the probability of the occurrence of a risk and the magnitude of impact in case of occurrence. Qualita ve Risk Analysis Risk analysis starts by priori zing the risks as per the order of significance. A major technique for Qualita ve analysis is the Risk Matrix. Risk Matrix can be setup as a 3x3, or a 5x5 matrix, the size is based upon the granulari‐ ty of tracking. The X‐axis denotes Impact and the y‐axis denotes probability of occurrence. The Top Right hand corner depicts the Red Zone or Cri cal risks, needing immediate a en on. The Bo om Le is the minor risks or the Green Zone, indica ng risks which can be ignored. The middle diagonal por on represents the Amber Zone, or the non‐cri cal risks, but the ones which require mi ga on. Quan ta ve Risk Analysis Quan ta ve risk analysis includes the techniques to quan fy the impact of the risks. It employs tools to es ‐ mate the likelihood and impact of the occurrence of a risk related event. These could include Sensi vity Analysis, Failure Mode Eﬀects Analysis (FMEA), scenario‐ based predic on of fatali es, Decision Tree, Expert Judgment, Expected Monetary Value analysis and Simula on. Using qualita ve risk analysis, we es mate the impact of the risk on a pre‐defined scale. Next, we es mate the probability of the occurrence of this risk, again on a pre‐ defined scale. These scores are combined to give an over‐ Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 25

all risk ranking. A er calcula on of risk scores, these need to be sorted and priori zed. The impact and likelihood of the risks needs to be periodically reassessed using the likelihood – impact matrix. Treatment There are basically four ways to deal each risk:  Accept – We may not have an ac on plan for a risk where both the impact and Occurrence are low, or the cost of mi ga on is too high. In such a case, we just accept the risk and monitor it.  Transfer – The risk is transferred to another en ty. An example could be the out‐sourcing parts of a project to an external agency.  Mi gate – Risk mi ga on focuses on a plan for reducing the impact of a risk.  Avoid – Risk avoidance pertains to altering partly the scope of items or changing the approach, so that the risk gets bypassed. Reducing any one of the three factors—threats, vulnerabili es, impact—results in a significant reduc on in risk. Review The risks need to be monitored to ensure ac on plans for mi ga on, acceptance, changes in the impact or likeli‐ hood of occurrence and to ascertain the relevance of exis ng risks and introduc on of new risks. Risk manage‐ ment is a con nuous and ongoing process, requiring a constant review and upda on of the risks. Risk register An integral component of the risk management process, risk register is used to record the risk and provide on‐going ac on plans to address and mi gate the risks. Risk management is a con nu‐ al process where opportuni es and risks change as per the priori es and direc on of the project. Risk registers are not sta c and are designed to be a strong project management tool.

Risk Management Process

Material & Methods Requirements The spreadsheet based tool was developed for Risk iden fica on, priori sa on and mi ga on for an IT shared services setup. The organisa on provides IT infrastructure support to mul ple customers globally and needed a single tool to track risks across all the accounts. The process was to be designed in such a manner that each customer account underwent a monthly health check by the subject ma er experts. The health check was to be designed around several a ributes which would be cri cal for the success of the delivery. Each a ribute would comprise of a number of parameters, which need‐ ed to be scored in a quan fiable manner. The parameter scoring metrics would be evaluated to determine an overall Account Health or Risk score. Since we needed an overall picture and a comparison across the diﬀerent accounts, there was a need to create a summary which would depict the scoring for various a ributes across the accounts. This summary would be colour coded and depicted as a dashboard. We held a series of workshops with the Delivery Managers, subject ma er experts and the project stakeholders. The framework for the tool was developed through mul ple itera ons during these workshops. Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 26

A ributes S# A series of brainstorming sessions led to the iden fica on of 11 cri cal parameters to ascertain the health of a project. These parameters were 1 shortlisted a er rigorous brainstorming sessions. Further, in order to 2 calculate an Account Health Index or a Risk score, it was necessary to 3 a ach a weightage to the parameters. The final list of parameters along 4 with the weigh ngs evolved as under: 5

Attribute Documentation Skills Incident, Problem and Change Mgmt Compliance Software Currency and Vendor Support

Weightage 10 10 10 10 10

Parameters Backup 5 The next step was to establish a set of quan fiable and measurable 6 7 Monitoring 5 a ributes for each of the parameters iden fied so far. The parameters 8 HA 10 take into cognizance the main quan ta ve risk analysis tools i.e. FMEA, 9 Performance & Capac10 ity Mgmt Sensi vity Analysis and Decision Tree. The metrics were iden fied in a 10 Tech Remediation 10 generic manner. We could have scenarios where a par cular metric 11 Risk Mgmt 10 would not be applicable for an account. This would have an implica on 100 on the scoring calcula ons, which was has been taken care of subse‐ quently. The list of metrics for each parameter (alongwith the possible scoring results) was finalised as follows: Parameter Scoring Each of the parameters was allocated an importance – High, Medium or Low, which would be converted to an importance factor during scoring calcula ons. Further, each parameter was scored individually – some parameters as a Yes/No, some with numerical values. Each parameter result was converted into a score on a scale of 1‐10. For a Yes/ No type result the scoring was 10 or 0 – 10 being favourable and 0 being unfavourable. Similarly, the numerical results were also converted into a 1‐10 score based on a predefined criteria. All Zero parameter scores are flagged as Red. Calcula ons The importance of each parameter is translated into importance factor – 10 for High, 6 for Medium and 3 for Low. Further, parameters with a result as NA were flagged as non‐scorable. We then calculate the intra‐a ribute weight. For a parameter, the intra‐ a ribute weight would be its importance factor di‐ vided by the sum of importance factors of all scorea‐ ble a ributes within the category. The final weight of a parameter is arrived as the product of intra‐ a ribute weight and the overall a ribute weight. The overall score of the account is the weighted av‐ erage of the individual scores of all scoreable pa‐ rameters. This score would range from 0 to 100. A higher score indicates a Lower risk and vice‐versa. A sample sheet for one of the accounts looked like this: Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

A ribute

Documen‐ ta on

Skills

Incident, Problem and Change Manage‐ ment

Compli‐ ance

So ware

Backup

Monitoring

High Avail‐ ability

Perfor‐

Technical Remedia‐ on

Risk Mgmt

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 4 1 2

Parameter

Scor-

Mainstream products architectural docu‐ Server list Team contacts Escala on Matrix Escala on matrix of dependent support Standard Opera ng Procedures Skill evalua on Skill gap Upskilling plan Staﬃng levels Backfill Ageing CTAM Defini on CTAM Review SLA Defini on High Severity Incidents SLA A ainment Repeat Sev1s Long running/persistent issues (Sev 2 and Change Process CAB/TAB Failed Changes Availability of Service Ac va on Adherence to SA&D process Shared ID's Password expira on Patch Management End Of Life Applica ons Vendor support Applica on Backup Configura on Disaster Recovery Test Restore Test Applica on Monitoring Gaps Monitoring Threshold validity Mul ple monitoring alerts for the same Availability of HA HA Tes ng Unplanned frequent server/applica on Capacity management Capacity Issues logging Technical Remedia on Ac on items from technical remedia on Health Check Usage of Service Line Known Error Data‐ Risk aging Monthly Status of risk closure

Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Numeric Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Numeric Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Numeric Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA Yes, No, NA

Synergy May 2015, Page 27

Attribute

Account Health Check : Parameter

Score

Final Weight

Metric Score

Weighted Score

Mainstream products architectural documentation

Medium

0.00

Server list / CEP

High

Yes

3.45

Team contacts

Medium

Yes

2.07

Escalation Matrix

High

3.45

0 0

Documentation

Escalation matrix of dependent support teams

Low

1.03

SOPs

High

0.00

Skill evaluation status

Medium

Yes

1.58

Skills

Incident, Problem and Change Management

Importance

Skill gap

Medium

1.58

Upskilling plan

Medium

1.58

Current staffing levels

High

2.63

1.84

Backfill Ageing

High

2.63

CTAM Definition

High

Yes

0.86

CTAM Review

Medium

Yes

0.52

SLA Definition

High

Yes

0.86

High Severity Incidents

High

0.86

SLA Attainment

High

Yes

0.86

Repeat Sev1s

High

Yes

0.86

Long running/persistent issues (Sev 2 and Sev 3).

High

0.86

Change Process

High

Yes

0.86

CAB/TAB

High

Yes

0.86

Failed Changes

High

0.86

Availability of SA&D process

High

Yes

0.86

Adherence to SA&D process

High

Yes

0.86

Shared ID's

High

0.00

Password expiration

Medium

3.75

Patch Management

High

Yes

6.25

End Of Life Applications

Medium

Yes

3.75

Vendor support

High

Yes

6.25

Application Backup Configuration

High

Yes

1.67

DR Test

High

1.67

Restore Test

High

Yes

1.67

Application Monitoring Gaps

Medium

1.15

Monitoring Threshold validity

High

Yes

1.92

Multiple monitoring alerts for the same issue

High

1.92

Availability of HA for all supported applications

Medium

Yes

2.31

Has application HA been tested?

High

Yes

3.85

Unplanned frequent server/application failovers

High

3.85

Who performs capacity management? Please mention in comments column

No Score

0.00

Are all risks (if they exist) logged into CA tool?

High

Yes

10.00

Tech Remediation

Medium

2.40

Action items from technical remediation completed?

High

4.00

Health Check

Medium

Yes

2.40

2.4

Usage of Service Line Known Error DB

Low

Yes

1.20

1.2

Risk aging in CA tool

High

Yes

5.00

Monthly Status of risk closure in CA tool

High

Yes

5.00

Compliance

Software Currency and Vendor Support

Backup

Monitoring

Performance and Capacity Management

Tech Remediation

Final Score

5.52

7.63

8.26

0.00

6.25

3.34

4.99

Risk Mgmt

100

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

10.00

3.60

10.00

69.59

Synergy May 2015, Page 28

We employed the technique of expert judgment for scoring each account individually. When the subject ma er experts evaluate each account, these are clubbed together as separate tabs of a worksheet and carried forward to the summary, which depicts the health of each a ribute and the overall score for each account. For each a ribute of an account, if there is a Red parameter score, it is depicted as Red in the Summary sheet. The overall cutoďŹ&#x20AC; scores are 75 and 90. Any account above 90 is a green, between 75 and 90 is Amber and less than 75 is Red. The summary sheet is as follows: 83.26

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Documenta tion

Skills

Incident, Problem and Change Mgmt

Perf & Capacity Mgmt

Tech Remedia tion

Risk Mgmt

89.07

85.39

86.89

89.98

89.96

82.23

78.53

87.80

87.26

91.95

69.59

82.92

78.25

69.59

81.94

84.17

81.20

86.52

78.62

Account Name

Account 1 Account 2 Account 3 Account 4 Account 5 Account 6 Account 7 Account 8 Account 9 Account 10 Account 11 Account 12 Account 13 Account 14 Account 15 Account 16 Account 17 Account 18 Account 19

Complianc e

Software Currency and Vendor Support

Backup

Monitoring

Overall Score

100

For all Reds in the summary sheet, we go to the corresponding account detailed scoring sheet and iden fy the parameters which are flagged Red. Each of these Red flagged parameters is a risk and needs a corresponding Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 29

mi ga on ac on.

Conclusion The main considera ons for risk management are:  Risk management aﬀects all aspects of a project and determines the success of the project.  Risk management is a con nuous and itera ve process.  Risk management demands to be accorded a very high priority  Each iden fied risk has to be assessed, a mi ga on plan created thereon and tracked to closure. The health‐check process and scoring spreadsheet was introduced in August 2013 for a limited set of accounts as a pilot. Based on the feedback, we made several changes and removed a few bugs in the calcula ons, before roll‐ ing it out fully in October 2013. The tool has been in opera ons since then and is being used eﬀec vely. About the Authors: Suneel Wa al – Global Delivery Project Execu ve , (IBM India Limited) Ajay Kumar – Program Manager (IBM India Limited)

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 30

21st March 2015 On 21st March 2015, a day with PMI veterans on “Leadership Lessons” was organized at Habiture Hotel Gurga‐ on by PMI North India Chapter. The presenta ons were well appreciated by the par cipants, who a ended the event. The en re event by very professionally handled by PMI North India chapter On 21st March 2015, a day with PMI veterans on “Leadership Les‐ sons” was organized at Habiture Hotel Gurgaon by PMI North India Chapter. The presenta ons were well appreciated by the par cipants, who a ended the event. The en re event by very professionally handled by PMI North In‐ dia chapter He kept the par cipants fully engrossed with a few ac vi es and their ac ve par cipa on during the workshop and got a standing ova on from the par cipants on comple on. The session ended with the vote of thanks by Mr. Praveen Anand – Vice President Programs, PMI North India Chapter. The synopsis of the presenta ons are ‐ The synopsis of the presenta ons are ‐ Session - 1 Challenges of execu ng Projects in the Government or Public Sector in India.  Lt Col Ajay Bha acharyya The Government and the Public Sector are the largest segment of the economy and also the largest buyer. There is no sector where the stakeholders do not have to deal with them. As much of the commanding heights of the economy were almost an exclusive preserve of the Public Sector Units (PSUs) ll the late Eigh es. Al‐ most every organiza on has to deal with them in the normal conduct of their business. Also, most projects of government and public sector in India are contracted out.

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 31

Projects as we are all aware are the means to implement the organiza onal strategies of any organiza on as well as the vehicles which will generate future employment and growth in the country….thus making it imper‐ a ve for all PMI members, whether from the private sector or from the government/PSU sector; to under‐ stand the dynamics and challenges in projects in the government and public sector in India. We have had some astoundingly successful projects in the government and public sector in India like the Mars mission, solar panels on the IG Canal, Project Tiger and countless more. However, each of these is more than counter balanced by many mes the number of failed projects. Huge cost and me overruns are a com‐ mon phenomenon in a majority of government and public sector projects. The key reason for this is, that most government and public sector projects suffer from late loading as against early loading which should be the preferred way of doing projects. So, instead of spending more me on the intent, design and planning stages of the project; they are o en given a short shri …… as a result considera‐ bly more me is spent on mobilisa on, execu on and handover. O en, even stakeholder analysis is not car‐ ried out properly; resul ng in opposi on to the project, court cases and inordinate delays. It has also been found that many projects that are delivered were never required by the stakeholders and hence remain unu‐ lised/ underu lised. The net result is that projects do not deliver the promised IRR and o en end up deliver‐ ing nega ve IRR. There are two major factors responsible for this. The first being the organiza onal structure of government and public sector in India are not geared towards planning, monitoring and execu ng projects. PMBOK advo‐ cates that the Project Manager and his team should be responsible for the planning, monitoring and execu‐ on of projects; whereas, in the government and public sector in India, we o en find that different agencies/ organiza ons are responsible for planning, monitoring and execu on of projects, with no one accountable for their successful outcomes. The second major factor is the organiza onal characterized by lethargy, lack of integrity, lack of professional competence, slow and convoluted decision making & slow response to the needs of the stakeholders and contractors. The management style o en displays bureaucra c culture of government and public sector in India. Work culture & organiza onal values are o en; bloated organiza on, centralized decision making – li le or no accountability, too much paperwork, nonexistent MIS, overbearing and obstruc onist finance de‐ partment and officers on site are o en not empowered. The fear of Audit and Vigilance o en cramps the style and the culture is that of Lack 0f Trust. The good news is that this all pervasive culture of gloom and doom has started to change and we hope that it will propel India into a high rate of sustained growth .

Session - 2 Leadership Quali es Required to Become Great Project Managers  Cdr Veerendra K Jaitly The half day workshop was conducted by Commander VK Jaitly. He started his talk by ci ng the example of the greatest project of the last decade, namely: ‘Landing the man on Moon and ge ng him back safely on Earth’. Project Apollo was a triumph of management in mee ng enormously diﬃcult systems engineering and technological integra on requirements. NASA leaders had to acquire and organize unprecedented resources to accomplish the task at hand. From Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 32

both a poli cal and technological perspec ve, management was cri cal and the technological accomplish‐ ments of Apollo were indeed spectacular. However, the most las ng legacy of Apollo was human: an improved understanding of how to plan, coordinate, and monitor the myriad technical ac vi es that were the building blocks of Apollo. And the Program Manager for the Apollo Mission was: General Samuel C Phillip who spearheaded this Program in an exemplary manner and completed the mission within the triple constraints of scope, cost and me when the philosophy of ‘Project Management’ by PMI was yet to be formalized, as PMI of USA was itself established in the year 1969 in which Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon. Mr Jaitly described what leadership is with some examples of some great leaders from diverse fields and then went on to explain the fol‐ lowing 12 Leadership Quali es required to become Great Project Managers: 1. Have a Vision and Inspire the Vision in the minds of your team members 2. Strong desire for the Change and capability to Implement the Change 3. Task orienta on with Empathy for the People 4. Excellent Communica on so that everyone is ‘On the Same Page’ 5. Simplis c approach to even complicated problems 6. Team Building and Empowering them 7. Posi ve A tude like a Go ge er 8. Ability to Delegate so that you Project Manager doesn’t waste me on trivial ma ers 9. Enthusiasm and Energy 10. Integrity, Honesty and Loyalty 11. Competency and Problem Solving Capability 12. Cool and Calm Composure He kept the par cipants fully engrossed with a few ac vi es and their ac ve par cipa on during the workshop and got a standing ova on from the par cipants on comple on.The session ended with the vote of thanks by Mr. Praveen Anand – Vice President Programs, PMI North India Chapter. He kept the par cipants fully engrossed with a few ac vi es and their ac ve par cipa on during the workshop and got a standing ova on from the par cipants on comple on. The session ended with the vote of thanks by Mr. Praveen Anand – Vice President Programs, PMI North India Chapter.

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 33

Profile of the speakers Lt Col Ajay Bha acharyya Veteran with 24 years of Experience in Training, Project Management, Administra on, Opera ons, Industry Asso‐ cia ons and Consul ng Has been a Director at Confedera on of Indian Industry (CII) Has served with dis nc on the Indian Army for 21 years, trained as an Instructor at the Siachen Ba le School and served as Senior Instructor Tac cs at the Air Defence College Successfully conducted training programs in areas of Organiza on Behavior, Team Building, Leadership, Personal Eﬀec veness, Project Management, Simula on Exercises and War Games Cdr Veerendra Jaitly VK Jaitly is an excep onal speaker and is known for his mo va onal and leadership skills. As a proficient speaker he is apt at conduc ng training programs that inspire professionals. His trainings are well‐known for being in‐ forma ve, interac ve, and ac on oriented. His training programs expose professionals on the latest trends prev‐ alent in the industry. He is the architect of ‘Business Excellence thru People’ for corporates. Jaitly has a number of ar cles to his credit and has delivered lectures/ presenta ons at Na onal and Interna on‐ al Seminars from the forums like CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, AMCHAM, C‐DAC, Common Wealth Countries Forum for e‐Gov, CSI, CSIR, Cyber Media, Technical/ Management ins tutes including IITs and Defence Oﬃcers’ Confer‐ ences on diverse topics. He was invited to China at Nanjing University and a few others to deliver lectures. He is a sought a er speaker on key occasions at numerous colleges/universi es.

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 34

Abhijit Kumar

Ajay Bhargove

Hemant Seigell

Kumar Saurabh

Neelima Chakara

Nirmallya Kar

Parul Choudhary

Prashant Malhotra

Shashank Neppalli

Pooja Kapoor

Lieutenant Colonel Manu Chaudhary,(retired)

Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org

Synergy May 2015, Page 35