JAN - MAR 2019, ISSUE 19
SYNERGY IN THIS ISSUE 2. Messages from Chapter team 9. Abstract of keynote addresses at the conference 14. Highlights of Panel discussions 16. Snippets of conversation with the ‘guest of honor’ 17. Summary of speeches by invited speakers 19. Pitch Perfect 20. Photo gallery
BOARD MEMBERS - President
- Manoj K Gupta
- Past President - Pritam D. Gautam - VP Finance
- Jay Kumar
- Secretary
- Neetu Sharma
- VP Marketing and Outreach - Sunita Gupta - VP Professional Development - Vaibhav Sharma - VP Membership - Praveen Urankar - VP Volunteer Management - Shivender Vats - VP Communications - Neelima Chakara
REGISTERED MAILING ADDRESS I - 121, KIRTI NAGAR NEW DELHI - 110015
Message from President and CEO, PMI NIC, and Conference Chairman, PMNC18 DEAR CHAPTER MEMBERS & PRACTITIONERS, Welcome to this year’s first edition of Synergy. Last year was very eventful as the chapter hosted PM National Conference for the second time after 5 years. There were many other highlights, e.g., stabilization of our “Meet & Greet” initiative for new members, maturing of our Ambassador Volunteer Program etc. This being the 10th edition of PMNC, it was all the more memorable. The fruits of quality efforts put in by entire group of volunteers selected from chapter board and member community were visible in the feedback we received, and in the enthusiasm of speakers in listening to other speakers, connecting, interacting, and sharing views with them. Industry and nonindustry speakers presented their views on how to embrace and ride over the disruptions that are being presented to us in multiple spaces ranging from technology to economy to global policies. The need for agility and an organization’s ability to integrate rapidly with evolving technologies were identified as vital skills for survival. We must also attend to the most vital element – the human capital – by way of skill development and helping people achieve work-life balance and happiness. All this was complemented by quite a few new ideas / innovations like • Mobile Application based engagement • Leader Board • Pre-Conference Quizes • Networking Platform • Memory Wall – Last 9 Year Story • Panel Discussions and Key Notes Alignment – Session Wise Themes • Pitch Perfect • Quizzes & Prizes (Lower Ground Floor) during breaks • North India Chapter Ambassador Booth
2019 promises to be an exciting year as well. We have kicked off the year well with the following accomplishments A. Chapter Board Elections This year we started off by conducting our Chapter Board Elections and I am excited to welcome newly selected board members 1.
VP Membership
Praveen Urankar
2.
VP Volunteer Management
Shivender Vats
3.
VP Professional Development
Vaibhav Sharma
4.
VP Communications
Neelima Chakara
B. Asia Pacific Membership Challenge 2018 – Final Results I am very happy to share that the Chapter was recognized for member retention as well as new member retention 2018.
Kudos to all the Chapter volunteers, Chapter board and to all members for making this happen and reposing your trust in chapter and its management team.
C. Chapter Events We already have 3 chapter events since National Conference out of which only one was open to chapter members for attending as they were company specific events. We are working on announcing more events this month for the next quarter and you should remain connected to us through email / social media / LinkedIn for those announcements. D. Chapter AGM We are working on this currently and dates for the same should have been declared by the time this magazine reaches you. We all at PMI NIC Board are looking forward to meeting and engaging with you all like previous years. E. Chapter Volunteer / Ambassador Positions We are working on some new interesting initiatives to be announced over next quarter and will release a list of open volunteer positions like earlier years. We look forward to engaging with you to jointly volunteer for this special chapter and taking this chapter to greater heights. Manoj K Gupta President and CEO, PMI NIC Conference Chairman, PMNC18
Message from Director, PMNC18
DEAR PRACTITIONERS, India is transforming through various initiatives of government like “Make in India”, Swachh Bharat”, “Smart Cities” and “Startup India”, to name a few. Any transformation intrinsically has its own challenges and also opportunities. The key to success is "perspective" and understanding challenges; overcoming them by converting them into opportunities. Project and Program Management helps in achieving these objectives through aligning organizational strategy to new needs, identifying Projects and Programs to achieve the same, establishing good governance, managing schedule deadlines, costs and stakeholder's expectations. This is more relevant in today’s context due to volatile market conditions; where big data and AI have a key role to play and Social Networks are rapidly emerging as the key marketing tool. Also, rapidly changing technology is leading to changing customer requirements, almost as a continuum. The Project Management Institute, a global, not for profit organization that evangelizes the profession of project management, endeavors to build and promote the Project Management profession worldwide. To further the cause in India; this organization has been holding national level project management conferences jointly with the regional Chapters in India. Over the last 9 years these mega events have served as a meeting point for large number of project professionals from a wide spectrum of industries. The tenth Project Management National Conference celebrated the decade long journey and aptly was held in New Delhi, the National Capital, hosted by North India Chapter of PMI. This tenth Project Management National Conference 2018 marked a major milestone of PMI India and its associated chapter’s endeavors to promote
excellence in project management practices in every industry. The theme of this year’s conference was “India at 2022: Leading in a Globally Disruptive Market”, aligned to our national objective of becoming a global leader by the time India turns 75 years. PMI North India Chapter hosted this conference after a gap of five years. It was a massive challenge given the importance associated with it being the 10th National Conference in India. It was action time from the moment we took over the baton from Chennai Chapter in 2017. The first meeting of Core team held in Chennai to lay down a road map and a robust management system to ensure that all activities are planned and executed using the Project Management best practices. The Conference was attended by thought leaders from across the globe and from different walks of life ranging from Government, Industries, Technocrats, Economists, Social Workers and Spiritual Leader. This year’s Conference had introduced a new concept of “Pitch Perfect” wherein practitioners presented solutions to real time problems being faced in projects. This was a novel concept and well received by every participant. This was made possible by the hard work put in by Pitch Perfect Team working in close coordination with PMI and North India Chapter. The practitioners were given an opportunity to showcase their projects and were awarded after a protracted and well defined multi-tiered selection process. Various projects that were awarded during this national conference under different categories are as follows;Project of the Year – Large Winner - L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Runner-up - BPCL Project of the year – Medium Winner : Tata Housing Development Company Project of the Year – Small Winner : State Bank of India Runner-up : Tata Consultancy Ltd.
Project of the Year – Micro Winner : Fusion Micro Finance Runner-up : IBM Project of the Year – Contribution to Community Winner : Tata Consultancy Service Project of the Year – NGO Winner : Save The Children Runner-up : World Vision India The response from participants was encouraging and indicated this event to have successfully met the objective of being the 10th National Conference. The success of this mega event is attributable to the whole- hearted support and hard work of North India Chapter Conference Tower Leads, Volunteers, Company Connect Ambassadors, Regional Connect Ambassadors and PMI staff, who worked tirelessly for the entire year keeping their personal commitments at the back end. This is a true representation of the spirit of Volunteering. Naveen Kataria Conference Director
From the Editor's desk DEAR PRACTITIONERS,
As I write my first note as editor of Synergy, the election fever is reaching its peak. It is time for us to take a very important decision. I am sure you have your thinking hats on and are committed to casting your vote. After all, this is how we shape our government and our future. We have always heard that change is the only constant in life. But the pace of change has increased manifold in the past few years. Many of the changes disrupt life as we know it. This gives rise to opportunities but also causes anxiety about our readiness to deal with change. As Chapter, our constant endeavor to create opportunities for our members to engage in healthy dialogue about it. We get experts from various fields to talk about how different industries, Government and social sector are using disruptions towards betterment of society and what further changes are anticipated to happen. This was also the theme of National Conference 2018, held in New Delhi and hosted by our North India Chapter. Do you have a point of view on how to deal with change, or want to share your success story or lessons learnt? I urge you to use Synergy as a forum to express yourself. Like everything else, Synergy is evolving too. I look forward to your feedback and suggestions regarding how it can serve the Project Management community better. Neelima Chakara VP - Communications
Abstract of key notes
PROJECT MANAGER OF THE FUTURE Joseph Cahill Senior Vice President (Finance and Administration) and Interim Executive, PMI With the advent of Technologies, the project manager of the future would need refined soft skills, so that they are able to motivate, inspire, communicate, collaborate and respond effectively. Project managers would need to take datadriven decisions. As the amount of data available can be immense knowing how to pick the correct data and make timely use of it would be a valuable skill. He focused on the tools and strategies required to manage disruptions successfully. He recommended an open mind, continuous skill development and an agile approach to project management as the way forward
BUILDING A RULE BASED ECONOMY Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Sanjeev Sanyal spoke about the changes that have progressively moved Indian economy to being rule based. He shared how reforms like GST, insolvency and bankruptcy code are making a difference. He quoted data to indicate that the creation of an independent monetary policy committee to control inflation was highly effective. He also talked about the success of the government’s strategy in tackling bad loans. He asserted that implementing these tough measures will help the country in the long term
Abstract of key notes (contd...)
KEEPING SPRITS HIGH IN THE DISRUPTIVE WORLD Brahma Kumari Shivani Spritual leader
Brahma Kumari Sister Shivani began by inspiring delegates to visualize the India that they aspire for. She asked them to think about their own aspirations. She advised the listeners to consciously work towards their goals. Sister Shivani encouraged delegates to take personal responsibility to create the India of tomorrow. She talked about the growing issue of mental health and the necessity to deal with stress and depression. She covered the need to create a healthy workplace environment, work-life-balance, self-management, and ethical organizations that are led with compassion to create a happy, healthy, and prosperous India.
PREPARING FOR GLOBAL TRENDS Naina Lal Kidwal Chairperson, Altico Capital India Ltd.
Naina Lal Kidwai talked about the disruptive changes, digital technology and protectionism that is emerging in the current world. She noted that as the cost of robotic technology falls, it will impact the talent market forcing large-scale, peopleintensive organizations to relook their strategies. She also pointed out that countries are increasingly moving towards protectionism. She projected that the manufacturing models of the future will most likely have smaller units closer to the market. This shift is being facilitated by the
Abstract of key notes (contd...) technologies like robotics and is giving prominence to the micro-entrepreneurs in this market. She also mentioned that the tech-driven platform services are likely to make small businesses viable. She highlighted the issues of lack of infrastructure, low social security, low skills, under-utilization of resources, and ineffective delivery of services as challenges in getting India to be future ready. She suggested that as a country, we should educate ourselves, understand the upcoming change, adjust to it and influence it by innovative thinking.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Vikram Nagi
Vice president, Global Technology Services, Client Innovation Centers, IBM India
Vickram Nagi mentioned that the digital transformation has become necessary for businesses to stay profitable. However, while designing efficient processes, it is important to focus on customer satisfaction, as the changing customer demands are also disrupting businesses. Managing disruptions requires organizations to build a culture of collaboration. On business models of the future, Nagi emphasized the need to be agile and responsive to change. He concluded that since human capital cannot be digitized, it is important to keep human resources engaged, improve their skills, and provide them ample opportunities to learn and adapt.
Abstract of key notes (contd...)
BETTER GOVERNANCE FOR RURAL TRANSFORMATION Chhavi Rajawat Sarpanch, Soda Village, Rajasthan
Chhavi Rajawat, an MBA graduate from Pune, was motivated to contest Panchayat election, by the poor state of infrastructure in her village, Soda. She found that development was eluding her village despite availability of funds due to the disconnect between the Panchayat and district Govt. She also shared the challenges faced by her as a young woman Sarpanch in patriarchal Rajasthan. After taking over as Sarpanch, she solved many problems of the village, e.g., desilting of water reservoir, rain water harvesting, creating toilet facilities etc. She called upon the private sector to educate rural children and youth. She highlighted the need for collaboration between villagers, private sector and government to solve the problems of Indian villages.
LESSONS FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE D A Tambe Deputy Managing Director and Chief Information Officer, SBI
D. A.Tambe cited rail projects in Kashmir and the Navi Mumbai airport that are still unfinished despite having been launched years ago. In his view the reasons are inefficient project management, lack of commitment and respect for deadlines. He argued that if the Republic Day Parade can be successful year after year, why can't India’s infrastructure projects complete on time. He urged project managers to focus on RAID, i.e., “risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies.” to be effective.
Abstract of key notes (contd...)
FROM POTENTIAL TO PERFORMANCE Chairperson, Excellence Enablers Pvt. Ltd., Former Chairman, SEBI, UTI and IDBI
M Damodaran shared tips on converting potential to performance. He advised delegates to become aware of their strengths and also the strengths of their competitors. He stressed the need to persevere despite the obstacles and challenges that come in the way. Asking project managers to create an environment in which team members can thrive and feel empowered, he spoke about the need for accountability, incentivizing right behaviors and celebrating successes.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE A MORSEL AT A TIME Aarushi Batra Co-founder, Robin Hood Army
The Robin Hood Army headed by Aarushi Batra is a group of volunteers who collect excess food from restaurants, weddings and other social events, and distribute it among the hungry. She shared that Robin Hood Army has served 9.5 mn people in 103 cities across the world without raising any funds. The Robins, as the volunteers are called, have tie-ups with hotels and restaurants, who give their excess food of the day to be distributed among the hungry. The Robins organize and plan details over WhatsApp, and distribution takes place at identified areas. As the next step Robin Hood Army has started Robin Hood Academy where volunteers teach children who do not go to school.
Highlights of Panel Discussions
INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS TO PREPARE INDIA FOR 2022 Moderator - Neeraj Bansal, Partner and Head – ASEAN corridor and real estate sector – KPMG, India Panelists· Alain Spohr, Managing Director, Alstom India and South Asia · Ashok Kumar, Senior Highway Engineer, World Bank, India · Brij Nandan Yadava, Executive Director, DLF Limited · Ajit Kumar Mishra, Chief Project Manager, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India, Government of India Neeraj Bansal asked the panelist’s views on good practices to complete large and complex projects such as smart cities and dedicated freight corridors. Alain Spohr, mentioned that international funding mandates projects to be completed on time. He called upon Project managers to take ownership and lead projects. Ashok Kumar said that India’s old institutions are not yet ready to deal with mega projects. The country needs to ready its workforce to handle large scale projects. According to Brij Nandan Yadava successful completion of large-scale projects requires good work ethic and understanding of the life cycle of project from design to delivery. Detailed planning and effective change management are also necessary. Ajit Kumar Mishra shared different approaches being used by the dedicated freight corridor project to ensure timely delivery of the project.
Highlights of Panel Discussions (Contd...)
SERVICE EXCELLENCE IN INDIA
Moderator - Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Vice Chairman, Naukri.com, and founding trustee, Ashoka University Panelists Partho Bandopadhyay, Managing Director, KPMG Global Delivery Center B.C.K. Mishra, Managing Director, Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited Tanmoy Prasad,Cchief Technology Officer, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India The moderator asked the panelists, the role ‘service excellence’ plays in their respective industries and how specifically they strive to achieve it. Partho Bandopadhyay said that excellence is a basic stakeholder expectation today, especially in audit work. He mentioned that his company is investing in newgeneration technologies to improve audit quality and at the same time building a culture which rewards right behaviors. BCK Misra shared that in 2018 Uttarakhand electrified 15845 villages. This herculean task was achieved with the help of stringent and transparent governance. States are now ranked based on targets met, thus creating a healthy competition to serve the citizens of the country. Tanmoy Prasad stated that the ease of doing business is a priority of the government. In response, they have developed an algorithm which enables them to inspect only 10% of the consignments as against 100% in the past.
From the guest of honor
AN ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY THROUGH SERVICE EXCELLENCE Sanjeev Bikhchandani - Founder Naukri.com, Jeevansathi.com, 99acres.com, Shiksha.com
In conversation with conference co-director Lt. Col. (retd.) Ajay Bhattacharya, Sanjeev Bikhchandani took the audience through his entrepreneurial journey and the motivations that drove it. He warmed his way into the hearts of people as he talked about 7 long years, multiple small assignments and a million ideas before Naukri.com happened. Whether it was Naukri.com or Ashoka university, the idea was to give Indians access to a service that was not available in the country at that point of time. He also talked about how the success of Naukri.com led to other successful ventures like Jeevansathi.com, 99acres.com and Shiksha.com. He said the digital economy presents huge opportunities. His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs was to be watchful of these opportunities and how they can lead to the betterment of society. If one aspires to make a difference, works hard and persevere in the face of head winds, success will follow.
Notes from invited speaker sessions DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: OIL AND GAS Jayant Malhotra, General Manager, and Kumar Aditya, Technical Lead, Schlumberger, India
Jayant Malhotra shared that the oil and gas companies are now using disruptive technologies to increase production while keeping costs low. To meet demand and production volume are not
ERP IMPLEMENTATION IN HYDEL PROJECTS
harmonized and cost are rising, there is
Arun Kakru, Senior Program
business challenges of the sector where
a need for constant conversations between companies and customers. In his opinion, the factors that would contribute towards a lower cost per barrel are people, technology, risk-
Manager, IFS India
Arun Kakru shared how following PMI’s project management principles, helped IFS implement ERP
sharing, knowledge, and experience.
for NHPC which has 53 locations,
Kumar Aditya provided an overview of
difficult terrains. This project team
Schlumberger’s cognitive environment, known as Delfi, with a video presentation. Delfi leverages digital technologies such as security, analytics, machine learning, high-performance computing, and internet of things to improve operational efficiency and deliver optimized production.
many of which are in remote and had around 12000 people. IFS succeeded by doing multiple roll outs instead of one large deployment. It minimized the time and effort by replicating one roll out to multiple locations. It adopted a centralized approach to change management for successful delivery of this mega project.
Notes from invited speaker sessions (contd...) SERVICE EXCELLENCE WITH CHANGING TECHNOLOGY Rajendran Dandapani
Business Solutions Evangelist, Zoho Corporation, and Subodh Mathur, Addl Controller Gen. of Accounts, Ministry of Finance, GOI
Rajendran spoke about the changing customer expectations and the
PRIVACY REGIME IN INDIA Manish Sehgal, Partner – Risk Advisory Deloitte Touche, Tohmatsu India LLP
Manish Sehgal gave an introduction to legal framework in India and Europe. He talked about the draft legislation regarding Personal Data Protection in India which has triggered a debate on whether India must insist that the global companies store their data in India. He mentioned that people are the weakest link in upholding data privacy. India needs to drive a change in mindset to keep up with the world when it comes to data protection.
resulting challenge of satisfying them. While sharing tips to delight customers, he underlined the need for frequent delivery of working software and striking a balance between tackling bugs vs designing features. In his view, project managers must welcome changes in requirements at every stage. Subodh Mathur agreed with him on continuous technology excellence, improving agility. He talked about how Govt. was using technology to improve tracking of funds. He gave a presentation on PFMS and Direct Benefit Transfer and shared that PFMS tracks 1500 govt. schemes with a budget of Rs. 22 lakh crores.
Notes from invited speaker sessions (contd...) DIGITAL DARWINISM Sandeep Bidani, Partner, Positive Momentum, and Founding Director Cognitiv Hanumant Talwar, Founder, Cognitiv
Sandeep Bidani and Hanumant Talwar talked about the importance of staying relevant in fast changing times. They spoke of “Digital Darwinism” as the phenomenon of how consumers change their behavior when society and technology change faster than they can adapt. They quoted Uber as an example of digital technology causing business transformation and artificialintelligence-based tools helping in scaling up capacity. Sandeep pointed out that systemic impacts of these changes are big, for example, - Driver less cars can lead to less trauma and increasing life expectancy.
PITCH PERFECT Future of Project Management with AI presented by Rashi Kackar from Recotap Rashi introduced the audience to Recotap’s ‘timebot’ which is proving to be an effective assistant to project managers. Cruising into the cloud presented by Ankita Hemnani, from Expedia Cruise Ankita shared her experience of migrating Expedia’s cruise liner business from data servers to cloud. Crowd Sourcing for projects presented by Amit Malik and Kavita Singh from, Optum Global Solutions Amit and Kavita spoke about how digital disruption has given rise to gig economy where crowd sourcing platforms are bringing together clients and professionals with specific skills.
- Solar technology being used in the walking canes of people with
Business innovation to simplify project
disabilities.
execution presented by
Talwar pointed out that in these fast
Manohar Yerraguntla from Belcan
changing times, it is not the strongest who would survive but those who adapt
Manohar shared the system created by
the fastest.
his team to avoid unplanned work and unexpected issues leading to missed deadlines caused by poor communication.
Photo gallery
Photo gallery (Contd...)
Photo gallery (Contd...)
Editorial Team
Dr. Deepshikha Bhargava
Neelima Chakara
Prashant Malhotra
Smita Mishra
For feedback and suggestions, please neelima@pminorthindia.org Share your thoughts with us in the form of an article and build your eminence in the profession. Send in your entries to neelima@pminorthindia.org Wish to volunteer in the North India Chapter, please write to Shivender@pminorthindia.org Credits - Canva.com
