Presentation given by A.V.Ramam, PMI Component Mentor, West Asia. This was presented during PMIPCC Network Meeting on 26th Nov 2010.

1. PMI PEARL CITY CHAPTER..
Making project Management Indispensable for Business Results
Ramam Atmakuri - PMI Component Mentor (West Asia)
26 November, 2010

2. Projects Resolution Results
60
53
51
49
50
46
44
40
34 35
32
29 Succeeded
30 28
Failed
23 24
Challenged
18 19
20
15
10
0
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008
Copyright © 2010 The Standish Group International, Inc.

3. Causes of Project Failure
Poor Communication 28.0%
Insufficient resource planning 18.0%
Unrealistic schedules 13.2%
Poor Project requirements 9.8%
Lack of stakeholder buy-in 6.7%
Undefined project success criteria 5.2%
Unrealistic budgets 4.8%
Insufficient or no risk planning 4.4%
Lack of control / change process 4.3%
SOURCE: PM Network July 2007

4. Where is the value?
The types of value realized by organizations included:
- Revenue increases
- Greater market share
- Increased competitive advantage
- Customer retention
- Increased Customer share (more engagements per
customer)
- Reduced write-offs and rework
- Cost savings

5. Where is the value?
95% of the 60 companies reported achieving indirect value
such as:
• Improvements in decision making.
• Enhancement of communications and collaboration.
• Improvements in effective work cultures.
• Alignment of practices, terminology and values within the organization.
• Overall effectiveness of the organization and its management
approach.
• Improved transparency, clarity of structure, roles and accountability

6. Project Leader
• Is the CEO of the project – buck stops with him
• Managing in a multi-cultural / distributed setting
• Scalability : increased span of control
• Adaptability
• Ability to develop others
• Influencing behaviors
• Vision for process, project, technologies
• Supposed to be master of soft skills
• Expected even to be a domain expert

7. Project Leadership
Leadership is what separates successful projects from failures
But what makes for good project Leadership

8. Project Leadership
• A Will to Win
– Successful Project Leaders invest their mission with passion,
enthusiasm and commitment to succeed, that is contagious
and critical
• Focus on results
– Effective Project Leaders make sure their teams understand
the requirements and objectives that lead to project success

9. Project Leadership
• Adapt to Change
– Great Project Leaders establish a climate in which team
members can respond to uncertainty
• Create an environment of Trust
– Successful projects rely on collaboration, which require all
team members – including employees, vendors, consultants
and partners – to trust one another
• TRUST is the peculiar belief predicated not on evidence
but on the lack of contrary evidence

10. Project Leadership
• Getting a project done on time and under budget is not the only
benchmark for success.
– Learning to SPEAK IN TERMS senior executives understand
advances project manager to next level

11. Project Leadership
• Meet budget and timelines – but only in conjunction with critical
thinking about the sponsor goals and with clear communication
with senior executives. This is the proven method for gaining
trust, confidence and overall success

12. Project Leadership
• Senior executives speak the language of money – constantly
evaluating the value to their business.
– PM’s tend to focus more on technical / project decisions –
not on economic or strategic goals
– PM’s knows they add value to organization. They know their
projects improve the bottom line. They should know how to
articulate this value, how to measure it concretely and how
to speak in terms that senior executives understand
– True Project leaders think in terms of what is right for the
entire organization – not just right for a project

13. Message in a Board Room
Project Management Speak Executive equivalent
Gantt Chart Timeline
Dependency Task Sequence
Resource Be specific: People, money or material
Delays Reveal the problem in conjunction with the
solution
Project Risk / Risk identification Potential issues
PMBOK Guide Documented best Practices

14. Message in a Board Room
Project Management Speak Executive equivalent
Objectives Be specific, ex: cash flow
WBS List of tasks, scheduling
Labor Hours People
Critical Path Priority Tasks
Earned Value calculation Project Status
Cost Performance Index On or off budget? By how much? Give
statistics
Release Plan Where, How and When the Project will be
delivered
Deployment Install System, rollout
Planning and coordination Events Planning

15. Project Leadership
PMO focuses on three areas:
• Health of portfolio, how well we are doing with current projects
and what are we planning for future
• Methods, policies and processes we use
• Development of PM capabilities
- not on leadership and hence limits us

16. Transition of PM to Leader

17. Project Leadership
• Project Managers have the ability to provide clear
responsibilities, controls and structures, so the team
understands its goals and objectives
• Project Managers like to manage many tasks simultaneously
and keep them going in the same positive direction. In the
process, they thrive on challenges and are Leaders

18. Project Leadership
Project Managers need to look beyond the tools, managing risks,
managing a plan, balancing resources ---- these are necessary
basics
– If you want to move up the ladder, you need to demonstrate
an understanding of business goals.
– Instead of just being focused completely on project, you
need to know what the business is aiming to do and how
your projects fit into that

19. Project Leadership
• The experience people gain as a PM can help them develop two
critical skills and perspectives that apply to Senior management
– Understanding how different parts of the organization have
to work together to achieve success
– How to build consensus and resolve conflicts between
different functions and parts of the organization

20. Influencing the Organization
• Ability to “get things done”
• Understanding of both the formal and informal structures of all the
organizations involved – the performing organization, customers,
partners, contractors, and numerous others, as appropriate.

21. Influencing the Organization
• Understanding the mechanics of power and politics
• Power
– Potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of
events, to overcome resistance, and to get people to do things
that they would not otherwise do
• Politics
– Getting collective action from a group of people who may have
quite different interests. It is about being willing to use conflict
and disorder creatively.

22. Conclusion
• Think beyond Project delivery to achieve Project Leadership
• Recognize and articulate the value of successful project delivery
(even failure)
• What worked yesterday wont work tomorrow……world is changing
and so are dynamics
• Build the skills needed to transition from Project Leader to Business
Leader

23. Q&A
THANK YOU
ramam@cognizant.com