With the increasing complexity of business environment and the pace of change around us, Project Manager needs to have more than the traditional PM skills. This presentation gives some ideas to PMs on how to build the "Business Sense" and stand out from the crowd.

1. 2015 © Rashid Mohiuddin http://www.rashidmohiuddin.com
Project Manager
Rashid Mohiuddin
with
The Business Sense!The Business Sense!The Business Sense!The Business Sense!

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AGENDA
2

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PMI – Talent Triangle ©

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83% organizations reported difficulty!
Source: Building High-
Performance Project
Talent, PMI, 2013

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Story of a …
Rigidity and a closed
mindset is
unacceptable with the
high pace and
complexity of change.

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Know the machine!
An effective PM is like
a chain that joins all
these parts together,
make them move and
produce the results.
And like a chain, PM
needs to be flexible,
yet resilient, and
adaptable to different
people and situations.

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How Projects can add value in the above parts of business machine?
R&D
A Basic Model
Operations
Finance Marketing
R&D: Crucial for the
business sustainability,
particularly in the current
environment where
products appear and
disappear very fast. It’s
basically the brain of the
system.
Finance: Ensuring all the
other business parts get the
necessary funds and
resources for functioning.
Also maintains the health of
the system for stability and
growth. It is like heart and
blood of the system.
Operations: Moves the
machine and produces the
results. It has to do things
fast, reliably and at the least
cost. It is like arms and legs
of the system.
Marketing: Selling
function of the business.
Taking the products &
services to the right
consumers and at the right
place and price. Identifies
the avenues of growth for
the business. It is like the
face, voice and overall
appearance of the system.

8. 2015 © Rashid Mohiuddin http://www.rashidmohiuddin.com 8
A Basic Model
New Products & Services
New Process & Methods
Risk Management
Compliance & Controls
Credit Rating
Forecasting & Planning
Efficiency
Productivity
Higher Margins
Business Structures
Customer Engagement
Market Research &
Development
Pricing & Selling
Forecasting

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A Project is an initiative…
By the Business
For the Business

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Ideas for the PM with
The Business Sense!The Business Sense!The Business Sense!The Business Sense!

11. 2015 © Rashid Mohiuddin http://www.rashidmohiuddin.com
Be StrategicMore than Tactical -
Add Pieces Replace Pieces Remove Pieces
Instead of making
milestones activity
based which doesn’t
give any tangible
target, make it
deliverables based.
Measures need to be
tied with the business
objectives, not the
tasks.
Each Lego piece is
important, not in
itself, but for building
the desired object.
The PM needs to see
the bigger picture and
use the pieces.

12. 2015 © Rashid Mohiuddin http://www.rashidmohiuddin.com
Project Highway-Join at Entry & Exit
Business Case
Employee
Engagement
Customer
Satisfaction
Parity with
Competition
Transition/Adoption
Systems
Processes
People
Project is like the highway
where we have defined
processes, plans and tracking
mechanism. Ironically from
the business point-of-view,
this is least significant except
the risks. The business value is
more at the Entry and Exit.

13. 2015 © Rashid Mohiuddin http://www.rashidmohiuddin.com
Opportunity Action
Materialize
Benefits
Enhanced
Opportunity
Secondary
Opportunity
Beyond Risks-Look for Opportunities
How you play with opportunities is
different from the risks. You apply an
action to opportunity to either
materialize the benefits, or enhance
the opportunity or create secondary
opportunities.
Why not have an innovation
register? where we record ideas
on how to do better, or more , or
differently.
Building partnerships with other
teams and suppliers can
generate unprecedented
opportunities.
POCs to overcome the fear of
loss. Fail fast and fail safe.

14. 2015 © Rashid Mohiuddin http://www.rashidmohiuddin.com
OR
Our Choice
Businesses are part of our daily lives, we buy and sell
things daily - and projects are integral part of the
businesses. The businesses, the projects and ourselves
are parts of the same system.

15. 2015 © Rashid Mohiuddin http://www.rashidmohiuddin.com
PMI–Singapore Chapter