pmi newsletter aug - pmi bangalore chapter page volume -1 - issue 07 august 2013 being born after...
TRANSCRIPT
Thanks and Best Wishes
Soumen De, PMP
Page 1
Editor’s NoteEditor’s NoteDear Friends,
On behalf of the Chapter, please accept our warm greetings and best wishes for the
forthcoming 66th Independence Day anniversary. It is a day when people in India pay
homage to their leaders and those who fought for India's freedom in the past. The struggle
for India's Independence is replete with outstanding contributions from various luminary
nationalist leaders. But if one were asked to name a leader who undisputedly contributed
the most, the name of Mahatma Gandhi would undoubtedly be at the apex. In this edition we have looked
into how Gandhiji contributed to the Independence through a project management lens. Refer to page 2
for details. On the eve of Independence Day, It is also a good time for the Project Management Community
to identify opportunities that can contribute to the growth of our country. Let me take an example of
manufacturing section, since I come from that background. India's share of manufacturing in GDP has
stagnated to 15 % and counts for a mere 12 % of workforce. Thankfully, India will be ushering a new
manufacturing policy that envisages a raise this share to 25 % by 2022 and creation of additional 100
million jobs in manufacturing sector. Every job in manufacturing has a multiplier effect, creating 3 jobs in
service sector. In order to do this turnaround, apart from the government action, India also needs to focus
on creating an ecosystem of supply chain responsiveness, lower logistic costs, innovation and better
contract management to name a few. And this can only be possible if India creates a strong pool of skilled
workforce including skilled project managers who can successfully execute the projects that will create the
ecosystem change mentioned above. I am sure there will be similar opportunities in other sectors (like
health care, tourism, insurance etc). Wishing you a Happy Independence Day in advance.
On 4th July Mr Arjun Rao Chavala
spoke on the best practices in Risk
Management. He highlighted the
importance and need for close
monitoring of risks during all stages
of a project. He talked on the various
tools and techniques available to the
Project Managers for effective Project
Management.
Continued on Page 6...
Chapter News
Editorial Board
Murali Santhanam, PMPRaghavan S.S.V., PMPSoumen De, PMP
Editorial AssistanceShikha Vaidh, PMPRama K., PMP, PMI-ACP
Volume -1 - Issue 07 August 2013
-Capt. L. N. Prasad,PMI Bangalore India Chapter
Q. Mahatma Gandhi used this
conflict management technique
as his leadership style during
Independence Movement
Chapter News- Capt. L. N. Prasad
PM in Non Traditional Area- Shikha Vaidh, PMP
PM Article: Disruptive Project Management - Balasubramaniam Vedagiri, PMP
Spotlight: - Lt. Col. L. Shri Harsha, PMP
Statistical Approach in the Agile Framework- Priyanka Dutta, R.T. Sundari
Rediscover your Agile Quotient- Madhavan S. Rao, PMP
The Lighter Side of PM - Rajiv
DID YOU KNOW?
Co
nte
nts
ACP Quest: The First Agile
certification 21 hrs. contact
program was held by the
Chapter at Dhi Learning
Centre Bangalore from 12th
July 2013 for three days. A
total of 12 participants actively participated in the
three day contact program. ACP Quest, the second
new program launched by the Chapter in this year.
To recap, another very popular program PM Enrich,
was launched by the Chapter in March of this year.
The feed back from the ACP participants indicate
that the training was highly focused and interesting
with various games and activities which formed part
of the training.
PM Footprints: This
month the PM
Footprints session was
held on 4th and 18th
July at Hotel Royal
Orchid Manipal Centre.
2 Page
Volume -1 - Issue 07 August 2013
Being born after
India's
Independence,
the 'freedom'
was
unconditionally
doled out to me
and I consider
this as the
greatest
privilege I enjoy
today. On the
eve of our Independence day, I got
into a pensive mood and tried to
reflect how Mahatma Gandhi, aptly
regarded as the Father of Nation,
could unite the Countrymen and
other luminary leaders during his
time to the common vision of
getting Freedom of our country
from British rule, then mobilize
them to 'execute' the vision by
exemplary leadership, strong
communication and execution plan.
Being a project management
professional I myself was naturally
inclined to imagine that
'Independence' can also be
considered as a 'project' where
Gandhiji was trying to provide
something ‘unique’ to his
motherland.
As we all know MG was the
lynchpin of the India's freedom
struggle. Let us try to understand
Mahatma Gandhi efforts in
successfully executing his mission
of giving freedom to India from the
British rule.
So, let me highlight few strategies
and leadership qualities
our Father of Nation
applied for gaining
independence from the
British and how those
methods and leadership
strategies can be
mapped to today's
Project Management
strategies.
To inspire and bring more involvement from
Indian citizens Gandhiji utilized, several principles
which are termed as AGILE principles today are
described below:
AGILE Principle(s) - (i) Satisfy the customer
through early & continuous delivery
(ii) Tangible milestone (Working software)
is the primary measure of progress as we
know the success of project "Independence" was
obtained after achieving multiple milestones.
Gandhiji invented and used nonviolent methods.
Some of the Major Milestones and freedom
struggles from British rule led by him are,
a) Non Co-operation Movement - September
1920–February 1922
b) Civil Disobedience Movement – March 1930
c) Quit India Movement (Bharat Chhodo Andolan)
– August 1942
d) India Independence Movement – August 1947
AGILE Principle - (iii) Build projects around
motivated individuals
Impact and success of each milestone
(movement) inspired Indian citizens towards
project goal, every men, women and child began
dreaming of a free India. This helped him to build
the team of motivated individuals around him.
One of the main tactic in Gandhi's fight against
the British which was what he called
“Satyagraha”, which means “Soul-Force” or “The
power of truth”. He inspired people to be true to
life and called upon them to make their life
simpler. We may face a lot of failures and
setbacks initially for being truthful and on the
right path, but at the end we will emerge as a
true winner.
Similarly, in today's world making the customer
aware of the right status and situation helps
Project Managers to get
1. customer buy-in to
understand their vision
and 2. team buy-in to
take further necessary
action based on the
received feedback.
- Shikha Vaidh, PMP, Capgemini
Gandhiji's Management Principles
behind Project Independence
AGILE Principle(s) - (iv) The best
architectures, requirements, and
designs emerge from self-
organizing teams
(v) Continuous attention to
technical excellence and good
design enhances agility. Gandhiji
was very open-minded and had a
tolerance towards all religions. He
believed and communicated that the
paths of all religions lead to the same
goal of achieving 'Truth'. He ensured
participation of people from all religion,
caste & economic status in his
movement (Workforce Diversity),
diversity results in better performance
on complex decisions and problems;
this helped him to understand the risks
issues in a diversified manner during all
his movements. Similarly, it is
important to be an open minded leader
who is always prepared to welcome and
accept changes. Gandhiji preached
people to learn the value to truth, self-
restraint and ahimsa or non-violence
and made sure he kept on reiterating
the same thing whenever he addressed
his countrymen. Gandhiji always taught
only those things which he himself
practiced. Sacrifice, Commitment,
Heavy emphasis on self - awareness
and discipline. He always kept his
commitments, and walked-the-talk. He
had high degree of emotional
intelligence and showed great
understanding of understanding human
behavior. He believed in the power of
patience and perseverance in getting
'quality' results from his people and
said “Patience & perseverance can
overcome mountains”.
As Project Managers we know learning
gives the real empowerment to the
people. Domain or functional
knowledge always helps project
managers and leaders to lead teams
and manage the projects in a better
way, absence of which can lead to
multiple issues like understand the
criticality and priority of things to be
delivered. Once we keep learning new
things it improvises the knowledge
which in turn helps managing the team,
delivering the right deliverables on time
with better quality.
Agile Principle – (vi) Keeping
things “Simple” is an important
tool for effective communication
and gain 'acceptance' from
different stakeholders
Simplicity is essential, Gandhiji's way of
living, teaching, books and even quotes
were very simple and admirable.
Continued on Page 6...
PM in Non Traditional Area
Disruptive Project Management- Balasubramaniam Vedagiri, PMP, Mphasis
Page 3
PM Article
manager to push back when he/she believes
that a proposed change will create undue
risk to the organization or client.
Empowering Project Team : Too much
management is counterproductive. When you
manage, your people don't solve problems
but do what you tell them to do.
Project Blowback: This is a term used for
the unexpected consequences of a project
productivity attained by a project manager
by utilizing some components developed at
low cost that are re-used to the advantage of
the client's project. Disruptive project
blowback help better price performance
levels for those developed in a low cost
model to reap higher returns from a high
maturity markets.
Reverse Brain Storming : Whenever faced
with a project challenge, the Project Manager
could use this technique which is both fun
and enlightening. While in a typical
brainstorming session, the actual problem
statement is stated to arrive at a fish-bone
diagram, the Reverse Brain storming is the
opposite.
Project Analytics/Intelligence : Building a
predictive Project Analytics or intelligence to
identify and mitigate potential risk will help
the project manager wade through the
project life cycle seamlessly.
Orchestrated Immersion sessions :
Though this concept is oriented towards
brain based learning approach in a
classroom, the same can be applied in a
project environment.
Ambidextrous Decision Making :
Disruptive Project Managers need to learn
the art of developing ambidextrous decision
making ability relying on data/analytics as
well as gut feeling.
Implementing Disruptive Project
Management techniques in a project requires
support from key stakeholders:
• Senior Management support is required to
handle stiff resistance from internal groups
to change or align their support to the
project needs.
• Customer Buy-in for disruptive techniques
cannot be assumed. It would help if the
Project Manager loops customers at every
stage to help them evaluate the benefit of
disruptive techniques with data pertaining
the business benefits, project progress and
relative impact on the project financials.
1. Discard pre-conceived notions about typical
project management methods, tools and
techniques. Be open to newer ways of doing
things. Here are some newer ideas that can
be considered :
a. Consider “Social Media” as an alternative to
emails and meetings for better
communication and co-ordination among
collocated or distributed teams.
b. Evaluate “Tools on Cloud” as against
traditional owned environments for a quick
start.
c. Make the team understand that the Project
that they are involved in is aligned to the
organization's “Business Processes” and
“Strategic Initiatives” so that the decisions
can be based on the value of the project.
d. Short of team! Are your team members
playing multiple roles! Does the project
require short assignments! Explore “Crowd
Sourcing” within the organization as an
alternative to traditional team assignments.
e. Adapt “Mobile Computing” for better agility,
quicker communication, faster resolution of
issues and efficient tracking.
2. Have a bigger box than thinking outside the
box: “Inclusive Project Management” helps
the project benefit from more heads.
Consider burning in “Think Time” for each
member to look at the work and explore
better ways of doing things.
3. Learn from others: Study other projects and
practices to change the way you manage this
project.
4. Imbibe new working culture: Increasingly,
Project Managers realize that the chances of
taking informed decisions are more when the
project manager plays the role of a “catalyst”
or of a “coach” rather than that of a manager.
5. Be selective but still effective: By focusing on
“the Important” without wasting energy on
“the Urgent” the Project Manager can focus
on delivering value. The ability of the project
manager to distinguish the difference
between important and urgent to maintain a
balance is key.
Some of the popular techniques that are used in
other fields or industry can be of immense
benefit to the Disruptive Project Management.
Intelligent Disobedience: One of the
important factors contributing to the Project
failure is the Scope Creep. The Intelligent
Disobedience technique empowers the project
Disruptive Project Management Techniques
The word disruptive means
something that rudely
shakes the current beliefs
or practices and makes
people think. When
Copernicus declared that
the Earth revolves around
the Sun and not the other
way, it shook the very
basis of knowledge of the
earth that we possessed.
The word “Disruptive
innovation” became
famous when inventors
started looking for ground-
breaking innovations in
products and services.
Following the same line of
thought, what can be
“Disruptive” in Project
Management? Like
everything termed
“Disruptive”, the Disruptive
Project Management
emerges from the need to
adapt differently, bring in
newer thoughts & ideas in
managing the projects,
pack more autonomy
within team and raise
productivity in delivering
successful projects. It
brings in creativity,
innovative thought process
and clear communication
practices to unleash the
best outcomes without
taking untoward risks in
today's highly competitive
global market place.
Disruptive method of
project management
involves strategic thinking.
Here are some ideas
around which the Project
Manager can evolve
Disruptive Strategies:
Disruptive Project
Management Strategies
Volume -1 - Issue 07 August 2013
Disruptive Project Management
4 Page
Spotlight
About how many total hours did you volunteer in 2011-2012 till date?
Roughly how many hours per week did you spend?
More than 500 hours. Peaking to about 25 hours per week during the preparations for the PMPC, my
involvement varies depending on the requirements of the chapter.
What motivates you to volunteer for PMI?
The opportunity to interact and share knowledge with professionals from different fields. Also, the
team spirit of the Chapter volunteers draws me to volunteering.
What have been the challenges for volunteering at the Chapter?
While dedicating time has not been a problem, managing conflicting demands of the same time by
work and volunteering has been challenging.
PMI Volunteering, Professional commitment, Personal commitment - How do you balance
the three?
Prioritizing my commitments on the three fronts, and effective delegation of work to team members
ensures that I balance all the three areas. Leveraging technology ensures no compromises on my
commitments on the personal life.
Name any 1-2 best volunteering experience?
Appreciation from both, speakers and participants, for the selection mechanism and selecting
excellent speakers for PMI India Conference in 2011. The challenges of mentoring novices and
seasoned authors/speakers to raise them to the standards of Bangalore Chapter has been
intellectually stimulating and professionally satisfying.
Tell us your hobbies, or things you are passionate about, other than volunteering at PMI?
While I enjoy adventure sports, basketball, golf, philately, photography, and reading, I am also an
excellent cook.
What will be your message for your fellow volunteers?
Volunteering is an excellent platform to sharpen your soft skills, especially communication.
Experiment with people skills without inhibition and accept challenges, you always have support at
call. All this is free. Exploit to the hilt.
What is your thought on preferred recognition for volunteering?
A daily use souvenir indicating our affiliation to the Chapter presented at an appropriate public
forum will motivate the volunteers and also draw more to volunteering.
A versatile project management professional, who has
successfully managed projects in challenging environment,
his passion is turning around troubled and stalled projects.
Post retirement, he juggles his time on driving projects,
enhancing his knowledge, sharing knowledge with real time
experiences with aspiring project management professionals and
volunteering activities. His papers, contemporary thoughts on
people and project management, have been presented at national
forums and also published in reputed professional journals. Strongly
believes that while the past make good stories, the capability to leverage
learning and experiences of the past to meet future challenges is the
hallmark of a successful professional.
Lt. Col. (Retd.) L. Shri Harsha,
PgMP, PMP
Volume -1 - Issue 07 August 2013
A. The essential principles of
Gandhi's philosophy are quite
simple to understand (if not
implement).He assumed that
behind any struggle lays another
clash, a deeper one:
a confrontation between two
views that are each in some
measure true. Every fight, to
Gandhiji, was on somelevel a
fight between differing “angles
of vision” illuminating the same
truth.
Gandhi's way of fighting has two
dimensions:
• One is to imagine a solution
that includes the best features of
both sides. He pioneered what is
now called the "win-win"
approach to conflict resolution.
• The second is even more
innovative: to incorporate the
solution into the struggle itself.
In Gandhi's view, the way you
fight and the goal for which you
are fighting are the same.
[
http://mrfarshtey.net/whnotes/Gandhi.pdf]
Source -
Page 5
Business in current scenario is
different from what it used to be
a few years ago. Here we will
see practicing Agile Framework
in a project Pre-Examination
Process Automation System
(PEPAS) to design, develop,
maintain and host the
application to perform the task
easily at client end. We will also
discuss, how the probability of
project success increased by
applying proven principal and
practices of statistical approach
such as Quantitative Project
Management (QPM), Causal
Analysis and Resolution (CAR)
and Individual Moving Range (X-
MR) to mitigate the challenges.
Agile methodology was adopted
to execute the project due to
constraints of time in
developing, testing and
implementing the project and to
respond to changes quickly and
smoothly.
An error – free speedy interface
is vital for successful functioning
of the system. Most of the
promising objectives of any
software development method
or process are delivering
working software on time,
quality and budget. There were
many challenges while building
the application:
Implementation of Agile in
Project
1. The work order from start to finish is of very
short duration of 25 to 40 days.
2. The date of completion of the project is not
flexible as it is published in newspapers
3. We had to consistently fulfill all the
requirements of the client even though it
comes at the last moment.
4. Minimize the maintenance cost of the
application and increase its
productivity/performance at the same time
due to short duration.
5. The load on the system is not known and is
unexpected.
Consequently, Dynamic System Development
Method (DSDM), a key agile framework was put
to use for rapid application development. Using
DSDM in our project, the time and resources for
development are fixed and the functionality is
decided
accordingly. Our
focus is on
business need
and timely
delivery of
product. DSDM
talks about many core techniques but we
implemented the following listed ones: Time
boxing, MoSCoW, Prototyping and Testing.
Project was divided into two parts. Timelines
were set for each and every activity and a work
plan was made at the beginning of the project.
Constraints were highlighted. For each part,
number of requirements was selected according
to the MoSCoW principle. Because time and
budget were fixed, the only remaining variable
was the requirements. So if a project is running
out of time the requirements with the lowest
priority are omitted. This does not mean that an
unfinished product is delivered, because of the
Pareto principle that 80% of the project comes
from 20% of the system requirements, so as
long as those most important 20% of
requirements are implemented into the system,
the system meets the business needs. The
prototype model was developed and accepted by
client. After acceptance the client placed
different work orders. For every work order,
customization of the base model was to be made
as per the requirements. This was done at an
early stage of the project.
Priyanka Dutta, R.T. Sundari, CDAC
PM Article
“This does not mean
that an unfinished
product is delivered,
because of the that
80% of the project
comes from 20% of
the system
requirements.”
Volume -1 - Issue 07 August 2013
Statistical Approach in
Project Management
Research has shown that
Quantitatively Managing the
project produces better result
and improves product quality.
For practicing the Quantitative
Project Management (QPM)
following steps are to be
followed:
1. Establish the Project
Objectives
2. Select the Organizational
Process Performance Model
(PPM) that aligns with the
project objective
3. Quantitatively assess the
project status
4. Select the process that needs
the improvement
Efforts efficiency can be attained
by improving the Defect Density
(DD). Hence the organization
PPM of DD is selected for
monitoring project progress and
predicts the quality of the
product.
The above PPM has SRS Review
Effectiveness, Design Review
Effectiveness and Code Review
Effectiveness (CRE) as the
coefficients. Crucial for this
project is Code Review
Effectiveness (CRE) and this has
been chosen for statistical
management. The goal for
achieving DD was set as 4.2. At
the beginning of the project CRE
was at 39% and the probability
of achieving DD 4.2 was 66%.
After simulations it was
concluded that with 43% Code
Review Effectiveness the
probability of achieving 4.2 DD
was 97%. The values indicated
that there was a need to improve
the process.
Agile FrameworkStatistical approach in the
Continued on Page 8...
D.D = 1.34 - 13.9 SRS Review Effectiveness + 2.16 Design Review Effectiveness - 1.40 Code Review Effectiveness.
Agile FrameworkStatistical approach in the
6 Page
On 18th July 2013 Cdr K. Vijay Kumar spoke on the topic
“People Management Skills for the Project Managers”. He
reinforced that Team members are the most important
part of the project. Hence any Project Manager who is
able to get the best from his/her team always stands to
win. Cdr Vijay Kumar spoke on the various aspect of
People Management.
Both the presentations were well received by the
enthused participants.
PM Enrich: The third edition
of the PM Enrich was held on
27th July 2013. Mr. Binood
Maliel a PMP and an
International trainer and an
executive coach Conducted the one day work shop on the
topic, “STAKE HOLDER MANAGEMENT THROUGH
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE”. The program was a great
success. A total of 29 Participants from various
organizations participated in the program.
In pursuit of excellence to provide value added service to
our members, Chapter is pleased to organize two special
sessions for the participants of PMPC 2013. Special Programs
are available only for Early Bird Registrations. At the time of
registration, the participant can select the program to
attend, provided seats are available. Please note that PMPC
early bird registration offer will be valid till August 9, 2013.
The programs are: (i) The "Deeper Issues" that Hurt
Leadership, Collaboration and Project Management and (ii)
Enterprise Project Portfolio Management: Driving business
transformation success. These programs are scheduled on 12th
Sept 2013 from 11.00 AM to 4.00 PM. Interested delegates may
register for either of the programs without any additional cost and
earn 4 additional PDUs. Since seats are limited, registration is on
a first come first served basis. For details visit Chapter Website or
contact the Chapter officials.
Everyone knows that there is something deeper than behavior that matters a
lot. Some call it motivation, others call it character, and many call it attitude.
Everyone knows that when this deeper thing, whatever it is, is off in some
way—when one's attitude is poor, for example—this deep deficiency undercuts
personal integrity, hurts teamwork, collaboration, project management and
diminishes performance. The trouble is that most people lack clarity about
what this deeper thing is and how to change it. But what if these deeper
matters could be managed concretely? What if these issues have seemed
mystical and soft only because we have lacked a language that equips us to
accurately perceive and address these deeper matters? This 4 hour session
clarifies the deeper issue and answers the fundamental questions to optimize
collaboration and outcomes in projects despite the constraints one faces. Key
Takeaways - Participants learn, apply and leave with a robust framework and
tools to heighten their awareness and nurture and embed practices that
strengthen collaboration and optimize project results.
This will be presented by: Mr. Senthiyl S S G & Mr Shankar
Thayumanavan, Arbinger Singapore
Oracle Primavera will discuss the challenges facing executives, leaders and
project practitioners responsible for driving enterprise strategy, execution of
corporate initiatives and management of the project portfolio. Demonstrations
will show how executives and users alike can benefit from EPPM solutions to
easily review and gain insight into all aspects of their project portfolio.
Therefore enabling senior leaders and managers to better manage and
address the growing demands of complex, risky large-scale projects and gain
a clearer insights to make better informed business decisions. As well as
presenting the Primavera solution road-map, the program will cover case
studies that will highlight the business benefits project management solutions
have delivered. It will also touch on some of the best practices being
implemented.
Finally the program will discuss how companies are utilising project portfolio
management solutions to improve financial discipline, increase operational
efficiencies and proactively identify and mitigate risk in order to enable the
successful execution of their projects.
This will be presented by: Mr. Vijay Govekar, Oracle Primavera
“Deeper Issues" that Hurt Leadership, Collaboration &
Project Management
Enterprise Project Portfolio Management: Driving business
transformation success
Volume -1 - Issue 07 August 2013
Chapter News ... continued from Page 1
Gandhiji’s Management.... ... continued from Page 2
In our July edition, we had asked you to express your thoughts
in 10-15 words to continue the following sentence
“Project management approach helps me to minimize the
problems associated with unclear or changing requirements
by………” And the best response is...
... and the Winner is Deepak Barua, PMP, from Capgemini
“…...methodically planning and defining the scope thus
helping in control and validating it with the
stakeholders….”
We like to hear what you think!!
Please complete the sentence below with your thoughts in
10-15 words and send them to
. The best entry will win
attractive goodies from PMI Bangalore India Chapter.
This edition's slogan
Please provide your response by 24th August 2013
Chapter will select the best slogan and felicitate the winner
during a Chapter event.
Project Management mindset helps me in improving
my personal effectiveness by..........
PM Event
Simplicity was his greatest virtue. Simplicity is the basic
mantra for any successful project. Have a vision towards
the goal, plan for it and work hard to achieve it.
He was an excellent listener, Gandhiji wanted to make
villages self dependent. He developed local leaders at
grassroots level i.e. he built leaders by delegation (De-
Centralization). As we celebrate our 66th independence
anniversary we can take a leaf from volumes of articles
written on Gandlhi's leadership and motivate ourselves to
push the boundaries to execute our projects despite the
inevitable challenges and barrier we might encounter
down the way.
Based on the feedback and few
modifications, the SRS document was
approved by the Client. The PM and team
could effectively utilize the time and
resources, without the idling status –
“waiting for sign-off”.
2) In a Maintenance Project, there was
occasional spare capacity between work
requests. The Project Manager proposed
to the client to assign a set of low priority
work requests that could be taken up in
an interrupt mode. The team could start
and stop working on this, based on the
regular work requests that had an SLA
based turnaround time. This additional
productivity helped the Client with further
value add. At a later date, when the PM
requested for an increase in the FTE
resources for the Maintenance Project, the
client was more than willing to approve.
3) Several work requests were being
handled simultaneously by various teams.
The team members were dynamically
reallocated, balancing the flow of work
requests and availability of skilled
resources. Whenever any work request
was on the threshold of breaching the
SLA's ; an automatic message would go
up on an electronic LED display in the Hall
, where most of the resources were
collocated. Surprisingly a team member
from another project, would approach the
PL of the troubled project with “ I have
the skills for this work request. Currently,
I am free. Can I help?”. The task of
providing additional resources for a
troubled project was a seamless and real-
time process, without eating into the time
of Project Manager and Management, to
the extent possible.
4) PM to team “ If we do not deliver this
work request by 25th this month, we
would be paying a SLA penalty of $2500?”.
This message (in quantified terms) getting
communicated to every team member,
normally galvanized the team to higher
levels of productivity. It also prompted the
PL to clearly state, what assistance was
required to complete the work in time.
This pre-empted 11th hour surprises on
completion status.
Page 7
There is no doubt that Agile Project
Management Methodologies are getting
increasingly adopted by many
organizations and Project teams.
However, not having the immediate
opportunity, to apply formal Agile
Methodologies, need not inhibit any of us
from being basically 'agile'...
If you have heard yourself or your peers
reflecting on the below questions; this
article would interest you.
“I have done my ACP (Agile Certification).
However my Organization is yet to adopt
Agile methodologies in their Projects.
What do I do?
“My team proposed using Agile for this
outsourced Project. However Client is not
willing!”. Am I struck?
“I am using Agile Methodologies in my
Projects. However the collective learning
curve is quite steep!”. Will it take a long
time to demonstrate the benefits of going
Agile?
If you refer the English dictionary for
'agile' – you would see: nimble, supple,
lithe, sprightly, alert, responsive, swift,
active, dexterous etc…. It is obvious that
'agile' describes the mindset.
So here goes: Below are 6 Project
situations. Each is a simplified version, for
sake of brevity.
As you read through them, try to
identify (to yourself) the agile
attributes practiced by the Project
Manager/Team member.
1) Client was taking an unduly longer time
to review and approve the SRS document
prepared by the offshore Project Team.
The PM gauged that the delay, was due to
voluminous documentation (necessary!).
The PM connected with the Client and
proactively offered to “To do a walk
through session of the SRS to the Client
Business Analysts and answer any
queries”. The client agreed and the session
was arranged.
Volume -1 - Issue 07 August 2013
PM Connect
Madhavan S Rao, PMP, Assurance Consulting
5) Status update from a Team
Leader to the Project Manager –
“ The Project has 4 Modules. For
3 of them , we have things in
control. The 4th Module involves
some research and uncertainty
on time lines. Will update you
much in advance in case we
need more expert resources or
need to negotiate with Client for
additional time and budget. We
will not have occasion for a last
minute surprises, rest assured.”
6) The Client had proposed very
tight and (an unreasonable)
schedule for a proposed project
to the Vendor partner. The
Vendor PM had a huge challenge
in saying a 'NO' to a Platinum
Customer. A YES would also
result in extra unbilled
resources being put into the
Project and it becoming an
unprofitable account. After
initial deliberations with the
Client and team, the Vendor PM
proposed the Project be sliced
into 2 parts. 1 smaller part to be
executed by the Client at Onsite
and the 2nd larger part to be
executed by the Vendor
offshore. With this arrangement
, it would be possible to meet
the schedule timelines. (whether
this suggestion was accepted or
not by client, is another matter.
The PM conceiving of proposing
such an Execution model is
indicative of the desired
mindset).
These are just indicative
examples, where Project
stakeholders did “What More
was Possible!”, besides applying
the Processes and
Methodologies.
Continued on Page 8...
Rediscover your
'Agile Quotient'!!Rediscover your
'Agile Quotient'!!
PM Connect
8 Page
Volume -1 - Issue 07 August 2013
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PM Essence
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When we continually strive to
think on “What More is Possible?”,
we are complementing and
supplementing the Process action
points with 'agile', action points.
Visualize the cascading impact of a
team that thinks 'agile'. If you
have a team size of 20 or 100 or
200, and each of them deliver 1
'agile' action point a day , we have
sown the seeds of success , not
withstanding uncertainties and
Murphy.
Like to call this Murphy++. -
Delivering unexpected positive
surprises. This is possible by
thinking 'agile'.
When you are determined to come
up with 1 'agile' action point daily,
you will find that you can. The
human mind is easily
reprogrammable to rediscover its
true nature – basically agile!!.
Try this out and- Rediscover your
agile quotient.
Best Comments for the above 6
examples to 'agile mindset' will
get a special mention in future
edition of Essence.
Provide your response to
with the subject Line “Rediscover
your Agile Quotient”.
Rediscover your ... continued from Page 7
Statistical approach ... continued from Page 5
Causal Analysis and Resolution (CAR) is done to identify how to increase the
effectiveness in code review to make it a capable process. For doing Causal Analysis
and Resolution (CAR) we used 5 Whys technique. The 5 Whys is a questions-asking
method used to explore the cause/effect relationships underlying a particular problem
with the goal of
determining a root
cause of a defect
or problem.
To monitor the
progress of the
project towards
achieving the
established goal,
Individuals Moving
Range (X-mR) control chart was chosen. Compare to all other control charts X-mR
chart is more relevant for software projects. X-mR chart is a pair of control charts for
processes with a subgroup size of one. It is used to determine if a process is stable and
predictable, it creates a picture of how the system changes over time. The individual
(X) chart displays individual measurements. The moving range (MR) chart shows
variability between one data point and the next. Individuals and moving range charts
are also used to monitor the effects of process improvement theories. Above chart
shows the progress of the project. In the chart, before corrective action the mean
value of the Defect Density is 5.65. This was higher than the upper specification limit of
4.3 DD. But after the aforementioned improvements we started monitoring the
progress of the project using X-mR chart, there is no major deviation towards negative
side of the project goal. At the end of the continuous monitoring, the natural limits
start falling within the range of specification limits. The mean value of the Defect
Density also reduced to 1.35.
The Lighter Side of PM