PMI Newsletter Aug - PMI Bangalore Chapter Page Volume -1 - Issue 07 August 2013 Being born after...

Thanks and Best Wishes

Soumen De, PMP

[email protected]

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


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.


PM in Non Traditional Area

Disruptive Project Management- Balasubramaniam Vedagiri, PMP, Mphasis

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


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


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 -

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.”


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


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


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.

[email protected]

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.

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.


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.


Rediscover your

'Agile Quotient'!!Rediscover your

'Agile Quotient'!!

PM Connect

8 Page


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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”.

[email protected]

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.

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