eeddiittoorr’’ss nnoottee contents - pmi home page and discretionary spends etc. a recent ... of...

Editor’s NoteEditor’s NoteDear Friends,

The industry landscape especially

the IT landscape apparently has

undergone a huge change in

recent times. India's blue chip IT

sector is experiencing rough weather from the

tightening of visa regime in the US, increased

automation of level 1 and level 2 jobs, Brexit and

from top IT companies taking tough stance on

'restructuring' and 'performance management'

for their organization. India's $150 billion

outsourcing industry finds itself at a tipping point.

The symptom we see from this includes cutting

staff strength, slowing down hiring, reducing

travel and discretionary spends etc. A recent

Mckinsey report

has pointed that

a s i gn i f i c an t

proportion of 37

lakh IT workforce

w i l l b e c o m e

irrelevant in the

next 3-4 years. While the scenario sounds

alarming, this is a wakeup call for us.

Management books, self-help books and spiritual

books – all point to the same golden mantra. That

we need to focus on what we control and do not

lose our sleep on what we cannot control or things

which are out of us. We need to keep on

buttressing our strengths and relentlessly

diminish our weaknesses to meaningfully

contribute to manage and grow our professional

careers. Vishal Sikka, Infosys CEO, in his New

- Capt. L. N. Prasad

PM Footprints: During the month of April 2017, two PM

thFootprints sessions were held. On 13 April 2017, Mr. Mark

Dorsett, Vice

President – Global

Business &

Strategic

Partnerships of

Prosci (US), spoke

Continued on Page 7...

Year note to employees had said “We will not

survive if we remain in the constricted space of

doing as we are told depending on cost arbitrage

and working as reactive problem solvers”. So we

need to reinvent ourselves and adapt with the

changing business models of the IT industry. We

need to proactively understand the “value

proposition” we bring to the table and deliver

added value to our customers and stakeholders.

This also should be a great trigger for us to upskill,

cross train and upgrade ourselves on new and

emerging knowledge and skills. You can also think

of volunteering for 'stretch projects' to pilot new

ideas that could deliver added value or hone new

skills. Like any other business, Indian IT industry

has gone through trough and crest in the past and

I am sure, it is only natural that the IT industry

(and it's workforce) will reinvent itself to take it

back to its leadership level in future.

Happy Reading

Thanks and Best Wishes

Soumen De, PMP

[email protected]

Volume - 5 - Issue 2

May 2017

Chapter News

- Capt. L. N. Prasad

Effective Cross-cultural

Communication

- Prabodh Gupta

Lessons Learned From

Projects . . .

- Vishwanath Thanalapatti

Why should I split my

stories?

- Rachana Dalmia

The Lighter Side of PM

- Rajiv

DID YOU KNOW?

CONTENTS

Q. This is used to assess

the maturity level of safety

culture of any organization

DID YOU

KNOW

Editorial Board

Murali Santhanam, PMP

Namita Gupta, PMP, PMI-ACP

Rama K, PMP, PMI-ACP

Shikha Vaidh, PMP, PMI-ACP

Soumen De, PMP

Sujata Sahu, PMP

Chapter News on the topic "Changing the world-One project at a time".

thOn 27 April 2017, Mr. Jayaraj

Narayana, Technical Project

Manager, Ensilica India Private

Limited, spoke on the topic "7

Habits of an Effective Project

Manager". Both the sessions

were very well attended and the

members benefitted by the

subject.

Effective Cross-cultural Communication

Volume - 5 - Issue 2 May 2017

2 Page

High Context vs Low Context

Culture

Avoid Unconscious Bias

This relates to how any individual feels,

thinks, opine and upbringing affect how

they act within a given culture. US &

most parts of Europe are generally low

context culture while Asia, Africa & Middle

east are generally high context culture. In

a high context culture, communication

involves more of the information in the

physical context; the internal meaning is

usually embedded in the information, so

meaning is not explicitly stated in written

or spoken words. Whereas, a low context

culture is characterized by communication

that is direct, precise, open and based on

feelings.

When people from different cultures come

together, they tend to assume certain

things (unaware of difference in the

communication styles and cultural values)

and don't understand the value system of

the other culture. This leads to a situation

where the listener not only loses part of

the message but also develops an

incorrect perspective about the delivered

information. Also, unawareness from the

language or accent also leads to

ambiguity.

Tolerance for ambiguity in a fast

changing, multi-cultural & complex world

is critical. Whenever we see any

ambiguous situations as uncomfortable or

threatening ones, we tend to adopt more

rigid or stereotype thinking. Rather than,

we should treat these ambiguities as an

opportunity to improvise when solutions

are unknown & try to think in a neutral &

open way.

Gestures and eye contact are two areas

of non-verbal communication that are

utilized differently across cultures. For

example, American workers tend to wave

their hand and use a finger to point when

giving non-verbal direction while in

Japan, we should never use a finger to

point towards another person because

that gesture is considered rude in Japan.

Instead, we might gesture with an open

hand, with our palm facing up, toward

the person.

Another form of non-verbal

communication is eye contact. In the

U.S., eye contact is a good thing and is a

reflection of honesty and

straightforwardness. However, in some

Asian and Middle Eastern cultures,

prolonged eye contact be rude or

aggressive in many situations. When an

American has a face to face meeting with

any Japanese, American can think that

his Japanese counterpart is not listening

to his talking points because he was not

looking American in the eyes. However,

Japanese did not want American to think

he was rude, so he avoided looking

directly into his American counterpart's

eyes during his speech

Non-Verbal Communication

Effective Cross-Cultural

Communication is imperative for all the

companies due to the growth of global

business & diversified workforce. The

world is shrinking and leaders from

different cultures are finding that they

need to work together. This type of

communication involves an understanding

of how people from different countries &

cultures speak, communicate, and

perceive the world around them.

I truly realized the importance of Cross

Cultural Communication when I joined

IBM. First project which I was leading had

DB2 resource from China, Middleware

Resource from Brazil, Application Team

from Europe, Customer from US & me &

few resources from India. It was a tough

call for me to make sure that everyone

remains on the same page with no scope

of any misunderstanding.

To be a good leader, not only person

should have good Intelligence Quotient

(IQ) and Emotional Intelligence (EQ) but

should have good Cultural Intelligence or

Cultural Quotient (CQ) also. Cultural

Intelligence can be understood as the

capability to relate and work effectively

across culture.

One critical element that Cultural

Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence do

share is “to think before acting”. Even we

are using the same language, words and

phrases can mean different things from

one culture to another. For eg, if an

American use the phrase “As soon as

possible”, it usually means “Now. While in

other culture, same phrase mean “As

soon as you clear your other priorities”.

These two people from different cultures

might hear the same phrase but interpret

in different way as per their culture.

For effective Cross Cultural

Communication, we should understand

following aspects of the Culture –

- Prabodh Gupta

PM Article Effective Cross-cultural Communication


Lessons Learned From Projects – The Essential First Step


around clean data cannot be overstated

for correct decision making. Any

investment in Visual Analytics, Data

Analytics etc., is as good the underlying

data.

Mantra: 'Clean Data' must be a strategy

for any Organisation. This must be an

ongoing project that feeds into all

projects.

Main Benefits: Minimise Risk, Create

Data as an Asset, Leverage Technology.

Project Management is mainstream. A

large number of projects if one looks

closely do have similarities. The world is

full of lessons with a repository of

examples to learn from. Vendors on the

other hand have a global view and

experience. Over time software products

have come to incorporate global best

practices. This makes 'COTS' approach

for implementation a very good option

with minimal customisation. This is an

opportunity for an organisation to change

its business processes.

Lessons Learned

Organisation start customizing solutions

bought off the shelf. The internal fault

lines between Business, IT and Senior

Management drag decisions towards

customisation to the point where COTS

will start assuming the form of in-house

developed software. The very objective of

technology upgradation, improved

productivity, optimisation of business

processes take the back seat. There are

copious examples of projects that go into

a tailspin due to extensive customisation.

Mantra: Choose a Global Vendor, Change

Business Processes and implement with

minimal Customization.

Main Benefits: Maximise Investment,

Stay Competitive, Pioneer Change.

• Process change and

optimisation

In theory, a project closure is logically

complete when the Lessons Learned are

documented. The rationale underlying

'Lessons Learned' is using the information

in other similar projects so that the

success criteria is emulated, while the

setbacks are tracked for avoidance. To set

the contours for compliance, there are

two extreme possible positions for

'Lessons Learned'. The first one where

each new project 'Kick Off' starts with a

session (on the 'Lessons Learned') that is

100%; the other is to ignore all and move

on with the new project that is 0%. The

reality lies somewhere in between. In

this write up I pick up 5 top lessons which

are learned but not considered that could

have minimized risk, done at less cost in

quicker time and delivered stakeholder

value. The readers from the Project

Management discipline I am sure will be

able to relate to a few, if not to all of

these.

The business of banking in India

predominantly is very similar, be it across

banks or regions. The products are

standardized, reporting structured and

the one major difference is in volumes.

This gives us a model of the basic

software solution. Like said earlier, can be

packaged and implemented in quick time,

at a lower cost, minimizing risk; if it is on

cloud, even quicker. However, each bank

goer has gone through a very harrowing

experience.

Lessons learned

After the first few projects 'Go-Live' the

banks could have come together and

defined a standard model solution and on

top of that customized specific products

unique to a bank. Say, branded products.

The combined association of banks with

its negotiation power would have driven

the costs down. One project plan and

one model solution would have been a

clear winner. A single general ledger

• Core banking transformation

projects in India:

structure would have made regulatory

reporting much better.

Mantra: Going forward, banks should

look at a Cloud Based Solution (private

community cloud) and insist on a pre-

packaged solution, rather than go

through the pain of 'Bottom Up'

implementation.

Main Benefits: Minimise Risk, Lower

cost, Predictable and Lesser time to

implement.

Data is the 'Prana' - the breath of life for

an organisation. Given the importance,

one of the essential 'first steps'

organisations must do is to clean up data

as part of implementation process. This

will help in the design of information

architecture for classification of data (for

example 'Mission Critical, 'Important'

etc.,) that will be of tremendous use to

an Information System Auditor for Data

Migration Audit. And for leveraging

technologies for exploiting 'Big Data' to

give desired results for decision making.

Lessons Learned

The Management must mandate data

cleansing as one of the critical 'first steps'

for any implementation. The decision for

'Go' 'No Go' forward with the project

must hinge on this. The planning process

must have this as a mandatory step and

the execution must start with a sign off

by all stake holders. The importance of

information architecture structured

• Data Cleansing

- Vishwanath Thanalapatti

Lessons Learned From Projects – The Essential First Step

PM Article


Why should I split my stories?


this does not give the user time to

provide feedback on the workflow until it

is too late and the entire workflow is

implemented. This defers learning and

creates additional project risk or in the

least does not allow you to retire the risks

A better way to split a workflow is to do a

thin slice through the workflow focusing

on one variation or to focus on the stories

that actually deliver value rather than

every story in the workflow

Example: I had a client who wanted a

portal that allowed patients to schedule

healthcare appointments with the

doctors. They had inventory of

thousands of providers and their

availability.

1. Patient would login to the system

2. Lookup the doctors by speciality,

insurance, proximity to them and other

criteria

3. Once they found the doctor, they had

to look up their schedule

4. If they found a time slot that would

work for them, select the appointment,

provide all the required information

5. Book the appointment

6. Show confirmation for the appointment

In this workflow, the value is only derived

once the appointment is booked. So, we

discussed the fastest way to get the

patient to the appointment.

- Once we started breaking this story

- We found that 80% of the

appointments were patients with their

PCP (Primary Care Physician)

- The other 20% were either new

patients looking for a PCP or other

specialists

- The complexity in this workflow was

looking up the doctors based on the

various criteria.

- So we implemented the thin slice of

the workflow where the logged in

user's PCP availability shows right away

and they can book an appointment.

- We were able to release this feature

and add the complexity later on.

- Earned quick ROI

Benefits:

- The client can go to production with

just this variation implemented and

the other flows can still be a manual

workflow saving time on at least one

flow.

- The team learns from implementing

this one small variation without adding

complexity to the system.

- The team can now estimate the other

variation(s) more accurately.

- We split user stories to get to

value/feedback faster and to only build

what is valuable.

This article is about WHY you should split

your user stories while working in agile

projects and also how to split the user

stories.

The obvious reason to split a user story is

when a story is too large to fit in a sprint.

But this is not the only time you should

think about splitting your stories.

Breaking a large story based on all its

variations and complexities will allow your

Product Owner to prioritize the most

valuable variation either based on usage

or other business criteria. Some of the

variations may never bubble up in priority

over other features.

Example: I worked on a portal where

documents could be shared with different

groups of people. One of the

requirements was notifications to the

users when a document was shared with

them.

I broke the user story for different

notification channels:

Email

Text message

Notification center on the portal that

shows all the messages sent to the

user.

The PO was able to prioritize email

notification and in the end, we did not

implement the notification center.

- PO was able to prioritize the

notification channels separately

- Allowed for faster time to market

- Based on the usage and feedback, we

were able to eliminate the notification

center completely, saving budget for

more important enhancements

- Smaller stories allow the team to

provide more accurate estimates

- Ensure that there is an Epic that ties all

your split user stories together. This will

allow your development team to think

about the architecture/design.

Teams that are new to splitting stories

tend to split the workflow Epic by each

workflow step and implement it from left

to right until the flow is complete.

Splitting this way is dangerous because

•

Benefits:

Caution:

•

•

•

4 Page

PM Article Why should I split my stories? - Rachana Dalmia

What I learned from Bollywood Songs


destination. Whenever such a difficult

situation comes in life, we can be assured

that this is the tipping point and after

this, the final destination is waiting. It's

not time to give up, it's time to walk

alone and keep away from negative

forces who may stop you on the way.

The third and last song in my list is

"Zindegi ek safar hai suhana" from the

1971 movie Andaz, composed by

Shankar Jaikishan and sung by Kishore

Kumar. This one is more fun loving and a

song which can instantly make one's

mood happy and positive. As the song

starts on a high note, it declares the

uncertainty of tomorrow and inspires to

live the present moment with zeal, full of

happiness and singing. And while living

the present with happiness, focus on your

destination and move ahead. "Haste gate

jahan se guzar; Duniya ki tu parvah na

kar; Muskuraate hue din bitana; Yahan

kal kya ho kisne jaana". Never be worried

about what others will think and go

ahead while singing and laughing. Finally

Hasrat Jaipuri talks about the

unnecessary fear of death in people's

mind as it is inevitable and going to

happen one day. "Maut aani hai ayegi ik

din; Jaan jaani hai jayegi ik din; Aisi

baaton se kya ghabrana; Yahan kal kya

ho kisne jaana; Zindagi ek safar hai

suhana; Yahan kal kya ho kisne jaana”.

A song has the potential to change the

mood. A good tune in the morning keeps

the mind happy throughout the day.

When one returns home tired in the

evening, listening to some good music

can take away all the tiredness, pain and

refresh the mind. In India, Bollywood

songs have remained the major source of

music. Although Bollywood songs are

meant for entertainment, there are many

songs which convey a deeper meaning

and can teach us many lessons in life in a

simple yet effective way. Here are few

songs that have deeper meanings and

have helped me to learn lessons of life.

‘Main Zindegi ka saath nibhata chala

gaya’. This song from the movie

"Humdono", composed by Jaidev and

beautifully sung by Mohammed Rafi, it is

a marvel when it comes to learning. The

first line tells how to get rid of worries

and unnecessary thoughts and move

ahead in life continuously. When setbacks

come don't be disheartened as there is no

point in doing so. Rather celebrate the

moment and move ahead. What I got, I

accepted it as my luck. What I lost, I

forgot about it forever. The last line is my

favorite. Where there is no difference

between happiness and sadness, to that

level of consciousness, I am taking my

heart continuously. The lyricist Sahir

Ludhianvi had beautifully used words to

explain such a nice philosophy of life.

Second in my list is a song from the

movie "Imtihan", "Ruk jaana nahin tu

kahin haar ke". Beautifully rendered by

the immortal voice of Kishore Kumar.

Whenever the mind is negative or

everything is not going on right with you,

listen to this great number to raise your

spirit up. The song talks about the eternal

journey of life and the need to walk

continuously without stopping at small

roadblocks or difficulties. When one is

determined to continuously walk along his

own path, the entire nature (like Sun

here) works in the same direction. The

next lines penned down by Majrooh

Sultanpuri are the best part of the song.

"Sathi na karvan hai; Yeh tera imtihaan

hai; Yoon hi chala chal dil ke sahare;

Karti hai manzil tujhko ishare; Dekh

kahin koi rok nahin le Tujhko pukaar ke".

The exam he's mentioning is the difficult

times one is going through and at such

difficult times normally you are alone as

the difficult situation is in front of you and

you only can sort it out by walking

continuously keeping an eye on the

- Sukumar Mishra

What I learned from Bollywood SongsPM in Non-Traditional Area

PM Essence, the monthly journal from PMI Bangalore India Chapter has successfully completed 4 years of its journey.

This journal has covered articles on Project Management (PM) and related topics, Chapter Events, PM Humor and other sections and we have

published it every month without any break. This is only possible because of stupendous encouragement and patronage from all readers like you. We

have had authors national and international, contributing their article for this journal making it very rich in content. Publishing it every month

requires rich content generation and robust editorial effort. To sustain this momentum, and to take it to the next level to make this journal best in

class, we would be inviting editors to join the Essence Editorial Team. Details of this opportunity are shared in VRMS portal of PMI

(https://vrms.pmi.org). We need volunteers on the content generation, content editing and technical support. The Opportunity ID is 9258, so please

free to nominate yourself soon.

6 Page


• Right leadership and People

People are key for the success of a project. Strong leadership, right

skills and full commitment takes a project across the finish line.

Professional Project Management and PMI processes give the

necessary structure, direction and governance. The bottom line right

people make successful projects.

Lessons Learned

The first signs of the good people leaving a project always starts with

a trickle and is seen in mid and senior management. When it gets

viral, the cracks develop all over and finally descends to mediocre

leadership, at this point it is beyond repair. The investments and

funding dry out. Projects are kept on hold and gradually loose

traction, soon forgotten.

Mantra: Reward people well enough to keep them in the game. Role

clarity and participation to be communicated and maintained. Don't

change responsibilities randomly. Aim at quick success, the so called

low hanging fruits. Have a regular track of success and recognition in

place. Make sure a good talent management person is in the team.

Main Benefits: Ensure Project Success, Deliver Stakeholder Value.

• Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned from a project is the guiding light to future

projects. It is an organizational asset. The repository will

have success stories and pain points from all previous

projects. If not all at the least transformational ones that are

disruptive (in the positive sense) for business.

Lessons Learned

The success stories are all fine. More important are the 'Pain

Points'. The focus on 'Pain Points' and its relevance cannot

be overstated. The repeat performance of mistakes and

resolution is at a cost and risk, more so from projects that

have not been delivered or gone into the breach orbit of time

and cost. In a projectised / matrix structure the PMOs office

is ideally the owner of 'Lessons Learned'. The stakeholders

for each project must sign off on the 'Lessons Learned'

Mantra: Lessons Learned must be an indispensable first

step for every project an organisation undertakes. Factor

that in all process / dependent process steps as an 'Input'.

Main Benefits: Minimise Risk, Maximise Project Success.

Lessons Learned from Projects ... continued from Page 3

PMPC 2017

2C 0P 1M 7P

The Annual Project Management Practitioner's Conference 2017 will be held on 20, 21, and 22nd July 2017 at

NIMHANS Convention centre. The registration for the same has been opened. Details regarding the same can be

obtained from the Chapter's website.

Chapter News ... continued from Page 1

PM E&C Footprints:

Agile Foundation:

th On Saturday, 15 April, E&C

Footprints was also held. The first speaker for the

day was Mr. Anand K Basal, Vice President

Prestige Estate Project Ltd., spoke on the topic "A

case Study of Structural Steel Building".

The second speaker for the day was Mr. Divaspati

Bhat, Director

dbEE Consulting - Enabling Experts. He spoke on

the topic "Communication and Relationships". The

talk was well attended and received by the

members.

The one day Agile foundation ndtraining was held on 22 Aprill 2017. Twelve

members participated in the program.


A. to understand the point they're at in their

journey towards an effective safety culture.

Once this starting point is known, action can

be taken to achieve increased safety levels.

With time, the Bradley Curve has become a

leading indicator of the maturity of an

organisation's safety culture. In a mature

safety culture, safety is truly sustainable,

with injury rates approaching zero. People

feel empowered to take action as needed to

work safely. They support and challenge

each other. Decisions are made at the

appropriate level and people live by those

decisions. The organization, as a whole,

realizes significant business benefits in

higher quality, greater productivity, and

increased profits.

[

The Bradley Curve helps organisations

Source - Internet]

DID YOU

KNOW

Approach to Successful Cross Cultural Communication:

• Understanding the Cultural Differences –

Differences in culture can be classified at two levels – Surface

(noticeable differences) and Deep (out of conscious awareness). To

understand the deep differences, we have to put some efforts as those

are not obvious.

• Understanding the Cultural Values - Each country has her own

cultural value & dynamics of society including politics, family, religion,

beliefs etc. Understanding the host country's cultural values on the scale

of these dimensions helps a manager to understand the cultural chasm

that he must recognize and make conscious effort to bridge.

• Reduce Ethnocentrism - Ethnocentrism is judging

another culture solely by the values and standards of

one's own culture Ethnocentric individuals believe that

they are better than other individuals for reasons based

solely on their heritage. Since ethnocentrism is often an

unconscious behavior, it is understandably difficult to

prevent in advance. Such a behavior is also characterized

by selective listening and value judgment, severely

impacting the quality of the communication.

Understanding such aspects of the host culture helps

business leaders achieve successful cross cultural

communication.

Effective Cross-Cultural ... continued from Page 2

PMI Bangalore India Chapter - Member's Speak

•

•

•

•

•

•

“Helps to attend trainings, keep updated formal with methods of

training, helps in certification” – Nakul Singh

“Networking for carrier growth, Connect with Industry experts” –

Anand Rao Patwari

“Excellent learning materials, guidelines and standards readily

available” – Srinivasulu Reddy

“Networking, sharing thoughts, Basics of PM concepts being

challenged, PMI Bangalore Chapter provides a platform to discuss

these”. – Priya Thomas

“Access to materials, being in touch with community, Keep yourself

updated” – Radhika Narayanan

“Network connectivity, Attend session” – Priya Prabhu T R


PMI Bangalore India Chapter# 13, Suryastan Apartments, Andree Road, Shanthi Nagar,Bengaluru - 560 027, Karnataka, India

[email protected] +91 80 6583 3671, +91 80 2211 5772, +91 98868 14078http://www.pmibangalorechapter.org

ValueWorks; [email protected]

PM Essence

Disclaimer

“The mission of PM Essence is to facilitate the exchange of information among professionals in the field of

project and program management, provide them with practical tools and techniques, and serve as a

forum for discussion of emerging trends and issues in project management. PM Essence is YOUR

Newsletter and Bangalore Chapter welcomes story ideas and/or suggestions to make it still better. More

information can be found on the Chapter's website.”

All articles in PM Essence are the views of the authors and not necessarily those of PMI or PMI Bangalore

India Chapter. Unless otherwise specified, it is assumed that the senders have done due diligence in

getting necessary copyright and official clearance in respect of all letters and articles sent to PM Essence

for publication. PMI Bangalore India Chapter is not responsible for loss, damage, or any other injury to

unsolicited manuscripts or other material.

Technology Support : Ramesh Chandra Pathak, PMP

For any queries or suggestions, please write to Balakrishna Kasibatla, PMP, VP Membership, PMI Bangalore India Chapter at [email protected]

For more webinars / recorded sessions, please logon to ProjectManagement.com with your PMI credentials.

8 Page

PM Member’s Corner

We welcome all new

members and Thank

members who have

r e n e w e d t h e i r

membership in April

2017.

Appended is the list of

few FREE web-based

seminars (webinars)

for May 2017. We

have shared same list

to your registered

email; this is a good

opportunity to earn

PDUs and claim at

PMI to maintain your

credentials.

The Lighter Side of PM

Membership Count

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0

2,500

01/01/2016 01/01/2017 01/05/2017

01/01/2016

01/01/2015 01/01/2017

23/05/2017

Retention

80.00%

60.00%

40.00%

20.00%

0.00%

Chapter Events

Chapter Events in June 2017:

24 1325SAT TUESUN

10 11 17 18SAT SUN SAT SUN

8

17

22THU

SAT

THUPM Footprints

PM Open Space

E & C

Footprints

eeddiittoorr’’ss nnoottee contents - pmi home page and discretionary spends etc. a recent ... of...

Documents