Focus on Advocacy and Collaboration

PMI India Champion Mr. J. V. Rao, PMP, along with his colleagues Mr. Manan Patel, PMP, and Ms. Rathidevi Chandrasekhar, PMP, conducted a one-day training program on project management on 22 July for the junior management at Essar Learning Center, Hazira, and on 26 July for the company’s middle management.

The objective of this session was to give an overview on PMI framework and various project management knowledge areas with practical examples of present and past projects. Mr. Rao gave an insight into PMI and its credentials.

The session concluded with a written test on various topics covered.

Mr. Rao also gave a presentation on “Project Management & PMI Credentials” on 23 July at C. K. Pethawalla College of Engineering and Technology.

PMI India Champion Mr. Jaspal Singh Walia, PMP, conducted a session on “Project Management Methodologies & PMP Exam Preparation Guidelines” for IT service delivery managers at Reliance Communications DAKC, corporate office, Navi Mumbai.

The session was focused on the benefits of PMP membership, chapter membership, framework, eligibility criteria, and examination procedure.

PMI India Champion Mr. Jaimin Jani, PMP, along with learning & development head, Black and Veatch, Mr. Anurag Sharma, launched a unique program model called “100 days to PMP” at Black and Veatch for 16 enthusiasts who intend to take up the PMP certification examination in the near future.

An article based on the real life experience of handling major industrial and infrastructure projects with a large number of stakeholders, titled “Managing Project-Resistant Stakeholders”, was published a couple of months ago in the PMI Knowledge Shelf. The author analyzed in detail the reasons and impact such stakeholders can make on project outcome. He also brought out a conceptual approach towards a speedy qualitative analysis of such stakeholders and management technique to deal with them in line with PMI’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge® - Fifth Edition. The article, which was authored by Mr. Partha S. Ghose, member, Champion Advisory Council (CAC), was recently selected by Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario for inclusion in their course-ware.

PMI India Champion Mr. M. Manikandan, PMP, conducted a session on “Project Management as an employability skill” at Kongunadu College of Engineering and Technology, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. Around 310 engineering students attended the session. The emphasis was on project management as an important employment skill and provided an overview of PMI’s Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® certification.

On 14 August, Mr. Manikandan addressed 16 supervisors and group leaders of Nokia, Chennai, on the basics of project management. On 20 August, he addressed 180 MBA students of Sathyabama University, Chennai, on “Innovative HR strategies for budding managers”. At both the events, he enlightened the audience about the PMP® and CAPM® certifications, and how they could influence one’s career growth.

As a part of the MVP Community 2014 event, Microsoft Project Users Group (MPUG) India Chennai Chapter, and associate CAC member and MPUG Chennai Chapter president, Mr. B. Sai Prasad, PMP, PMI-SP, MVP, hosted a user community event on 23August. Mr. Prasad presented on “Resource Optimization in Microsoft Project”. The event covered topics ranging from why resources are over-allocated, how to identify over-allocation, and how to level workloads by using different features of Microsoft Project.

A student conclave on employability skills, in association with PMI, was organized in Kolkata which was attended by over 100 students and faculty members of three engineering colleges in Kolkata – Calcutta Institute of Technology, Camellia Institute of Engineering, Camellia School of Engineering and Technology. PMI India Champion, Mr. Subhrangshu Sanyal, PMP, presented an overview of the essential skills required by fresh graduates to be employable. Mr. Vivek Shally from PMI India talked about the importance of project management skills and certifications. Mr. Shally inaugurated a library in the institute.

The institutes have planned for a three-day training for students on project management. PMI will be the knowledge partner for this event. The library will have a dedicated corner for PMI publications.

PMPlanet is an initiative powered by PMI India. The objective of PMPlanet is to provide information on certifications and credentials offered by PMI to professionals interested in project management. PMPlanet publishes articles by subject matter experts and PMI credential holders. Below are the links to articles written by some PMI Champions in PMPlanet:

http://www.pmplanet.in/acp_article?id=Benefits-of-PMI-ACPcredential-for-software-professional by Mr. Sonik Chopra, PMP

http://pmplanet.in/pmp_article?id=How-to-manage-time-topass-your-PMP-exam by Mr. Ashok Chawla, PMP

http://www.pmplanet.in/membership_article?id=Five-thingsto-know-about-PMI-before-you-become-its-member by Mr. Chetan Mathur, PMP

This month, PMI Champions held meetings with the local chapter for better collaboration by working towards the common goals.

Bengaluru
The PMI Bangalore Chapter hosted a breakfast cum joint board meeting at the chapter office on 12 July. PMI India Champions, Mr. Abhishek Sharma, PMP, Mr. Hari Prasad KV, PMP, Mr. S. Velayutham, PMP, Mr. Kush Kumar, PMP, Mr. Asheesh Mehdiratta, PMP, Mr. Ananth Honnenahalli, PMP, Mr. Venugopal M., PMP, and Mr. Sunil Telkar, PMP attended the meeting. Chapter president, Mr. Murali Santhanam, PMP, and other board members, including Mr. Vijay Paul, PMP, Mr. Saumen De, PMP, Mr. Basu Datta, PMP, Mr. Sumanth Padival, PMP, Lt. Col. (Retd.) L. Shri Harsha, PMP, Ms. Shilpa Gnaneshwar, PMP, Mr. S. S. V. Raghavan, PMP, Mr. Ravi Kanniganti, PMP, and Capt. L. N. Prasad, PMP attended the meeting on behalf of the chapter.

Mr. Telkar and Mr. Santhanam shared the efforts put in by the Champions and chapter towards the advocacy of project management practices in the past, across various industries, and touched upon the future plan of action.

In this meeting, the attendees identified new avenues for collaboration between Champions and the chapter. Some key avenues identified were: help on enhancing chapter membership, collaboration on advocacy in educational institutions, delivering sessions at PM Footprints, contributing technical papers for the Project Management Practitioners Conference (PMPC), and chapter support in facilitating speakers for advocacy sessions by Champions in their organization or elsewhere.

The meeting was a great success and it was decided to regularly have such joint meetings on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.

Kolkata
On 9 August, CAC member, Ms. Susweta Mukherjee, PMP, attended the PMI West Bengal Chapter strategic meeting. She participated in discussion forums on membership retention and improvement of training. She provided valuable inputs on chapter activities and suggested ways of improvement viz. through frequent “Learn & Earn” sessions on weekdays rather than on weekends of one hour duration each, volunteers/members from non-IT organizations to nominate one speaker a year for these sessions, and invite HR officials of non-IT and IT companies to “Aviskar”, through which PMP can be popularized within those organizations.

Mumbai
Mumbai Chapter president, Mr. Surah Parikh, PMP, invited Mumbai-based Champions for a breakfast meeting with Chapter board members. The intent was to look for more opportunities on how the Champion Program and the chapter can collaborate. The meeting was attended by CAC member, Mr. Shyamprakash Agarwal, PMP; Champions, Mr. Kiran Rajeshirke, PMP, and Mr. Jaspal Singh Walia, PMP; and the Champion program administrator, Ms. Suvarna Naikdesai.

As ambassadors of PMI, you support PMI initiatives within your organization to create visibility and strengthen project management practices. To support you in this journey, PMI Champion has launched the first edition of Video Bites.

Video Bites, an initiative of the PMI India Champion program, captures the experience of leaders, practitioners, and industry experts on their benefits of associating with PMI through certifications, membership, and volunteering activities.

The videos are available through the PMI India YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/PMInstituteIndia. To allow your viewers easy access, the videos have been grouped into a playlist: Experts speak – Value of PMI.

(Champion Update is contributed by PMI India Champions, Mr. Kiran Rajeshirke, PMP, and Mr. Sunil Telkar, PMP, MIMA.)