Project management techniques can help organizations in this age of business disruptions to yield better results and make a stronger impact. This was a recurring thought expressed by industry leaders and senior project practitioners at the fourth PMI India Project Management Regional Conference in Pune on 10 March. 

Hosted by PMI Pune-Deccan India Chapter, the conference attracted over 400 delegates from across the region and was the region’s largest such event so far. The theme of the knowledge-enriching one-day event was “Achieving Business Transformation through Project Management.”

 

Raj Kalady, managing director, PMI India, said, “My mantra to be relevant in the disruptive world is to be a life-long learner. That’s the key to survive any transformation or disruption.”

Concurring with these views, Rajarama B. Rao, conference chair and president and CEO, PMI Pune-Deccan India Chapter, said, “At PMI, we believe that to stay relevant we need to change. The PMI community is working with others in the ecosystem to achieve this.” He added that the chapter has introduced several innovative membership services and has localized content to engage the community, practitioners, consultants, industry and academic institutes.

Girish Kadam, region mentor and past president, PMI Pune-Deccan India Chapter, expressed satisfaction over the way the regional conference has shaped up. “We started the conference as a platform to help practitioners from the region connect with industry leaders. It has helped the project management community here to learn from these leaders,” he said.

Seven visionary keynote speakers from diverse industries shared their knowledge and thoughts, with an emphasis on the conference theme of how business transformation has become imperative for survival.

Suresh Naik, director, Popular Space Science, also chairman of International Space Society, and president, Vijnan Bharati, Pune, gave an inspiring talk on program management during the Mangalyaan Mission (Mars Mission) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Naik was ISRO’s group director at the time of the Mangalyaan Mission.

Anand Kumar, mathematician and founder of Super 30 Programme, provided a glimpse of his life story and his relentless effort to coach and mentor young minds from underprivileged backgrounds for the highly competitive entrance exam for the Indian Institutes of Technology. Milind Mutalik, vice president - HR, Desai Brothers Ltd. of the popular Mother’s Recipe brand, shed light on how business transformation can be made easy through project management. Stephen Townsend, director, Network Programs, PMI, spoke passionately about the need for project managers to be transformers for change.

Revathi Roy, founder and CEO, Hey Deedee, a serial entrepreneur who has launched India’s first all-women logistic services company, provided food for thought to aspiring entrepreneurs in her talk on how she converted her passion for driving, into a business. Sriram Narayanasami, vice president - commercial, Maersk, and founder, Sublimecauses.com, spoke about achieving exponential growth by riding the digital wave. P.G. Waray, executive director - engineering and project execution (Network of Excellence), Thyssenkrupp Industries Solutions (India), presented some practical ideas from the hydrocarbon industry that is experiencing transformation.

The conference had a panel discussion on “Acquiring and Nurturing Talent for Business Transformation” and a case study presentation. The case study was on Tata Housing’s Myst housing project in Himachal Pradesh that won the PMI India Project of the Year (Small) award in 2017.