The primary objectives of this session were to review and discuss the difference between design thinking and system analysis, and provide insights into and understanding of the key concepts of innovation and digital transformation.

Ashutosh Chatterji, director, and James Liao, consultant, Modern Apps Solution Centers, Microsoft Corporation, based in Washington DC, conducted the session. The speakers presented a case study on a local issue that helped clearly illustrate the approach to the participants. The session was attended by project management practitioners from different industries. They were divided into groups, after which they were given tasks based on real-life situations in which they applied design thinking to craft out a solution.

On 20 January, the chapter organized a talk on “Future Reality Check -Are We Ready?"Aniruddh Basu spoke about the skills that practitioners will need in the future and how day-to-day lives will be impacted with by the advent of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics.

On 4 February, the chapter conducted a strategy meeting that was attended by chapter board members, associate directors, Region 11 Mentor Girish Kadam, Ye Yoon Kim from the PMI office in Singapore, and former chapter president and founding member Sonali Bhattacharya.

The event started with a discussion on the chapter’s journey and successes in 2017. This was followed by a presentation of a strategy map for each portfolio, initiative, objective, and key deliverables for 2018. The attendees discussed goals and plans for 2018 to take the chapter to the next level.

On 21 April, the chapter hosted an informative and interactive session on project management in a cloud-based project environment. The speaker was Avijit Sen, IBM, project delivery manager.