India is at the cusp of massive development, but at the same time there are big infrastructure projects that are behind schedule. D.A. Tambe gave examples of rail projects in Kashmir and the Navi Mumbai airport in Mumbai that are still unfinished despite being sanctioned years ago.

Sharing lessons from his own experience, he said the problem lies largely with inefficient project management, adding that India needs project management skills to improve the success rate of projects.

He drew a parallel with the annual Republic Day parade and attributed its success to the commitment of people behind it and a deadline that cannot be missed. He said that the same kind of dedication and respect for deadlines are needed in all key projects.

For effective project management, he urged project managers to focus on RAID, which stands for “risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies.” He also urged them to take learnings from personal projects like planning weddings and vacations, and apply them in the professional world.