IT(es) Project Management: Current and forthcoming Challenges

Key requirements for IT software professionals

Dr. S. C. Rastogi
Head, Project Management Center of Excellence, Satyam Learning Center, Satyam Computer Services Ltd., Hyderabad

AGENDA
Growing Demand of PM professionals Global scenario of IT Projects successes & failures
* Some Current Statistics * Reasons for IT projects success * Some commonly identified problems * Project Mgt. vs. Quality Mgt.

Major Gaps between PM education practice & requirements

* Sources of PM knowledge :Professional bodies * Sources of PM knowledge :B-Schools & Universities * The Gaps

How to bridge the gaps?

* What professional bodies can do! * B-school and Universities

Growing Demand of PM professionals India emerging as a super power and it is for us to improve our execution/implementation capabilities Following is what the FM said in his current Budget speech, for Infrastructure & IT (es) Projectsin the coming time..

Infrastructure Sector
Build roads to connect all villages housing over 1000 persons.

Construct 60 lakhs additional houses for the poor.

Provide drinking water to the 74,000 habitations not covered so far. Rural Electrification for 1,25,000 villages and offer electric connection to 2.3 crores households. Give telephone connectivity to the remaining 66,882 villages.

IT(ES) Sector Projects Employment to double by 2008 (currently more than 1 million) Currently, the industry is experiencing shortage of 15% to 20% appropriate mid-level executives
Assuming 10% of the employed population in ITES industry will be professionals with the role of a project manager/leader, there is a need for an

additional 125,000 project managers by 2008 in this sector alone

Global scenario of IT Projects successes & failures

The Standish Group International, Inc s most often quoted CHAOS statistics are :

Year

Successful

Failed or Challenged

1994
1998 2002

16%
26% 29%

84%
74% 71%

Based on a total survey of 50,000 IT projects over the years including 9,236 in 2002-03 Failed: means terminated before completion; Challenged means overrun in cost/ time

Global scenario of IT Projects successes & failures Cost Overruns = 45 % (down from 189% in 94) Time overruns = 63 % (down from 222% in 94) Features delivered = 67% (up from 61% in 94)

Two of the top Three reasons for this

improvement are: * Better Skilled Project Managers * Better PM Tools to monitor & control progress

97% of the Successful projects had the Experienced Project Manager

Reasons for IT projects success

Key Reasons for Project Success: Executive Support Experienced Project Manager User Involvement Clear Business Objectives/ Firm basic reqt. Formal Methodology (PM Tools helps) Reliable estimates

Some commonly identified problems

Misunderstanding Users Needs Project Scope is ill-defined Project Changes are mis-managed Project Estimates are very inaccurate Poorly planned Schedule, Tracking & Control Problem in communications (specially multinational projects) Inadequate Resource Skills Teamwork issues (multi-cultural; distributed) Attrition

Project Mgt. vs. Quality Mgt.

Typical Question: Is QM a part of PM? Or Is PM a part of QM? Answer to both is YES ! How do we integrate this?? * Put Project and Quality Management under the umbrella of an Enterprise Project Management (EPM) structure * Include Project Management concepts (scope, time, cost etc), tools and techniques in Six Sigma Training * Include SDLC concepts into PM processes

Major GAPS between PM education practice & requirements IT PM Education must focus on following Knowledge & Skills
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Software Development Processes: Project Risk management Project Scope management Project Cost & budgeting Management Project Time management: Planning, Scheduling, Tracking & Monitoring, controlling 6. Project Communication Management 7. Project HR management 8. Project Quality Management 9. Project Procurement management 10.Project Estimation methods

Major GAPS between PM education practice & requirements IT PM Education must focus on following additional Knowledge & Skills
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Project management Tools Managing Multiple Projects Program & Project Portfolio Management Setting up PMO Enterprise-wide Project Management Earned Value Management Systems Project Productivity improvement methods (TOC, 6Sigma, Extreme programming etc etc..) 8. Project Requirement engineering 9. Cross-cultural sensitization etc. etc.

Sources of PM knowledge :Professional bodies Following Professional bodies are offering formal knowledge input and certification for developing competency in Project Management

PMI- Project Management Institute, USA (having about 100,000 PMP certified professionals globally, but only about 3,500 in India) IPMA- International Proj. Mgt. Association, (IPMA level A,B,C, D certification) APM Group, UK PRINCE2 certification AIPM- Australian Institute of Project Mgt etc.
Normally just 40 hours of input thru Registered Education Providers + exam preparation

Sources of PM knowledge :B-Schools & Universities

India: Out of the Top 10 B-School only 1

offers as 1 core subject, and 6 offer only 1-2 electives in Project management

USA: About 30 Universities offer MBA level

Project management courses . Some (like Stanford Univ) offer 6 full semester courses Executive education

How to bridge the gaps?

What professional bodies/ industries can do! At University level create awareness among students thru workshops/ projects/ awards etc. etc.
(like PMI-PCC, Hyderabad chapter did for 1572 students in Engg. Colleges in 10 cities in AP, Karnataka, Tamilnadu & Kerala)

At PG level, offer joint Electives/ train Professors in PM courses

(like PMI-PCC, Hyderabad Chapter did in IIIT, Hyderabad)

Train their own Project managers/ prospective Project managers in the specialized skills
(like Satyam has just developed Satyam Project Management, integrating SDLC & PMI processes, specific to IT industry)

B-school and Universities

Develop Electives and Core courses in association with the Industries, may be thru professional bodies like PMI, IPMA, APM etc, or other USA-based B-schools and Universities Promote the need of PM courses in the light of the MASSIVE demand in the country, as well as the extra income opportunity it offers.
(in USA an trained Project Manager earns 14% more than an

untrained one)

The Time Has Come.

To change the current PM practice in India from its roots To recognize the need for a formal education in PM

To appreciate the value of effective and efficient PM in the use of scarce resources of a nation like India. For our PM Professional Bodies & Top Management schools to take the lead in giving PM discipline an independent status

Summary
Growing Demand of PM professionals Global scenario of IT Projects successes & failures
* Some Current Statistics * Reasons for IT projects success * Some commonly identified problems * Project Mgt. vs. Quality Mgt.

Major GAPS between PM education practice & requirements

* Sources of PM knowledge :Professional bodies * Sources of PM knowledge :B-Schools & Universities * The Gaps

How to bridge the gaps?

* What professional bodies can do! (PMI-PCC, Hyd) * B-school and Universities

Acknowledgements
Prof Ajay Parasrampuria & Mr Gautam Desai, Project Management Education in India: A business School perspective,Gyan Lahari, APAC conference PMI-PCC, Hyd chapter, 2005 2004 Third Quarter research report, CHAOS Demographics, The Standish group, USA Extreme Chaos, The Standish group international, USA, research report 2001 P Seenivasan & others PMCDP for students community-an update reported at Gyan Lahari, APAC conference during PMIPCC, Hyd chapter. 2005