How Project Management Can Be An Important Contributor To The Rise Of A New India

By Raj Kalady, Managing Director, Project Management Institute (India)

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Raj Kalady, Managing Director, Project Management Institute (India)

Raj Kalady is responsible for advancing the project management profession & PMI in India. With over 30 years of national & global experience in sales, channel development, and marketing in IT and education, Raj brings with him a keen sense of business acumen.

India s known to the world as the largest democracy and as the second most populous country. It has a distinct recognition for its diversity, rich history, traditions and values, and well known for its human assets in terms of hard work and intelligence. However, being considered as a ‘developing country’ even after 70 years of independence, there is every need for India to redefine itself and unleash its real potential.

India is a country of contrasts. We produce sufficient food to feed our population, yet thousands go hungry. India has the second largest road network in the world after the U.S. yet connectivity remains poor. There are many such difficult questions we have yet to address. India has had a tremendous journey in the past seven decades. There has been significant progress in various spheres, but we are still short of our goals in many areas.

"Innovators believe that the role of the project manager will evolve to one that advocates for the technology, motivates teams to implement, supervises course corrections, and becomes an authority on disruptive technologies"

The next 3-5 years are crucial for India, as it leaps forward into a more advanced world. Reaching the significant milestone of 75 years doesn’t come without its challenges. An increasing demographic, lack of jobs, lack of adequate infrastructure and many such trials will greet us in the future.

For the various projects that the Indian Government has taken-up in mission modes such as Make in India, Skill Development, Digital India, Smart Cities and Startup infrastructure, the importance of good project management needs to be reinforced more than ever. Secondly, in these times where disruption is the norm, organizations and nations that succeed are those that adapt rapidly to new opportunities and challenges. These innovators are changing the way they act, think, and work. Companies are creating technologies that at one time seemed limited to the realm of science fiction. Technology is all pervasive, and there are competitions from areas which were completely unheard of before. So, what worked in the past is not necessarily going to succeed in the future. Therefore, the government and organizations need to account for the new changes in technology.

As organizations face increasingly complex challenges from such forces as innovation, disruption, and the demands of a global business environment, the inextricable link between strategy and implementation must be addressed. Organizations like these realize that disruptive technologies can give them a competitive advantage by improving the customer experience, enhancing employee efficiency and shortening project timelines. They harness technology to change the way they operate and the way they manage projects. 

Organizations that want to understand and manage the impact of technologies, viz. Cloud Solutions, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Advanced Robotics, Voice driven Software, can look to proven project management practices to survive and thrive during these times of change. As they embrace project excellence, they will experience greater success with their strategic initiatives and higher project rates. We see an average of 71 percent of the projects of innovators organizations, as per our research that have a mature digital transformation strategy, are risk tolerant, and have adopted and made disruptive technologies a priority to meet the original goals or business intent. Innovators can commit to excellence by following the below mentioned points.

Using Disruptive Technologies to Their Benefit
We see that innovators are leveraging these technologies to their advantage to encourage greater efficiency and automation, increase productivity, promote the development of better products & services, automate mundane tasks, advance innovation, and drive better decision making.

Embracing the Value Delivery Landscape
As innovators look to compete in future ways of working, they are using the full spectrum of competencies that enable organizations to deliver their projects & programs or the value delivery landscape.

Elevating the Project Manager
Innovators believe that the role of the project manager will evolve to one that advocates for the technology, motivates teams to implement, super­vises course corrections, and becomes an authority on disruptive technolo­gies. In conclusion, while we realize that challenges lie ahead, we see a considerable reason for optimism for the future of work and the role project management plays. Since all strategic change happens through projects and programs, proven project manage­ment practices remain crucial to an organization’s success.

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