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

16%

84%

1998

26%

74%

2002

29%

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

Questions
&
Suggestions