The document summarizes a two-day project management conference organized by the PMI Pearl City Chapter in Hyderabad, India. Over 400 practitioners from various industries attended the conference to learn from renowned speakers. Day 1 included an inaugural event with addresses on the role of project management in economic growth and strategic competency. Day 2 featured sessions on challenges in large projects, turning around failing projects, and transforming project management offices. Throughout, speakers emphasized the importance of project management skills and frameworks for successful implementation of initiatives across sectors.

1. Project Management – A Catalyst in Economic Growth
PMI Pearl City Chapter (www.pmi-pcc.org) is the Hyderabad chapter of Project Management Institute PMI
(www.pmi.org), a prestigious global not-for-profit organization working in standardizing the practices in project
management worldwide. PMIPCC is one of the fastest growing components of PMI in the Asia pacific region.
Having started its operations in 2002 with a humble 25 members PMIPCC since then has grown to over 1100
members with its supportive alliances, encouraging practitioners and the unstinted contributions from various
volunteers across the region.
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April 13 & 14 2012 marked a milestone when PMIPPC organized a two day mega event in Hyderabad Gyan
Lahari Project Management Conference 2012 with the theme Project Management – A Catalyst in Economic
Growth which was held at N Convention, Madhapur. This conference brought the diversified areas of PM into one
forum – from Infrastructure to Academia, Government to Automobile, IT to Oil & Gas sectors etc. It brought
together about 400 different practitioners from various industries to learn and share their experiences. Incidentally,
2012 is the landmark year which represents the decade long existence and service of the PMI Pearl City Chapter
to the Project Management Community within the region.
This conference has provided an opportunity for practitioners of the region to meet and interact with the renowned
speakers and eminent industry leaders from Reliance, Asia Motor Works, L&T (Metro Rail) Hyderabad,
DRDL/DRDO, Mahindra Satyam, Virtusa, Broadridge etc. Further the conference has also allowed project
managers connect and learn from accomplished speakers associated with PMI, Government, Academia and Civic
Society.
Day 1 Apr 13th – Inaugural Event Highlights
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Lighting of lamp on Apr 13 evening marked the inaugural of the two day conference. The past chapter president
Mr. VSR and the current president Mr. Suresh Chandra, together gave an insight to the participants on the key
milestones achieved by PMIPCC during the wonderful 10 year journey.
The inaugural address saw Mr.PS Nair, CEO - GMR Airports Holding Ltd lauding the results from the PPP (Public-
Private Partnership) model of execution in Infrastructure. It was interesting to note from his talk that GMR team
sees PPP as Passion, Patience and Perseverance! Mr.Nair briefed how stringent cost control measures, quality
measures helped GMR to achieve the project timelines and cost effectiveness also ensuring the quality of their
product at all times (Hyderabad airport was ranked as the Best Airport in the World for its quality services for two
consecutive years - 2009, 2010).
Ms.Deanna Landers, Vice Chair - PMI Board of Directors made a special address on the topic Project
Management as a Strategic Competency. She talked about how strong Project and Program Management is
needed to make sure that the organizations select the right projects in line with their vision. The focus areas of
successful and high performing organizations where PM is a strategic competency are driven by results,
performance and profitability. She gave a great perspective by taking some challenging and successful projects
executed in India and other nations in different sectors during the last few years that have significantly aided to the
economic growth.

2. Ms.Landers also explained that as per PMI’s 2012 Pulse of the profession survey it has been ascertained that
“Low performance organizations risk 27% of their budget where as high performance organizations risk only 3%”.
It was truly a mesmerising presentation by Ms.Deanna Landers! She ascertained that project management is a
strategic competency for ensuring –
 Accountability
 Effective results and performance
 Economic growth.
Mr.Raj Kalady, MD - PMI India later provided a good insight on the role of PMI in India. He spoke on how PM
education is being made available to the student community. Noteworthy achievement of PMI India is that
Department of Training Government of India has made Project Management as an essential training for IAS
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officers. Project Management focus is now seen in the 12 five year plan. PMBOK guide is now available in Hindi
and facilitated training the Government departments in the country.
The evening came to a conclusion with Awards and Felicitation ceremony by Ms.Deanna Landers and
Mr.Vijay Prasad, PMI Board of Directors.
Indian School of Business ISB, GMR Hyderabad International Airport, GVK EMRI were given special recognitions
in Academia, Business & Civic Society Categories respectively for their significant impact globally, though they
have been setup in Hyderabad. This is the first time PMIPCC has constituted these awards. Mr. P.S Nair, CEO,
GMR Airports Holding Ltd., received the award on behalf of GMR, Mr. Deepak Chandra, Deputy Dean received
on behalf of ISB and Mr. Subodh Satyawadi, CEO of GVK EMRI has received the award on behalf of GVK EMRI.
To mark the completion of ten years of the chapter, the founding members and the past presidents of the chapter
were felicitated by Ms.Deanna Landers and Mr.Vijay Prasad.

3. Day 2 Apr 14th – Report on Conference Sessions
Delivering key note address on the conference theme Project Management – A Catalyst in Economic Growth
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on day 2 Apr 14 morning, Mr. Samir Dhir, Head of India Operations & Global Delivery head, Virtusa has made an
excellent presentation on the impact of project management on a nation’s growth. He stressed on Evolving Client
Expectations, Shifting Complexities, Global vs Local Context. In his presentation, Mr. Dhir highlighted that in
today’s complex business environment and shifting paradigms, project managers should have a look-ahead
perspective and take a business outcome driven approach instead of confining to SLA driven management. He
also touched upon the factors that are forcing transition in project management practices.
Anticipate what customer needs, be transparent and Deliver was the message given my Mr.Samir Dhir. Changing
and young workforce needs change in the way one has to function - Think, Collaborate and Work. His takeaways
for the PM community made the audience spell bound!
Followed by the key note address was a panel discussion - Project Management as a tool to improve Socio
Economic Status of our country which had Dr.Ashok Agarwal Chairman, EWB chairing this panel where he
has set the context that massive investments are needed for improving quality of life of common citizen in this
country and one of Key Factors for Socio Economic Development and Growth is Effective Project Management!
Dr.Rastogi, Member community - PMIEF and Head EAS Academy - HCL Axon, representing the Academia -
emphasized on the backward integration-or grass root implementation of Project Management Knowledge to
schools and college, Mr.S.Bhattacharya, Principal Secretary - Govt of AP (Infrastructure and Investments)
stressed on the excellent infrastructure that the country has built over the decades and the project complexities
involved in large scale projects., Mr.Piyush Gupta Sr.GM - NISG focused on the stakeholder management when
multiple stakeholders across different states are involved and reiterated the need for effective Project Management
Framework for e-Governance projects.
Dr.Balaji Utla, CEO - HMRI mentioned that concentration is needed on framework creation for NGOs to function
efficiently. He appealed to the PM community to come forward and share their best practices, contribute in
developing common open source tools / framework for the NGO projects which are of a different nature where
infrastructure and investment is limited. Dr.Utla stressed usage of PM best practices and innovative approach for
Accessibility, Availability and Affordability are key elements and People (Citizens), Policy Makers and Politicians
are key stakeholders for NGO projects. Panel concluded that synergy between Academia, Business, Government
and Civic Society will help foster economic growth of India.
Mr. D Murali, President – Reliance Industries shared his rich experience on setting up and Execution of Large
Projects taking Jamnagar Refinery as a case study. He detailed how training of suppliers, outsourcing the RFP
and vendor selection helped reduce delivery time along with how great emphasis has been on planning and
change management. The PM community was taken aback hearing from Mr.Murali the hugeness involved in large
projects. Some takeaways from his presentation were:
 Try to quantify everything, else we would not be in control of the work.
 Leaders should focus on eye for detail, proactively review the implementation process(to know the strategy
that team would be using to implement) and not shy from Micro Management where necessary.
 Executing large projects provides good experience to Innovation, Backward Integration, Capturing and
learning from Lessons Learnt, importance to areas of concern and resolution.
 Take care of people working for you (housing, medical, etc), that would increase loyalty and pride in work.

4. After the experience sharing session on Large Projects an interesting Panel Discussion was conducted on
Challenges and trends in the execution of Large Projects with leaders from Oil & Gas, Infrastructure,
Automobile, Financial Services and IT.
The panel comprised of Mr. D Murali, President - Reliance Industries; Mr. Vivek Sonar, Head, Program
Management Office - Asia Motors Works, Mr. M.P.Naidu, Project Director - L&T Metro Rail; Mr. Meher Nori, Vice
President - Broadridge and the panel moderator was Mr. VSR, Sr. Vice President, Mahindra Satyam. According to
the panel, projects with multiple stakeholders, too many interfaces, strategic importance, scope changes, multi -
cultural, multi- dimensional aspects are a few factors which categorize projects as large and not just the sheer
numbers.
The key challenges that got highlighted were;
 Estimation: Domain knowledge, assumptions, historical information; bottom-up estimation helps in
improving the accuracy. Estimation is a journey.
 War for Talent: Attitude and willingness to play long innings are essential characters for working in projects
which ever be the industry sector. Training, improving the productivity and sustainability are the key issues.
 Risk Management: Team players who can take well deserved risks are essential for success as much as a
having a plan B. Safety and Legal implications also need to be part of Risk Management.
Following were the key takeaways from this discussion:
 It would work out to be in win-win situation if the client and service provider enter into partnership mode
discussing their assumptions and estimates
 Domain Knowledge is the key to effective estimation
 We should always aim for sustained and long term success rather than quick success which gets quick
fame but is often short lived
The next session had Mr. Periasamy Ramamoorthy, Vice President - Mahindra Satyam giving an excellent
presentation about Turnaround of Challenging Projects in IT and the reasons thereof - need for communicating
the success / failure of projects effectively, managing stakeholders concerns, revisit objectives, affirm the higher
goal the project satisfies when sponsors change, improve morale of the team and give required training etc.
Dr.Atul Sen, Scientist – DRDL shared his experiences of Turnaround of Challenging Projects in Defence. He
talked about the differences in manager and scientist temperament, importance of well defined framework and
methodology. He mentioned how a system development and Research Development projects are different and
need to be handled differently. Source of uncertainty needs to be identified. He explained how near collapsed
Integrated Missile Project of India was turned around and made a success.
Following are the key takeaways from both these presentations:
1. Never shy away from failures or challenging projects – these provide wonderful opportunity for accelerated
growth. One has nothing to lose but everything to learn and gain from such challenges and convert them
into glorious opportunities.
2. It is very essential to partner with all stakeholders and communicate very clearly about success/failures;
remove perceptions and give clarity on all aspects – this is very critical ingredient to ensure profitable
growth.

5. Last session of the conference was that of Mr.Ajay Parasrampuria on PMO 2.0- Transforming PMO from
process and tools to strategy execution. Mr.Ajay talked about the PMO effectiveness and purpose in different
organizations based on survey responses of the participants. Expectation from PMO 2.0 was to align the integrated
PMO with organization Environment. He explained theory of Conscious Alignment where companies can be
classified into four cultural types: Collaboration, Control, Disruptive and Competence Cultures and strategies need
to be formulated based on the type. Project Teams expect supportive role from PMO while customers may expect
Advisory role hence PMO needs to have dynamic adaption on one hand and business leadership on the other.
Following this was the volunteer recognition ceremony done by Ms.Deanna Landers and Mr.Vijay Prasad, who
gave away mementos to the chapter volunteers for making this a mega event and for all those volunteers who
supported the 10 years journey of the chapter.
Valedictory note and the way forward for the chapter was presented by Mr.Ramam Atmakuri, Center Head –
Cognizant Hyderabad. He briefed how projects fall short of time but never fall short of excuses! He stressed on the
power of Volunteerism and quoted Dr. Kalam saying that a life is wasted if one has not helped at least one person.
He mentioned that Volunteerism is never dull and very enriching though it may be thankless!
During their presentations on both the days all the speakers dwelt upon several factors that can create hindrance in
implementing variety of projects and also tried to put forward different solutions and methodologies to overcome
based on their learning’s and vast experiences.
All the conference attendees went back, rich with the interactions from the experiences shared from a plethora of
speakers from different industries coming together on a common forum.