PMI Pearl City Chapter
PMI Pearl City Chapter
Spandana - April 2015
Spandana - April 2015
IN THIS ISSUE
Title
Page
President's Message
1
Gyan Lahari 2015, PM Conference
2
PM Article
3
Chapter Updates
5
Event Updates
6
Sponsor’s Messages
9
Membership Updates
10
Lighter Notes
10
Dear Chapter Members,
It gives me a great pleasure to address all the fellow chapter
members in my first message as the Chapter President. We
started the year 2015 with two networking meetings and one
webinar. Hope you all have taken the advantage of attending
these sessions and learning from the experiences shared by
the speakers. We have conducted a half a day program on
Construction management in collaboration with NICMAR.
We have conducted a similar program on 11th April in
collaboration with NIT Warangal as well.
The board elections have concluded recently and I want to
congratulate all my fellow board members who got elected.
I also want to take an opportunity to thank Mr. Srinivas
Kopparapu for leading us as the president of the chapter for
the past two years. Under his leadership, the chapter
received the “Member retention award for the year 20132014. He was also instrumental in taking the decision to
host the PMI National conference 2014 in Hyderabad.
He led the team by hosting the conference to a grand
success. The chapter is planning to host a one day PM
conference in the month of July and have started with the
planning. Hope to have communication shared to the larger
community in the coming weeks.
Request the members to make better use of content being
hosted by PMI in the form of webinars, research papers etc.
There are changes to the Continuous Certification
Requirements program which will be effective from 1st
Dec, 2015. Stay updated about the same using the link
webpage.
I will be more than happy to hear back from you, on any
topic of interest.
Ravi Vurakaranam
President – PMI Pearl City Chapter
[email protected]
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Spandana - April 2015
Encouraged by the response to the past events, PMI Pearl City Chapter is proud to announce the next conference
in its Gyan Lahari series. The theme of this conference 'Defining Next Generation Project Management'
explores how Project Management skills and methodologies can be leveraged by organizations to adapt to the
needs of innovation, skill development &networking. It presents a great opportunity for you to learn from subject
matter experts, specialists and peers. Don't miss this fantastic opportunity. Block your calendar. Registrations will
open soon.
Please visit PMI PCC Website and PMI PCC Facebook for more updates.
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PMI Pearl City Chapter
PMI Pearl City Chapter
Adding Agile Flavor to
Conventional Project
Management: Software
Industry Perspective
PM Article
Chandan Sinha has seven years of experience in the Information
Technology industry, working with multinationals like Cognizant
Technology Solutions, HCL Technologies and SNL Financial. He
is a PMI certified practicing Project Management professional. He
completed his MBA in International Business from UBS
Chandigarh, Panjab University and bachelor’s degree, B.Tech in
Mechanical Engineering from NIT Jamshedpur. Currently he is
working with Nisum Technologies Pvt. Ltd. as Associate Project
Manager.
As the use of agile practices for developing software has
gained momentum, a strategic shift is required in the way
projects are normally managed. There are various agile
models which are quite popular these days. Few of them,
which have been recognized and adopted extensively by
multiple organizations in the software industry, are Scrum,
Kanban, Extreme Programming and Lean. All of these agile
models use the fundamentals of iterative and incremental
approach of delivery.
The purpose of this article is to cite the important
differences in the Project Management principles applied in
conventional vis-a-vis agile models. Through the following
elements of Project Management, I have tried to highlight
the differences between the two models.
Project Management Process Groups:
In agile practices, the five process groups of project
management i.e. Initiating, Planning, Executing,
Monitoring & Controlling and Closing, are revisited in each
of the iterations. This iterative model allows agile to
welcome changing requirements, even late in development.
The conventional project management process groups are
followed, but in the form of ceremonies or events,
prescribed in different agile methodologies with different
names. Scrum has named them as Sprint Planning, Sprint
Execution, and Sprint Review etc.
Behavioral Traits of Project Manager:
A traditional project manager needs to have a behavioral
shift from commanding to serving and from managing to
leading, when it comes to being agile. They are required to
be more transparent and trusting in their approach, as agile
emphasizes on empowerment of individuals to own up
responsibilities. Project Managers are advised to involve
team members in the events like project planning, which
Spandana - April 2015
Spandana - April 2015
eventually leads to more realistic and achievable plans.
Agile strongly believes in McGregor's Theory Y managers.
Employee Motivation:
Agile abides by the Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory
and hence encourages to have motivators like recognition,
responsibility and achievement over salary. Here the focus
is more on contributing as a team, rather than exuding
superior individual performance. Managers need to follow
a different approach for rewarding and recognizing their
subordinates. This normally leads to crafting performance
evaluation metrics which contain more elements to identify
team players.
Stakeholder Management:
Agile adds a new leaf to the traditional theory of
Stakeholder Management. It advocates on keeping the
stakeholders involved, rather than just keeping the
stakeholders informed. Agile strongly recommends the
involvement of business representatives or proxy
customers, in the iteration ceremonies. This helps in getting
regular feedback and avoids any last minute surprises. An
agile Project Manager is required to be better in establishing
relationship with stakeholders and promoting face to face
communication.
Risk Management:
Agile professes a very effective way of managing risks. It
adheres to the fundamentals of risk management i.e. risk has
to be managed on a day to day basis and not only on preplanned dates. The different iteration ceremonies are
opportunities to inspect and adapt, which in turn help in
identifying risks.
Project Managers have to be very agile in formulating and
implementing a mitigation plan, given the short duration of
iterations.
Scope Management:
Agile came into existence because of the fact that
requirements change very often and there has to be a way to
deal with the ever changing requirements. In conventional
Project Management, the focus is on defining the complete
scope upfront and then dealing with any addition in scope
through Change Requests. Agile has changed the rules of
the game and it is a proponent of evolving requirements
backlog. An agile Project Manager has to ensure that the
scope for a given iteration has been agreed upon by all the
stakeholders at the beginning of the iteration. Any further
addition to the scope is normally deferred to upcoming
iterations, until extremely urgent.
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Spandana - April 2015
Schedule Management:
Agile recommends that effort should be estimated in points
rather than days or hours. Team members who are supposed
to work on the project are asked to perform the estimation,
which in a way leads to commitment from them. As the
requirements backlog is ever evolving it is difficult to arrive
at the estimate for the entire project upfront. Typical agile
way of schedule management is to arrive at a Velocity first,
which is the amount of task that can be accomplished by the
team in single iteration. Then the number of iterations
needed to complete the requirements backlog is estimated
based on the team velocity. This is a different avatar of the
traditional practice of schedule planning through work
breakdown structure and work items, but agile Project
Managers have to get acquainted to it.
This is just a small effort to highlight the changing rules of
Project Management in the world of agility. Not all the
changes lead to perfection, but as Charles Darwin has very
well said that –
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the
was part of Phase-I rural broadband programme launched
by Ministry of Communications and IT. Every year, the
road from Srinagar to Leh closes by mid-December for
civilian vehicles. There is also no availability of telecom
material at Leh in case of any installation / commissioning/
integration hardware failures. We also lack the availability
of locally skilled manpower. The working conditions are
also difficult as the team had to install the radio/ wireless
hardware on a BSNL telecom tower in harsh weather
conditions.
Preparations:


most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
One of My High Risk/Well
Organized PM Programme
PM Article
Mr. Andaluri Srinivas (A Srinivas) is a wireless/broadband
network projects professional with over two decades of
implementation core skill. He has been associated with Telecom
OEMs, service providers, and system integrators. Majority of his
work experience had been with telecom organizations of Tata
group. He has been instrumental in augmenting India’s teledensity
and also deployed one of India’s first 2G WiMax networks. He is a
member of IEEE, IETE, IE, PMI, and HMA, ISOC (Delhi, Kolkata
Trivandrum, and Global chapters)
Domain: Telecom Network.
I was to deliver broadband wireless (Limited mobility
WiMax) network for BSNL, J&K circle at Leh region in
the month of December 2012. The site’s geo coordinates
are 34.1454 degree north and 77.5676 degree east, situated
at 3300 meters above mean sea level (AMSL)
Constraints:
The time line of Dec 12 was set by Govt. of India as Leh

My project team based at Jammu planned well ahead
and gathered all the equipment along with spares
required for the system integration. This preparation
was precise to include granular details like micro level
material as shortage of smallest item like a screw will
derail the entire programme.
The team under my direction decided to travel by road
via Srinagar to Leh, approximately 425 kms through
hilly terrain as airlifting the material could damage the
equipment.
The team planned to return from Leh to Srinagar by
air, as the road closes by mid Dec.
Execution Sequence:
1. The team started from Jammu on 6th Dec morning,
reached Srinagar on the evening of 6th December. We
started to Leh on the early morning of 7th December
via NH 1D. En-route we halted twice as the vehicle
required thorough inspection in high altitude
manoeuvre and reached Leh on 8th December.
2. The team was accompanied by local BSNL officials to
the site. The team successfully installed the equipment
on tower on 9th December. During the commissioning,
the team found one fault with the hardware, replaced it
with a spare.
3. We successfully commissioned the site. We stayed for
couple of days at Leh for stability observation and
found zero technical issues.
4. We returned to Srinagar by air on 12th December and
by that time road from Leh to Srinagar got closed for
civilian traffic due to early onset of heavy winter.
Result: Successful installation and commissioning of
high altitude broadband networks on earth.
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Spandana - April 2015
Chapter Updates
International Women’s Leadership Day
PMIPCC celebrated International Women’s Leadership
Day on 20th March 2015 with a networking meeting for its
members. The venue for the conference is Hotel Daspalla,
Madhapur.
Ms. Nagini Chandramouli, PMIPCC’s Director of Student
Leadership Competency Building (SLCB) and International
Student Leadership Day said, “Women have made great
strides in demonstrating Leadership skills. Yet, there is a
great need and urgency to enhance this opportunity through
propagating Women’s Leadership in all regions of our
country. This networking meeting is a humble endeavor to
encourage one and all to imbibe this”.
Mr. Srinivas Kopparapu, PMIPCC's Director Governance
said, “The very backbone of Indian Cultural framework
is respecting and honoring women. It is our prerogative as
the promoters of Leadership to reemphasize this cultural
aspect of appreciating Women’s Leadership in the
tremendous growth of our society. We are hosting
this networking meeting to showcase accomplishments of
Women’s Leadership and the potential to further strive for
further accomplishments”. The networking meeting has
intelligentsia sharing the Women’s success stories.
PMI Forums Inaugural Function At Infosys,
HYD SEZ
Project Management Institute Pearl City Chapter
(PMIPCC), Hyderabad is a very active and vibrant chapter
of PMI global. Mr. Srinivas Kopparapu, the then president
PMIPCC and Mr. Tony Jacob, Director Corporate Outreach
– PMIPCC came and talked about PMI and benefits being
connected with PMI and local chapter. They have also
expressed their willingness to work together and share and
gain knowledge from this PM Forums.
Arun Kiran Ponnekanti, talked about the core functions and
future plans of PM Forums. As part of that he explained the
benefits of being connected to this PM Forums and also with
PMI. He also explained the way the Clusters, PMP Club and
Mentoring programs for budding leaders, are planned to
operate.
Good case studies, success stories, best practices, lessons
learnt and also speeches by external speakers will be part of
Clusters. There are lots of people who complete their PMP
certification and don’t get the needed PDUs to retain their
credentials. Especially for those, PMP club is also planned
to have sessions to provide ways to get the PDUs. For
budding leaders, there will be lot many things to learn and
unlearn. The Mentoring programs planned will enable all
the new managers/leads to step up and play the bigger
responsibilities in their new roles.
Manisha Saboo, DC Head Infosys HYD SEZ, Pocharam,
shared her contributions with PMIPCC. She strongly feels
that this forum will help the PM community. She thanked
the PMIPCC board and all who helped in making these
forums a good beginning.
The inaugural function came to an end with a high tea
served at the end. This turned out to be an interactive session
with the attendees and senior leaders present over there.
Project Management Forums was inaugurated by Narsimha
Rao M (Narry) on 11th Feb 2015 at Hyderabad SEZ. In his
inaugural speech, Narry invited all the technical leads and
managers to actively participate and get benefits of this PM
forums. He also mentioned a group of people is stronger
than any powerful individual. As the senior management
sees a value in this initiative, employees have to utilize this
good platform to improve the knowledge and apply the best
practices and lessons learnt from here.
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Spandana - April 2015
Seminar On Project Tracking For
Increased Predictability
PMI Pearl City Chapter has a vision to make project
management and leadership as a way of life and working
closely with Academia, Business and Civic Society to
achieve this goal. PMIPCC always works with academic
institutions to promote project management and latest
association is National Institute of Construction
Management and Research (NICMAR), Hyderabad.
Mr.
Srinivas
Kopparapu, the
then President,
PMIPCC gave a
glimpse
of
PMIPCC’s
contribution to
the Academic and Student Community over the years.
PMIPCC in its endeavor to create an indelible mark in
Hyderabad has left no stone unturned. Mr. Srinivas’s avidity
was quite contagious and uplifting indeed.
PMIPCC and NICMAR, Hyderabad jointly organized a
Seminar on Project Tracking for Increased Predictability on
the 28th of January in the NICMAR campus.
Prof. K.R. Ramana, Dean, NICMAR,
Hyderabad kicked off the Seminar,
by sharing the importance of pursing
the project management skills by the
students for the better career. He also
introduced the PMI to students and
also a precursor about the Seminar
that lay ahead.
Eminent speakers from different walks of the construction
industry had turned up to share their profound knowledge
and their experiences over the years.
Mr. Pankaj Agarwal, President EPC, GVK rendered a
beguiling talk on Project Controlling Practices in
Infrastructure Projects by drawing snippets from his
personal experience in different projects which kept the
audience engrossed in the talk.
This was followed by brief
introduction of CAPM and
importance
of
Project
Management Certification in
Construction given by Mr. Tony
Jacob, Director, PMIPCC. He
indeed spurred the minds of the
budding Project Managers
about the edge that they would
possess on holding a Project
Management Certification from
PMI.
PMIPCC has always been instrumental in encouraging
student participation in such Seminars. This seminar offered
the stage for a student speaker, Ms. Niveditthaa Rajendran
to showcase a presentation of the Tools for Project
Monitoring and Control. Presenting amidst such
distinguished dignitaries would be one of the milestones in
the career of an aspiring Project Manager.
Mr. Kuldeep Singh, Director, ARKA Integrated Project
Management Consultancy articulated his experiences on
Project Management practices in Building Construction. He
narrated his plunge into the various Project Management
practices adopted by etching out some live examples.
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Spandana - April 2015
PMI – Global Programs Of The Next Quarter

The Seminar was concluded on a high note with a going
forward plan painted before the audience by Mr. Ravi
Vurakaranam, Vice President, PMIPCC and Dr. Yamini
Varma, Associate Professor, NICMAR, Hyderabad.
The event is well organized by student volunteer leaders
Rohit Singh, Shaheen, Nikhil, Premanvi, Abhishek Swami,
Harshita, Niveditthaa, Manoj Prabhakar, Joshua Sam Paul,
Himanshu and Sowyanya under the guidance of Dr Yamini
Varma, NICMAR and Mr. Adil Warsi, PMIPCC Volunteer.
(by Ms. Niveditthaa Rajendran, NICMAR and Photos
Manoj Prabhakar, NICMAR)



Chapter Events
o 5/13/2015 PMI Midlands Chapter’s
Professional Development Day 2015 (PDD
2015)
o 5/13/2015 - 5/14/2015 PMI New Brunswick
Chapter Self Growth Professional
Development Days
o 5/15/2015 - 5/16/2015 PMI South Korea
Conference 2015
o 5/25/2015 - 5/27/2015 PMI Australia
Conference 2015
o 6/3/2015 - 6/5/2015 PMI San Diego Chapter
12th Annual Project Management Conference
o 6/5/2015 - 6/6/2015 PMI Mongolia Chapter
Conference and Workshop
o 6/16/2015 PMI Silver Spring Chapter 2nd
Annual Professional Development Symposium
o 7/21/2015 PMI Metrolina Chapter 30th
Anniversary Celebratione
Congress:
o 5/11/2015 - 5/13/2015 PMI® Global Congress
2015—EMEA
SeminarsWorld:
o 5/14/2015 - 5/15/2015 SeminarsWorld
London
o 5/18/2015 - 5/21/2015 SeminarsWorld
Philadelphia
o 6/15/2015 - 6/18/2015 SeminarsWorld
Toronto
o 7/20/2015 - 7/23/2015 Mega SeminarsWorld
2015
Not Sponsored by PMI
o 5/7/2015 Healthcare Project Management
o 6/8/2015 - 6/10/2015 Lean Kanban North
America 2015
7|Page
Spandana - April 2015
ISLD Celebrations - 2015
Kennedy High Global School Bachupally, Hyderabad
NGO / Sanmati Bal Niketan (SBK), an orphan
ashram in Pune
Gitanjali Senior School, Begumpet, Hyderabad
CAPM Introduction Session
CAPM introduction session organized at NICMAR on 17 March 2015.
Mr. Krishnamurty Pammi gave introduction of CAPM exam and
overview to PMBoK. The session is attended by 40+ students, Dr
Yamini, Program Co-coordinator, Mr. Pavan Chamarty (Director Academy, PMIPCC) and Mr. Tony Jacob (Director- Outreach,
PMIPCC)
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Spandana - April 2015
Project Management National Conference, Hyderabad - Sep 2014
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Spandana - April 2015
Membership Updates PMPs in Recent Past
JAN - APR 2015
PMIPCC recorded 1048 members at beginning of November 2014 as its total members with 18 members certified PMP’s during Jan to April
2015. The Chapter congratulates all the below PMP credential holders.



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



Mr. Kranthi Challagali, PMP
Mr. Anantha Kumar Inti, PMP
Mr. Balan Manickam, PMP
Ms. Archana Pemmaraju, PMP
Mr. Uday Kiran Potluri, PMP
Mr. Yaksha Ande, PMP
Sita Mahalakshmi Durvasula, PMP
Yogesh Kharche, PMP

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



Mr. Husain Zoher Ghadially, PMP
Mr. Chandra Gunupati, PMP
Mr. Pavan Kumar Kottapalli Venkata,
PMP
Sreelatha Yerremsetty, PMP
Satish Chitta, PMP
Mr. Naveen Kanduri, PMP
Mr. Surya Prakash Rao Kari, PMP



Mr. Kalpesh Mehta, PMP
Mr. Naveen Meka, PMP
Bheemaiah Morasa, PMP
PM – Lighter Notes
Source: Internet
EDITORIAL TEAM
Making Project Management Indispensable for Business Results
OFFICE ADDRESS
PMIPCC, 1 R; Block A,
Kanthi Shikhara Apartments,
Panjagutta - 500082, Hyderabad





Ravi Vurakaranam, PMP
Sangita Zaparde, PMP, PMI-ACP
Arun Kiran Ponnekanti, PMP
Balan Manickam, PMP
Bishnu Shankar Satapathy
DISCLAIMER
Articles published in this newsletter are solely the views of the authors and editors not necessarily those of PMI Pearl City Chapter. PMIPCC is not responsible for
any type of loss or damage due to unsolicited material.
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