siliconindia | | February 202019CONSULTANTSAn effective project management professional would have strong fundamental problem solving skills, strong communication skills with varied stakeholders, broad knowledge of multiple domains and many other skills which are essential for an organisationskills with varied stakeholders, broad knowledge of multiple domains, and ability to understand interconnected-ness of different topics, and past track record on deep hands-on execution, which are essential for an organisa-tion. This combination is rare and is worth its weight in gold. Projects come in all forms and shapes ­ It could range from uni-func-tional projects with clearly targeted value, few well-defined initiatives to large multi-region, multi-functional, enterprise/organization wide pro-grams with multiple interlinked ini-tiatives. Project management teams can adopt three different approaches ­ Accountable, Activist, and Passive. In any large organization, the likelihood of a project of significant value, being contained within a single function without interdependencies with other teams is limited. Creation of cross-functional teams would be necessary and at the same time, cre-ating structures with clear accounta-bilities and disbanding them into new teams at the end of projects is a com-plex and costly exercise. We have ob-served that Activist PMO works best for many of our client situations. This is because frequently, one finds that the multiple functions do not report directly to the project manager (thus making the accountable model unvi-able). At the same time, the project manager is indeed responsible for the outcome as well and to not just state metrics and why a project is behind (closer to passive PMO).A good example of Activist PMO is to see the product manager in ac-tion in any of the Unicorn tech start-ups. Often, the product managers know their objectives very clearly (what their customers want) and are the brightest employees and good problem solvers. They will be able to highlight the right status to the right people within the firm in an agile manner where the data is credible and can drive towards decision making. They understand the broader organi-zation well and are able to mobilize resources across technical, com-mercial, and administrative teams for getting the product release done in time. If done well, Activist PMO not only helps in successful execu-tion, but also in ensuring sustain-ability. While a lot of celebrations have happened at large about the big milestones at ISRO, little has been discussed about how it has seen a sustained and increasing trajectory of success over the years. Much of this credit would go to the strong project management capabilities in the or-ganization ­ We are sure the celebrity scientists would agree too!
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