Enhance your career with Project Management Expertise

“Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.”

Project Management has become an important tool to manage diversified teams around the globe to make every project a success. Ambiguity in requirements still tops the list of project failures. With modern management techniques and shorter project and product life cycles, the so called experts in managing the project have to complete the project within scope, budget, time and quality. Project Managers have to continually learn and apply new techniques.

On June this year, while inaugurating the Project Management Institute (PMI) Kerala annual conference at Cochin, our Metro man Dr. E Sreedharan said, “I am happy to be with so many young project managers and practitioners. To be frank, I have never read any management books or obtained any certifications. I just believed in self and ensured that any project shall be completed within scope, cost, time and quality by keeping the community in benefit.” He also said, modern management techniques, frameworks and certifications are good and we need to apply those skills as a whole to the project.

When we started the PMI (Project Management Institute) Kerala chapter in 2003 (www.pmikerala.org), our primary aim was to make project management awareness and ensure that more people join our group of certified project managers. Due to the nature of work in the IT (Information Technology), many were become members and got PMP (Project Management professional) certification. As we have started in the Technopark, more people from the IT were involved.

The PMI framework (PMBOK – Project Management Body of Knowledge) as such is defined for any industry practitioners. It is not just for IT. Year after year we have seen more and more people started attending our training and clearing the examinations. We have seen 30% of PMP aspirants are attending our training from Middle East countries from various industries.

How PMI certifications would benefit you?

If you go and search for any project management job today, the PMP certification is either mandatory or desired. The very basic idea of managing the project with EVM (Earned Value Management) methods is what the industry is looking for. The stiff competition, shorter product life cycle, frequent change in technology, globalization, etc are major factors for industries to for a PMP to manage the projects. PMP would help on continuous learning throughout the life cycle.

How PMI certification would benefit the Organization?

Organizations that are going to bid for projects would certainly benefit by projecting the number of PMPs that have with them. The proposal winning chance is much higher. A project management culture and discipline would be brought in your organization. The level of your organization would improve from a mediocre organization to an elite one. The quality of deliverable would improve. The cost of operation would come down and the profits would improve.

How PMI Kerala can help?

PMI Kerala today could help on:

1. PMP & CAPM trainings
2. Other Corporate trainings on project management
3. Quarterly professional development day  (PDD)– One day seminar
4. Weekly one hour session on project management best practices
5. Annual one day conference on project management called Waves

About PMI world organization:

Project Management Institute (PMI) (www.pmi.org) is the world’s leading not-for-profit membership association for the project management profession, with more than half a million members and credential holders in more than 185 countries. Our worldwide advocacy for project management is supported by our globally-recognized standards and credentials, our extensive research program, and our professional development opportunities.

When these opportunities arise, certification helps make sure that you’ll be ready. There are already more than 460,000 PMI credential holders around the world and in every industry, from healthcare, telecommunications and finance to IT and construction. The 2010 PMI Pulse of the Profession study found that organizations with more than 35% PMP^® certified project managers had better project performance. And according to a 2007 PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, 80% of high-performing projects use a credentialed project manager.

About PMI Kerala Chapter:

The Trivandrum, Kerala Chapter (www.pmikerala.org) of PMI has been functioning in the Technopark, Trivandrum campus since August 2003. The objectives of the Chapter are:

• Create a common platform for the Project Management professionals in Kerala to meet on a periodical basis and share knowledge and experience
• Promote globally accepted and standardized best practices of project management towards project excellence.
• Build professionalism in project management by promoting PMP^® certification conducted by PMI and involve more professionals in contributing towards the continued growth of the profession.

PMI Kerala Conference:

Our 2013 Waves conference would be conducted at Trivandrum on 8^th June. The initial preparations are going on. We expect 500 to 600 project managers would participate in this event. The benefits of attending the conference are:

1. Gaining and sharing the PM knowledge
2. Meet more and more project managers and get connected
3. Earn professional development units
4. Understand new PM technique and methods

Author:

Sanjay Bhaskaran, 20 years experienced, is holding the position of VP Education with PMI Kerala chapter and also working as Delivery Manager with UST Global at Technopark. He can be contacted at [email protected]