In an interview to INFRASTRUCTURE TODAY, Raj Kalady, Country Director, Project Management Institute (PMI), describes himself as a man in a hurry. However, this urgency is not unfounded since the country, as the worlds fastest growing major economy, is projected to require seven million new project managers in the next 10 years.
A trained project manager understands the positive and negative risks inherent in any project. Negative risks can have an adverse impact on the project. For example, if you are working on an infrastructure project, like a building or highway, and the monsoon sets in early, your work might get affected. However, if the monsoon is delayed, do you have a plan-B in place that enables you to continue the work to complete certain things before the onset of the rains? Proactive measures like these help in faster and improved execution of projects.
If you look at PMI India website, today, there are plenty of local case studies available for training. Earlier, most case studies used to be from the West. We have the CSR wing of the PMI called the PMI Education Foundation, which works with schools. In fact, from this year onwards, we have a full-time employee to look after the foundationÆs activities. It works not only with schools, but also with NGOs. The latter sometimes do not have project management skills, but they have projects. We also provide a learning resource called as Project Management Methodology for Post-Disaster Reconstruction to NGOs and government institutions.
- Manish Pant