K O N N E C T SPRING EDITION 2017

Dear MembersPMIWBC wishes you and your family a veryHappy and Prosperous New Year 2018 .

PMIWBC realizes the need of latest DigitalTransformation and its benefits to the society. ACXO meeting was organized by PMI India on 1-Dec-17 to address intricacies for the Digitaldisruption. To address the need of the dayChapter had organized few Learn and EarnSessions on Next Gen Technologies(i.e ArtificialIntelligence, IOT , Machine Learning) .

Chapter participated in Infocom, hosted by ABPGroup. The theme for the conference was“Digital Transformation.” More than 1,000delegates, 250 CIOs and 100 speakers took partin it from 7-9 December. Chapter presidentSumit Kumar Sinha spoke on the “Role of AgileProject Management in the Era of DigitalTechnology” at the conference.

PMI WBC has successfully conducted AGM for2017 on 5th Nov. Almost 35 membersparticipated in this session. PMI WBC has alsoconducted a Volunteers meet on 5th Nov wherein 10 members joined as Volunteers .

Cheers,Editor’s Desk

Cover Story: Leadership lessons from social sector for the corporate world

Leadership is an oft repeated and least understood word in the world. To be a goodleader is striking that perfect balance between different forces at play at different times.There is no perfect formula and different leadership styles work in different situations.

Education for the underprivileged is something close to my heart. Teaching my maid’s sonfew lessons in English and Science made me realise the pathetic condition of education inlow income and government schools of India. The lack of a proper guardian or mentoramongst needy students creates various difficulties and leads to lack of right decisionsin their life. This prompted me to design and start a very unique social service in initiativecalled Light a Lamp in 2010 , the vision was to empower underprivileged students byconnecting them to the privileged sections of the society who in turn act would as theirmentor or guide. Over the last 8 years it has positively impacted the lives of more than300 underprivileged kids and youth in three different slums of Kolkata. More than 50volunteers have contributed to this initiative.

The rules of engagement in a social sector are different from the corporate sector. Thecontribution which happens in the social sector is a result of one’s passion or call of thesoul.

COVER STORY CONTD…

I would like to share some of the valuable lessons that I Learnt from the social sector with the wider PMI WB community.1. The leader should lead from the front. Leading from the front does not mean the leader has to be an expert in everything but it simply

means to be around the team and giving the directions to the them when they need it most. It also means that the leader has to becouple of notches above in displaying the soft skills that he or she expects from the team. Like if the leader is expecting the team to behard working , he or she should be at least a couple of notches above.

2. The leader should not get caught up in his or her ego. It is sometimes easy to get stuck in one’s ego and let the bigger sight fade fromvision. But a good leader cannot afford to do that. The leader has to show certain amount of magnanimity in every situation and to dothat one has to let go of her or his ego.

3. The leader should display absolute neutrality. This is one of the most important characteristics of the leader. A leader has to beabsolutely impartial and neutral. Once it becomes clear and established to the team that the leader is absolutely impartial and neutralthen the team will not hesitate to open up their heart and mind and will come forward and give their best.

4. The leader should balance between authority and friendliness. The leader has to be friendly with the team. If the leader is too rigid,then it stifles creativity in the team. However there would be situations when the leader has to display authority too. Hence a finebalance between authority and friendliness has to be struck which will help create the right atmosphere in the team.

5. Virtues like honesty, hard work, truthfulness and sincerity have to be valued. This is nothing new. However many times, whilerecruiting a team member we generally focus on the technical and hard skills that the person is bringing to the team. However thefundamental human values like honesty , integrity and truthfulness are very important for the long term success and growth of theteam. It is difficult to assess these skills in a person but it is not impossible.

6. To get the best out of the team, the leader needs to create the environment of belongingness, trust and harmony in the team. Theteam can only be a team if there is a sense of belongingness with a common goal otherwise it is just a group of people. It is theleader’s responsibility to create that sense of belongingness where every team member feels valued and cherished.

7. The leader should take interest in the personal growth of the team members. When it is firmly established in the minds of the peoplethat the leader is truly interested in their personal growth, they do not hesitate to walk that extra mile. This helps the entire team toexcel.

8. The leader should regularly take feedbacks for his or her personal growth. While there is a formal feedback system in every companythat one is supposed to take from one’s manager, leaders would benefit immensely if they take 360 degrees feedback from his or herpeers as well as subordinates. Taking feedbacks helps to sharpen our observation, perception and expression.

9. Stress is an inevitable part of today’s workplace. However it is the responsibility of the leader to minimise the effects of stress on themental and physical health of the people. Taking the help ancient and time tested methods of regular pranayama , yoga andmeditation goes a long way in establishing a stress free environment in the team.

If we take care of the above principles , we are sure to evolve as a very good leader and also create an atmosphere of excellence in ourteams.

This article was contributed by Ms. Sujala Roy – Senior Project Manager , IBM, PMP, SAFe Agilist

Learn & Earn on “Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Project Managers

PMI west Bengal chapter conducted an learnand Earn session on “Artificial Intelligence andMachine Learning for Project Managers” inTATA Communication campus on 11th Nov2017 from 11am to 1 pm. This session wascarried to spread awareness and align current& future project professional on newemerging smart technology of ArtificialIntelligence. Mr. Pratik Singh presentedwelcome note followed by chapter presidentMr. Sumit Sinha who articulated Introductionof PMI & PMI WBC. Mr. Sinha introducedSpeaker Mr. Shamik Choudhury who happensto be his old colleague and shared some oldmemories about Mr. Choudhury.

Mr. Choudhury who has extensive knowledge and rich experience on Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning, shared his views onapplication of Artificial intelligence on modern day technologies for the service of mankind. He touched upon various aspect of AI &machine learning like decision tree, random forest, logistic regression etc. with day to day application like spam filtering, google searchengine etc.. The session was very communicative with participation from audience which consisted people from both IT & non IT.

After the session, vote of thanks was extended to speaker Mr. Shamik Choudhury and Chapter Vice president Mr. Tamal Banerjee whopresented mementoes to Mr. Choudhury. The session concluded with speech from Mr. Sinha who highlighted hype surrounding AI,which is portrayed as either a servant, and eliminating jobs. He pointed out this should be seen as blessing to mankind and human mindshould be utilized to bring new innovation and more better emerging technologies for betterment of society.

Chapter AGM - 2017

Chapter hosted AGM on 5th Nov 2017 at Indismart, a year long journey of the chapter with the initiatives for taking chapter to next level was discussed and this was well received by the members

PMI West Bengal chapter was nominated as a finalist for the "The Chapter of the Year Award" - thisprogram recognizes the chapter for 2016 activities, initiatives and commitment to promoting projectmanagement in community

Chapter of the Year Award Finalist

President Mr. Sumit Kumar Sinhaattended PMI Mumbai Chapter Conference and discussed chapter strategic initiatives to take it to next level

Mumbai Conference ParticipationCEO Round Table Series

Learn & Earn on “IOT and telemetry devices, the connected physical world”on 9th December 2017.

Chapter had conducted a session on “IOT andtelemetry devices, the connected physicalworld”on 9th December 2017.Primary objective of the session was toalign Project Professional with the latestdevelopments in IoT and future trendsChapter Vice President Mr Tamal Banerjeepresented welcome note to set the stage.Mr. Sujay Nandi who has extensiveexperience as Architect took explained withexamples from real world trying to draw

analogyon how these are helping various industriesand how it will be a game changer in future.The session was attended by practitionersfrom differentindustries like Heavy Electrical EquipmentManufacturer, SCADA Implementer andPresent IoT Vendors.The session concluded with vote of thanksfrom Chapter President Mr Sumit Sinha andbrief note on how Chapter was associated insupporting the Digital Transformationthrough PM Frame-work

Chapter at Infocom event hosted by Anand Bazaar Patrika Group

PMI West Bengal Chapter participated in Infocom, atechnology and leadership conference hosted by theAnand Bazaar Patrika Group. The theme for theconference that turned 16 this year was “DigitalTransformation.” More than 1,000 delegates, 250 CIOsand 100 speakers took part in it from 7-9 December.

Chapter president Sumit Kumar Sinha spoke on the “Roleof Agile Project Management in the Era of DigitalTechnology” at the conference. Infocom organisingsecretary and associate vice president, and chief ITadvisor, ABP Pvt Ltd, K K Mahapatra said the session washighly relevant. Mr. Sinha explained how projectmanagement can improve the overall overall efficiencyof the project team. He said project management willchange the way teams operate in the future to providebetter service to customers and drive an organizationtowards higher agility, transparency, and success.

The PMI stall at the venue provided delegatesinformation about PMI, PMI West Bengal Chapter, and itswork in leadership building and mentoring.

Share your thoughts and suggestions topmiwbc.communication@pmiwbc.org

PMI West Bengal Chapter Visit Chapter Website http://www.pmiwbc.org/

Volunteer of the Quarter

Special Appreciation as“Volunteer of Quarter ,Spring 2017” goes toSubhajit Ghosh

@PMI_WB

PMI West Bengal Chapter leadership would like tothank you for your continuous contribution to thechapter initiatives in the last quarter of 2017. Wetake this opportunity to appreciate yourvolunteerism and award you VOLUNTEER OF THEQUARTER - 2017.This prestigious award of the chapter is inrecognition of your leadership to take forwardPMI West Bengal Chapter initiatives in the regionsuccessfully aligned with its vision.

Congratulations Subhajit!

Mr.Tutika Praveen Sai KumarMr. Anowarus SalamMr. Ranjit SamalMr. Arup SanaMr. Souvik SenMr.Md Abdullah al ZabedMr. Ritabrata ChakrabortyMr. Sumantra ChatterjeeMr. Kaushik De

Etc that matters

“Those who can, do; those who can do more, they

volunteer”

https://www.pmi.org/certifications/exam-changes

Project Management Institute (PMI) unveiled three thought leadership reports focused on illustrating the importance of organizational agility.

https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/series/achieving-greater-agility

PMP, CAPM and other certification exams are changing in 2018.

Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017-2027Demand over the next 10 years for project managers is growing faster than demand for workers in other occupations. Organizations, however, face risks from this talent gaphttps://www.pmi.org/learning/careers/job-growth

Ms. Sudeshna AcharyaMr. Adim AhmadMs. Angela Silvana ArceSalazarMs. Anamika BanerjeeMr. Budhaditya BasuMr. Atanu BhattacharyaMr. Suman BhowmickMr.Debanjan Chakraborty

Chapter welcomes our new membersA warm welcome and hearty wishes for a successful career in project management.

Mr. Arijit DuttMr. Pritam GautamMr. Parimal GhoshMr. Sutirtha GoswamiMr. Pravat Kusum HalderMr. Sourav MajumderMr. Pratanu MitraMr. Nabhanil MondalMr. Ganesh Pichaimurthi

PMI West Bengal Chapter