Need for efficient project management stressed

Illustrating through their own experiences, president A P J Abdul Kalam and Satyam Computer Services Limited's chairman, Ramalinga Raju, underlined the importance of project management techniques for success in all walks of life.

Delivering the key-note address through a video conference at Gyan Lahiri - Asia Pacific 2005 (project management conference), Kalam said, "The pre-requisites for efficient project management are igniting of minds, evolution of management systems, organisation dynamics, review and recognition of work done by the stakeholders."

Project management, he added, enables use of adequate resources in less time and cost leading to better performance. He explained the project management techniques through the methods used by his team for launching of various missiles.

Ramalinga Raju of Satyam said that project management has got demystified today.

"At Satyam, we are handling 2,000 projects externally on an on-going basis. This apart, we need to address around 400 processes pertaining to support of these projects. We have also undertaken many social responsibility projects. Therefore, in all such projects whether professional or otherwise, efficient management is essential."

"This implies not only dealing with technology like Six Sigma but also basic essentials like dealing with expectations, cost management, customer satisfaction, documentation and functionality of the project," he added.

"With efficient project management, we today provide software consulting services even to countries like Japan. Therefore, project management should be considered more as an art rather than a science," Raju said.

The conference also saw the unveiling of the Student Leadership Competency Building Programme.

Winners from various institutes were given awards for student projects identified during pre-conference workshops. Of the three winning teams, two were from the state "" Vasavi College of Engineering, Hyderabad and Prakasam Engineering College near Ongole.

The three-day conference - Gyan Lahiri is being organised at the Indian School of Business to create awareness about project management.