Some of you may know Mohit Goel, PMP, from the days when we met in person. Others may only know him virtually as he heads up the finance as an AVP in the background because "he loves numbers, they speak the logic, numbers never lie." If you do not know him, let me introduce him as the February 2022 volunteer of the month. He is being recognized for compiling our finance data into meaningful reports for the board of directors. Keep reading to learn of his journey from an IT project manager coder to representing the business.
As the Associate Vice President of the Finance team, Mohit Goel describes his volunteer role as providing Financial information and strategic inputs to the various VPs so they can be more effective in executing their teams thereby elevating the effectiveness of the chapter. His words of advice to other volunteers is that "commitment is the key; you must find the balance to do the tasks assigned and help further the chapter and its mission. We have limited resources, and are trying to do more with less."
In conversation with Mohit, I learned that he spent his first seventeen years in Nigeria and considers himself an African which has given him a unique perspective. His proudest career moment was preventing the wasteful spending of $28.6 M of taxpayer funds over a period of 8 years working in the US Public School system as an employee and management consultant. Those funds were diverted back to the classroom to invest in students, teachers’ compensation and raise academic equity.
Mohit Goel’s transition to representing business began when he completed his MBA. He started out in information technology and was on the receiving end of half-baked requirements and wanted to improve them. He became known as the person who would get answers to ambiguous development requests. “I was the bridge to a perfect handshake instead of a tug of war.”
Successful projects are characterized by less bureaucracy in governance arrangements and a greater focus on outcomes. The take-away message is that you should simplify everything about the project, and ensure that the business has the responsibility, accountability, and authority to get the job done. Gone is the excuse of "this is the way we have always done it" is not an adequate defense when senior management demands business improvement and best practice. There is almost always a disconnection between the ambitious objectives of the project and the demands of those at the management level face to ensure that "the system" is modified to reflect "how we work." The difference and importance of being a business project manager he realized were “the person driving the car is business, the engine is IT to execute. Projects fail because you want a Cadillac, and you need a Subaru.”