Joseph Dolphin is a distinguished leader in global IT delivery and management consulting, bringing over three decades of experience across diverse industries such as retail, financial services, manufacturing, FMCG, and life sciences. Holding an MBA from FMS Delhi, Joseph combines academic rigor with practical, real-world wisdom. He has held leadership roles at renowned organizations including Siemens, Accenture, and Capgemini. As the founder of myxtra.world, an award-winning EdTech platform, and a consultant at EDG Cornerstone Strategies, Joseph is committed to empowering businesses through transformational change and strategic insights.
The Literature Times: What inspired you to write a book on project management and consulting practices?
Joseph Dolphin: 40% of technology projects exceed budget and 50% exceed schedules. This makes the customer technology implementation journey and experience painful. Poor management practices brought by the vendor can lead to cost overruns and missed timelines. The short-term view of the customer team can lead to the implemented solution being non-contributory to why their leadership team put money on the table for the project. These two gaps need to be understood and addressed. This two-part book details how vendors can bring rigor to project management and manage benefits sought by clients.
The Literature Times: You’ve worked in the IT industry for over three decades. What was the pivotal moment in your career that made you realize the importance of bridging the gap between theory and real-world project execution?
Joseph Dolphin: Mediocre project managers or companies with mediocre project management practices have been (and continue to) playing havoc on technology projects. This is particularly true for small and medium vendors focused on picking up orders and collecting payments, irrespective of whether they have delivered to project outcomes. The CIO office has also seen significant mediocrity, with a short-term focus on the optics of starting projects, but not seriously seeing them through to the finish line. I started an Academy in 2014 to train professionals and companies in project management. The first book “What They Don’t Teach You In Project Management School” was published in 2014. Ten years since, matters have only gotten worse, with the rise of start-ups which are small businesses and not entrepreneurial in fabric. This motivated me to follow up with this two-part book, “What They Still Don’t Teach You In Project Management School.
The Literature Times: Your books explore advanced topics like earned value analysis and solution-to-sell versus solution-to-deliver. How can mastering these concepts revolutionize a project manager’s approach to success in today’s complex business landscape?
Joseph Dolphin: I have interviewed, hired, trained, and worked with over 1000 project managers. Sadly almost 99% of them struggle to present the project status quickly and crisply. They will go around in circles explaining what is happening on the project, leaving the listener to assume how the project is progressing. Earned Value Analysis (EVA) can help project managers communicate project status in less than a minute and with metrics and measures.
Another glaring issue in the industry is how sales proposals are created and submitted to the client. And worst still clients signing off on them. A significant number of projects do not see the light of day or are delayed and overrun on costs due to poor proposals or statements of work. This two-part book provides the body of knowledge meant for Solution Architects; to equip project managers to appreciate what it takes to ‘solution’ when selling, and what it takes to ‘solution’ when you are delivering. This body of knowledge will ensure the project managers have a big picture of what was sold and what is to be delivered.
The Literature Times: In your experience, what’s the most significant gap between what schools teach about project management and what’s needed to succeed in real-world, high-stakes projects?
Joseph Dolphin: Project Management taught in schools is academic in nature. It is important to have this knowledge, but it lacks the completeness of how vendors implement projects. Large companies or companies with rigor in project management practices have gone several notches up in how they implement projects. Numerous tools are used, numerous methods that are adopted, documentation, quality management practices, rigorous reporting techniques et al. These obviously cannot be covered by schools. These two-part books detail the industry practices. Moreover, topics like onshore-offshore delivery, managing teams, and leadership skills et al, are missing in school curriculums. Add to that the management consulting book of knowledge which covers topics like change management, Six Sigma, innovation, and benefits management.
The Literature Times: Throughout your career, what has been the most challenging project you’ve led, and how did you manage the intersection of strategic vision and day-to-day execution?
Joseph Dolphin: The most challenging program has been implementing E-Commerce and Content Management solutions for a large UAE conglomerate. More than 15 of their businesses in Automotive, Retail, and Financial Services came onboard this program. The challenge was to templatize solutions industry-wise and maintain the unique identity of companies within these industry verticals. For example, maintaining a common template for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, and Auto Spare Parts online mall. While maintaining the uniqueness of each brand. It required strategies for Content, Commerce, Community, and CRM. Program Management skills, methods, and tools were required; along with a management consulting body of knowledge. These two-part books provide knowledge on project, program, portfolio and application management support life cycle. And knowledge on change management, benefits management, and CIO advisory.
The Literature Times: You highlight the importance of onshore-offshore delivery models in your books. Can you walk us through a project where these models either made or broke the success of the project?
Joseph Dolphin: Onshore-offshore delivery is an important method of delivery that gives a competitive edge to companies with offshore delivery centers in countries like India. The two-part book explains work package strategy, a key element in delivering multi-location projects. Almost all large projects I have delivered had an onshore-offshore delivery model. It provides a cost lever and also opportunities to industrialize delivery. Staffing is another important lever, which is explained in these books.
The Literature Times: You emphasize Lean Six Sigma and change management as critical to transformational success. How can businesses effectively integrate these into their existing frameworks without disrupting operations?
Joseph Dolphin: These methods dovetail into your project delivery and are integrated into your project plan. Lean Six Sigma provides methods during the Analysis phase of the project for effective solutioning. These methods are useful for project managers and solution architects.
Change Management is an important work-stream in large projects, where project managers have to ensure the solution is adopted, accepted, and championed by the client users.
Both Lean Six Sigma and Change Management have been elaborated in Book 2 of this two-part book. Change Management has been further explained for small and medium projects and also for large digital transformation programs.
The Literature Times: Given your vast experience across industries, what unique challenges do you see in managing projects within sectors like life sciences compared to retail or FMCG?
Joseph Dolphin: Certain industries have unique requirements that need to be integrated into the project plan. For example, in Life Sciences apart from the traditional project phases, industry-specific activities need to also be executed viz. Installation qualification (IQ), operational qualification (OQ), and performance qualification (PQ). IQ entails the verification and documentation of the correct installation of systems, solutions, facilities, and equipment in alignment with predefined specifications and manufacturer guidelines. OQ ensures that the solution, equipment, and systems function correctly and reliably under normal operating conditions. PQ ensures that the solution, equipment, and systems consistently perform at levels that meet predefined requirements and specifications. Such industry-specific activities and industry backgrounds have been detailed in these books.
The Literature Times: In the age of digital disruption, how do you see traditional project management practices evolving? What’s next in the future of project execution?
Joseph Dolphin: Methods like Agile and DevOps are important for project delivery as customers want quick wins and not long gestation projects. Moreover, AI plays an important role in managing project activities like data management, quality management, and communication. These tools automate and improve efficiencies in delivering projects. AI tools are available to improve the productivity of the team and tasks. High-end methods like TOC (Theory of Constraints) and TRIZ for innovation and problem-solving are now being implemented as project management methods.
