Program Manager: Effective Executive of Now and the Future

Frank Winters has more than 30 years of consulting and Information Technology experience serving as a project/program manager, consultant and IT service industry executive.

  Governance   PMO  

Our current discussion thread was pretty easy to answer—we agree that there is an important distinction between program and project management. Project management is essentially technical in nature (particularly in IT projects), focusing on the achievement of a particular task, whereas program management is focused on achievement of a business objective. It seems we agree on that in gantthead circles. Another point was raised as a question during the discussion: Is program management a good career step for project managers? Good question. In this article I share my thoughts on that subject.

It seems to me that the trend toward greater marketplace integration calls for program managers who can not only span multiple projects and focus them on business objectives within their organizations, but also direct programs that span organizations across entire marketplaces. Business-to-business and value-chain integration initiatives require the disciplines of program as well as project management. But it is the program manager is this context who is challenged to become the effective executive of now. The difficulty lies in the fact that the background, thinking and behaviors that help project managers become effective and successful do not turn the same trick for project managers seeking to become program managers. I think the reasons for this are…

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