In the software development world, there is a distinction between Program and Project Managers.
What I have found is that program managers have expertise in "programming", that they come from the ranks of developers and into management.
My company went dot bomb in early Nov., and with 5 years of web development project management experience (8 yrs PM total), I am seen by some companies here in the Seattle area as too qualified for a project manager position but underqualified for a program manager position.
Any suggestions as to how to ramp up technically in a short amount of time or suggested counter-arguements for the next time I face the "a little light on the technical side" comment are greatly appreciated. The Standish Group's 5 needs of a pm will help. :-) Saving Changes...
Darrell MarkhamSr. IT Project Manager| Tyler TechnologiesBrentwood, Ca, United States
I think program management encompasses all of the project management process at a higher level while adding business objective, process objective, strategic risk, scope integration, interdependency, and interface management to the process. The business objective ensures alignment with the company?s strategic initiatives and defines the business impact in quantified terms. The process objective states which methods and methodologies will be applied during the program lifecycle. Strategic risk analysis helps to identify early in the program events, whether external or internal, that may impact program success and documents the alternatives and responses. Scope integration ensures that the individual project scope statements within the program are complete and that there are no holes or redundancies. It is important to understand the three basic types of interdependencies and to try to organize the program in a manner that will minimize the cost of coordination between projects and optimize the workflow. The interface management process identifies the inputs and outputs of the individual projects, defines the input requirements, matches the inputs and outputs, and then clearly defines the interface so that they can be integrated into the schedule.
These are the skills, in addition to being a proficient project manager, needed to be a program manager.
Saving Changes...
Andree Emsley PMPIT Project Manager| Coventry Health CareAvondale, Az, United States
From what I understand, a project has an end date, a program is on-going. Saving Changes...
Kathy DentonData Security Strategist| Omega ATCSaint Louis, Mo, United States
Has anyone seen any good books out there about program management specifically? There appear to be a dearth of them. I reviewed a book called "Dynamic Program Management" that I saw mentioned on Gantthead. But I found it a bit out-of-date. Thanks. Saving Changes...
There are many books on Programme Mgt depending on the methodology being applied. However, I would refer you to the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) - in England, UK - Best Practice Methodology on Programme Mgt called "Managing Successful Programmes". This is the methodology current being used in the UK and more and more people are now seeking to use it because it simply works. You could purchase this book by visiting the OGC website (http://www.ogc.gsi.gov.uk.)
You may also find my other comments on project mgt vs. programme mgt interesting.
Thanks for the tip. However, I went to the site and the order fulfillment info re this book says, Not available to order. I have a note in to them asking whether this was a permanent or temporary state of affairs but no response yet. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
I am supposed to compile a programme proposal for a company. please let me know what should be included in that programme proposal as a programme manager. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
I'm new to Gantthead and this is my very 1st post. If I screw up, I'll try to get it right next time.
I work with someone who insists that the key (only?) difference between program and project management is that a program includes more than one project. While I agree that there can be this difference, I believe the difference is somewhat analogous to the difference between marketing and sales. Where sales deals with the day to day effort to get business and usuallly operates from the operations context, marketing is broader in scope, deals more with the out-years and takes more of a macro view of business development.
Program managers are more inclined to be concerned with matters of the food-chain above - senior managers within one's own org. and within the customer's org. Translates into caring about the balance between the customer relationshi and the profitability of the org. And profitability includes not just the bottom line (i.e. profit or fee) but also the capacity to conduct business in the future. The program manager concerns himself with scope management (i.e. requirements vs. negotiated funding) and customer expectations management.
The orientation of the project manager is to look down the food chain concerning himself with the morale and ability of his people to do work, the quality of the product as measured by everyone in position to qualify the degree of success of the product or service.
If everything is working correctly, there is a healthy tension between the program and project manager because their definition of success is often at odds. In the final analysis, the program manager, assuming correctly weighted priorities at both management levels, should have final say. But there should be a safety valve (i.e. more senior review) invoked by the project manager when the program and project managers cannot agree.
Of course, the differences and their implications are far more complicated than I could ever document in a simple post. But hopefully I have introduced a sense of the key differences.
BTW, on small projects, the luxury of having both a project and program manager does not exist. Both roles are performed by a single person who inevitably operates with whatever biases he or she might have. Consequently, when there is not balance, you end up with great products and services but can't make a nickel or lose the capacity to do work or you end up with short term "profit" and an lousy reputation.
Thanks and I'll look forward to hearing back if I can figure out how to see the responses. Saving Changes...
I must say I'm a bit disappointed that no one responded to my anonymous post on Feb. 13 re. the differences between program and project management. I was looking forward to an open dialogue on the topic. I have my opinions/impressions, which I tried to represent, and you folks out there have yours. Surely, no one out there agreed with everything I said. So let's try this again. What do you folks think about the differences between progam and project management??? P.S. Perhaps the anonymity of my post was a factor. So I'll use my name this time. Saving Changes...
I don't have too much to add to this discussion as most of the factors that I understood about Programme and Project Management are already covered.
I do have one concern, however, which is the agreement by some people that Project Managers predominantly "look down" and are "tactical" in their awareness.
Surely a good Project Manager looks up, down and sideways. He / she communicates in all directions and has a strategic understanding as well as an operational focus? If a Project Manager doesn't have those qualities, how do we get our future Programme Managers? Saving Changes...
