why is a distinction important between a project and a program Saving Changes...
Jimmy GodardCTO | Professional Keynote Speaker | Trainer | President | Entre| State of OregonSherwood, Or, United States
A distinction between a program and a project is very important. Although they share similarities in techniques and skills, their management is different. I’d like to keep it simple and distinguish them as follow: If you have to have more than 1 project managers, work on different projects, with different delivery dates, and funding toward a common purpose, then you have a program. Here is an example:
Let’s say we are breaking ground on a new house. We will have a living room, dining room, bed rooms, theater rooms, rec room. If you have 5 people who want to lead the design, decoration, and so forth for each room, then you have a program in your hand. Here is why:
A project is structured as being well-defined. The purpose of the effort is straightforward. It is the delivery of a room. One (PM) is responsible for its delivery and involve a team working together to deliver a common goal.
A program will have a greater level of risk, unknown, uncertainty. The team will be bigger overall. All the projects together deliver a cohesive house (hopefully). Someone will need to manage the overall budget, schedule, and the dependencies between the projects.
You will notice that both programs and projects share similarities in terms of:
Timeframe: Both of them have a specific end in mind. Once all the rooms are built, the projects are over. Once all the rooms are built and the other infrastructure activities, the house is over; thus, the program is ended.
Change: Both of them deliver change. The only difference is the scale. The change within the projects (rooms) is contained within the program (house).
I hope this trivial example helps shed some lights.
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Dan O'NanProgram Manager| Enterprise Program Management Office State of IllinoisMonticello, Il, United States
The gaps between Project Management and Program Management in state government....PMO to DSO? Decision Support Office.
1. MANAGING LIMITED RISK - Project Management is usually limited to a single agency. They often use Project Management Institute fundamentals on spreadsheets to assemble and implement local change control for new requirements impacting a single existing defined business process.
2. MANAGING HUGE RISK – Program management involves more than one agency and is usually driven by new law. To establish and sustain business driven governance, local PMO versus enterprise PMO might best be described as not so much a difference in authority, but one of perspective. Options for decision makers become critical to managing risk and requires an enterprise wide governance policy that sustains an Enterprise PMO view with a common discipline of behavior for participants that matches their culture.
For example, the local PMO should not only be equipped as a Project Management Office, but also with skills to assemble a view of service needs using analysis organized around business needs over technical religion. Certain folks with a heart to serve from those local PMOs could be equipped to represent their business units at the enterprise level Program Management Office. It is valuable to equip PMO members across these perspectives.
Just like any fine wine, the results do not depend on any one ingredient, but the artful blending of key factors from both perspectives. The blend, in this case, is dictated by the balance of law and practical business. Having the blend suit the program from both perspectives is what gives joy to the experience and value you can document.
Executive Decision Support
o Mapping the short list of what matters to relate defined roles in new processes implemented by solutions that are justified by business need. A Requirements Map may be as simple as the correct columns in a spreadsheet organized as a pivot table to answer simple questions.
o The scope of work in this map must include deliverables mapped to simple capability statements of what you will be able to do that could not do before. This feeds scenario-based testing which validates not only the deliverables, but the ability of the impacted people and processes to use them. Scenario based test results feed operations documents that fully equip the operations teams to take control in a repeatable process.
o Finally, tailor the Communication Plan to manage the message for many audiences including
? the media,
? legislative staff,
? enterprise agency partners,
? public and business participants.
? program team members
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Dorothea BowerRetired | NAThe Villages, Fl, United States
Jimmy and Dan, In my experiences in the automotive industry you both have it 'right'. Project: Constrained to a relatively singular objective. Program: Made up of projects. Risk, however, is not necessarily the gauge as projects, as well as programs, can present risk. That said, by its nature, projects made up of programs can experience more risk simply due to more complexity and coordination. Saving Changes...
