The distinction in my experience is that, and obviously, 'Project' Management was born from Government Projects such as the Space Program and other large 'programs'. There are many government contracts that are let out to sub-contractors that require, "Program Managers". The title Program Manager is therefore inherent to Government based programs. Moreover, Project Managers or the title 'Project' is more atuned to the individual short, medium, or long term project not related to a government program. That is your distinction, Government=Program, commercial/civilian=Project. These are not merely symantics, they are specific to two different worlds. Saving Changes...
This is an interesting view of the terminology. James refers to two different worlds but I think these two worlds are two of many.
My colleague, Geoff Reiss, meets many people whose job title is programme manager who practice programme management. Many attend events organised by the ProgM ? the programme management specific interest group. A few of these are in government and a sub-set are in defence.
So whilst I understand the point I cannot restrict my use of programme and project in this way unless it applies onto to the USA.
It is certainly not the case for the UK government as it deals very much with programmes of projects in all areas of government. You often see job vacancies advertised for programme managers in all industry sectors.
Can I assume in these worlds a US government Program would include within it many projects? Saving Changes...
There are certainly differences between Project Mgt and Programme Mgt from my experience. In fact, if you visit the Programme Mgt section of the OGC website (www.ogc.gsi.gov.uk), you will find differences between Projects and Programmes in the Annexes. Here also, it tells you when to use either of the principles.
I also do not agree that both terms are synonymous to Private and Government Sectors respectively. There are certainly large projects that should actually be called programmes.
If you want further clarification about this, reply to this email with your contact details and I'll endeavour to furnish you with more facts. Certainly, in my organisation, both are treated separately with high success rates. Saving Changes...
Jennifer MaySr. Project Manager| Alltel CommunicationsTwinsburg, Oh, United States
Yes, in the US, the distinction includes many projects in a program. Other considerations:
* Projects retain the definition of being unique, finite efforts. Programs are on-going and group similar projects.
* In my company, we boiler plate project documents relavent to the program area. For example, a communications plan is defined consistently for the program, since many of the players are the same - this is then already defined for the project, and needs very little modification at the initiation of the project.
* Programs may have strategic purpose or oversight of the projects within.
*One mistake I think people make is calling a large scale project with many sub-plans a program. Just because it's big, doesn't make it a program.
I am inclined to agree with Jennifer; Programmes tend to be on-going: delivered on time, on budget but without a definite finish date - as classically defined in Projects. So if you have a whole list of Projects, each with an expected completion time (the operative words), under your care then you are a Project Manager.
On the other hand providing lunches for school children on an on-going basis - year in year out, one would be said to oversee a programme. (Many examples abound in government and non-Profit Organisations, and just because such programmes are stopped does not spell their "completion" per se). Saving Changes...
Mara BurnsSenior Program/Project /Portfolio ManagerQueens Village, Ny, United States
Interesting topic. I have been a project manager for many years, and recently developed a Program Management Office for a government agency. A Program Management Office, and the Managers within it define and develop processes to be used throughout the organization, not necessarily limited to IT. For example, I have just deployed a proprietary methodology in my agency to be used both on the application and Infrastructure sides. It will be deployed within 6 months to the user community. Its purpose is to establish standardized and repeatable processes for a technical project manager to follow. Part of the job of a PMO Project manager is to not only develop methodologies and processes, but to define best practices and standards as well. In addition, part of my charter includes auditing of projects to insure compliance with the methodology, mentoring and training the project managers, software evaluation, interface with executive management,etc. A project Manager manages a project, clearly defined as unique and finite. Saving Changes...
Andy JordanPresident| Roffensian Consulting S.A.Cherry Grove, AB, Canada
I think that a lot of the confusion in recent years has been created by the 'mainstreaming' of project (or program) management. No longer is it seen as a specialist, little understood discipline, now it's a specialist, widely misunderstood discipline where many of the terms are used interchangeably whether accurate or not.
In my organization a product roadmap is implemented in a program - a series of projects that build on the functionality delivered in the previous project. Products may be implemented as a package but the multiple parallel projects (one per product) do not constitute a program.
Where the line tends to often blur is the PMO - at what point does program management become product management under the model that my company uses. The way we handle it is to separate the destination from the route to get there - the product manager will define the final destination and any interim goals / objectives, the program manager will define the detailed path - think of a comparison with planning a long journey - product manager decides where we are headed and approximately where we spend each night, the program manager does the rest. To extend that image further the Project Manager will navigate and control one particular stage of the journey. Saving Changes...
I have read this thread with interest and notice that there seems to be no mention of the distinction that I know between programmes and projects. Additionally, we have the concept of (project) portfolios to complicate the mix. Here goes:
• PROJECT: Totally agree with the convention running through this thread that projects are unique, finite, defined pieces of work, with specified scope, budget and timeline. No arguments from me.
• PROGRAMME/PROGRAM (depending which side of the Atlantic you're on): A programme is a collection of related projects with a common end goal or objective. There is an interesting angle mentioned in the thread (first postulated by Jennifer May) that programmes are ongoing, having no defined end or target date. If a progamme is a collection of projects, and if projects have specified end dates, then the programme must have an end date as well. I'm assuming that there is a finite number of specified projects within a programme. Even the famous NASA programmes to have a man on the moon had a specified end date: "by the end of this decade", I think Kennedy said. To say that if it's government, then it's a programme, and if not, then a project, is patently nonsensical. Plenty of programmes in civvy street and projects in government orgs to prove this case.
• PORTFOLIO: The concept of the project portfolio is perhaps where the "ongoing" characteristic is most suited. As I understand it, a portfolio is nothing more nor less than a collection of (active, on hold, pending and completed) projects united by some common factor. Because of this, portfolios can be viewed at many levels within the org. For example, the complete set of projects looked after by Fred is Fred's project portfolio (regardless of whether Fred is the PM or the project sponsor). In fact, Fred the PM may be managing a portfolio of five projects, two of which are in the 10-strong project portfolio of Fred the business sponsor. Portfolios can overlap. Example 2: All projects within or for a particular business unit are in a portfolio for that BU. Example 3: Projects associated with a specific topic (i.e. management reporting) are a portfolio. You can see then, that the programme is a special kind of portfolio, since the projects are related by their focus on the common goal.
The main difference is that the portfolio is usually where investment choices are made, weighing projects against each other to determine the best one(s) to do in the given situation or for the necessary benefit return. For this reason, they are mostly aligned with organisation units (BUs) or the enterprise at large. It must be remembered, however, project evaluation and selection is done in portfolios at all levels, though it's not usually thought of in these terms.
Just a few thoughts on the matter. Hope you find it stimulating, even if it’s not entirely to your way of thinking.
Rob
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David WhelbournSenior Project Manager| xwave Solutions IncFredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
I am a programme manager in the UK working organisational change programmes and product development programmes that contain software development project's, regulatory approval project's, clinical trials, and market introduction projects. I believe that programmes and projects are very different animals.
During their life cycles, projects produce deliverables, whereas programmes deliver benefits and capabilities that the organization can utilize to sustain, enhance and deliver organisational goals.
PMI's latest definition of a programme/program is:
A program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually. Programs may include elements of related work outside the scope of the discrete projects in a program.
I think this captures it quite nicely.
One of the fundamental differences between a project management and a program management is the level of soft skills is significantly higher. The program manager has to manage the negotiations between stakeholders while balancing all stakeholders interests at a level that is typically far wider than a project manager meets. Also Program managers manage project managers! Saving Changes...
I read with interest Mara Burns discussion about setting up a program management office for a Government agency. I am responsible for that task and I would like access to that type of information so we could review and learn from what has been developed. I would ask anyone else that has such material to contact me at [email protected]. Thanks Saving Changes...
