Why Program Management is Essential:
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| Program Management |
A
program is a cluster of ongoing operations that have a common goal. A group of
projects and ongoing operations are managed in a coordinated way so that
benefits are achieved which would not have happened by managing the projects
individually. Programs require investment for the advancement of the
organization’s future, and to enhance current capabilities.
Project Management versus Program
Management:
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| Project-and-Program-Management |
A
project is a temporary undertaking consisting of a sequence of tasks having
defined outputs and deliverable, a set amount of resources having a definite
start and end date. The project manager oversees the operations and ongoing
activities within a project.
Program
management is the coordinated management of a program to achieve the set
goals and benefits. A program manager oversees and provides guidance to various
project managers and promotes coordination between them. He is responsible for
identifying, rationalizing, controlling, and monitoring the inter-dependencies
between various projects, dealing with escalated issues that are outside the
scope of project managers, and managing the benefits yielded by each project
towards the organization.
Although
a program manager needs to have good project management skills, he or she
is not necessarily handling projects. He or she is handling the risks and
benefits of every project and deciding whether a project needs to be scrapped.
A program manager works for the best interest of the organization, rather than
individual teams. However, a program is successful only if its components or
projects are successful. Below are a few key points from which you can
understand why program management is essential for an organization to execute
their business strategy.
Program Management in
Organizations:
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| Program Management in Organizations |
Organizations
planning to introduce project management can follow a few steps:
Identify Program
To
identify a program within your organization, you can make use of any of the two
approaches: top-down or bottom-up. The top-down approach essentially teaches
you to start with a strategy and assess whether the initiatives of a project go
beyond its functional boundaries and involve stakeholders with different areas
of interests. The intent would be to bring about significant changes within the
organization.
The
bottom-up process involves assessing stand-alone projects, which are
inter-related and dependent on each other, and then grouping them under one
program. This means all stand-alone projects will be working on similar lines
following the same strategy.
Develop Approaches
Once
you identify a program and define the key project benefits, it is important
that you decide upon a few approaches to achieve them. Assess each approach, analyse
the risks and benefits associated with them and select one that best suits your
project requirements.
Identify an Appropriate Program
Manager
It
is of paramount importance to hire the best person for managing the program.
Select an inter-related set of initiatives as your program and ensure that the
results are aligned with the goals of your organization. Hence, a program
manager should have various types of skill sets. His knowledge should not be
limited to project management.
Benefits of Implementing Program
Management:
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| Benefits of Implementing Program Management |
Provides a Comprehensive View
Program
management provides a much more comprehensive view of the organization when
compared to project management. Quite a few projects affecting the overall
structure and functionalities of an organization together form a program. Every
project will have a different set of tasks to be completed which are designed
to achieve a set of goals. The manager’s responsibility is to ensure that one
project’s goals do not come in the way of another. Hence, the person managing
all these projects will have a comprehensive view of the organization and its
business.
Works towards Organizational Benefits
A
program manager oversees the ongoing activities within all the projects under
him or her and evaluates them. A project should not be done just for the sake
of it. Its returns should be measured well before giving a go-ahead. Any and
every kind of request should not be agreed upon. Rather, the requests should be
assessed from an organizational standpoint. Program manager should evaluate
each request to ensure that the project has potential to enhance profit levels,
increase customer satisfaction, and bring in benefits for the organization.
Formalizes Procedures
At
the onset of a project, the concerned project manager takes out time to set the
rules for communication and outlines the work procedures. However, in case of
programs, the person leading it sets the rules in a consistent manner for all
projects running under him or her. Hence, the project manager does not need to
allocate extra time at the beginning to decide upon the methods of
communication and work procedures. Once a project is undertaken, work begins
immediately after the team formation as all methods are formalized from before.
Saves Costs
A
program manager’s responsibility also includes saving costs and looking for
potential within projects to earn benefits for the organization. When a new
project request comes in, a program manager not only looks at the individual
benefits and costs of that project, but also whether the project can be
leveraged for the existing projects and processes of the organization. For
instance, one project develops software that sends automatic progress reports
to managers and everyone concerned with the project. Once the software performs
with success, a program manager handling several projects can use the same
software for all projects, instead of spending time, cash and resources on
creating a new one.
Program
management is a crucial link between the portfolios of strategic services
in an organization and their component projects. By defining a program, there
are significant advantages in support of an objective of subdividing component
projects, then undertaking individual projects. Overall, program management
strengthens the alignment towards organizational business strategy, ensures
better control and provides more focus towards benefits realization.
