The Art of Program Management Professional

Project management is both an art and a science - the art of project management being the “soft” aspects, the science being the “hard”.

Perhaps projects are more science than art. To complete a project on deadline, the project manager compiles a network diagram and uses the critical path technique to calculate the activity float. This can be done manually but these days scheduling software makes monitoring and controlling the activity progress a breeze. The science of time management is well understood.

Similarly cost management is a science. The tasks or work packages are priced through activity-based or bottom-up estimating, a contingency is added to cover residual risk and voila, we have a project budget.

Quality is defined by documenting the client’s requirements in the scope statement and specifications. This should be a “hard” aspect, but sometimes it’s hard to get the client and key stakeholders to make up their mind!

The above are enshrined in the Project Management Institute (PMI) definition of a project: ….a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.

So how does program management differ from project management?

A useful analogy is to think about is the role of engineering, which deals with detailed planning, versus architecture, which deals with design elements. Project managers are more like engineers, while program managers have to think more like architects. Architecture focuses on the vision (the soft aspect) through form, function and design, while engineering provides the structure and mechanism (the hard aspect) to enable the vision.

Program managers should focus on the vision of the program and how they can design the program architecture – select, prioritize, link and align the projects within the program along with their structural dependencies to help achieve the optimum benefits of the program and to meet organisational strategic objectives.

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 (e.g. managing the project, doing research) outside the scope of the discrete projects in a program. Programs are a means of achieving organisational objectives and realising benefits, often in the context of a strategic plan.

Programs can be “softer” than projects in many ways:

• Programs are typically more strategic in nature and therefore have to respond to sometimes drastic and rapid changes in organisational strategy
• The completion date can be more flexible, in that benefits or outcomes may take longer to achieve than the outputs of its projects
• A wide spectrum of stakeholders makes “politics” and conflict management more of a factor
• Change management is a very “soft” but important part of programs, as it deals with attitudes, behaviour and mindsets. The project products may be delivered, but will the stakeholders accept and use them optimally?
• Because programs are typically longer, bigger and more complex than projects, their scope is less stable.

The PMI have published a standard for Program Management and offer certification as a Program Management Professional (PgMP). The recommended process to become certified is to join one of ProjectPro’s PgMP workshops, then apply on-line to the PMI to be allowed to sit the PgMP exam which is available at Prometric Testing Centers in South Africa.

The next ProjectPro workshop is on 6-7 September 2010 in Midrand, Gauteng. Visit www.projectpro.co.za or email training@projectpro.co.za to register or call Terry Deacon on 082 557 3119 for more details.

In-house courses can also be arranged throughout South Africa.

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