The initial question I believe most of the readers will ask is 'What is the different between a project manager and program manager?'. According to Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) by PMI, a program is a group of project related to one another. In that case, becoming a program manager, you will oversee a number of different projects with close alignment to one another.
In my experience, I face this kind of interconnected projects usually when I am leading a large-size project, which can be called as a program. A good example of such project is digital transformation. In this realm, there will be normally some different projects running in parallel to achieve the end state of the transformation. The different projects might include creating new digital channel, digitization of internal process, launching the related campaigns, product development, and so on.
The challenge of becoming a program manager is that you need to have an oversight to different projects, and juggling between one project to another. You also need to ensure cross alignment among all of the running projects to achieve the end objective. At the same time, you will be dealing with multiple internal and external stakeholders, which are normally overlapping across projects.
Based on my experience, to be successful in running this situation you will need to have strong project managers running each of the project. It is essential that each of the project manager you delegate the work to can complete each milestone according to the plan, as slip in one milestone might introduce serious impact to the other projects.
In delivering a program, routine consolidation meetings need to take place and a standardized dashboard needs to be established. The consolidated dashboard will give a clear overview of the projects status and overall program status. It is also very important that each project is being well represented during every checkpoint.
As the program manager, you are expected to play a key leadership role in motivating the team members to give their best performance and to meet the expectation of each project. In order to do so, team building activities, retrospective sessions, and other means of collaboration should be put in practice.
In reporting the progress to the higher management, it is recommended that you start with the consolidated dashboard and zoom in to the project(s) with key risks and issues. While for the on-track ones, you also need to clearly state the achievements and celebrate as appropriate.
Well, for you, who claim yourself a seasoned project manager, be ready for a next step to becoming a program manager.
Edwin
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| Picture credit: geralt |
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