Program Management: Your project is successfully executed, but does it contribute to the organizational strategy?

“Project management is like juggling three balls – time, cost and quality [scope]. Program management is like a troupe of circus performers standing in a circle, each juggling-three balls and swapping balls from time to time.” —  G. Reiss

Why do we need Programs?

A Program is a “group of related projects” managed together to secure benefits to the organization; these benefits are not present if the projects were to be managed separately. These independent projects are all managed by project managers and are set up to achieve their projects’ objectives. When we decide to group these related projects into a program, we will have to pay some cost for that – starting with the cost of the program manager and all the administrative, communication, and coordination costs associated with that. To justify such costs, we will have to show that the program will generate some “extra” benefits not present when these projects are managed separately, that are at least equal, preferably superior, to the costs of setting up the program mentioned above.

An Example…

To illustrate this, let’s consider an example:

You have to open up clinic x in a new hospital, there are many things that have to happen to achieve this. Your goal, of course, will be to open the clinic, see patients in a safe environment, and provide them with the health services they need. 

Things that have to happen include hiring the right staff (doctors, nurses, admin, technicians, …), developing processes and procedures, purchasing and installing the FFE (furniture, fixture, and equipment), installing the IT workstation (hardware and software), … every one of the above-mentioned items can be set up as a project, with a project manager and a project team that will initiate, plan and execute their projects to achieve their goals. However, if they are set up as separate projects, each team will try their best to optimize the use of their resources and achieve the best results possible for theirs projects with no consideration to the higher, bigger, and more comprehensive objective of opening the clinic, in a safe environment and providing those needed health services to their patients under the global constraints of time and budget. 

i.e. IT equipment purchased before furniture installation, or after complete furniture installation. In the first instance, computers will have to be safely stored awaiting for furniture. In the second case, you might have all the furniture installed, but have to wait for computers, and other IT equipment to show up, wasting a lot of time. The same scenario can be applied to the too early/too late hiring of staff, etc … If on the other hand, you were to group these projects into the same program, the program management team will work hard to achieve a global optimization of the entire program, and therefore realize many benefits that could not be seen, or considered at the individual projects’ level.

To achieve these global objectives, and realize the extra benefits not present when the initiatives are managed separately, we must clearly define these benefits.

Where are these extra benefits found?

Two key areas to consider:

1.     Strategy development and execution: Companies and Government Agencies spend a lot of resources coming up with their organizational strategies. Studies show that more than 60% of these strategies get stuck at the planning stage, and never get executed, and out of those that do, more than 50% don’t reach their objectives and don’t realize the return on investments that they are set up to attain. The basis upon which the strategies are built are the desired measurable and specific objectives that organizations try to achieve to enhance their capabilities, and create long-lasting advantages. Well-defined, clearly selected programs can provide the best tools for achieving such objectives. 

2.    Global vs. local optimization: Another area to look for the extra benefits is global vs. local optimization, as demonstrated in the example above about purchasing of equipment. By selecting the right programs, with the right projects and other components, the program management team can create the best environment to identify, plan for and manage the delivery of those extra benefits. 

In the next part of this series, let’s explore how can we set our programs to achieve these benefits.

If you’d like to continue this conversation, you can reach me at @HamidAoug or for more information on program management, follow our blog here.