and now there’s program management too…

Here’s an aha moment for you — after talking yesterday about trying to find a definition of project management, this morning in checking my RSS feeds I came across this definition of program management which basically seems to take project management up a notch (find the post here).

This is interesting to me because in my work I have for the past year been trying to build a division within an existing company, and in the process have been trying to manage a whole lot of projects — now working on training someone else to take some of the project management off my hands. In essence, though, I haven’t really been able to easily classify just what I do — since project management has been just one of my responsibilities.

Here’s how Michael F Hanford defines program management:

What is program management? Is it really management at all?

To answer these questions, let’s begin by looking at an accepted definition of project management:

Project management is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of company resources… for a relatively short-term objective. ¹

It is clear from this definition that project management is concerned with the dynamic allocation, utilization, and direction of resources (both human and technical), with time — in relation to both individual efforts and product delivery schedule — and with costs, relating to both the acquisition and consumption of funding. As a corollary, it is safe to say that without the direction project management provides, work would have to proceed via a series of negotiations, and/or it would not align with the goals, value proposition, or needs of the enterprise.

Within a program, these same responsibilities (i.e., allocation, utilization, and direction) are assigned to people at three levels in the management hierarchy; the higher the level, the more general the responsibilities. For example, at the bottom of the management hierarchy, project managers are assigned to the various projects within the overall program. Each manager carries out the management responsibilities we described above.

He goes on to specify the precise duties of a program manager — as similar to those of a director (which I am, formally titled):

Responsibilities of a program manager/director

• Accountable to executive sponsors for schedule, budget, and quality of all program elements.
• Leads high-level sessions for program plan and schedule development.
• Reviews/approves project plans for conformance to program strategy and program plan and schedule.
• Acts as the communications conduit to executive sponsors and program steering committee and conducts periodic briefings/status updates.
• Escalates decisions to executive sponsors as necessary.

So it appears that I’ve found myself. Hoorah. Now what?