Key Differences between Programme Management and Project Management. Common Characteristics between Programme Management and Project Management.

August 21, 2011 by smsadmin
Filed under: Project Management

WHY IS PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT DIFFERENT FROM PROJECT MANAGEMENT?
Although it is easy to consider programme management and project management to be different disciplines, in practice they also have many similarities. Both require an essential understanding of project processes. A programme manager with no knowledge of how to lead a project team successfully is not likely to make a success of a programme. To lead a project team successfully a project manager must have a detailed understanding of all the processes employed in project management through the project phases.

Programme and project management have some common characteristics. Both:
?   are objectives oriented – without objectives you have no outcomes;
?   are change oriented - aimed at creating something the organization needs but does not have;
?   are multi-disciplined – needing a wide range of skills to achieve success;
?   benefit from opportunism – requiring short cuts to be taken and old norms to be bypassed;
?   are performance oriented – requiring the setting of appropriate standards and quality of outputs;
?   are control oriented – needing carefully designed controls to maintain the schedule;
?   question tradition – demand that managers avoid getting trapped by the old ways of doing things.

The primary objective of programme management is to ensure that all the constituent projects together provide the benefit required, regardless of the performance of any individual project or sub-project.
Too often the selection of team members for a project team is controlled less by the skill-set needed and more by ‘who is available’. Always ensure you have some part in the selection process. You probably will not have a free hand to select who you want, but at least exert a strong influence. Many programmes and projects have run into difficulties because the wrong team members were selected at the outset. If programme and project management is accepted as an essential skill in your organization, you will find it possible to influence senior managers to support your efforts from the outset.

Differences between programme management and project management

Programme management

Is concerned with achieving benefits required by organization strategic objectives
Is appropriate for managing and reviewing performance of a large number of constituent interdependent projects that may change with time
Manages the impact and benefits of a group of closely aligned projects to ensure a smooth transition to a defined new environment
Manages risks and issues across the projects to minimize impact on the programme performance
Creates an environment that sets the constraints for all the projects in the programme

Project management

Is a defined activity focused on delivering specific objectives as one piece of a programme or as a stand-alone project
Is intended for an activity designed to achieve specific deliverables and benefits
Aims to produce clearly defined benefits in a known environment
Manages risks and issues within the project to minimize the impact on the project performance
Creates an environment where constraints are set by the project scope

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT PROGRAMME AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT?
Compared with normal functional management, the principal difference is that you are operating in a temporary role. You are the manager of the team only for the life of the programme or stand-alone project and then you return to your other operational duties – or another programme with possibly a different team. This situation leads to some specific differences when compared to the ‘fixed’ functional hierarchical team that is part of the organizational structure.
In a fixed functional team, as the manager you:
?   lead the team;
?   have team members reporting direct to you alone;
?   have a stable team membership in the medium to long term;
?   create the conditions for good teamworking;
?   set the team norms and behaviours with the team;
?   decide responsibilities and coach team members in new skills;
?   control the work of the team – input and output;
?   build trust and respect in the team;
?   encourage the personal growth and development of the team members;
?   encourage sharing of information, opinions and feelings for the team’s benefit;
?   utilize the team’s creative skills to improve team performance;
?   appraise the team members’ performance;
?   set individual targets to improve performance;
?   create a team identity.

The team you bring together for a programme or stand-alone project will almost certainly have come from different departments in the organization, maybe even different sites. Although you must attempt to do all the things just listed, you will have difficulty with some of them:
?   Team members report to you only for their work on the programme or project and to their line manager for other work – unless they are fully dedicated to your new team.
?   Your team membership is less likely to have stability, owing to changing priorities of the team members’ line managers.
?   With a changing team membership, conditions for good teamwork are more difficult to create.
?   Often team members do not know each other, and setting team norms takes a considerable time.
?   You are in a time-limited situation and can find little time for coaching; you need the skills immediately.
?   Team members who do not know each other well are always hesitant to share information, opinions and feelings openly.
?   You can appraise an individual only on his or her programme or project work; this individual may be working on more than one project at a time for different managers and still have line responsibilities. So who does the appraisal and how?
?   Creating a team identity requires time and additional effort on your part to ensure that the team comes together regularly as a team to learn more about each other.

The organizational hierarchical structure is a matrix from which your team is drawn, and during the early stages of a programme or stand-alone project everyone is getting used to the situation of working with a different group of people. This can lead to more conflict than you would like, so pay particular attention to getting to know and understand the team members yourself through setting up regular one-to-one meetings with each.
Success in programme and project management is not going to be yours merely as a result of your using the right tools and techniques. It is only achieved through giving time to leading the team and overcoming these areas of potential difficulty, which will then reduce the risk of failure.