CHAPTER 31

Program Management

GINGER LEVIN, PHD, PMP, PGMP, CERTIFIED OPM3 CONSULTANT

Increasingly, organizational leaders are using program management as a way to obtain greater benefits and opportunities and enhanced capabilities, rather than as a way to manage individual projects in a stand-alone way. Recognizing this trend, the Project Management Institute (PMI) issued a Program Management Standard in 2006, and followed it with the establishment of a Program Management Professional (PgMP®) credential in 2007. This standard is in its third edition as of 2013.

Similarly, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in the United Kingdom proposed a definition of a program in 2007, and described four types of programs: vision-led, emergent, compliance, and technical-led.¹ While there are slight differences in the definitions of a program and program management by both OGC and PMI, programs are strategic assets to organizations. With their typical characteristics of being long-term and complex with interdependent projects and subprograms and entailing other work, they require a different way of working and different types of competencies, rather than managing a single project for effectiveness, in realizing their intended benefits; in transitioning them to an operational unit, customer, or end user; and in sustaining them.

This chapter presents an overview of why programs are complex undertakings, describes the major themes of program management, and then discusses performance and personal competencies for program managers.

PROGRAMS ARE COMPLEX

Programs can vary from small internal initiatives to the development of large-scale products such as aircrafts or submarines or to the development and implementation of portfolio management with full support in organizations. Complexity has been researched for years and continues to be a topic of interest; thus, there are numerous definitions of it. Geraldi² for example, states that “mastering complexity is not a new challenge but an old challenge that is being increasingly recognized and accepted.” Programs and their associated projects are complex, as they represent something that is unique and uncertain. PMI explains that, while both projects and programs are uncertain, based primarily on their environment, programs have far greater uncertainty than projects.³ Partly the increasing uncertainty and complexity of programs is due to their length and the progressive elaboration of their scope and content, with the need to consider their continual alignment with the organization’s objectives. As a result, while the individual projects in a program may meet their deliverables on time, within budget, and on schedule, in the context of the program they may not contribute to the program’s outcomes as initially planned, since the program’s approach may be modified several times throughout its life cycle, in the face of its uncertain environment, to achieve its goals and deliver its planned benefits.

Building on the literature on complexity in the project world, program complexity further increases with politics, changing technology over the program’s duration, the involvement often of several organizations working together as part of a consortium that may be competitors in other situations, the low level of maturity in program management practices, and the need to make decisions quickly, often without access to required information or experts for guidance in the process.

Complexity in programs also may arise from factors such as the interdependencies between the projects and operational work in them in that one project, if it encounters difficulties and unforeseen risks, may then jeopardize work on other projects given the interdependencies between them. The complexity of products as results of programs also is a concern given the competition and the changing requirements, as well as the desire to be the first to market, along with numerous regulations to consider. These dynamics lead to several themes that permeate program management.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT THEMES

PMI’s 2013 study, The Pulse of the Profession, notes that high performers in the program management field are ones with high maturity (28 percent), while low performers (3 percent) have low levels of mature processes in place.⁴ A 28 percent high performance rate is unacceptable in today’s environment and needs improvement. Each program requires the following for success:

First, a common definition of success is needed that is embraced as the organization’s vision for the future or designed end state and is one that people at all levels understand and can be committed to realizing. People need to see how their work relates to this vision, requiring a formalized portfolio management system in which programs, projects, and operational work are first defined by an approved business case that sets forth its goals and shows how these goals relate to the organization’s strategic goals and vision. Focusing on programs, once the business case formally is approved, and the program is then part of the organization’s portfolio, its priority in the portfolio should be known by those key stakeholders responsible for success. The approved business case then leads to a program mandate to authorize resources to start the program.

However, a focus on a governance structure is a key theme, as it is used to oversee programs to ensure that they continue to support the organization’s strategic goals and to make changes if they do not. Each program requires some type of governance board or steering committee for oversight, which should be composed of a proactive group of senior-level members who conduct periodic reviews at key stage gates of the program’s life cycle, conduct performance reviews as more in-depth sessions between stage gates, approve the initiation of projects with defined business cases to be part of the program, approve the transition of these projects and other work once their deliverables are complete, and approve the overall closure of the program. As well, the governance board serves as a forum to help resolve issues and risks escalated by the program manager by discussing alternative solutions and making decisions and determining whether these issues and risks affect other programs and projects under way in the organization. The governance board’s oversight ensures that programs continue to be aligned with the organization’s goals and that the program delivers its stated benefits, which is the second key theme.

Since programs are established to attain more benefits than if the projects and other work within them were managed separately, a focus on benefits permeates programs. PMI sets forth a benefits life cycle with five phases: identification, planning, delivery, transition, and sustainment. While initial benefits are defined in the business case, they are developed further through this life cycle, especially with a benefits realization plan and continual monitoring and control to ensure that the proposed benefits can be realized as planned. The emphasis is on continually identifying opportunities to optimize program benefits, with a focus on environmental factors and the interdependencies between the program’s projects. Regular reporting to the governance board on progress in benefit achievement is a best practice, along with engagement of stakeholders, which is the third key theme.

Stakeholders exist on projects, operational work, and on programs. The number of interested stakeholders increases exponentially on programs, meaning that the program manager and his or her team must focus on continual identification of the people or groups with an interest in, influence over, and desired involvement in the program, recognizing that everything may change based on the stage of the program. These stakeholders then need to be analyzed and classified into groups to determine not only the program’s positive proponents and negative opponents but also when to engage these stakeholders at key times in the program to promote success. The program manager, in working to engage stakeholders, must prioritize his or her time in continuing to ensure the active proponents remain positive, while striving to see if by active listening and responding to the concerns of negative stakeholders, they can become positive proponents or at least neutral toward the program. One negative stakeholder has the ability to decrease overall program support and ensure that it does not meet its strategic goals, meaning the program manager’s ability to work with stakeholders at all levels with different points of view is a required competence. This ability further leads to the need for the program manager to interact with and involve those stakeholders who are the ultimate recipients of the program’s benefits early enough to determine their requirements when it is time to transition benefits so that they can be sustained.

Governance, benefits, and stakeholder engagement are ongoing throughout program management with a concentration on strategic alignment of the program’s goals with those of the organization’s to best promote not only benefit realization but also benefit transition and sustainment. Being a program manager is a rewarding profession but it has numerous challenges.

PROGRAM MANAGER COMPETENCIES

Program managers, therefore, require certain key competencies to enable them to succeed in their complex programs. PMI defines a competency as “a cluster of knowledge, attitudes, skills, and other personal characteristics that affect a major part of one’s job (i.e., one or more key roles and responsibilities), correlates with performance on the job, can be measured against well-accepted standards, and can be improved by means of training and development.”⁵

Building on the 2007 PMI competency model for project managers and following a similar structure, Levin and Ward⁶ developed a model for program managers consisting of six performance competencies and eight personal competencies.

The performance competencies focus on the program manager’s ability to apply program management knowledge to deliver the program’s planned benefits. The six competencies are the following:

• Defining the program: determining program goals, objectives, vision, mission, and benefits; creating the business case and a high-level program roadmap; identifying stakeholders; and showing the link to the organization’s strategic objectives

• Initiating the program: preparing the program’s charter, refining the roadmap, preparing the program’s financial framework, and setting up a governance structure

• Planning the program: preparing the program management plan, the benefits realization plan, stakeholder engagement plan, and other subsidiary plans; preparing the scope statement and the program’s work breakdown structure; developing the program’s master schedule and budget; establishing baselines; and setting up a program management office and a program management information system

• Executing the program: holding a kickoff meeting, preparing business cases for approval by the governance board for projects and other work to be part of the program, prioritizing resources, awarding contracts, focusing on quality assurance, deploying best practices across the program, implementing approved changes, and providing information to stakeholders

• Monitoring and controlling the program: analyzing variances, making decisions to correct deficiencies or to focus on ways to optimize benefits, managing changes, focusing on resource interdependency management and issuing change requests

• Closing the program: transitioning benefits, closing each project or operational work, preparing a final program report, conducting final review meetings with stakeholders and suppliers, closing all contracts, releasing resources, and obtaining governance approval to officially close the program

The eight personal competencies are as follows:

• Communications: also considered by PMI to be the key competency because of the large and diverse number of program stakeholders, it further includes active listening

• Leadership: PMI notes it is embedded in the program manager’s job, and also it includes ensuring the programs vision is understood at all levels in the program since it involves setting forth the vision and establishing the program’s direction

• Building relationships: with different stakeholders and their different views concerning the program, the program manager works actively to note and respect the specific interests of each stakeholder or stakeholder group and work effectively to build and maintain their support for the program, engaging them throughout the life cycle

• Negotiating: because of the large number of stakeholders, negotiating is required to acquire resources when needed and ensure the program remains a priority in the organization’s portfolio, along with enlisting support from the governance board or comparable group

• Thinking critically: program managers must be able to determine the right questions to ask and solve problems as issues are identified, and relevant facts and information are gathered; through critical thinking, one must think openly, not be influenced by others, and identify relevant assumptions, constraints, and the implications and consequences of decisions

• Facilitating: the program manager sets an atmosphere for success for his or her team by creating an environment in which people can perform tasks with limited roadblocks, and by ensuring the team’s policies, procedures, and processes are ones that are conducive to realizing the program’s benefits

• Mentoring: since most programs are long, staff turnover is expected; the program manager and others can serve as mentors to team members so they can assume additional responsibilities and advance to positions of greater responsibility as needed

• Embracing change: program managers recognize that the very nature of the program itself is one that involves change, and they must promote an approach to adapt by embracing changes as they occur on the program, both internal and external, and exploiting them to realize additional benefits or the optimization of those benefits in the initial business case and benefit realization plan

Each of these competencies is expanded to show performance criteria and the types of evidence required to then determine whether the criteria are met. Program managers also must decide which criteria are the most relevant to their programs, but the criteria serve as a guide to getting started. And, while models do not make decisions, competency models are effective in pointing out one’s areas of strength and others where improvements may be useful. If used periodically, one can see improvements over time, which, it is hoped, can reduce the level of stress encountered when managing complex programs.

CONCLUSION

While many organizations have embraced the management-by-project environment, programs are the next level. If programs are managed as individual projects, the concern is that interdependencies may be missed, and a single change in one project then may have many repercussions in others, not to mention the reduction in benefits that may occur, and strategic alignment may not be continued. Program management is a more effective method of management, with its emphasis on a governance structure, benefit realization, and stakeholder engagement. By using a competency model, program managers can set a baseline and reevaluate their overall program management style periodically to be even more effective in their program work.

REFERENCES

¹ Office of Government Commerce, Managing Successful Programmes (London, England: The Stationary Office, OGC, 2007).

² J. Geraldi, “Patterns of complexity: the thermometer of complexity,” Project Perspectives 29 (2008), p. 4.

³ Project Management Institute, The Standard for Program Management, 3rd edition (Newtown Square, PA: PMI, 2013).

⁴ Project Management Institute, The Pulse of the Profession (Newtown Square, PA: PMI, 2013), http://www.pmi.org/Kjiowledge-Center/Pulse.aspx.

⁵ Project Management Institute, Project Manager Competency Development Framework, 2nd edition (Newtown Square, PA: PMI, 2007), p. 74.

⁶ G. Levin and J.L. Ward, Program Complexity: A Competency Model (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2011).