One sub-project failing is enough to cause your entire program to miss its deadlines, exceed its budget or fall short of its strategic objectives. That is why professional program management needs more than individual project plans and regular status meetings. You must identify dependencies, manage priorities and base decisions on reliable data.
In this article, you will learn what constitutes successful program management. You will get to know key methods, typical challenges and a practical example. You will also see how appropriate processes and program management tools can help improve transparency.
This enables you to manage complex programs more effectively and identify critical developments before they jeopardize your overall objective.
The chapters of this article including 8 tips are as follows:
But before we get into the details of successful program management, let us take a closer look at important terms in program management. We need to clarify them to avoid possible misunderstandings.
Let us start!
Program Management Definition (DIN 21503)
Program management involves multiple interdependent projects. All projects in a program serve to achieve one overall goal. So, we can define a program as a master project with many subprojects.
The term multi-project management, in contrast, refers to projects of one organizational unit that are implemented concurrently (e.g., IT projects that are independent from one another).
There is yet another difference: project portfolio management, in German-speaking regions, generally defines the higher-level strategic direction of the programs and projects.
Note: Worldwide, there are differing definitions of the terms “program management” and “multi-project management”. Outside the German-speaking region, the terms “program management” and “project portfolio management” usually stand in for “multi-project management” (which causes confusion in the German-speaking regions).
The program manager / program director is responsible for a program, consisting of several subprojects within the framework of the program. This person is often simultaneously head of the project office and / or program management office (PgrO). Program management tasks, which program managers handle with their team’s support, are the following:
According to the standard of the Project Management Institute (PMI), program management tasks for the program manager / coordinator include among other things:
Now that we understand the terms, let us look at the eight key tips for successful program management.
Reading tip: Project Management in the Construction Industry
Programs must be carefully controlled. Due to their complexity and scope, this requires the support of a centralized responsible entity: the program management office.
The program management office (PgrO) generally has several members. Normally, you need more than one program manager to handle all the demands.
The program management office’s responsibilities can involve:
Differentiation from the PMO: Do not confuse the program management office (PgrO) with the Project Management Office (PMO). The PMO serves as a centralized control unit for managing projects throughout the company or in individual departments (such as IT-PMO). Possible responsibilities range from developing project standards, project monitoring and project support, through to training / coaching and quality assurance, and possibly even include strategic portfolio decisions.
Firstly, ensure that the control of individual projects works at your company. Only then will your program management also run smoothly.
Before you can control an extensive program, you need to be capable of simultaneously handling a huge amount of information from individual projects. It therefore requires significant effort to prepare for a steering committee meeting. You need more preparation time, and everything needs to be better organized than with ‘normal’ projects.
Define regular intervals for the dates of the steering committee meetings. All information must be accurate, reliable, and comprehensive ‒ and ready on time for the meeting.
The meeting intervals should be relevant to your program’s time frame. This lets you identify any deviations, determine what actions are necessary, and communicate these to the relevant people / entities to ensure the program’s success.
Perhaps you already have a project management office (PMO). This office is usually responsible for the project management standards and project manager training (see box above).
To learn more, read this: Successful PMO setup in 4 simple steps.
However, each program is handled a bit differently. This is especially true when they involve external people and entities. It is generally necessary to define special guidelines for each individual program. Some of these guidelines will probably differ a bit from the standards set by the PMO for projects at your company.
So, make sure that every project manager is familiar with the guidelines of the respective program and agrees to comply with them.
It is important to have an appropriate work breakdown structure for each project. This must allow program management to depict the interdependencies between the associated projects with regard to content and time frame. To achieve this, you must define the important milestones for each project. These milestones are later used to monitor the program.
We also recommend that you create a separate master project for the program. This program plan should contain all the control information. All the interfaces or partial deliveries should converge and be controlled from here.
Our tip: Remember to create a master project for high-level information such as major milestones, etc. to simplify monitoring and control.
With the right program management tool, you will only need to open and edit one single project plan in the steering committee.
Read this article to find out more about the work breakdown structure.
Based on the aforementioned clear project structure with milestones, the steering committee regularly issues its targets. These milestones are allocated to the respective projects (top-down). The project managers are then responsible for meeting these targets.
Conversely, the current milestone dates must be collected from the projects on a regular basis (bottom-up). Suitable program management software can ensure an easy-to-read presentation. The subsequent Tip 6 further elaborates on this software support.
The discrepancy between planned dates and the actual dates of the interfaces determines the necessary degree of centralized control by program management.
TPG’s PMO Survey conducted in the DACH region in the year 2020 determined the status of PMOs from 330 companies. It came to the conclusion that managing cross-project interdependencies in the multi-project or program environment was one of the most important duties for successful PMOs. Top-performing companies were clearly ahead of low performers in this respect. These findings probably also apply to program offices.
A strong multi-project tool / program management software is needed for successful program management and to manage complex programs. Many suitable products are currently on the market, and these have become ever more sophisticated over the past few years.
For successful program management, we recommend a solution that enables you both top-down and bottom-up control of your projects as described above. The determining factor is how it lets you define the links between the projects.
You want to avoid a scenario in which you open the solution and immediately see all the changes related to linked tasks but cannot view the previous status for comparison, because you then might not be able to see exactly what has changed.
The ideal solution would let you view the schedule and simply click to display the external milestones. This would let you view your program plans and links simultaneously, and you could easily modify your plans.
Reading tips:
- Microsoft Project Management Tool Overview
- ROI calculation for PPM Tools: How to Make Informed Investment Decisions
When project deadlines are postponed, automatic synchronization with the program plan saves you a lot of time. Ideally, you would be able to simply open the program plan and immediately see the current status of every milestone alongside its planned status (cf. figure in Tip 6)
If you have numerous interfaces:
Using the appropriate integration middleware software enables you to combine various software tools from different sub-projects. This is useful for large-scale programs involving diverse suppliers in sectors such as the aerospace industry. You can use Primavera while others use Planisware, Microsoft Project Server or the advanced TPG ProjectPowerPack.
Do not rely only on the currently reported dates when managing the interface deadlines. Use the Milestone Trend Analysis (MTA, e.g., this free Milestone Trend Analysis for Microsoft Project) for successful program management. For the most important interfaces and deliveries, you will receive an early warning with this tool, alerting you when dates are frequently being rescheduled.
Our tip: Use the program plan’s targets as target dates for important project milestones in the MTA. This enables you to easily identify the critical effects of any delays or postponements.
The complexity of programs becomes clear when looking at the electronics industry. In this field, you must coordinate features and releases across sub-projects. Below, we describe this example of program management with its challenges in more detail and give practical tips for the implementation.
In the electronics industry, the product to be developed tends to consist of many different hardware and software components. Various teams develop these components separately. They are only integrated at the end.
On the other hand, development and integration do not take place in one go with the complete range of functions. They are carried out step by step across several development and delivery stages with defined functions across all components.
A program starts with the specification of features that make up the utility of the electronic device. For instance, a mobile phone includes an alarm clock, an internet browser, and WLAN. Music playback is also possible.
A release plan defines:
Some product developments have release plans with several hundred features. Their fifty or more delivery dates extend over a year or more.
One feature usually affects several components built in different teams. That is the underlying reason for the complexity.
For instance, the mobile phone alarm clock requires a user interface to set the time. The set time needs to be saved and registered as an event. At the appointed time, the loudspeakers must produce one of the selected melodies.
This means: an intermediate release with a working alarm clock will affect at least five or six components. Overall, you may have a hundred components developed by twenty teams. These teams must deliver their joint contributions by the planned release dates.
Another interesting read: Engineering project management
The affected teams are increasingly scattered all over the globe. They are allocated to their company’s programs according to their skills.
For this, you should use a work breakdown structure reflecting the responsibilities. Hence, components are planned in separate sub-project or component plans structured by features.
Our tip: Plan your components in separate component plans structured by features. This will help you keep things in view.
The sub-project manager is usually also responsible for the assembly or component. Some companies have feature managers on top of this. The latter have the responsibility to plan and control the implementation of a feature across all components and releases.
The complex dependencies pose a constant challenge for resource management.
Whenever component delivery dates shift, this has repercussions. The related test or integration task in another sub-project needs to be rescheduled, too. However, you will not want to do the resource planning for individuals at the level of the program.
Better arrangement: the program manager and the sub-project managers agree on deliverables.
Our tip: Agreeing on deliverables supports the cooperation between program and sub-project managers.
The result is that you do not plan resources at program level. All you plan are contents and target dates in the form of milestones. Naturally, these arise from the availability of resources in the sub-projects. Again, the sub-project managers control this availability.
Check out this article: Resource Management in Project Management – Basics and Areas for Beginners
First, you must design the central release plan for the steering committee well. On the one hand, you should match the releases and the increments of the deliverable features.
Ultimately, you want to have an overview showing all deliveries required for one release from all components affected.
It should tell you if all partial deliveries from the component will take place by the planned release date.
Design your component plans accordingly. You want one standardized completion milestone per feature and release.
Our tip: Create one standardized completion milestone per feature and release for component plans.
You must roll out the targets from the release plan to these milestones. Vice versa, the actually planned dates need to be reported back to the release plan.
Our tip: Sub-projects should not be linked to each other. The linking should occur solely via the release plan. This permits the steering committee to check the dependencies and scheduled dates at any time.
This is the only way to implement an efficient control and early-warning system for program management.
A suitable software solution highlights the differences between the target and the actual situation in both
To achieve this, milestones from one plan are displayed in the other plan.
In the image below, the steering committee can see a variance: Release 1 will include an early completion of Component 1.
The situation is different for Release 2. This time, the plan for Component 1 reports a delay beyond the specified deadline back the program manager’s release plan.
A bidirectional program management solution is clever for one reason. Neither party alters the data of the other. The milestones are displayed in the other plan at the push of a button. This is for information only.
The information serves as a basis for communication between the responsible parties. Thereupon, both parties can change their own plan. All project managers remain in charge of their own respective plan. Neither their own nor anybody else’s data is changed. This is paramount for the acceptance of a software solution. In addition, this method saves time, since communication becomes much more target-oriented.
Our tip: Use project management software that provides information without changing the data structure of the other roles.
This ping-pong game between top-down and bottom-up communication between the levels is a key success factor in program management. The appropriate software can provide the vital IT support.
This article has introduced you to the concept of successful program management and shown how it differs from terms such as multi-project management and project portfolio management.
It has also given you 8 tips for successful program management.
Lastly, our program management example from the electronics industry has shown you how to:
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