A Program’s definition was contested for so many years till the start of the new century of 2000. Till almost 2005 Programs and Projects were almost used interchangeably. However, with the advent of the VUCA world, which is an uncertain and ambiguous world, many organizations realized that Program Management is a key to organizational success. And therefore, after many deliberations, many institutions and global bodies such as PMI, Axelos, etc. arrived at a common definition of Program.
Program is defined as Managing One or more related projects in a coordinated manner so that you get enhanced benefits than managing them individually. This is a standard definition as found in the PgMP Certification.
Programs focus on Benefits rather than just the objectives. The Program Managers look to realize benefits either in a quantitative or qualitative manner so that it helps the organization achieve the strategic objectives. Thus, the Programs is a bridge between the Projects and Portfolios and helps achieve the strategic goals of the organization by realizing the benefits (coming from Projects and Operations).
Roles and Responsibilities of Program Manager
The Program Manager, therefore, focuses on Benefits and carries an outlook for the organization, which is way different from a say Project Manager who is a more focused professional and is more concerned about his / her project objective and output.
In our PgMP training workshop, there is a great deal of emphasis on who and what the Program Managers do?
Program Managers are business-savvy professionals who understand the way an organization functions including the culture and DNA of the organization. Besides this, they understand the competitive landscape of the industry and are up to date on the happenings of the industry. These are experienced professionals and with a strong network within the organization and outside. They are seasoned professionals in their respective fields and have strong social skills in influencing and delegating. They can inspire others and lead others for a successful outcome. Unlike the Project Manager, they are flexible and embrace change as a big opportunity.
The diagram below shows the skills of the Program Manager. And it differentiates from that of a Project and a Portfolio Manager.
As you can see from the above diagram, the Program Manager professional need to have a lot of so-called “Tacit” skills. These are people who need to use these Tacit skills such as “Networking”, “Influencing”, “Political Acumen”, etc. make things possible and achieve success for the organization. If you see in the above diagram, the Project Manager and the Portfolio Manager are devoid of such tacit skills and they exhibit more explicit skills such as Technical Competence and Communication Skills. Each brings different skills into perspective and each manager is complimenting the other managers. The Program Manager professional (PgMP) comes with his specific skill set and that’s where the value he/she brings to the organization. This, in fact, very contradictory to the popular myth that Project Managers transition to Program Managers. As you can see, the skill sets are very much different and even if the Project Manager is transitioning to a Program Manager, he/she needs to develop these specific skill sets.
The below chart describes how different are the Roles and Responsibilities of a Project Manager, a Program Manager, and a Portfolio Manager.
The Program Manager Professional (PgMP) is very essential for an organization to achieve its strategic goals, especially in the case of matured organizations. The right skills and the right trained Program Manager will achieve the organization’s strategic goals in a quicker time, saving a great number of costs and thus, delivering the value quickly to the customers, resulting in enhanced revenues and profits.
Program Manager professionals (PgMP) are definitely an asset to the organizations and the sooner the organization realizes the sooner the organization will strike gold.
The right skills and the right trained Program Manager comes through an intensive PgMP Training workshop and further, accentuated by the relevant experience.
You can learn more about PgMP Training workshop & details at https://prothoughtssolutions.com/course/pgmp-certification-training/
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