One question I’m frequently asked is what is the difference between a Project and a Program? As posted in my very first article, a Program is defined as “A group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually”.
According to PRINCE2, a Project is defined as “A temporary organization that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified Business Case”.
Clear? Well, if you’re like most people, then probably not. Another way to look that this question, which I think helps to clarify the difference, is to examine the differing tasks Project and Program Managers perform. I’ve listed some of the main differences in the table below:
|Program Managers create high-level plans used to provide guidance to projects. Detailed plans are created from this guidance by the Project Managers||Project Managers perform detailed planning to manage delivery of the products of the Project|
|Program success is measured in terms of business benefit, ROI, or new capabilities||Project success is measured in terms of budget, time, and scope delivered|
|Focus is on leadership, as Program Managers manage managers. Program Managers need to facilitate and manage political aspects, relationships, and conflict resolution.||Focus is on management of the people (specialists and technicians) involved to deliver|
|Program Managers manage managers||Project Managers manage technical people|
|Programs have a wide scope, focussing on benefits, and may have to change scope dramatically during their execution to meet the changing needs of the organisation||Projects have a narrow scope, focussing on deliverables|
|Program managers monitor and control projects||Project Managers monitor and control tasks|
|Programs are typically executed over a much longer timescale than projects, often several years||Projects are typically of a shorter duration than programs, often just a few weeks|
Hopefully this table makes the differences clearer. In later articles we will look at each of these Program Management attributes in more detail.