How to Manage Complex Programs

Tom Kendrick

• Publisher: AMACOM
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780814436936
• Topic: Betriebswirtschaft
• Subtopic: Projektmanagement

To see a program successfully through to completion, a program manager must break the work down into simpler, smaller pieces and organize it into interdependent tasks…and this book helps you do just that.

Projects require managers, but programs warrant maestros. Tasked with overseeing multiple project teams and thousands of activities, program managers have one of the most challenging jobs in the market. Too many overburdened managers are leaving otherwise great jobs, even the field entirely, because they haven't equipped themselves with the right tools in hand to take on this complex but fulfilling job.

Complete with diagrams, graphs, and real-life examples, How to Manage Complex Programs explains the ins and outs of program management and provides concrete and effective techniques for structuring deliverables, workflow, and staffing. You will learn to:

• Decompose complex deliverables into manageable chunks
• Develop coherent plans for component projects
• Handle cross-project dependencies
• Organize program staff and project leaders into a high-performing team

Yes, program management is challenging but the most rewarding jobs always are. Don't let yourself become overburdened and tempted to leave a field in high demand of hard workers such as yourself. These proven strategies are the key to finding both relief and success!

CHAPTER 1

Program Management

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

—Albert Einstein

The size and scale of programs makes them complex and difficult to manage. As with any undertaking, the prospects for success diminish and uncertainty increases significantly with the magnitude of the work. Where small projects are almost always successful and carry low risk, long-duration programs with large staffs of contributors have a high probability of falling short of their goals, and many fail.

Program management techniques strive to simplify the work by breaking it down into more manageable pieces. By converting large undertakings into collections of smaller projects, we move the work into a context where things are more easily understood and project management methods can be effective. That’s the good news.

Unfortunately, decomposing a major effort into a coherent set of projects that can be independently planned and managed is easier said than done. The act of converting a large program into a collection of smaller projects does not make the complexity go away. Overall program complexity affects the deliverables, the workflow, and organizing the people who will do the work. Creating a program plan that will serve as an effective foundation for execution can succeed only if it is done carefully and with an understanding that what remains, even using the best program management methods, will still be challenging. Simplicity is a worthy goal, but there are limits.

This chapter explores the organizational context for programs, describes a range of program types and sizes, discusses program origins and challenges, and explores the dimensions of complexity that programs must face.

PROJECTS, PROGRAMS, AND PORTFOLIOS

Projects are undertakings that are of finite duration and seek to deliver a specific result using limited assigned resources. Typical organizations have many projects underway in parallel, with a wide variety of goals. Some of these projects are autonomous, with little connection to other work, while others are chartered as a part of something larger, encompassing several or even many projects.

Program is a term that means different things in different contexts, but the Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a program as “a group of related projects, subprograms, and program activities that are managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually.” Subprograms may be part of larger programs, also containing multiple projects. Programs require a leader and generally a program staff, sometimes referred to as a program (or project) management office (PMO). Program activities often involve effort in the “white space” outside specific defined projects and subprograms, effort provided by support, marketing, legal, manufacturing, or other operational functions. Programs are generally larger than projects, but there may be some overlap in scale between large projects and small programs.

At any given time an organization may have multiple programs executing alongside independent projects. All of these undertakings taken together represent a portfolio of endeavors comprising projects, subprograms, programs, and other work. Graphically, such a portfolio might look something like Figure 1-1.

The relationship between portfolio management and project and program management is explored in some detail in Chapter 2.

PROGRAM DEFINITION

Programs are made up of related efforts, most of which will be projects staffed by a project leader and a team of contributors. Some clusters of projects may be complex enough to justify treatment as a program within a program, and the presence of these subprograms will result in a multiple-level program hierarchy.

Figure 1-1A portfolio of projects and programs.

The 20th-century NASA space program provides a good example of a multiple-level program hierarchy. Once President John F. Kennedy set the goal in 1961 of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth,” a massive manned space program took shape. Within the overall space program, three subprograms were outlined: the Mercury program with its one-astronaut missions, the subsequent Gemini program containing more complex two-astronaut launches, and finally the Apollo program supporting the three-astronaut flights capable of reaching and exploring the moon. Within these major subprograms, each was further subdivided into missions with specific goals to be achieved in order to support the objectives of later phases of the program. Further subprograms within each mission provided the systems, support, functions, and other needs for each launch. These were further broken down into increasingly detailed and specific efforts, ultimately delegated to project teams. Thousands of contributors worked on the projects that made the program successful. Without a clear division of the program into phases, missions, functions, and detailed projects (not to mention an enormous amount of talent and money), none of what was accomplished would have been even remotely possible.

Program management, as defined in the third edition of the Project Management Institute’s Standard for Program Management, is made up of several domains:

•Program strategy alignment

•Program stakeholder engagement

•Program benefits management

•Program governance

•Program life-cycle management

Supporting these domains are the processes of program management. One way to look at these broad aspects of program management is shown in Figure 1-2. Program processes serve to support all five domains, and are a major focus throughout this book. The five domains are major topics in specific chapters of this book, with strategy alignment a major part of Chapter 2, and program governance addressed in both Chapters 2 and 5. Stakeholder engagement is central to Chapters 3, 5, and 6, and program benefits and results are a focus in Chapters 3 and 6. Details of the program life cycle are based on both the specifics of the work to be done and the outputs from the other program management domains. Adopting and using an appropriate program life cycle is explored later in this chapter as well as in Chapter 4.

Figure 1-2Program management domains.

Ultimately programs are about getting results, generally results with substantial expected benefits and value. Program management requires a deep understanding of the synergies and strategies that underlie the objectives. Programs often carry long-term objectives that require a persistent, high-level focus on the main strategic priorities. These must be balanced with shorter-term tactical goals, but not so much that the things that are truly important can be undermined by what seems urgent at the moment. Program leaders must understand the overall organizational strategies and strive to remain aligned with them. The conflicting needs of dealing with detail-level complexity and high-level longer-term objectives are what make program management challenging.

HOW DO PROGRAMS ORIGINATE?

Successful programs generally require a lot of staff, money, time, and resources, so they tend to arise from the higher levels of an organization where there is sufficient authority to get them going. Some programs are aimed at solving significant problems, such as the following:

•Major customer or user difficulties

•Mandated legal, regulatory, or compliance changes

•Gaps and deficiencies in current offerings

•Significant competitive or external shifts

•Inefficient or expensive procedures

•Evolving organization needs

•Emerging risks

In addition to resolving shortfalls in the organization, programs also address strategic opportunities, including objectives such as these:

•Development of new products, platforms, solutions, or services

•Acquisitions of other companies or organizations

•Strategic partnerships, alliances, or collaborations

•New markets, users, or growth

•Long-term strategic plans

•Reorganization

•Executive fiat or initiatives

However programs arise, there is nearly always a lot of energy and enthusiasm, at least initially, because the program objectives tend to be important and come from people who have significant clout.

WHY ARE PROGRAMS DIFFICULT?

Programs are difficult to manage for quite a few reasons, most of them related to the scale and complexity of what is expected. Their size means that in most cases there are many diverse stakeholders. The deliverables (and there are almost always at least several) are generally complicated systems of interrelated components. Programs are also usually lengthy, far longer in duration than can be planned with much precision. The staffing for a large program involves more people than can be effectively coordinated as a single team, and the funding required is often both substantial and must cover future periods well beyond what is presently committed. The techniques of program management can help in each of these areas, but control of the work is never straightforward.

Stakeholders: The community of people involved with a large program can be both unruly and crowded. It is exceedingly unlikely that all those who can affect a program or will be affected by it will be in complete agreement on program objectives. Perspectives will differ and conflicts are common. Even when there is initial harmony, differences can arise in future program phases. Keeping a fix on expectations, desires, needs, and priorities, even among the most significant stakeholders, can be a full-time effort. Some ideas for establishing effective governance and managing stakeholder conflicts are explored in Chapters 2 and 3.

Deliverables: Program deliverables often involve complex hierarchies of interrelated systems and integrated components. To further complicate matters, definition of what is needed often lacks clarity, especially at the beginning. On lengthy programs, changes are inevitable. Controlling program scope effectively is never easy but can be made more tractable using systems analysis, iterative techniques, effective change control processes, and other tactics discussed in Chapter 3.

Planning: Programs often have long durations, and some (such as those aimed at long-term process improvement) may be initiated without a defined termination date. All project and program planning has a finite planning horizon, beyond which precise forecasts and estimates are not possible. The limits vary for different kinds of work, but very rarely will you be able to accurately plan for more than about 6 months of work (and for programs involving complex technology it will be considerably shorter). Program planning also must anticipate and manage workflow dependencies between the projects making up the program and external inputs and linkages. Developing credible, workable plans for program work and conducting periodic in-depth plan reviews are the focus of Chapters 4 and 6.

Leadership and staffing: The scale of programs involves many leadership, staffing, and financial challenges. The number of people involved is often very large, and coordinating their efforts is made even more difficult because of matrixed reporting relationships (where the connection to the program is “dotted line” for a significant number of program contributors). The effective authority and power of the program leader and staff is often weak, especially when dealing with distant, contract, or part-time program contributors. Programs with large staffs also must manage across a hierarchical organization chart having multiple levels, further diminishing relationships and teamwork. Across the program, projects and teams will rarely share common perspectives and backgrounds, so conflicts may be common and motivation may be low. Access to resources and budgets pose problems for many programs, particularly for major undertakings that will requir...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Program Management
• 2 Program Initiation
• 3 Program Deliverable Management
• 4 Program Planning and Organizing
• 5 Program Leadership
• 6 Program Execution and Control
• 7 Program Closure
• 8 Conclusion
• Selected Program Management Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author
• Free Sample from Identifying and Managing Project Risk
• Copyright