A Career in Program Management?


by Andy Geoffs


The concept of a program manager is something which has been appearing progressively more regularly in recent years as this position is now being put in place within an ever-increasing variety of companies. This article will try and clarify precisely what the job of a typical program manager is by simply looking at the jobs one might tackle daily.

At a high level, a program manager is defined as a person who coordinates several project teams in the direction of the same objective. As a result of controlling the group of project teams as a collection the target is always to achieve benefits which may not have been achieved otherwise. The most important things our PM must do are:

They are in charge of the fiscal aspects of the body of work. They should make certain that all the project teams that comprise the business program are proceeding to plan. Usually the program manager will have contingency finances that they'll make use of to cope with any unforeseen expenses. Note that in certain matrix organizations the program manager will not be responsible for the program budget.

They must control benefit delivery. A benefit is anything beneficial this company enjoys from undertaking the program. Typically, this will be a financial profit,however it may be another form of benefit. The program manager needs to design the individual projects that comprise the program in such a way to improve the benefits for the organization. This may mean dropping individual projects if required.

They control communication. They must ensure communication travels smoothly to those who most need to know. This may increasingly consist of communication in all directions, for example, upwards towards the program board, downward to the project team members, and outward to stakeholders. Communications must also proceed to other important people, such as external parties frequently.

They handle any dependencies concerning the various project teams. A dependency occurs anytime one particular project team must wait on a task within a another project to end before it is able to get started. By properly taking care of dependencies, and building compromises when required, they will attempt to be certain that their programs perform as effortlessly and efficiently as is possible.

They must manage stakeholders. They must make sure that the success scenarios of important stakeholders are met. This could assist the program manager in earning the assistance of critical senior managers, for example, heads of department whom you want to get on your team in order to get work accomplished and make certain the program is a great success.

They need to take care of the program business case. This business case is the justification the program was started in the first place. Continually they must make sure the program is worth it and going towards its goal.

These are definitely the most vital jobs that program managers will perform every day. Basically they are really seeking to take on anything that is needed to best reach the planned benefits for the business. There are other jobs the program manager must do, like status reporting, however the points listed above are some of the most crucial.




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