Roles, responsibilities, and skills in program management. Over the past decade, project professionals have greatly expanded and evolved their understanding of the discipline known as program management. This paper examines the roles and responsibilities involved in managing programs of projects.
In doing so, it defines the preliminary concepts of job, role, responsibility, and skills and attributes. It then describes the purpose of a program and outlines the function, responsibilities, skills, and attributes of a program's primary participants: sponsor, senior responsible owner, program manager, business change manager, program management office, and program office manager. It also suggests how project professionals can gain the skills they need to perform program-related roles.
Introduction The past two decades have seen a significant increase in project and program management maturity, largely with thanks to the efforts of the various project management institutes and associations worldwide. Role Within each job, there is at least one role to assume. Responsibilities For every role assumed, there is a set of associated responsibilities. Skills and Attributes In order to satisfactorily fulfill a responsibility, a skill or a set of skills are required.
Without a clear understanding of these, it is unlikely that an efficient program management team can be put together Roles, Responsibilities, and Skills A program, regardless of its structure, purpose, or outcome will entail a project or a number of projects or a mix of projects and other programs.
The Sponsor The sponsor is the most senior member of the program organization. Skills and attributes of the sponsor By virtue of his or her position, the sponsor is a very senior member of the organization. Skills and attributes of the program manager The program manager must have strong practical experience in project management, which was gained through managing large and complex projects.
He or she must have the following: Good knowledge and handling of project and program management methodology and techniques; Good understanding of the wider objectives of the program; Ability to work positively with the wide range of individuals involved in program management; Strong leadership and management skills; Good knowledge of budgeting and resource allocation procedures; and The ability to find innovative ways to resolve problems.
The Business Change Manager BCM One of the fundamental differences between program management and project management lies in the management and realization of the benefits.
Potentially implementing new business processes; and Optimizing the timing of the release of new deliverables into business operations. Skills and attributes of the business change manager The BCM must have a strong background and ongoing operational responsibilities in the relevant business areas affected by the program. The Program Management Office PMO The program management office has similar functions to the project management office but on a larger scale, higher level, and a wider perspective.
Additional roles that a permanent PMO can have Strategic overview and reporting on all programs to senior management; In-house consultancy to projects and programs; Providing training to projects and programs management teams; and Auditing and health checks on projects and programs. Skills and attributes of the program office manager POM The skills required for the role of the program office manager are very different from those of the program manager. The skills and attributes of the POM should include: Long experience of effective program management.
Having been a strong member of program management team s ; Solid proficiency in program and project management methodologies; Strong knowledge and experience in the use of the various tools to aid program management; Ability to put theory in practice; Clarity during chaos; and Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
References Office of Government Commerce. This material has been reproduced with the permission of the copyright owner. These matrices used a framework in which a set of key expectations for a professional role were stage-stepped according to the level of seniority. As part of the overall project, each one of these matrices was revisited and in most cases, rebuilt from scratch.
Key Discipline Results Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Trusted Technology Relationships: Build trusted technology advisor relationships with technical decision makers Researches customer organization charts, identifies and proactively contacts technical decision makers, learns about their needs, and begins positioning Company solutions.
Results are demonstrated by identifying strategic contacts, and establishing key relationships with technical decision makers TDMs. Seeks to supplement existing technical decision maker TDM relationships with additional ones at the C- direct-report level by researching organization charts, identifying and contacting TDMs, and beginning to position Company solutions. Results are demonstrated by identifying strategic contacts, establishing relationships with critical senior level TDMs, and ensuring key condition of satisfaction agreements are in place.
Has established, long-term relationships with technical decision makers TDMs at the C-level to the extent the customer will call for consultation without being prompted. Results are demonstrated by establishing long-term, strategic TDM relationships, with formal conditions of satisfaction agreements in place, and participation in customer events as a subject matter expert.
Has established, long-term relationships with technical decision makers TDMs at the C-level, and uses professional credibility to create extended relationships beyond core customers, and into the IT ecosystem. Career Stage Profiles CSPs define career paths and key stages along a career path, performance expectations for each stage, and what it takes to get to the next stage.
Competencies define the behaviors that differentiate outstanding from typical performance 3. Experiences describe key roles and situations that enable growth in important competencies and serve as a tool to guide career planning.
There is a growing body of evidence in the last 15 years that correlates consistent approaches to managing talent with greater employee commitment and sustained corporate financial performance. For example, the primary reasons for investing in career models at Microsoft are self evident: Microsoft has changed dramatically since its inception and today faces business realities that require an approach to managing and developing people that was not necessary 20 years ago.
Simply put, the way we managed and developed in the '80s and '90s is not a sustainable model given the complexity of our business and the size and scale of our company.
For example, what is valued in Office is different than in Windows, and there are no shared success measures between engineering and sales. Career models increase the capability of the company to achieve its business objectives, in three ways: 1. By establishing and publishing the capabilities the company needs and values, today and in the future 2. By focusing manager and individual contributor learning and development on these capabilities and executing on developing these capabilities 3.
By assessing and ensuring these capabilities are being developed, leveraged and utilized appropriately Career models enable integration in two ways: 1 Standards. Whatever the social event everyone is involved in, you should try to be involved too. Sweet mother of pearl, do you know how much money is in drafting? Because almost no one knows how to do it. There is nothing wrong at all with pursuing a different career path and keeping theater as a hobby and only doing passion projects.
You can be one badass community theater stage manager. You need to know how much you need to make to stay afloat and try to stick with gigs that meet that minimum or surpass it. Surpassing it is, of course, much better, because you can balance a little more then. MOST of the time, money matters. The more you can make money matter and pull off landing gigs that pay you enough with a little wiggle room, the more you can make money not always matter.
Additionally, some of the best learning experiences further into my career have come from these little projects — like working with a Metropolitan Opera Maestro on his passion project in his hometown in Virginia or meeting one of my favorite go-to ASMs when she was at senior college when I did a fairly miserable 6 week gig at a high school conservatory program or getting to operate a puppet or designing and building a totally ridiculous wearable train costume for another show.
A few months ago, I had a really bad day at work. The more I turned that idea over and over in my head, I realized that the tiniest slivers of me were still daughter, sister, and best friend, but other than that, there was just nothing to me but stage manager.
At healthier times in my life, I was some combination of daughter, sister, best friend, church goer, trumpet player, girlfriend, swimmer, traveler, and stage manager. Stage manager was a reasonable slice of the pie chart that made up who I saw myself as.
If I had a bad day at work, I could just leave it in the work slice and shake it off. Which is a big problem for a stage manager. Not worth it. Prioritize family and friends sometimes which is a point higher on the list all by itself.
Commit to a hobby. It only makes things more difficult. There are times you have to lay down the law, but there is always a way to incorporate kindness into everything. Sometimes kindness is even just removing the anger you likely so rightfully feel from the situation when addressing it.
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