Managing A Programme
MSP
In MSP methodology this is covered by (chapters given in brackets):
- Risk Management and Issue Resolution (11)
- Managing the Tranches (16)
- OGC MSP website
In managing a programme you need to do everything you would do in managing a project and a lot more. This infoKit assumes that you are familiar with all of the material in our Project Management infoKit in particular the sections on:
Managing Risk
Planning
Managing Issues
Change Control
Managing Project Phases
The sections in this infoKit are a supplement to those in the Project Management infoKit. They cover additional activities required to manage a programme and may also be of use to people managing large or complex projects.
Managing Risk
Having already referred you to the section in our Project Management infoKit on managing risk we are going to labour the point. This is the single most important element of project and programme management and for this reason we have produced a separate infoKit on Risk Management.
The most successful project managers are undoubtedly the best at managing risk. The Gartner Group has identified the key characteristics of what it terms 'Master Project Managers' and has undertaken an analysis that reveals these 'Masters' spend significantly more time on risk analysis than their average-performing counterparts. They tend to be pro-active problem solvers who can accurately establish what might happen and produce appropriate contingency plans.
It goes pretty much without saying that the risks associated with a programme as a whole may be different to those in individual projects and a successful Programme Manager needs to be able to undertake 'what if' analysis on a range of scenarios affecting multiple projects. It could be that a major risk occurring in one project could affect the viability of several others. We also consider the usefulness of effective risk assessment under the section on setting Tolerance Limits.
