When Do You Need Programme Management?
Liverpool John Moores University (JMU) decided to implement programme management to help it deliver strategic change. The problems they identified were:
We are good at reviewing things but not very good at implementing the outcomes
We are pretty good at implementing systems but not very good at realising the benefits
We are OK at managing individual projects but not very good at joined-up thinking
JMU's programme management approach enabled it to deliver significant benefits from a major system implementation and has since been applied to other strategic areas (Townsend 2003).
There are no hard and fast answers but if any of the following apply it is worth your while to read on:
You have a range of projects working towards a particular Strategic Objective in your Corporate Plan
You have a range of interdependent projects where the full benefit to the organisation will not be realised until most or all of the projects have completed
You have a range of projects that depend on resources outside the Project Manager's direct control e.g. release of staff from other departments
Related to this is the question when does (or should) either a very large project or a group of small projects become a programme? The answer to this usually lies in the pointers above.
The building of a new campus may be called a project but in reality it is a series of highly interdependent projects. In some cases this interdependence may be obvious e.g. you cannot install the lighting until the basic structure is complete or you cannot teach students unless they have the Smartcards necessary to gain access to the building. The achievement of the desired institutional benefits from the new campus may however be a far more complex matter e.g. you may not get full benefit from open plan or flexible learning spaces unless you have undertaken the staff development and change management necessary to enable staff to perform effectively in the new environment. A major new build is of course one of the largest projects any college or university will ever undertake and there is a whole infoKit devoted to the topic of Planning and Designing Technology-Rich Learning Spaces. Similar issues may however arise in a range of other situations.
It is equally true that Programme Management techniques can be helpful where you have a lot of very small projects. Turner (1999) describes the phenomenon whereby a lot of small projects are started by an organisation - individually their resource requirements do not look like very much and, for this very reason, too many of them are given the go-ahead. Because they are small and there are too many of them they are given a low priority alongside day-to-day work and larger projects, with the result that few of the projects ever get to completion and the resource invested in them is wasted. This is slightly different to the top-down approach in support of a particular strategic objective advocated above but it is an equally valid reason for creating a programme.
Without a programme approach there is a danger of running projects that do not meet strategic needs and which may be knee-jerk reactions to perceived problems or to short-term funding opportunities, using precious resources without addressing the organisational needs or strategy.
At the end of the day the decision whether to create one or more individual projects or a programme is a judgement call based on risk. Breaking a big project down into smaller components can make it feel more manageable and give individual project teams a greater sense of purpose, but the interdependencies and competition for resources themselves introduce new risks. Added to this is the fact that there is a greater overhead in running many small projects with inexperienced project managers.
The benefits of implementing Programme Management for Liverpool John Moores University (JMU).
Places project within a broader context
Aligns project with corporate strategy
Programme Manager can take an outside view and appropriate action where projects are becoming misaligned with programme objectives
New projects can be adopted into the programme without becoming 'rogue' projects lacking strategic focus
Provides specific roles to manage the project portfolio and delivery of benefits
Recognises that the objective is to deliver the benefits not just the capability - an Information Systems (IS) project may well deliver the capability to do things better; it doesn't necessarily follow that the University will do things better
Provides a flexible approach. If the budget is not available projects are rescheduled within the programme as funding becomes available
(Townsend 2003)
