Projects & Programs are two Different Animals, don’t Underestimate the Gap

Surveys show that a major reason of project failure is the lack of benefits management. Even when projects are delivered in time and budget, they fail to create the expected benefits. Benefits management is not a knowledge area covered by project management, but it is the key domain for program management. Five differences between project and program management are explored and these explanations can be used to promote the idea of separating program and project management within an organization. Very often organizations do not understand the differences and so put burdens on a project and a project manager, which are not achievable. While some local heroes still manage to wear both hats, and deliver successfully, this is not a sustainable model for large organizations and for all organization to achieve higher levels of project management maturity. The five differences are: 1. project management standards do not embrace the concept of benefits 2. education and training for project manager does not include program management skills 3. capabilities of successful project managers differ from those of successful program managers 4. a project does not ensure benefits, it creates deliverables, which might or might not result in benefits 5. project managers are inward oriented, while program managers are more dealing with the outside An example is given, how the author morphed from being a project to a program manager. Not every project manager has the personal disposal for this transformation. In fact, most program managers have not pursued a project management career before.