According to Michel Thiry, in his book Program Management, there are three types of program. If you are looking to move from project management to program management, it’s a good read. Before I tell you about the three types of program, it’s worth reminding ourselves what a program actually is.
A program is a group of projects and business as usual (BAU) work that together have multiple deliverables and the overall aim of generating business benefits. They are business focused and aligned to business strategy. Typically, in a program management role, some of your time will be spent reviewing and realigning the individual projects and strands of work to ensure that the overall aims of the program are still on track to deliver the benefits and value proposition that the stakeholders are expecting.
Don't miss out: Difference between program and project
Here are the three types of program Thiry describes in his book, and my own interpretation of these.
1. Incremental Program
Thiry says that incremental programs aren’t common these days. They tend to be ongoing, such as delivering training to new starters, which could be called the Staff Induction Program, for example. This type of program focuses on incremental benefit and continuous improvement, so they are generally predictable and you can tell what you will be working on for the months to come. As with all programs, they contain a mix of operational and project work, which is a defining factor of a program.
2. Portfolio Program
Portfolio programs are probably what we are most familiar with. They comprise of a number of projects that are broadly related. They will have a common goal, which could be organisational efficiency, or launching new strands of the business. Typically, this type of program is a medium- to long-term thing, but again it is generally predictable.
Thiry gives the example of launching a new ERP system. While this might sound like a project (albeit a long and complicated one), this can be a problem. For example, you may have a data cleanse project, so the old data being migrated to the new system is as tidy as possible. You may have projects to decommission old equipment or software. There will also be a strand of training, which could be seen as a (BAU) requirement.
This type of program will benefit from having a common way of looking at information about the sub-projects. Using a tool like Seavus Project Viewer can ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to program milestones and tasks.
3. Strategic Program
Strategic programs have a medium- to long-term objective, and that objective is to transform the business. You could also call these transformational change programs. Thiry says that this type of program aims “to transform the organisation or the way it does business.” Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you like that kind of thing) this type of program is a lot more unpredictable.
With transformational change, it is rarely clear exactly how it will turn out at the end. Unlike implementing an ERP solution – where the outcome is an implemented ERP solution – strategic change has a huge, unpredictable impact on people. You don’t know how an organisational culture will respond to change, so even with your best efforts at planning, it is impossible to tell how the program will unfold.
This type of program includes things like mergers and acquisitions, culture change and implementing new ways of working, such as using new project management processes and tools.