Programme management is the co-ordinated management of a portfolio of projects that change organisations to achieve benefits that are of strategic importance. Programme management involves; working within and changing the culture of an organisation; delivering products at an acceptable pace; and realising benefits. The art of programme management is to balance the impact on an organisation by using programme management tools to affect culture, pace & benefits.
Do I Need a Programme? (and Programme Management)
It is important to decide as early as possible in the life of the initiative whether or not you need a programme. By reviewing the principles of programme management, you may decide that the MSP method is right for your organisation. Ask yourself the following questions;
- Alignment with Corporate Strategy – is this initiative directly driven by a strategic need: e.g. from Corporate Business Plan?
- Envisioning and Communicating a Better Future – is there a compelling vision of a better future that the initiative must achieve? (or is it merely to implement a small scale change?) Is there a clear, well-understood development path to the required outcome?
- Leading Change – should this initiative be led from the top? Will the cross-cutting nature of it mean that a range of stakeholder types and interests must be managed?
- Focus on Benefits and Threats to them – will the outcome, arising from the changes brought about by the initiative, lead to clear, visible benefits for your organisation and/or its partners/customers? Will some or all of these benefits be realised during the life of the initiative?
- Designing and Delivering Coherent Capability – is the range and complexity of the changes such that many different disciplines and skills will be needed to develop many different outputs, which in turn must be combined successfully to enable the desired outcomes and benefits?
- Learning from Experience – have you/your organisation, partners, advisers, suppliers, undertaken similar initiatives? How effective and appropriate was the Programme or Project Management approach?
- Adding Value – will the additional layers of management and associated processes and documentation provide sufficient advantage over the alternatives of; running the initiative as one big project; or running a number of “free-standing” projects limited only through existing operational management or Portfolio Management?
You may also want to consider:
- Scale of change – number of outcomes and benefits expected
- Impact of change (breadth and depth)
- Duration
- Complexity
- Risk
- Potential for incremental implementation of “step changes in capability”
- Time constraints – need to complete by particular date
Am I a Programme Manager, should I consider MSP Training?
The programme manager role has evolved in most organisations and it is no longer all about managing multiple projects. Programme managers now implement business strategy and manage multiple teams of professionals and stakeholders. Business and leadership skills are imperative to a programme manager and are very different from those needed to manage a project.
Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) offers organisations a standard and consistent approach to programme management. It provides a framework for senior management to direct the change process whilst ensuring that the focus is always maintained upon business objectives. Through project prioritisation and integration, it encourages more efficient use of resources. It also provides for better management of risk due to its recognition of the wider context. Timescales, budgets and quality standards can all be controlled more effectively; roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, thereby alleviating duplication of effort and ensuring all personnel fully understand what is expected of them. In all, MSP enables a more effective delivery of change and a smooth transition from current to future business operation.
Bill Shuttle is a programme and project manager who has supported a range of private and public sector clients through consultancy, mentoring, training and ‘hands on’ management of their change initiatives. He is a registered practitioner and trainer for PRINCE2 and MSP. Bill works for AFA who are accredited by the APM Group to deliver MSP Training Courses.
