I have seen PPPMOs (meaning Project, Programme and Portfolio Management Office !!!), PPP Consultancies, PPP Professionals and most recently, P3 to donate PPP in all the above.

Well, if it is saving us time and ink (it is rather lengthy noting Project, Programmes and Portfolio each time), then what’s the fuss about !!!

At this point, you should know something about me. I am very fussy about simplification and the correct use of terminology in my field, and that field is PPP…….

Lets get some facts right:

• Programmes are not just large projects or a collection of projects
• Programmes have no activities in their own right. Activities fall only under projects and processes
• Portfolio simply put, is a portfolio (i.e. a collection….). It means nothing in itself. On the other-hand “Project” Portfolio Management has nothing to do with either project management or programme management
• From an operational (activity) perspective, one can (not so safely…) say: ONLY POJECTS EXIST.

Don’t get me wrong, I am by no means belittling either Programme Management or Portfolio Management. On the contrary, they are absolutely crucial to the success of organizations and large initiative. But they are not similar. Neither to each other nor to Project Management. Little wonder there is so much confusion on the part of receptive organizations and professionals newly entering the field.

Diagram based on MSP 2007 (OGC). Areas of Management Intervention

I guess as always, the best way to clarify things it to go back-to-basics:

Projects: Have always been with us and I can with confidence say; there is no confusion there. We all know that “A project is a temporary initiative performed to achieve a unique product or service”. One way or another all definitions say the same. Key words are: “temporary” (not a process) and “unique” (in some ways, each product or service will always differ).

Project Management is the “application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from the project” PMBoK, PMI.

When we decide to move office location, develop a new product or build a bridge we are talking about Projects

Programmes: A programme is born out of a strategic need. That is certain objectives we want to achieve such as: “increased market share in South America”, “reduced staff turnover”, “better connectivity between two neighbouring countries” or “reduced cancer mortality rate in southern California”.

Once such objectives are defined, quantified and understood, a number of projects can be initiated to achieve them. Operational activities as such, exist only at  project level.

A program is defined as “a temporary, flexible organization created to coordinate, direct, and oversee the implementation of a set of related projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to the organization’s strategic objectives”. Managing Successful Programmes – OGC 2007

“Project” Portfolio: is simply a portfolio of project. That is a collection of projects that are not necessarily related. An organisation’s project portfolio would refer to all projects undertaking by the organisation (and naturally that includes programmes as all programmes by default have projects to deliver their products and services).

Project Portfolio Management on the other hand, is the process of continuously reviewing the organisation’s project portfolio to ensure that all projects (and programmes) are aligned to the organisational strategy and are given the priority they deserve in accordance with that strategy.

Project Portfolio Management insures that no useless projects are undertaken and that low-priority projects maybe slowed or delayed in order to user their resources to speed higher priority projects.

A wise-man-said: “there is nothing so useless that doing efficiently that which should not be done at all” Peter Drucker

So here is what PPP managers do:

• In Project Management, we manage and coordinate our project activities and resources in order to have our final product or service on time, on budget and to specification.
• In Programme Management we go further to coordinate projects and manage the Benefit Realisation and any Business Change that is bound to happen due to the scope of the programme.
• In Project Portfolio Management, we work with the top organisation management to understand their strategy and objectives. We then make sure that no projects that do not contribute to such strategy are undertaken and that those that do and are, are prioritised according to their contribution. This is more a strategic than an operational role.

3 disciplines all start with a P…. But they are indeed distinct even if related.

Can you still blame me for cringing at PPPMOs and other PPPs ?

More importantly to the context of this paper, programme management as opposing to project management, varying not in scale but rather in fundamental management aspects has been well developed and defined over the past decade. A major milestone in such understanding was the publication of the 3^rd edition of the OGC’s Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) in 2007 which defines programme management as “the action of carrying out the coordinated organisation, direction and implementation of a dossier of projects and transformation activities to achieve outcomes and realise benefits of strategic importance to the business”, and clearly outlines the role of the Business Change Manager which constitutes the greatest difference between the roles found in project management and in programme management.

Today, some confusion still prevail over the roles of the different actors in programme management and how they differ from their peers in project management.

This papers tries to outline and clarify the major roles, their responsibilities and the skill required to satisfy such responsibilities.

DEFINITIONS

Job

A job is a position within an organisation and is usually defined in the Job Description which outlines what is expected from the person who will perform such a job and his/her skills and attribute.

Examples of jobs are: Marketing Director, Software Developer, Executive Assistant, etc.

Role

Within each job, there is at least one role to assume. In project and programme management, there are often multiple roles associated with each job, depending on the needs and phase within the programme lifecycle.

Typical roles in programme management are: Programme Manager, Planning Coordinator, Senior User, etc.

Responsibilities

For every role assumed, there is a set of associated responsibilities. However, not all associated responsibilities need to be satisfied on every occasion. Required responsibilities vary depending on the type of initiative and the point of time within the programme’s lifecycle.

Examples of responsibilities are: Quality Control, Management Reporting, Risk Planning, etc.

Skills and Attributes

In order to satisfactorily fulfil a responsibility, a skill or a set of skills are required. Skills are usually acquired through training, experience or a combination of both.

Sometimes, certain attributes are needed to help in the effective utilisation of skills. Such attributes could also be acquired through training and experience although quite often, these can be personal attributes that were embedded in us during our early stages of development.

Examples of skills are: communication, planning and leadership. Examples of attributes relating to these skills are: confidence, logical thinking and charisma.

It is important to understand the relationship between a job, the role(s) involved, the responsibilities held and the skills required to satisfy the job. Without clear understanding of the above, it is unlikely that an efficient programme management team can be put together.

ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES AND SKILLS

A programme, regardless of its structure, purpose or outcome will entail a project or a number of projects (or a mix of projects and other programmes). That is to say, projects by default are present in every programme and as such, certain project management roles must be present within every programme. Such roles include the Project Manager, Customer, Senior User, Planning Coordinator, etc.

In this paper, we will concentrate on the major roles within a programme that differ from those of project management. Mainly, what is referred to by the OGC’s Managing Successful Programmes as the Programme Board.

The Sponsor

The sponsor is the most senior member of the programme organisation. Often in large programmes, there is more than one sponsor or sponsoring group

The sponsor has some crucial responsibilities, some of which are often ignored to the detriment of the programme. Ironically, the reason often being: seniority.

Responsibilities of the Sponsor

• Authorising the programme on the basis of its mandate and business case
• Appointing the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) to represent the interest of the sponsor
• Approving and authorising the funding for the programme
• Resolving cross-programme issues and strategic issues with senior stakeholders
• Approving the programme’s progress against the organisational strategy and objectives
• Demonstrating “visible” support to the programme and its management team
• “Leading by example” the transformational change brought about by the programme
• Confirming successful delivery and signs-of at the programme closure.

Skills and Attributes of the Sponsor

By virtue of his or her position, the sponsor is a very senior member of the organisation. He/she should have a clear vision of the strategy, very strong entrepreneurial skills, high credibility in the organisation and a deep knowledge of the business.

The Senior Responsible Owner (SRO)

The SRO is often the sponsor or a member of the sponsoring group. He/she is appointed by the sponsors to represent them in the programme organisation and is ultimately responsible for foreseeing that the programme meets its overall objectives.

The SRO must be empowered to make decisions on behalf of the sponsors.

Responsibilities of the Senior Responsible Owner

• Guarding the viability of the vision and the business case
• Getting the money from the sponsors
• Leading the programme to its successful completion
• Managing key “strategic” risks
• Maintains strategic alignment between the programme and the organisation
• Interfacing with the senior stakeholders.

Skills and Attributes of the Senior Responsible Owner

Just like the sponsor, the SRO is a senior member of the organisation. He/she must possess strong leadership skills and be able to make critical decision. The SRO should be able to retain focus over the strategic objectives of the programme.

The Programme Manager

The programme manager can be thought of as a “super” project manager. His/her role is mainly operational in being responsible for planning and governance and for overseeing the successful delivery of the programme’s output/product. That is, the new capability.

Although knowledge of the business is important, the higher stress is on his/her skills of programme management. The programme manager must have practical experience of having been a project manger for large and complex initiatives.

Responsibilities of the Programme Manager

• Daily programme management throughout the programme lifecycle
• Defining the programme governance (controls)
• Planning the overall programme and monitoring the progress
• Managing the programme’s budget
• Managing risks and issues and taking corrective measurements
• Coordinating the projects and their interdependencies
• Managing and utilising resources across projects
• Managing stakeholders’ communication
• Aligning the deliverables (outputs) to the programme’s “outcome” with the aid of the Business Change Manager
• Managing the main programme documentations such as the Programme Initiation Document.

Skills and Attributes of the Programme Manager

The programme manager must have a strong practical experience of project management gained through managing large and complex projects. He/she must have:

• Good knowledge and handling of project and programme management methodology and techniques
• A good understanding of the wider objectives of the programme
• The ability to work positively with the wide range of individuals involved in programme management
• Strong leadership and management skills
• Good knowledge of budgeting and resource allocation procedures
• The ability to find innovative ways to resolve problems.

The Business Change Manager (BCM)

One of the fundamental differences between programme management and project management lies in the management and realisation of the benefits. That is, the clear and measurable added value brought about by the integration and utilisation of the newly delivered capability.

Whereas project management deals with outputs (products or deliverables), programme management deals with outcomes, the final result brought about through the utilisation of outputs.

The role of the BCM is that of planning and managing the realisation of the benefits through the integration of the new capability within the business practices.

The BCM is a very strong member of the “business” and although knowledge of programme management is very helpful, the higher emphasis is on his/her knowledge of the business processes and the organisation’s strategic objectives.

Where there may be more than one business area impacted by the programme, a BCM for each of these areas should be appointed, one of which will act as the Senior BCM.

Responsibilities of the Business Change Manager

• Defining the benefits that will realise the strategic objectives of the programme
• Developing the benefit realisation plan
• Maintaining overall focus on benefit realisation
• Defining and tracking the Key Performance Indicators for benefit realisation
• Managing “business continuity” during the change
• Advising the programme manager on whether the outputs and outcomes will lead to the realisation of the benefits
• Preparing affected business areas for transition to the new way of working. Potentially implementing new business processes
• Optimising the timing of the release of new deliverables into business operations

Skills and Attributes of the Business Change Manager

The BCM must have a strong background and ongoing operational responsibilities in the relevant business areas affected by the programme. He/she should have a good understand of the management structure, politics and culture of the organisation, and possess good change management skills and enough experience to manage very complex situations while maintaining focus on the programme’s objectives.

The BCM should also have good negotiation skills, interpersonal skills, managing chaos skills and prioritisation skills.

The Programme Management Office (PMO)

The Programme Management Office has similar functions to the Project Management Office but on a larger scale, higher level and a wider perspective.

The PMO can vary from one person acting as “Programme Support” to a large team of individuals and can have more than one location if the programme is scattered nationally or globally. It can be setup to support a specific programme or be a permanent structure supporting all the organisation’s programmes, in which case, it is integrated with the organisation’s permanent Project Management Office.

The PMO has a manager responsible for its functions. The Programme Office Manager.

Responsibilities of the Programme Management Office

• Setting up tools and standards for managing the programme
• Planning, tracking and reporting on outputs and outcomes
• Information and logistics management
• Financial planning and tracking
• Risk and Issue tracking
• Cross-project interdependency management
• Setting quality control standards and tracking implementation
• Setting and tracking change control procedures
• Developing stakeholders’ map, defining the interest of each group
• Planning and executing communication plans to stakeholders

Additional Roles that a permanent PMO can have

• Strategic overview and reporting on all programmes to senior management
• In-house consultancy to projects and programmes
• Providing training to projects and programmes management teams
• Auditing and health checks on projects and programmes

Skills and Attributes of the Programme Office Manager (POM)

The skills required for the role of the programme office manager are very different from those of the programme manager. The programme manager role is a hands-on role and needs strong leadership and people skills. On the other hand, the POM’s role is a hands-off role requiring strong management discipline and communication skills. The POM’s role is a supporting role to the programme and its management team.

The skills and attributes of the POM should include:

• Long experience of effective programme management. Having been a strong member of programme management team(s)
• Solid proficiency in programme and project management methodologies
• Strong knowledge and experience in the use of the various tools to aid programme management
• Ability to put theory in practice
• Clarity during chaos
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

The Senior Responsible Owner and the Programme Board (OGC, MSP© 2007, page 30)

Acquiring Skills for the Role

There is no doubt that our personal attributes play a major role in our ability to utilise certain skills, making the differences between the “academic knowledge of the how” and the “practical ability to implement the how”. This however is very subjective to both the skill and the individual in question and as such, no rule that applies-to-all can be set.

It is nevertheless very beneficial to be aware of what skills are easier to learn that others. Then, each individual need to be honest with themselves in deciding whether to undertake such a learning effort of not.

For example, one may argue that communication skills can be learnt and with practice, a motivated yet not so good a communicator can become a good communicator. On the other hand, leadership skills are unlikely to be acquired through reading and training at a mature age and as such if one lacks in leadership, then he/she will do well to acknowledge so and concentrate on their stronger attributes and acquirable skills.

A useful tool when assigning the various roles in a programme is to draw a simple matrix for each role outlining the skills required for the particular job against the skills held by each candidate.

An assessment similar to that outlined in the OGC’s Successful Delivery Skills can be utilised. An example is as follows:

Company: The World Newspaper, Geneva, Switzerland

Programme: New newspaper format. Tabloid and full color.

Role: Programme Manager

Candidate: Mr Alan Norman Other

Conclusions

Programme Management is a distinct discipline from Project Management and although most project management roles are present in programmes (since programmes contain projects), there are roles within programme management that hold distinct responsibilities and as such require particular skill that differ from their counterparts in projects.

Whereas project management deal with outputs (products or deliverables), programme management deals with outcomes, the final result brought about through the utilisation of such outputs. This constitutes the largest distinction between the two disciplines and is mostly visible in the role of the Business Change Manager.

When selecting the programme board and team, one must be very aware of the skills needed for the particular roles within that programme and that although some skills can be learnt, other will be harder to learn or acquire for someone who does not already possess them.

References

Young, Trevor (2005). The Handbook of Project Management, Kogan Page

OGC (2007). Managing Successful Programmes, third edition.

OGC. Successful Delivery Skills

Russ Martinelli and Jim Waddell (2004). Programme Manager Roles, Responsibilities and Core Competences

Esistono diversi plus che consigliano le aziende ad implementare Sharepoint WSS 3.0 oppure la versione più potente Sharepoint Server 2007 o la nuovissima versione 2010 e non sto qui ad elencarle (lo fa già molto bene il Marketing di Microsoft ) ma il motivo primario per cui le Aziende dovrebbero pensare seriamente a Sharepoint è la possibilità di collaborare sui documenti e condividere degli spazi virtuali tra persone che lavorano su progetti diversi e da sedi di lavoro diversi (per non considerare anche i fusi orari diversi).

Uno degli aspetti che io definisco vocazionali di Sharepoint, è la possibilità di creare degli spazi di collaborazione sui progetti a cui possono accedere e collaborare risorse di progetto. Vediamo alcuni punti di vantaggio e svanrtaggio

Pro / Cons #1 – Facilità di installazione e utilizzo di Sharepoint

Sharepoint Web Services 3 è distribuito gratuitamente da Microsoft e qualsiasi azienda può installarlo liberamente sui propri server (è evidente che si debba possedere un’infrastruttura di rete e server Windows Server, con anche un’istanza di SQLServer 2000 e successivi).

E’ abbastanza semplice da installare e configurare (e lo fa il settore ICT interno o con una mezza giornata di un consulente sistemista esterno).

Il vantaggio principale è che con poca formazione gli utenti possono utilizzare Sharepoint in modo soddisfacente per il Project Management e la collaborazione.

Lo svantaggio legato a questo aspetto è che le Aziende sottovalutano l’aspetto formativo e di impostazione dei siti di collaborazione su Sharepoint (è come il detto: ecco la bicicletta, adesso pedala). Se non vengono gestiti bene i processi di lavoro su Sharepoint, si perde il controlo sulla struttura e la complessità del sistema. Posso affermare che il successo nell’utilizzo di Sharepoint per il Project Management dipende dalla chiarezza ed efficacia dei processi seguiti nella gestione dei siti e delle risorse. Quindi, per farla breve, occorre pianificare attentamente la struttura, la navigazione, le regole di lavoro.

Pro / Cons #2 – Funzionalità di collaborazione di Sharepoint

Un plus di Sharepoint è dunque quella di colaborare tra più persone sui documenti condivisi, ma questo non implica che sia adatto per il Project Management. Chi conosce Sharepoint sa però che manca l’elemento Processo, tutto è demandato all’attenzione e disciplina degli utenti che devono lavorare conformemente alle regole stabilite (quando presenti) nel gruppo di Project Management. A meno che non si implementino costosi softwares di Workflows che implementino processi di collaborazione controllati e monitorati , è difficile garantire il buon funzionamento del flusso lavorativo sui progetti gestiti con Sharepoint.

Dobbiamo pensare a Sharepoint nell’ottica di Pareto applicando la regola dell’80/20. Sharepoint mette a disposizione dell’80% delle cose che servono per il Project Management ma non fornisce il rimanente 20%. Su questo aspetto ne ho avuto prova direttamente in diverse occasioni. Se non ci si accontenta di quello che ci mette a disposizione Sharepoint, esistono sul mercato soluzioni commerciali che coprono il gap della mancanza dei processi controllati.

Pro / Cons #3 – Partenza veloce con Sharepoint

Da esperienze professionali che ho avuto negli ultimi tre anni su implementazioni di Sharepoint, posso affermare che Sharepoint permette di partire subito con la gestione documentale e collaborativa sui progetti, ma dopo poco tempo il cliente si accorge che le cose non vanno molto bene.

Sono stato chiamato un paio di volte dopo la partenza nella gestione dei progetti dai miei clienti per aiutarli a sistemare le cose viste le difficoltà di gestione dei siti di PM e del disordine globale generatosi.  Mi piacerebbe molto, invece, che i clienti chiamino “prima” di partire e rischiare il fallimento del progetto Sharepoint.

Questo perchè c’è molto da lavorare sull’aspetto comunicativo e collaborativo di noi Italiani, prima ancora della strutturazione e nomenclatura degli oggetti di Sharepoint. Un progetto Sharepoint per il PM non può prescindere da un’accurata progettazione e cura degli aspetti comunicativi nei gruppi i progetto ed aziendale.

Anche tu hai avuto qualche disavventura o soddisfazione nell’implementazione di Sharepoint per il Project Management?

Per saperne di più su come implementare un Portale Progetti con Sharepoint, partecipa al mio corso su Sharepoint per il Project Manager o contattami direttamente.

Rosario Rizzo