Program Management

In this podcast, Ricardo Vargas address some theme requests about the concept of program management, as also the differences between project program and portfolio.

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Episode transcript

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Hello everybody.

Speaker 1 (5s): How come to the five minutes PM. Podcast

Speaker 0 (8s): Today I we'll talk about

Speaker 1 (9s): Program Management and there's a lot of misunderstanding about what his project management than what is Program Management and what is the difference between them? It's very important to understand that when I'm managing a single project, I'm looking for cost. I'm looking for capital. I'm looking for risks for this specific and single effort to reach the objective that I'm planning for that effort and why I create a program.

I create the program to have a joint effort. It's a tactical decision. So for example, I want to save money, or I want to make a big contract with one supplier that the two, not only for one single product, but it will be used that in three, four or five different projects that use maybe the same resources that use maybe the same physical area, or they have very similar suppliers, very similar risks.

So, and managing them as a program to save money, to save time and to optimize my effort. The portfolio management is a different approach. Portfolio management is when I put together programs and projects in a new, a strategic decision. For example, when a company is doing their strategic planning, they start with the mission and the high level objectives.

And then I drill down this into a balanced scorecard and into very specific objectives. And this will become projects. And I will put these projects together to create the portfolio. This is a new strategic decision is I'm not doing this to save money on human resource, our, to save money on procurement or to reduce my cost. But this is a strategic behavior. This is a strategic thinking.

So portfolio is much more strategic I put together because they have the same as strategic objectives. But in the Program when I put to Gary is a tactical decision is to save money, to optimize people. For example, this resource will work today in this project tomorrow, it will work in the, not a project. So I bought them this resource in a pool that will do this. This will be a problem with three, four or five, 10, 20 different project that will be managed as a group.

So I'm Oh, okay. I need to do, for example, resource leveling between five different products. So what I do, I leveled the resource at the Program level. Let me give you another example. Microsoft EPM solution is a solution that help us to manage project program and portfolio, and one product called Microsoft projects. And what they're looking for dear looking to take care of them.

Management a single project or a Program. So I can create a multiple projects on that and published them on. And the way I am using the project server, for example, and this project server will help me to make my texts, call decision, stop this project next week. So I can use the resource in prose that X. So let's continue doing the zip project in three weeks. This is our technical decisions, not a product that Microsoft has.

Lunch is the portfolio server, and this is a different product. And this product is looking much more at the strategic decisions. So I have an strategic objective. How can I create indicators of success? And may be success is not finish on time or finish on time. Maybe success is to reach in a portfolio management process to read my strategic objectives.

This is a completely different way of managing. So we're not thinking about it. And I think about a single project we are thinking, can you see how we can manage it in a very effective way in the project, in our portfolio, we need to think how we can make and the right decisions and put in place the right projects. I'm not thinking about finishing them on time, but I'm thinking much more about am I doing the right product?

For example, during the day, this is a very, very important topic. And a lot of companies now are reviewing their portfolio. It doesn't mean Minutes is that the projects that they are running now, I running late or a spending more money, know they need to have a strategic, the CG, one of which project there will do, and which are project that will not do. And this is the portfolio approach. So wrap up everything.

So portfolio approach is much more strategic oriented. Program approaches much more tactical oriented. And the project management is a single a fourth BMI last year, approve it a motion to change at PMI strategical plan, the meaning of the word projects and the word project. And the broader sense means that the whole concept of single project program and portfolio.

So this will bring much more Valley of what we do as a project manager. So it's not only managing a single project, but that also making a strategic decisions that the portfolio level and tactical decision at the program level. I hope this can help you in this way. Can see you next week with another five minutes PM. Podcast see you.

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