Project or Program Management? A Guide for Businesses
Highlights
When working with a business consultant, it’s helpful to know whether you primarily need a project or program manager.
There is a lot of commonality in both disciplines, but also important distinctions that will impact when, why, and how you want to use one or the other.
This blog post provides an overview of Prime 8’s project and program management services as well as detailed examples of both services in action.
At Prime 8, we handle a wide range of consulting assignments — from individual projects that clients need completed in weeks or even days to ongoing program management services that can extend for months and often years.
While there is a great deal of commonality across all our engagements — most require some level of operational assessment, performance measurement, technology implementation, risk mitigation and stakeholder training/skills transfer — there are differences in our approach based on whether the need is primarily for project or program management.
Which business consultation approach is best for you? To provide more insight into how we work with clients, we’ll explore our project vs. program management services in more detail.
Let’s start with a quick overview.
Overview of Prime 8 Project and Program Management Services
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Through our Project Management services, Prime 8 plans, manages, and executes specific undertakings, usually to meet a fixed schedule. In these assignments, a strategy has typically already been articulated, and our responsibility is to complete one or more tactical executions in accordance with that strategy.
Clients are not primarily looking for us to “reinvent the wheel” — they have a project that needs to get done. We are there to make that happen on time and on budget while adhering to the highest standards for quality. In most cases, the primary stakeholder we engage with is an internal project manager.
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
In situations where we provide Program Management services, the context is usually very different. We are typically dealing with more of a blank slate or greenfield situation that may include setting strategy, developing messaging, addressing organizational issues as well as executing various projects.
While timeline and budget are important, they don’t define the scope of services to the degree that they do in project management. Programs are typically ongoing and may consist of multiple interdependent projects and activities. We are likely engaging with a range of stakeholders, including executive leadership.
VALUE, SCOPE AND IMPACT
To further understand how you might take advantage of our project or program management services, it’s worthwhile to look at them across the spectrum of value, scope, and impact.
Value: Both program and project management services are critical — one is not more important than the other, and they often complement one another. When undertaking a specific project, we often uncover more systemic challenges that can be addressed at a later time through a more programmatic approach. And when providing program management services, we often discover that an organization is short on key project management resources or skills.
Scope: The scope of both project and program management assignments can vary widely. A project management assignment might involve just one discrete project or several that are related. On the other hand, program management services typically involve managing multiple related projects but could involve none at all. Our assignment may be to do analysis, strategy, and planning, and then turn over a blueprint to internal teams for execution.
Impact: Finally, in what is often a major distinction, program management services often have a broader impact on an organization, as the issues being addressed may impact a range of underlying processes — such as organizational hierarchies, supply chains, quality management, stakeholder communications, continuous improvement, and sustainability initiatives.
Project Management in Action: Digitization at The King Center
A good example of a classic project management assignment is the work Prime 8 completed organizing and digitizing historical artifacts for the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change (“The King Center”) in Atlanta.
Established in 1968, the King Center is undergoing a major transformation that includes a state-of-the-art renovation of its Atlanta campus and the launch of a range of digital initiatives. Prime 8 was engaged to undertake the digitization of the center’s archives — the thousands of one-of-a-kind historical artifacts that help tell the story of the Civil Rights era.
The work our consultants contributed to the project included:
Digitization: Using digital asset management capabilities in the Microsoft Azure cloud, Prime 8 cataloged and digitized the collection of artifacts with accurate and high-quality reproductions.
Timeline creation: We also helped create the King Center Timeline as a tribute to the extensive contributions of Coretta Scott King. This included developing a companion guide for educators that was implemented using Microsoft’s Flip platform and OneNote.
#DearCoretta initiative: Prime 8 also worked with a team from Microsoft to develop the #DearCoretta initiative, including a short film and a social media campaign.
All in all, our engagement with the King Center was an extensive project but one which occupied a defined space within the overall plans for the King Center transformation and had clearly defined goals and objectives right from the start.
Program Management in Action: Transitioning to the Cloud Market
A great example of our program management services in action is the work we did with a leading technology company that needed to transition from providing software-based solutions to cloud services. The company needed a complete rethinking of its marketing efforts on both a strategic and tactical level. Their goals included:
Redefining their target markets — determining which customers were most valuable
Finding ways to increase the velocity and number of deals
Ensuring customer satisfaction
Making smart decisions on resource allocation
Prime 8 conducted an in-depth assessment of the cloud-based offerings, analyzed the market and competitive environment, assessed data across sales engagements, and conducted extensive interviews with key stakeholders inside and outside the company — all to support a top-to-bottom rethinking of the entire sales and marketing effort.
Here are some specifics of the solution we architected:
Developed new program features and offers
Implemented new technology-based capabilities to support better program coordination and automate internal processes
Overhauled stakeholder communications
Implemented new training and collaboration with the field
Designed an innovative spend analysis methodology
Deployed and monitored bi-annual program CSAT studies
Our assignment did not end with a specific program rollout. Instead, as we introduced new aspects of the program, we did continuous analysis of what was working and what was not. Data became our best friend and helped us to implement the key agile principle of “failing fast,” allowing us to iterate on operational processes until we achieved the efficiency and effectiveness we wanted to see.
Project vs. Program Management: Making the Right Choice
There are no hard and fast rules about choosing between project or program management services.
The table below gives a quick summary of the differences between the two.
If your organization has singular, short-term initiatives that require dedicated oversight, a Project Manager may be your best bet.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to navigate complex, large-scale initiatives that span multiple departments or geographies, then you will likely be better off with a Program Manager.
Still Not Sure What You Need? Talk to Us!
At Prime 8, we offer both Program and Project Management services and can help you assess your needs to determine the best course of action. Trust us to guide you through the complexities and deliver world-class results. Let’s talk!
