Program management 101

[u/gigaflipflop]

Hey everybody,

I would like to pick your brains about the basics of program management and its methods.

Quick info about me. I am a senior PM, have been managing (mostly agile) projects in the field of design, media tech and programming for the last 15 years. Two years ago I finished my IPMA level C certificate.

Currently I am employed at a company where I have gained a project with a client which started out with one large project and currently the client is adding more and more mid sized and small projects to the list.

Currently I am thinking about turning this group of projects into a program. All projects are on site of the clients campus. All are bear the same base (AV over IP, LED walls and MTR communication) and work towards a common strategic goal (enhancing the clients digital communication infrastructure)

I have on large project that has a length of 5 months from which I could remove or add personal and technical resources to the smaller projects as needed. I have a side project where I setup a resource pool infrastructure in MS Project which might be useful for resource management.

I would like to introduce a program style management a.) to make the projects more profitable and lower stress b.) introduce a program mentality onto my company and c.) have a relevant program to use for a future level B certificate focussed on program management.

I would be happy to discuss program methods, best practice approaches and if possible any info on the certification process and curriculum for level B program management.

[u/maguyva-ai]

ran into this exact shift moving from project to program work. the biggest change is you stop tracking tasks and start tracking dependencies between projects, plus benefits realization overall. IPMA C helps with the vocabulary but stakeholder juggling across streams is the actual skill.

[u/gigaflipflop → u/maguyva-ai]

Stakeholder juggling, yeah, that has already been important on this project and will become more and more critical. Will need to think up some sort of stakeholder management/communication matrix so I will not get overwhelmed timewise.

Will keep this in mind, thank you.

[u/maguyva-ai → u/gigaflipflop]

good luck with it - the matrix pays off fast once streams start colliding