How does my Project fit into the Programme?

Sept. 21, 2012 - PRLog -- How does my project fit into the programme?

Many years ago, as a Project Manager, I would often find myself managing projects that were 'part of a programme'. I could manage a project effectively, so long as I was clear on what was required (the output/product) and the constraints (e.g. time and cost). And I had enough on my plate, without worrying about how my project fitted into the programme. There were other projects going on – some of which were related to mine - that I would be made aware of if I was lucky, and people in my project team would often ask me about the ‘bigger picture’ - but I was unable to enlighten them as I was unclear myself. We were working within an IT Division, and it was quite common for us to be unclear about business objectives and how our projects contributed to them.

So what is wrong with this situation, you may ask? As long as we delivered the product as required, within the constraints, everyone was happy, or so it seemed, with another ‘successful’ project. But was it the right project, and did it create the right output? In many cases the answer was ‘NO’. Many project outputs were never used, or were withdrawn from operations or replaced within a few months. Apart from being very disheartening for the project teams involved, this made very little business sense, and this was the frustrating thing for me as a Project Manager.

At the programme-level (i.e. above me) decisions were being made about what was required from each project and a schedule for their delivery, but you can only make the right decisions if you have the right information, and the two pieces of programme-level information that were missing in this case is what Best Practice guidance calls a Vision Statement and a Blueprint.

The Best Practice Guide - Managing Successful Programmes (MSP®) describes the Vision Statement as a 'picture of a better future', which includes

# The future state of the business area to be changed.
# A description of the outcomes required.
# And an outline of the business benefits that will be realised.

This is critical for motivation and buy-in, but also enables the development of the Blueprint.

An MSP® Blueprint models the relevant business area(s) as they are now and as they need to be in the future. This enables

# Identification of a set of projects that will deliver the future state as described in the Blueprint.
# Ensuring that all the projects - and more importantly, their outputs – will fit together and deliver what the programme needs, no more and no less.

If these fundamental MSP® documents and disciplines were in place all those years ago, we would have

# Been more likely to run the right projects.
# Delivered the right outputs.
# Enabled the desired business changes to achieve the vision.
# Wasted less time and money.
# Involved and motivated stakeholders.

Maybe, as a Project Manager in the past, I could not have made this happen, but as a Programme Manager now, I have no excuses!


SPOCE (www.spoce.com) provides MSP® Programme Management training (Instructor lead classroom training, eLearning and Blended Learning).


About SPOCE:  SPOCE Project Management Limited is a professional company, operating in the OGC Best Practice Markets (PRINCE2, MSP, ITIL, APMP, MoP, MoV, P3O & M_o_R). The company’s strategy is to maintain an efficient, professional, administrative core, backed up by three key specialist units that provide technical excellence on: the OGC Best Practice methods; instructor-led training and e-learning solutions; and individual learning styles and e-leaning solutions. This ensures that the highest quality is achieved when the outputs are delivered by our proficient group of independent trainers and APMG-accredited distance-learning products.


Accredited Training Organisation for Project and Programme Management Best Practices such as PRINCE2, MSP, M_o_R, APM, ITIL, P3O, MoV, MoP, DSDM, etc

Delivery Methods: Instructor-led classroom, accredited eLearning, Blended learning, Bespoke on-site