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Unit 4: Programme Management & Project Evaluation

Notes
Figure 4.1: Sample Program Governance Structure

Figure 4.1 also show a typical program management structure, which is more complex than that
of a project. Creating this structure engage defining specific roles with specific decision-making
authority, and making clear to all who “owns” certain program functions.
Good governance is dangerous to program success. A poorly articulated management structure,
overlapping roles and decision-making authority, and roles filled by the wrong people (or not
filled at all) can prevent a program from achieving persistent momentum or bog it down with
endless attempts to achieve consensus on every decision.

Management

Project management is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of corporation
resources for a comparatively short-term purpose. It is clear from this description that project
management is concerned with the dynamic allocation, utilization, and direction of resources
(both human and technical), with time — in relation to both individual efforts and product
delivery schedule — and with costs, relating to both the acquisition and consumption of funding.
As a corollary, it is safe to say that without the direction project management give, work would
have to go on via a series of negotiations, and/or it would not align with the goals, value
proposition, or needs of the enterprise.

Within a program, these same errands (i.e., allocation, utilization, and direction) are allocated to
people at three levels in the management hierarchy; the higher the level, the more common the
responsibilities. For example, at the bottom of the management hierarchy, project managers are
assigned to the different projects within the overall program. Each manager carries out the
management responsibilities we described above.

At the core or middle of the hierarchy is the program manager/director, 2 whose major
responsibility is to ensure that the work effort attains the outcome specified in the business and
IT strategies. This involves setting and reviewing objectives, coordinating activities across
projects, and controlling the integration and reuse of interim work products and results. This
person spends more time and effort on integration activities, negotiating changes in plans, and

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