Is Project and Program Management the Same?

The simple answer is no.  As with many words and ideas, these were designed to be distinctly different.  However, because of the way we “upgrade” words, the meaning has become lost.  I blame so called political correctness.

Political correctness changed many things.  I recently saw a video from some college student from Purdue where they have a new writing guide that bans any word with “man” in it because they feel the word is offensive.  This includes words like “manmade” or even “mankind.”  Really?  This is why companies are suppliers now because vendors sell hot dogs and admins have become project managers even though they are not certified or even close.  I think it insults the rest of us, but that is a different conversation.

So, here’s the deal.  A project manager manages a project.  Imagine that.  A project is a unique effort with a finite beginning and a finite end.  Your job is to work yourself out of a job and move on to the next job.  Should seem pretty simple, right?

On the other hand, a program is interrelated projects.  This can happen in one of two ways.  The first is a series of end-to-end projects.  Think about a notebook computer for example.  The first project creates the original notebook and then there are endless projects to handle end-of-life component issues like new processors, chipsets, and hard drives.  These projects are all meant to keep your product alive, obviously.

The second form of a program is interrelated concurrently running projects.  Think of this as a jumbo commercial jet.  In this case, there would be projects for avionics, airframe, and power plant (e.g. engines) and more.  Hell, even the shitter would probably be a project, not to mention interior design.

So, where the project manager delivers one project and moves on, the program manager is married to the effort and must manage multiple projects to keep his product breathing or in the case directly above must manage multiple project managers and projects to literally have his program flying.  This can become far more complex than merely project management.  However, as I have already stated, the use of the English language has really confused the meaning of program either by lack of knowledge, political correctness, or both.

Lastly, I guess this wouldn’t be a very good conversation about terms if I didn’t discuss the Project/Program Management Office (PMO) Manager.  This is the chief dude that is the interface between the true operators that get something done and management.  He is the interface between where the rubber meets the road and Governance.  The coach and referee that keeps you in line with how you should do what you are doing.

Well, that’s basically it.  This is what these titles truly mean and how they should be used.  Why and how they got confused really doesn’t matter.  Whether it was from lack of management of the English language, political correctness, or just not knowing, they did get lost though and if you are a professional in the field of project management, or wanting to be, then you should understand what these roles really are.  I hope that once again this post has been helpful for you and I encourage you to keep learning.

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