
They can help all individuals and teams working on a program make better decisions.įinally, program managers focus on the strategic questions of “How?” and “When?’ to help improve the decision-making processes for everyone that works on each of the interconnected projects. Program Managers can bring those teams together as soon as possible to discuss the budget setback. They’ll also often be first to know when a company budget issue might affect several departments working on the same program. For example:ĭuring the product development process, the program managers will know the right time to strategically bring together the marketing, sales, and product teams to discuss the best way to handle the launch. They can improve the entire cross-functional team’s communication and coordination.ĭue to their strategic eye on all of the major initiatives across the company, program managers serve as valuable communication hubs for cross-functional teams.


Also, if a dev team completes another initiative sooner than expected or hires more people than planned, a program manager can alert a product manager that new resources might be available to speed the development of their products. Program managers can show them the broader organizational context of their available development resources. Similarly, a program manager can set realistic expectations for product managers during their products’ development. As such, they can help protect the development team from being overloaded with work or given unreasonable deadlines. They monitor the requirements and progress of not just one strategic initiative but all of them. Program managers have an organization-wide view. Program managers also help other teams across the organization, however. Program managers provide project managers with strategic guidance that a project manager might not be able to see when focused on just a single project. How Do Program Managers Help Other Members of the Organization?

Then each individual project that falls under a program’s umbrella is coordinated by a project manager. The program manager’s job is to take a high-level view of the entire program, and strategically guide project managers to ensure they are all working effectively toward the program’s objective. This initiative could include: launching a product, implementing a new sales process, or opening a new location. In an organizational context, a program refers to a group of related projects (or a combination of projects and programs) that together support a strategic business initiative. To understand what a program manager’s role entails, we first need to define what we mean by “program”.

Facilitating communication among a program’s cross-functional team.Providing strategic guidance to the company’s project managers.Coordinating multiple projects and reconciling the interdependencies among them.
PROGRAM MANAGER PROFESSIONAL
Definition: A program manager is a strategic project-management professional whose job is to help oversee and coordinate the various projects, products, and other strategic initiatives across an organization.
