While the Project Manager Standards were going through the review and acceptance process, development of Program Manager standards was begun as a parallel stream of work.  A first step in development of performance based standards is research and review of available and relevant material.  In doing this for Project Manager standards there were many resources to draw upon.  This was not the case for Program Manager standards as the whole concept of Program Management is relatively emergent. At time of commencement of this stream of work, in September 2005, the Project Management Institute had released exposure drafts of standards for Program and Portfolio Management. Japan’s P2M: A Guidebook for Project and Program Management for Enterprise Innovation [1] was available and was the first ‘standard’ to devote considerable attention to the concept of programs and strategy.

To provide a sound basis for their work on Program Manager standards, the GAPPS were fortunate in being able to draw on research being conducted by Professor Alan Stretton through his association with the PM Research Group at the University of Technology, Sydney and presented in a Working Paper that was first prepared in September 2005, then updated as his research progressed, in January and May 2006 [2].  In addition to this, for Working Session No 7, held in the UK, a number of researchers who had contributed to the written work on program management, were invited to attend the session.  Ralph Levene (UK)[3] and Erik van den Broeke (Belgium) [4] attended the session and Sergio Pellegrinelli [5], although unable to attend, offered to review and contribute to the discussion.  In developing performance based standards it is important to define the role for which they are being developed.  Defining the Project Manager role proved a significant challenge which was met by use of the CIFTER Table for categorising the management complexity of the context of projects.  Defining the Program Manager role also proved extremely difficult.  A working definition, based on review of the material provided by Alan Stretton, was developed as follows: “The role of the Program Manager is integrated management of component projects and resources to achieve organisational strategies and business benefits.” 

References

[1]   ENAA  P2M:  A guidebook of project & program management for enterprise innovation:  Summary translation.  Revision 1,  Japan:  Project Management Professionals Certification Center (PMCC), 2002.
[2]   Stretton, A.  Projects, Programs, Portfolios and Strategic Objectives,  Sydney:  Draft Working Paper, 2005.
[3]   Levene, R.J. and Braganza, A. Controlling the work scope in organisational transformation: A programme management approach.  International Journal of Project Management  1996;  14 (6):331-340.
[4]   Van Den Broecke, E. Realising strategy in turbulent environments:  a role for programme and portfolio management; In:  5th International Project and Programme Management Workshop,  Lille, France:  ESC Lille, 2005.
[5]   Pellegrinelli, S. Programme Management:  Organising Project-Based Change.  International Journal of Project Management  1997;  15 (3):141-149.