Advancing Program Management: Practices for Delivering Business Value

Advancing Program Management is designed to assist managers to put in place the essential elements of a Program Management approach that will ensure their project investments deliver the planned business value. This will include appropriate Governance, selecting Program Managers with the applicable skills, and a suitable Program Framework that include a fit for purpose life-cycle with useful tools and techniques that focus on value delivery.

Program Management involves moving beyond the delivery focus of project management and effectively coordinating the related projects required to deliver business outcomes. This approach will ensure that both the necessary business change is planned and managed, and the resulting business outcomes and benefits are also planned and achieved for all of the projects in the program.

Program Management moves beyond the decomposition mindset to a systems approach that understands the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and that the successful program manager is not a micromanager of project managers but a person who understands the whole picture and how deliverables, intermediate and final outcomes combine to produce business value. It deals with the inherent messiness of the organizations in which we operate and seek to achieve beneficial results.

Harold Ainsworth has held senior management positions in significant project service organizations involving oversight of large complex projects. In addition, he has been responsible for organization change management initiatives. He has considerable experience as a consultant and an educator in portfolio, program and project management in Australia and South East Asia.

His current consulting work is in helping organizations achieve sustainable value from their strategic investments through effective Governance, and the practices of portfolio, program and project management.

Harold holds post-graduate qualifications in management, is a member of four professional organizations and teaches at two Australian Universities in their graduate Project Management Programs.

The author considers himself fortunate to have experienced a wide ranging career and gratified to be able to offer insights based on his deep expertise. He finds particular satisfaction in assisting others as they navigate the changing world of managing projects and programs.