A02 – Appoint the program manager

This is a draft of the manual for review. If you have any comments, please email them to info@omimo.org. Please check back for the final version.

What

Next, the sponsor discusses the program with potential program managers, and comes to an agreement with one of them. It’s important to have a program manager who believes in the objectives and constraints of the program.

Why

Each program has a centralized, high-level coordination system for the projects underneath it. The program manager is in the center of this centralized coordination.

Removing the coordination function from a program would defeat the purpose; the only alternatives are having multiple program managers or splitting the function among all or many of the team members. Having more than one program manager in a single program would cause accountability problems. Distributing the coordination function among team members can be an option in small projects; for example, that’s how micro.P3.express works. However, it’s not an effective option for larger projects or for the high level of complication inherent in programs.

Who

The program manager has a great impact on the success of the program, and the sponsor is responsible for the success of the program, so the sponsor should have the authority to select the program manager. If someone else were to involve themselves in selecting the program manager, the authority of the sponsor would be undermined, and the chances of success are lower for a program with a weak sponsor.

How

Usually, each sponsor trusts a few program managers in the organization most and knows who to go to for each type of program. They may also know a few freelancer program managers that they have worked with before and can hire for their new program. Remember that knowing who to go to for any concern or problem is a sign of strong leadership, as defined in the Leader’s Behavior Compass.

When there’s no one with experience as a program manager, someone with enough experience as a project manager might be able to fulfill the role well. While program management and project management have common aspects, they differ a lot in how the manager’s attention should be divided. On average, programs are more abstract, exploratory, and strategic than projects and require stronger stakeholder management than projects. In general, it’s a good idea for the relatively experienced project managers to start managing small and simple programs first before moving to sensitive programs. Regardless of that, project management experience is necessary for program managers because it makes their expectations of the underlying projects more realistic.

A program manager must be an expert in coordination, facilitation, conflict resolution, and other leadership skills as well as the program management method (in our case, P4.express). Expertise in the subject of the program (e.g., technical aspects) is not necessary.

In small programs, the program manager can become the manager of the projects that will be defined under it. However, when possible, it’s better to have other people as project managers, working under the supervision of the program manager, so that the program manager can focus on the program. The project managers will not be appointed during Program Initiation because you can’t be sure which projects will be needed during initiation. Instead, they will be appointed when a new project is defined during the Monthly Initiation of the program.

The same person should not hold both the sponsor and the program manager roles because they may subconsciously focus on the program management activities and forget about the abstract responsibilities of a sponsor.

In large and complicated programs, the program manager may need help in managing the program. In such cases, a team can be formed in this activity or during the Monthly Initiations.

The program manager should be careful and not consider themself as the boss of the solution ideation team or the team of project managers working under the program, but rather as a facilitator and enabler. Being a micromanager is also very harmful to the role.