Project v Programme Management

What Is The Difference Between Project Versus Programme Management?

While many people use these terms (erroneously) interchangeably there is a clear distinction between the two.

Project Management

Projects are specific pieces of work:

that are finite in nature,
that have a specific scope,
that have a clear budget and timeline,
where the focus of delivery is very much task orientated.

Project Management is the management of such finite pieces of work.

Programme Management

A Programme usually comprises a set of projects. Programme Management involves the coordination of all the relevant projects to ensure that a set of strategic benefits are met. This usually involves:

distilling strategic requirements into a high level roadmap,
maintaining the high-level road map that connects the various projects on a clear path to benefit delivery,
managing the project managers,
liaising with and balancing the interests of all internal and external stakeholders.

Programme Management is soft skills focused rather than task focused.

A Simple Analogy

Imagine a bus company delivering a bus service for a large city...

The bus company will have numerous buses that head out each day to deliver a transport service to the city. Each bus driver is the equivalent of a project manager. They are responsible for driving their bus (the project), following a route (the project plan), making a number of stops by a certain time en route (project milestones), and returning the bus to the station by a certain time (project completion).

Busses don’t just leave randomly on their route. Chaos would ensue. Instead there is a central service manager who plans when the busses leave and what route they will take to deliver an efficient service to the city.

This manager will liaise regularly with support services (like the traffic police) and road maintenance companies to understand the impact of any disruptions to bus services and then reschedule services accordingly. They will liaise with local public bodies (like councils), other interest and pressure groups (like commuter groups and environment groups) to balance their requests, concerns and issues with those of the company investors and other key stakeholders to ensure that a cost-effective, efficient and profitable bus service is delivered to the city. The central service manager is the equivalent of a Programme Manager. They will combine a set of soft skills and some hard skills to ensure that a number of projects are delivered on time and a set of desired benefits are achieved for the business and all key stakeholders.