Sie sind Programmmanager. Wie können Sie Ihre Projekte effektiver managen?

💡One thing I've found helpful is ensuring program scope precision to align with organizational goals effectively. 🔍 Scope Clarity Define clear boundaries and objectives for your program to avoid scope creep and ensure alignment with strategic goals. 📈 Risk Assessment Identify potential risks and benefits early in the program to develop mitigation strategies and capitalize on opportunities. 🎯 Strategic Alignment Ensure your program's goals are in sync with the broader organizational objectives for enhanced coherence and support. 👉 Crafting a detailed program scope is vital for aligning teams, mitigating risks, and ensuring strategic cohesion.

As a program manager, effective project management involves clear communication, strategic planning, and stakeholder engagement. Utilize tools like Gantt charts for visual timelines, conduct regular team meetings to ensure alignment, and employ agile methodologies for adaptability. For example, implement daily stand-ups to address obstacles swiftly, fostering a collaborative environment that enhances project efficiency and success.

1. Clearly define project goals/objectives at the beginning of project and make sure that day to day activities of project team members are aligned to achieve them. 2. Identify stakeholders at the beginning of the project so that they are onboarded and clearly define their roles and responsibilities for success of the project. 3. Encourage and establish communication among all the teams to share best practices and learn lessons from other projects.

The following needs to be done religiously: 1. Define the scope & boundaries of the program, get sign-off from stakeholders 2. Define expected outcome and get sign-off from stakeholders 3. Manage a RISK register at program level which is accessible to all the stakeholders (including yours as well as customer's). Each RISK needs to be marked with the Criticality with probable mitigation 4. Define Communication Matrix with proper R&R defined. Regular progress updates to everyone in the program 5. Budget register needs to be maintained with help of PMO who will track all the expenses and spending of the budget

This is probably the most crucial step in getting the program lifted from the ground. This is what sets programs apart from a collection of projects. Structuring your projects helps visualize your program's components, the prioritization stack rank within the program, and how various components (i.e., the different projects) will interact. It also sets the right expectations of outcomes and periodic communication from the program team. In my past experience in setting up a M&A program, I had constructed a set of 7 projects under a single umbrella to deliver an acquisition integration. The governance structure defined how and when these projects will run and complete.

By launching a Governance Gamification effort, I introduced a fresh perspective on program governance. We built a digital platform that mimicked real life program governance scenarios in order to get stakeholders and team members involved in learning about governance processes. In this gamified experience, users could practise dispute resolution in a safe virtual setting, learn about escalation procedures, and go through several decision-making situations.

Establishing program governance in your team's Ways of Working helps with standardizing the process and establishing norms. Rather than creating a net new process every time, having a defined framework for project governance allows for replication without loss of standards. This also supports automation of the process, speeding things up, and allows for automated workflows to be designed that take people through all of the required steps of your governance.

In my experience it can be useful to connect the program governance with business as usual governance so it can be sustained for the long-term and has a more direct connection to business planning and strategic updates.

The foundation for effective governance: Establish the overall plan and objectives by defining intermediate milestones Create a set of basic processes for governance. Having the necessary tools can help you make progress. Report on progress, issues, alerts, and solutions on a regular basis.

In my experience roadmap is essential to the effective coordination of cross-functional teams around a common goal, and for gaining approval from leadership, partners, and customers. The Program roadmap provides a birds-eye view to the senior management and provides a clear overview of program tasks and milestones and helps the program manager define a long-term plan. The program roadmap can be a valuable tool for assessing the program’s progress toward achieving its expected benefits. A roadmap is an effective way to build and maintain advocacy. In my opinion roadmap ties together your strategy (the “why”), the actions that you need to take to achieve your goals (the “what”), and a timeline for completion (the “when”).

The success of program managers hinges on the effectiveness of project managers and support from key stakeholders. Failing to empower project managers with the necessary tools and resources may lead to micromanagement or assuming a senior project manager role. Consistent communication and alignment of program vision and strategy with project managers are essential to prevent strategic misalignment, which can jeopardize the success of the entire program.

To manage projects more effectively, start by defining clear objectives and breaking down the project into manageable tasks with specific deadlines. Utilize project management tools if needed to organize tasks and monitor progress. Effective communication is crucial, so establish regular updates and clear channels for team members and stakeholders. Engage staff for feedback and manage their expectations by setting realistic timelines. Prioritize tasks to focus on high-impact activities and conduct post-project reviews to identify areas for improvement, ensuring continuous enhancement of your project management approach.

By adding an interactive visualisation tool, my team's Program Manager made the program roadmap more engaging and participatory. By using this tool, stakeholders could interact with the roadmap in real time and dynamically examine project details, milestones, and dependencies. Stakeholders could monitor individual projects in real time, see how changes will affect the program schedule as a whole, and more with this interactive method.

Specify the baseline for the program that will remain constant during execution. The baseline is the basis for monitoring program anomalies and recommending when and where adjustments should be made.

Whatever is the way you decide to follow the performance you need to take into consideration the timing, what I mean is that we do nothing monitoring performance and having great KPIs for it, if we do not have the chance to correct any deviation we observe in the expected deliveries. So when thinking on ways to monitor perfomance and progress keep in mind that you do so to be able to manage those possible deviations.

Defining KPIs that align with the projects' objectives are one of the keys to monitor program performance. KPIs can include metrics such as- project completion time, budget adherence, quality of deliverables, and customer satisfaction. Also, breaking down the project into smaller milestones provides a more granular view of progress & allows for early detection of any issues that may arise. Regular reporting system that highlight key achievements, challenges & upcoming milestones should be reviewed with stakeholders too. Most importantly, keeping track of how resources including time and budget are being utilized can help in identifying any resource constraints or areas where adjustments may be needed to ensure optimal performance.

I am going to be a little tactical here, talking details. There are various schemes of planning and measurement to pick from: Gantt Charts, Kanban Boards, Scrum Burndowns, etc. besides the good old fashioned % completion on your program plan. Similarly, a bunch of tools you can achieve this - some examples: - Asana (Offers task assignments, timelines) - Trello: Utilizes boards and cards for tracking progress - Monday.com: Allows visual project tracking. - JIRA: Offers an agile-first view of projects/programs

Setting out measurable indicators and identifying appropriate tools can help program managers monitor progress against Outcomes, Outputs and Indicators. It is important to communicate this with the Implementation team as it helps them know what to measure, when to measure and how they will measure.

Baseline, milestones, and tracking tools can be utilized to create a reporting system that monitors program performance. The reports can help identify exceptions if the Governance program is built properly.

In my opinion, the program manager should collaborate with project managers to build an environment of mutual respect, trust, and empathy. They should encourage open communication and should work closely with the project managers to define the project governance framework & and manage interdependencies between projects within the program. Program managers should Integrate project management plans to maintain alignment with program direction and adapt components to meet changing strategic objectives. Whenever there is a new component gets approved the program manager should review and redefine the priorities of existing program components to ensure optimal resource allocation and management of interdependencies.

As tied up in Section #2 above, if your program has a well-defined governance structure, you will have a team of project managers functionally rolling up under your program. You will serve as an escalation point for the external stakeholders as well as an Steering Committee for among the projects. These are your ears on the ground and will bring you early warnings as things start to go wrong. Program's success ultimately depends on the these individual projects delivering and being successful. Not only professionally but also on a personal level, collaborating and periodically checking in with your project team wins you loyalty and trust. You may pick a mix of right tools to collaborate with your team - online / in person, etc.

Collaborating with Project team plays a crucial role in the project and Program success. It is necessary to provide the bigger picture of the Program to the Project team as well, by sharing the clear goals and objectives, making them understand the purpose and the benefits program is trying to deliver and acquire their commitments towards it. Transparency and open communication will enable the teams to share their views and idea which enable more perspectives to drive wise decision. Should use the available tools with the organization to push, pull or interactive communications.

To manage programs more effectively as a program manager, collaborate closely with your project managers (PMs) while keeping a strategic focus. Empower PMs to handle day-to-day operations, enabling you to concentrate on the program's broader goals. Maintain regular communication with PMs through check-ins to discuss progress and challenges, ensuring projects align with overarching objectives. Foster a culture of collaboration, encouraging PMs to share insights and solutions. Oversee resource allocation wisely to support each project's needs without straining resources. By balancing strategic oversight with empowering your PMs, you create a synergistic environment that enhances efficiency and drives the success of the entire program.

The program should resemble the vegetables in a sandwich. It has to properly communicate on different levels: The to managemnt and the operative projects. An open door approach is necessary to collect data from the bottom and analyze/summarize it to the top. In doing the analysis the program exceptions must be governed.

In my opinion, It's important to understand that program outcomes differ from project outputs. When we talk about outcomes, they should be specific and have measurable impacts on a program. These impacts should be aligned organization's strategic goals and objectives and can be either quantitative or qualitative. In program management, for long-lasting outcomes, monitoring is done through ongoing tracking using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Program Reports and dashboards show progress against these indicators. Regular reviews and ongoing communication with stakeholders help evaluate the continued relevance of outcomes.

Being a program manager is like captaining a ship. Effectively manage projects by reviewing and evaluating program outcomes. Regularly assess project milestones, successes, and challenges. This review becomes your navigation log, helping you steer the program in the right direction. Like a captain checking their ship's progress, reviewing and evaluating outcomes ensures your program stays on track. It provides insights for adjustments, making your role more effective and steering projects toward success, much like a skilled captain ensuring a smooth and successful voyage through the vast sea of project management.

The core activities of the program should include: Analyse exceptions Evaluate execution deliverables against the baseline. Maintain a repository of information about processes and their implementation. Make sure to register any improvements. Carry out the lessons learning sessions.

Stakeholder Management - Another very important area to be intentional about is Stakeholder management. As a Program Manager, you need to be constantly engaging and aligning with your stakeholders on your various programs and portfolios you looking after. Make sure they are aligned with progress, risks, issues and any major blockers requiring intervention and any big key decisions to be made.

Taking stock of outcomes at the end of your program is crucial. Comparing the results with your initial objectives and success criteria to gauge your program's impact is as vital as the program itself. Engage with project managers, sponsors, and stakeholders to gather feedback on performance and satisfaction. This collaboration enriches your understanding, supports comprehensive evaluations, and prepares you for future programs. Document your findings, achievements, and challenges in a closure report. Conduct a retrospective or lessons learned session to uncover the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats faced by your program. These insights are invaluable for refining future initiatives and fostering continuous improvement.

Define Clear Objectives Clearly articulate the project's goals, objectives, and expected outcomes. Ensure everyone on the team understands the project's purpose. Create a Detailed Plan Develop a comprehensive project plan that includes tasks, timelines, milestones, and dependencies. Use project management tools to organize and track progress. Communication is Key Establish open and transparent communication channels within the team. Regularly update stakeholders on progress, changes, and challenges. Foster a collaborative environment for effective information exchange.

Ensure all stakeholders are aligned at the beginning: 1. What do you see as the business outcomes the programme needs to achieve? 2. What input do you think you/your team will need to provide? 3. To what timescales? 4. Is that feasible, given your other workload? Communicate frequently and well, tailoring the comms to the audience. The Board may want a PowerPoint but end users want a Q & A session. Provide adequate training. Put in place ongoing support in BAU. Above all, remember that Change & Transformation is about People and Processes; the tech is an enabler. It's not enough to implement the tech and just pay lip service to the other elements.

Yes Projects are managed efficiently by good program managers, but to manage it effectively the PMs also understand and formally document the Success Criteria of the Project. The PM discusses with Project Sponsor and Key Steering Committee Members and documents it - utilizes it during CFT Meetings and Project Reviews. The success criteria acts as a guiding compass while doing decision-making during the course of the project, and keeps the Project Stakeholders aligned. Success criteria is more than the Project Metrics and precedes them. Metrics indicate the health of Project/Program in the chosen direction, but the direction is set by the Success Criteria.

Define clear project goals and objectives. Develop a detailed project plan with milestones. Assign responsibilities based on team members' strengths. Communicate regularly and transparently with the team. Monitor progress against the plan and adjust as needed. Anticipate and address potential risks proactively. Foster a collaborative and positive team culture. Use project management tools for organization and tracking. Encourage feedback and continuous improvement. Celebrate successes and learn from challenges.