What are the most important things to learn in your first program management role?
Program management is a challenging and rewarding career that involves leading multiple projects and teams towards a common goal. As a program manager, you are responsible for defining the vision, strategy, and roadmap of your program, as well as managing the risks, dependencies, and stakeholders involved. If you are new to program management, you might be wondering what are the most important things to learn in your first role. Here are some tips to help you succeed and grow as a program manager.
One of the first things you need to learn as a program manager is how your program aligns with the organizational goals and priorities. You should be able to articulate the value proposition, the expected outcomes, and the success metrics of your program. You should also be aware of the external factors that might affect your program, such as market trends, customer feedback, and regulatory changes. By understanding the big picture, you can communicate the vision and direction of your program to your team and stakeholders, and ensure that your program delivers the desired impact.
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While understanding the big picture is important for the program execution, the first program management role also provides the opportunity to start building valuable skills required for continued success as a Program Manager, pivoting on the big picture of the program. They include ability to recognize business needs, build strong Stakeholder relationships and structure communication mechanism based on the stakeholders and the business needs. The person in the role should pay specific attention to these aspects on the first program.
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While understanding the big picture is important for the program execution, the first program management role also provides the opportunity to start building valuable skills required for continued success as a Program Manager, pivoting on the big picture of the program. They include ability to recognize business needs, build strong Stakeholder relationships and structure communication mechanism based on the stakeholders and the business needs. The person in the role should pay specific attention to these aspects on the first program.
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The first and foremost important thing in the Program Manager’s learning life cycle is planning the strategies of aligning your Program Management approach with Organisation goals. Program strategy should be developed in such a way that Program will benefit the overall objective of the Project and the Organisation business planning.
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Part of the first thing to learn in a programme management role is to focus on mastering communication and managing stakeholders. Developing strong relationships, understanding the project goals, and being flexible will lead to success. Moreover, developing a keen sense of prioritisation and problem-solving skills will be an added advantage.
Another key skill to learn as a program manager is how to build trust and collaboration among your team and stakeholders. You should establish clear roles and responsibilities, set realistic expectations, and provide regular feedback and recognition. You should also foster a culture of transparency, accountability, and learning, where everyone can share their ideas, challenges, and achievements. By building trust and collaboration, you can create a positive and productive work environment, where everyone is committed to the program's success.
A third essential skill to learn as a program manager is how to plan and execute your program effectively. You should be able to define the scope, schedule, budget, and quality standards of your program, and track and report on the progress and performance. You should also be able to identify and mitigate the risks, dependencies, and issues that might arise during the program lifecycle, and escalate them when necessary. You should also be able to adapt and adjust your plan according to the changing needs and feedback of your team and stakeholders. By planning and executing effectively, you can ensure that your program meets the objectives and delivers the results.
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Planning is a key component of Program management requiring high level view as well as a detailed view. The milestones should align with milestones of the business and related programs while the detailed timelines should align with the resourcing view, vendor deliverables and schedule estimates based on reference projects. A successful program manager balances the schedule to complete work within the required milestones, while keeping enough time to complete required activities and a sufficient buffer for the Program manager and Project managers to manage unexpected delays.
A fourth important skill to learn as a program manager is how to leverage tools and best practices to support your program management activities. You should be familiar with the tools and platforms that your organization uses to manage programs, such as project management software, collaboration tools, data analytics tools, and document management systems. You should also follow the best practices and methodologies that your organization adopts to manage programs, such as agile, waterfall, or hybrid approaches. By leveraging tools and best practices, you can streamline your workflows, improve your efficiency, and enhance your quality.
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The transition from Project Manager to Program Manager implies that you will manage from one day to another many projects at once. Thus, having a Tool to do "projects administration" becomes crucial, and the market has some very good ones. Within the selected tool, a new Program Manager needs to track in addition to Scope, Time, Budget and Quality, a new, but well known dimension, that are the legal "liabilities". Those are really easy to miss, because you are not used to follow them, and worst "you are not used to follow them in a bulk, nor the exact legal meaning of all of them". Being a Program Manager now implies to learn legal and to have a Lawyer as a best friend to be successful.
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Best practices and tools not only allow leveraging the organization's legacy and best practices, but also allow easy transfer or handover to another program manager when the need arises. Tools allow the creation of right structure and level of documentation of the scope, plan, status, risks, etc. that allow visibility and governance by management and stakeholders.
A fifth and final skill to learn as a program manager is how to learn and grow continuously from your experience and feedback. You should be open to new ideas, perspectives, and opportunities, and seek feedback from your team, stakeholders, mentors, and peers. You should also reflect on your strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement, and set goals and action plans to develop your skills and knowledge. You should also seek opportunities to expand your network, share your insights, and learn from other program managers. By learning and growing continuously, you can advance your career and become a more effective and confident program manager.
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A program manager needs to have a 365 degree learning approach - technical learning from the technical experts, strategic and business learning from stakeholders and users, software and infrastructure overviews from service providers as well as program management skills from peer program managers are some examples. Each program opportunity provides data and experience that adds to the program manager's "natural" intelligence.
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