Difference between Programme and Project Management
According to Project Management Institute (PMI), “A Program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually. Programs may include elements of related work outside of the scope of the discreet projects in the program… Some projects within a program can deliver useful incremental benefits to the organisation before the program itself has completed.”
Programs are concerned with delivering a capability to change. Only when that capability is transferred to the line management and utilised by the host organisation will the benefits actually be delivered. Therefore a program team cannot, on their own, deliver benefits. Benefits can only be delivered through the utilisation of a new capability.
Programs are normally designed to deliver the organisation’s strategy, such as an ambition to be the fourth biggest supermarket in a region by 2015 or reduce wastage by 5% in two year’s time.