Project Management

Project Management is widely regarded as the most efficient way of introducing unique change. Essentially, project management achieves this by:

• defining what has to be accomplished, generally in terms of time, cost, and various technical and quality performance parameters

• developing a plan to achieve these and then working this plan, ensuring that progress is maintained in line with these objectives

• using appropriate project management techniques and tools to plan, monitor and maintain progress

• employing persons skilled in project management – including normally a project manager – who are given responsibility for introducing the change and are accountable for its successful accomplishment

Project Management is the discipline of managing projects successfully. Project Management can and should be applied throughout the project lifecycle, from the earliest stages of Concept definition into Operations & Maintenance, etc. It comprises the management of all that is involved in achieving the project objectives safely and within agreed time, cost, technical, quality and other performance criteria.

Project management provides the 'single point of integrative responsibility' needed to ensure that everything on the project is managed effectively to ensure a successful project deliverable.

While projects should ideally be managed by a project manager this may not happen all the time. Whatever the title of the person, projects are most likely to be successful where someone has been clearly designated as accountable for its satisfactory accomplishment. Typically projects involve several professionals working together and the project management expertise is spread across this team.

The planning and execution of projects should be properly conducted according to an agreed methodology. Prince2 is an example of a commonly used methodology in the UK.

Programme Management

There is widespread variation in the use of the term Programme Management. It can variously cover managing any or all of the following:

• a portfolio of projects related to some common objective

• an organisation’s business strategy which is to be implemented through projects

• the interdependencies between a number of projects

• resource allocation amongst a portfolio of projects

The most common – and cogent – definition is that a programme is a collection of projects related to some extent to a common objective. This could be a major project, a new business objective, a new product development, and so on. Programme Management is the effective management of a series of connected projects. The connection may be very clear or may be rather diffuse. It is the judgment that there is a connection that is important. The products then defined for delivery in each project will then contribute to the common objective however broad it is.

Portfolio Management

Portfolio Management on the other hand, is the management of a number of projects that do not share a common objective. An operations manager of a company managing several different projects for different clients would be an example. Both Programme Managers and Portfolio Managers share similar problems of resource allocation and management.

Taken in part from the Association for Project Management 'Body of Knowledge, Fourth Edition, Edited by Miles Dixon, 2000.