hello my friends it's your buddy Phil today we're going to talk about this topic here called program management the reason why program management is becoming more and more prevalent in the PPP space portfolio program and project space is we now have the need for more program managers than ever before because as companies undertake bigger goals that have interrelated projects there needs to be that oversight at a higher level to obtain benefits and control from the individual projects and Collective making the program that we wouldn't get if we didn't manage it as a program so let me take you back in time for those who have forgotten a program is a collection of interrelated projects I'll give you a very simple example project one is a software project project two is a hardware project and project three is the integration project these together make the program without any of these the program will not achieve the benefits for example if you have the hardware but not the integration or the software what good is Hardware without software even if you have software and Hardware but there's no integration you will not be able to achieve the output the full benefit of that program and this is just one example okay another example of a program could be a program for customer X customer X has engaged with your firm to do business and there are three projects that customer X has authorized but they're all interrelated because they share resources think about that resources are a common thing across these not only do they share resources you also have the concept of the budget it is very possible that the budget is spread across these three in such a way that you as a program manager needs to know how to allocate the apportioned budget to get these done so you need to be thinking strategically now on a lot of programs this may have already been done by the portfolio level people some other individuals may help with this so it may not all be on the program manager but when it comes to budget and resources and outputs these are reasons why we manage the work as a program I want to show you a very a very way of remembering the details of program management as espoused by the project management Institute it's a very simple model and I call it the get a big soda pop model it's very simple get a big soda pop what are all these the very first one over here is governance you got to think about governance as a program manager when we talk about governance there are certain key words that you should observe and some of the key words around governance are decision making processes policies and control so I'm gonna dump this right here so you don't forget what we just talked about establishing and maintaining effective decision making processes policies and controls now think about it if you are a program manager managing interrelated projects shouldn't it make sense to have a tailored structured approach across remember all of these projects in either example you want to have a uniform way of doing things a uniform way of planning across the projects a uniform way of reporting a uniform way of decision making and all the policies controls procedures should be aligned speaking of the word aligned the next one here is alignment but there's a word that you need to add to the alignment it's program strategy alignment when we talk about alignment we mean aligning the programs goals and objectives with the organization strategic business objectives and stakeholder needs so you got to think about it like this let's put some notes here and showing the program's objectives aligned with the organization strategic goals and stakeholder needs okay the long definition of the long word for this will be program strategy alignment so let me tweak this a bit to remind you program strategy alignment okay I'm trying to make it as simple as possible when we talk about governance also remember that this is program governance so we're talking about governance across the entire program okay the third thing you want to think about is the B when you're able to align strategy the next thing we talk about here is benefits when we talk about benefits of course you know we're talking about program benefits management okay program benefits management so what exactly do we mean by program benefits management well for those of you that have been into the world of the portfolios programs and projects the benefits are things that we experience of worth things that we experience that elevates our state from current to Future state so when we talk about value value is the net quantifiable benefits they're all intertwined for you to get value you must be getting benefits and for us to say that we're getting benefits there must be some worth some utility in whatever is being used this is very important to comprehend as a program manager so we're going to put some notes over here and we're going to say benefits realization identifying measuring tracking the expected benefits and the value note that word generated by the program in other words we're going to say everything to do with the benefits right benefits do that again benefits management it's a very very big domain my friends because you know benefits could be tangible or intangible in terms of the value that we derive you could gain benefits in terms of revenues but you can also gain benefits in terms of just some satisfaction in terms of brand recognition all of those things together is what we call Value so value is the net quantifiable benefits but we could pinpoint specific benefits one by one on a program you as a program manager need to have this conversation early which is why we talk about benefits register a benefits plan for the program you want to understand what are the benefits we are looking for from this group of interrelated projects how are we going to identify them let's identify them are we going to measure them how are we going to track them how are we going to make sure that the benefits have indeed been realized that needs to be a question all throughout the process the next one that we have here the S is for stakeholder and it's for stakeholder you could say engagement that would be the right word we like using the word engagement as opposed to management so we could say program stakeholder engagement now as a program manager on previous Endeavors I can tell you on these Endeavors you could have individual projects where the stakeholders are multiple multiple stakeholders on projects within the program other times you have singular stakeholders per some of these projects in the program but you as a program manager you need to understand who the key players are on every single one of those projects within the program and understand how that rolls up to higher levels of oversight in The Firm or with the customer so this requires more specificity and more strategic thinking my friends okay again you want to think about this as stakeholder engagement I know that in corporate space we just throw around the word stakeholder management but the PMI project management Institute they did well in making it very clear that we need to think about engagement so let's say stakeholder engagement engaging and managing stakeholder interests to ensure their needs expectations and concerns are addressed throughout the program so you need to be having conversations with your project managers to make sure that the stakeholders within the program are being catered for their interests are being catered For okay this is very far-reaching for example on a program I was on I had seven different stakeholders within the firm but each of those stakeholders had as it were competing self-interest almost so my job was to make sure all of those requirements that they had those needs they had from the system we were deploying was satisfied across the board across the implementation across the training across the handoffs across every dimension this is what program management is about it's the multiplicity it's a geometric escalation of souls from just one tiny little project right it goes It goes from just having this right to scaling it and instead of that just a tiny little thing it becomes this big thing with smaller pieces that are interconnected still and then some more that are interconnected and it's the interconnectivity that throws a lot of people off because you need to have your eye on a macro view let me explain one more time this is project management at this level this is program management seeing the cohesive whole and the interconnection points moreover it's understanding how this influences watch this a much larger much much larger View of the entire organization understanding the overarching strategy of this firm how that permeates into portfolios and how this program affects the portfolio and the organization it's the interconnectedness of work of benefits of value that's what program management is my friends the final one the P here this is one that is not often heard in places outside of the PMI it's program life cycle management let's put this one here it's at the nucleus and it's in red for a reason program life cycle management okay what exactly is program life cycle management let's dive into the image so that we can really hone in on the detail program life cycle management is all about managing the program through its entire life cycle okay and when you think about program life cycle management there are pretty much three phases and the way I remember these three phases is with the mnemonic d d c so we're going to go a little bit deep here my friends this is the life cycle that we're talking about okay and that could be a terminal point the first D in the life cycle is definition this is where all the preliminary understanding comes from this is where we clarify we solidify the program's objectives we flesh out scope strategic alignment Key activities are done which include planning but even before that feasibility study it's the definition it's really having a solid understanding of what exactly needs to be done okay so it actually comes you could say comes first like think about it like an authorization an understanding understanding the context before planning okay that's definition then we go into development now when we talk about development here it's a little bit different because the development here also includes going to the lower levels of planning so at a high level doing a feasibility study understanding the program scope the deliverables that comes in definition but when we get down to the detail of how things are going to be done the detailed planning the individual project plans defining tasks timelines and all that we call that the development and then on top of that we're also going to work on stakeholder engagement Communications and Reporting change management everything that happens as the project is being executed so I really want to make this clear let me create a few notes here just for the sake of this deep dive okay so when we talk about the definition I'm going to put some notes for you over here and you can always freeze the frame and go back and read the detail it's very very small print but it's gonna help you okay so just freeze that go understand the definition all of the stuff I said and then we go into the development and in development like I said we're talking about detail planning project execution stakeholder engagement communication and Reporting and change management so there's a lot that happens this is where stuff gets done so let me put a note here as well okay let me make this engagement because I want to I want you to think about it as engagement and let's make this smaller there we go and let's zoom in just so that you can have a screen grab if you need to see that that's the development phase all the stuff that we do to not only plan the work but also execute it to also oversee and coordinate right this is where we're getting the stuff done think about the massive work across all those projects so the development phase is very sensitive and as a leader you need to be driving this stuff and making sure that everything is indeed aligning okay all right finally I know you're wondering what the C stands for the C here stands for the closure phase closure all right and as I did previously I'm going to expand this so that you've got a good idea about what happens in closure and closure is just finalizing and closing the program you're making sure that whatever has been created meets the quality standards benefits realization is addressed knowledge transfer stuff that you would typically do to make sure that everything you were supposed to have gotten done was indeed done okay making sure that as you're transitioning whatever was created to operations everything's clean so let's go ahead and put some notes in here for you to freeze frame and read let's make that a bit smaller there we go all right so that's what happens in closure okay finalizing closing out blah blah blah it's all there okay so with this in mind you can see we just zoomed into the program life cycle management only nothing else but that so you now understand the DDD cycle I coined these phrases right these are not coining in the program guide this is my interpretation to help you digest it okay now if you look at this macro view of the program life cycle you can see that it fits into the get a big soda pop model now it sounds funny but it's going to help you remember what these things are okay last but not least we're talking about the P here right the program life cycle management now you understand what the program life cycle is we can go a step further and put some notes in here okay so let's go ahead and put in some notes about the program life cycle okay so the program life cycle DDC you're now aware of that and we could just say here that this is the effective management of all the phases of the program life cycle and we have already defined what the DDC is so think about what you would do as a program manager to effectively manage this right managing the program through its entire life cycle everything that is in the life cycle so let's go ahead and put one more tiny little note here all of this stuff is blown out in the pmi's program management standard but there you have it get a big soda pop form you'll never forget that model my friends and then you'll never forget the DDC model okay and if you want something for the DDC dummies don't communicate dummies don't connect they don't connect the dots you see I got you covered someone said Phil give me any money well I just gave you one I just gave you one all right get a big soda pop and dummies don't connect dummies don't communicate which is true they don't they don't understand the importance of it all right so there you have it my friends that is program management in a nutshell if you are looking for a framework to manage your programs I encourage you to think about these prongs if you were gonna break down the definition we could go pretty deep if we were going to break down the development we could go pretty deep but let me tell you the honest truth in my experience okay of managing programs and managing controls around programs because I've managed some pretty heavy program controls 19 projects within the program and I've managed a suite of programs too many to even name heavy earned value and stuff I tell you every program manager has their way of managing programs but the successful programs this is what I've noticed watch carefully this is the Strategic idea those that have been managed successfully they are done with one important thing in mind this is a program of projects okay all the way to project n the thing that I found they have in common uh leadership when they succeed the leadership has to be tight in other words you are able to influence you are able to see things at a higher level the interconnectedness the concerns of the stakeholders you can anticipate what the stakeholder is going to ask next you can anticipate what is near and dear to the stakeholders heart that's leadership leadership is many things it's foresight it's Vision it's listening to the intuition it's going after the big things something that is closely connected to leadership is like I said strategy the ability to see the big picture and understand how to get to that future state that you're seeing at the big picture level that strategy if you do not have strategic thinking it's going to be hard the last one that I want to say is really important here is the ability to effectively communicate which means not just verbal communication but non-verbal and I'm talking about non-verbal cues because interpersonal relationships often hinge not just on communication with words but communicating with body language and tone of voice showing emotional intelligence you can tell someone is emotionally intelligent or not from how they communicate their body language their posture their countenance those who are great leaders combined with great communicators they are Mindful and in the moment at all times when they are communicating with you got it stakeholders because those are the people we communicate with so if I was going to give you a base to ensure your programs are solid number one is definitely going to be leadership number two is definitely going to be understanding what is most important number three you've got to understand the stakeholder and you've got to be able to communicate and depending on the situation one of these might be on top of the other depending on the unique program managers some program managers are all-rounders some program managers are weak when it comes to stakeholder interaction they're not good at communicating they're not really good with stakeholders but they are strong in their decision making which is part of leadership but it's not the only thing in fact all of these are parts of leadership so when I say leadership that's why that's at the base right but then for those lacking good communication body language tone of voice they need to up the ante on that another quality of program managers as Leaders is even if they ain't got it right now they know they're gonna get it they're gonna study they're going to research they're going to do everything they're going to go above and beyond and they're going to always look I got this even if they felt an iota of doubt you're not going to see it on the accountants that's what makes great program management leadership strategy communication stakeholders okay so let me give you a few quick notes on these three and then we're going to be done we are going to be done with this lecture I know you're like Phil let me go uh yeah I got somewhere to go hey we got to get these notes down so that when you go into the world of program management you are going to be a shining example you're going to be a shining star all right so uh take some time out to freeze this Frame and I'm gonna try and make this a little bit more compressed so that you can see everything in one place right but spend some time freezing the frame taking a look at what I'm showing you here and on just understanding just organically what I'm talking about I've got to be honest I've worked with some program managers that don't have a whole lot of education but they've got great determination and all those other qualities I showed you and guess what they're able to make things happen their plans may be a little bit primitive but they are planned across the projects they station people on those projects that they can depend on this is what program management is right so my friends take some screenshots clean up your act get a big soda Pub my friends and dummies don't communicate remember that right but bright people do just remember that okay and with that my friends we are done with this model I hope you enjoyed it you got any questions or comments let me know just remember there are different views to the world of program management this is just one okay the different organizations different entities but this helps align your thoughts so what I would recommend is if you find anything from the world of program management and you want to bucketize it just ask yourself is it in the governance alignment benefits or stakeholder bucket or is it somewhere in the scheme of the life cycle management because what you need to remember these prongs that we have which is why we put them on the outside all of these there's interchange there's interchange among these and these are not in sequence there's an overlap surely of course you knew that already right this overlap all the way through continuously and there's interchange right all throughout stakeholder engagement is part of every one of these benefits we need to be thinking about that when we're thinking of the DDC alignment same thing you got to be thinking about alignment all the way through governance of course how do you even do the DDC without the governance being spoken about you get what I'm saying when you understand this model from the perspective of iterations overlaps no Rhyme or Reason everything melded and molded together you will have a better view of program management because it is so not linear and trying to Define this as linear steps means you don't get it all right so think about this a little bit more my friend and you will be laughing all the way I don't care whatever position they've given you as a program manager use this model it is going to help you wildly okay if you have not checked out my book on Amazon do that I have a book on program management on Amazon and it's called the Layman's guide to program management check that book out I've got an audio book of the same on Amazon I will also have some additional books in the world of program management right for those people those project managers who are struggling to understand the topic and you want to know more just keep your eye on the content on on Amazon okay just do a search and you'll find it so there's a couple there's the audiobook and I'll just show you on the screen here there's the Kindle there's the audiobook whatever the case you're gonna come away understanding program management better and the other training age for program managers that will be on here shortly okay I hope this helps you I wish you all the best congrats those of you who have just got an employment as program managers I would advise you to take a look at the pmis program guide the standard for program management and learn a thing or two from there as well okay you take care my friends all the very best and bye for now