Program Management for Improved Business Results, 2nd Edition

Chapter 7Program Management Practices

The previous chapter described how a program can be managed through a series of business decision checkpoints and work cycles. Rather than advocating a prescriptive approach, we presented a framework in which an organization can nest its preferred processes and methodologies.

In like manner, we do not advocate a prescriptive approach to implementing a set of program management practices. We know from experience that each organization is unique and needs to implement the practices that best fit its business processes, culture, and level of program management maturity.

There are, however, a number of core program management practices that we see being used consistently across business sectors. In this chapter we present this set of core program management practices and explain how they are commonly used to manage a program to success.

Benefits Management

Benefits management is about realizing the business results desired from the investment in a program. In a recent blog, a gentleman made the case that the primary directive of program management was to achieve the program objectives.¹ Another person joined the discussion and made the case that program management was instead about achieving business results and benefits management was really the primary directive of program management. We are in this person's camp. This extension in thinking was encouraging to observe and demonstrated to us that people understand the true value of program ...