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Program

Short Tip: The management level that operates with multiple interrelated products through a Program Leader and a Technical Specialist.

What is it?

The management level that operates with multiple interrelated products through a Program Leader and a Technical Specialist.

Programs are groups of initiatives that seek to deliver value which would not be available if those initiatives were to be independently conducted.

This analysis of created value may be externally oriented (regarding the user and client) or internally oriented (regarding the organization). At the program level, the goal is to maximize the value created by the initiatives together, as well as reduce their associated costs:

  1. External Value Increase: an increase in the final value for the user or client by composing individual value deliveries or reducing their use costs. Example: applications related to the same target audience (e.g., accountants) and which may be used in combination (increased value resulting from the combination);
  2. Internal Value Increase: an increase in the final value for the organization by composing individual value deliveries or reducing the organization’s costs. Example: initiatives related to sustainability which share the same management structure (decreased costs associated with managing the initiative and similar purchases).

Why use it?

For medium and large organizations, management just at the product level cannot provide a comprehensive view of the integration between multiple products. Using a Program-based approach allows taking advantage of synergies between different products, as well as aligning their actions to maximize the generated value.

In addition, analyzing at the Program level allows identifying risks in an integrated manner.

How to use it?

Coordinated by the Program Leader, Program management is constant and necessarily implies executing at least 3 activities on a routine basis:

  1. Periodical Program assessment meeting: attended by the Program Leader, Technical Specialist and respective Initiative Leaders, it is aimed at aligning ongoing activities, identifying dependencies and program risks, as well as evaluating metrics and opportunities for synergy. It should be held at least fortnightly;
  2. Keeping a Program Backlog: i.e., creating and updating a Backlog that includes all initiatives in progress and a view of each epic’s status. It is usually in digital format and is sometimes integrated to the control systems of the development teams of related products;
  3. Keeping Value Metrics: i.e., creating and updating the program’s value metrics based on the metrics of each product. These metrics will also be provided for interaction by the Portfolio Manager at the Portfolio level.