Australia’s First PMO Influencer of the Year | LinkedIn AU Top 100 | Adaptive Governance Expert | Partner & Co-Chair @ The PMO Leader | Host of Agile Ideas | Founder & CEO - AMO | Driving Business Transformation
A Program Manager is NOT a Project Manager. A Project Manager is NOT a Program Manager. I get it. These terms are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Sure, there are people who have the skills to do both roles, but they each require different strengths, mindsets, experience and focus. A Project Manager is often focused on one project at a time—defining scope, managing timelines, delivering outputs. They’re the ones keeping things on track, making sure deadlines are hit and everything stays in scope. A Program Manager, on the other hand, oversees a group of related projects, aligning them with larger business objectives. They’re more strategic, managing multiple moving parts and ensuring everything is aligned across the bigger picture. It’s not about managing tasks, it’s about managing outcomes. A good program manager can manage projects with ease whereas some projects t managers will be challenged by program management. Not impossible. But different. I’ve worked with many great project managers who I think would have struggled to manage programs. Early in my career I struggled too. Trying to save costs by hiring a project manager when you really need a program manager is not going to end well and will cost more in the end. If you’re looking for someone to run a program, make sure you’re hiring a Program Manager, not just a Project Manager with a bigger title. And if you’re unsure which role your project needs, it’s worth taking the time to get it right. Also many companies see the word ‘programs’ very differently. And many companies allocate ‘programs’ to managers with no project management experience. Let’s be really clear on what you need and why upfront. Don’t set someone up for failure by calling them a program manager if they are not. At the end of the day, the difference is in the details, and having the right person in the right role can make all the difference. - - - - - Follow to stay up to date. 🔔 Check out my profile for links to my website, playbook, ebooks, newsletter or to request support for your team or business, DM me. From advice to program management frameworks, I help companies make sense of the chaos. #ProgramManagement #ProjectManagement
Thanks for sharing
Valid point! Today, lines between Program Management and Project Management are definitely getting blurred in many organizations. It’s true—they require different mindsets, but the good news is, these are teachable and developable skills. 🎓 That said, clarity in expectations is crucial. A Program Manager isn’t just a 'super Project Manager'—it’s a Strategic role focused on aligning multiple initiatives to larger business outcomes. Similarly, we see roles like Project Manager, Program Manager, PMO, and TPM often mislabelled or misunderstood. Each role serves a unique purpose For example: Project Managers focus on delivering specific projects within scope, time, and budget. Program Managers look at the big picture, ensuring all related projects align with strategic goals. TPMs (Technical Program Managers) bring a mix of technical expertise and program management to bridge gaps between engineering and strategy. PMOs (Project Management Offices) create standards, governance, and frameworks for how projects and programs are run. + is With the right mentorship, training, and experience, project managers can grow into program managers, and organizations can build a structure that works.
Having a clear conversation on scope with the client and defining what success looks like is critical to learning whether they need project vs. program management. It's often up to the project or program manager to tease that out of the client since they may not know the difference like you said!
As someone who is a program manager, but currently in a project management role, I'm struggling with the differences in the other direction. I can *do* project management, but my strengths lie in strategic planning, direction, and processes.
Totally agree for ur post. I believe that almost wide range of C-level managers assign multiple projects to the PM and evaluate the performance with respect to 3 or 4 projects assigned . Neglecting that in this case they r evaluating a project manager against program manager roles & responsibilities
A project manager should also manage outcomes, don’t you think ?
While it’s true that Program Managers oversee a collection of related projects, I think it’s important to recognize that many Project Managers also manage more than one project at a time. It’s common for project managers to juggle multiple projects, especially in smaller organizations or teams where resources are limited. The key difference, though, is that these projects may not be as interconnected or aligned with larger strategic goals in the same way a program is. I also agree with your point about hiring the right person for the right role. Mislabeling a Project Manager as a Program Manager can create misalignment, but I don’t think we should assume that all Project Managers are limited to managing single projects. Many are already taking on program-level responsibilities, even if their title doesn’t reflect that. That being said, the distinction between managing projects and managing programs still holds true, and it's important to make sure we’re aligning the right skills with the right responsibilities.
Yes and .... No A Project Manager Is almost always managing multiple projects at the same time - and quite often, such projects are interrelated for achieving complex goals (at program management level). Program Managers (should) work with Project Managers, not managing several projects on their own (otherwise, where is the difference?). Different roles, yes of course. A good Program Manager can easily do project management, but a good Project Manager will find mire challenging to manage Programs? By personal experience, not really. Managing expectations, dependencies, stakeholders, overall planning ,and so on, all these things should be the daily routine for both roles. There is a type of case wherein a Project Manager won't be that good at managing programs: it is when the Project Manager is asked to be an SME instead of a PM (which is a wrong expectation from the company). In the same situation, a Program Manager would find it impossible to manage a Project on his / her own. So my kind request is to not under or over evaluate each role.
Australia’s First PMO Influencer of the Year | LinkedIn AU Top 100 | Adaptive Governance Expert | Partner & Co-Chair @ The PMO Leader | Host of Agile Ideas | Founder & CEO - AMO | Driving Business Transformation
4moVladimir Pacheco