Matrix organizations with a strong line organization that are conducting programs are having two key players: program and department managers. Both roles are following competing goals. The program manager is focusing on time, budget and quality – the department manager will look for profitability, team management and corporate strategy. This article will show how to mitigate the risk of failure in program management by giving an overview on the 5 most important tasks for each role. Before looking at the detailed tasks, let’s break the goals down to objectives regarding
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Top Reason for Conflicts in Program Management in Matrix Organizations
Program management in matrix organizations works little different than managing a regular project. While a program owner handles the WBS and the schedule, work packages are delegated to departments with focus on delivery. More background information can be found in my last article. This article reflects on the two main roles contributing as actors in the planning process and how their goals compete with each other. In the given scenario we are facing following main roles: Program planner: a.k.a. program manager, program coordinator, project manager, etc. Department manager: a.k.a. resource manager,
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How Program Management in Matrix Organizations Works
Maturity has an immense leverage on the success of programs with lots of depend-encies. Organizations with high maturity have ~30% more probability to deliver successful results than having a low maturity (details in my last article on this subject). Within this article you’ll gain an understanding how program management works in matrix organizations of large enterprises. These experiences base on multiple projects I’ve performed for various clients. Those DAX-listed companies spread a variety of industries, like chemical, energy, manufacturing, information technology, etc. We’ve observed that program management is conducted slightly
50% of Projects Not Successful in Complex Landscapes
Did you know how many projects are not successful caused by low maturity in managing complex landscapes? The Technical University of Berlin (Chair Prof. Dr. Gemuenden) discovered in last year’s study that approx. 50% of all projects fail in complex landscapes. This is where a high degree of dependencies between the projects is given and the organization’s maturity of managing these landscapes is low. Here’s the good news: You don’t need to bury your head in sand. If you are able to increase organization’s maturity in managing those complex scenarios,
Deliver Successful Program Results in Matrix Organizations
In March, the Microsoft Project Conference 2012 will be conducted in Phoenix, AZ. I am holding a session on program management. As promised before, here’s the abstract: Programs often fail due to divided responsibilities. The program manager’s job is to drive a program through different functional departments. The resource managers (e.g. department heads) are planning separately, often not aligning their planning to the programs. This is a typical situation in a company with a matrix organization running programs and projects across the different organizational units. We will demonstrate how to
