Part I begins by providing clarification of the program management discipline and then illustrating how program management can be implemented as a major element of an organization's business model. This is done in the first four chapters.
In Chapter 1, the unique meaning of program management is identified and described, illuminating its raison d'etre. It explains what program management is and what it is not and compares and contrasts program management with project management, dimension by dimension, clearly distinguishing between the two. Similarly, the program management discipline is set apart from portfolio management and product management. Finally, because many companies often group small- and medium-size projects together to achieve development efficiency, we distinguish the management of multiple independent projects from program management. On the basis of these comparisons and contrasts, we provide a set of identifying characteristics, or pillars, of program management.
To substantiate that program management is really all about business success, in Chapter 2 we present the business case for program management, specifically, what companies get in return for investing in program management—a set of competitive advantages. To illustrate this, we begin with a case of inaction: major business problems and challenges encountered by organizations that do not employ program management. Our intent is to show that instituting program management as a critical business function can solve business problems. For each of these solutions, we show how they create competitive advantages for a company.
To provide more details about this "it's about the business" nature of program management, we chose to elaborate on two of the most critical business problem solutions—aligning programs with business strategy in Chapter 3 and managing increasing complexity through development and delivery of the whole product in Chapter 4.
Chapter 3 argues that an organization can build an integrated management system to increase its success. The primary parts of the system—strategic elements, tactical elements, and program management—are interdependent and must be synchronized to assure the management system is strong as a whole. Acting as an alignment link between the business strategy and execution outputs, program management helps deploy the business strategy, depicting our notion that program management is a major part of a company's business model. An example from information technology in the automobile industry offers a practical application of program management for aligning execution to business strategy.
The purpose of Chapter 4 is to frame the true scope and nature of program management to maximize the value proposition of the company. That value proposition can be visualized through the concept of the whole product, which is a fine example of the increasing complexity of products in the business world. Program management, using the management of highly interdependent projects in a collective and concerted manner, leads the definition, design, production, and delivery of the whole product—a sophisticated way to win the market battle.