Main image of article How Project and Program Management Compare

Summary

If you’re interested in helping companies manage their operations, you might be wondering about the differences between program and project management. We’ll dig into what program and project managers do, along with how their respective responsibilities differ. Based on that information, you can make decisions about your potential career path.

In simplest terms, project managers oversee projects, ensuring their timely completion within budget and scope. They’re often tactically focused, devoted to everyone on the team delivering a specific outcome according to their abilities.

Program managers, meanwhile, orchestrate multiple projects into a unified program. They focus quite a bit on strategic alignment, ensuring that everyone from top executives to junior developers are working in an interconnected and transparent way toward a broader goal.

Here’s a handy breakdown:

Scope: 

  • Project: Well-defined, often short-term.
  • Program: Broader, evolving over time.

Goals: 

  • Project: Deliverables-driven. 
  • Program: Outcome-oriented, contributing to strategic objectives.

Complexity: 

  • Project: Less intricate, individual tasks. 
  • Program: Highly interdependent projects, managing dependencies and resource allocation.

Leadership:

  • Project: Direct involvement with project team. 
  • Program: Leadership through project managers, focusing on bigger picture alignment.

We’ve broken down the project manager vs. program manager dichotomy before, in terms of skills and career paths. To sum all that up, if you want to look at it from role-based perspective:

Project Managers…

    • Track progress, budgets, and timelines.
    • Assign tasks and manage team members.
    • Determine risks and resolve issues.
    • Utilize tools such as Jira Software for task management and progress tracking.

Program Managers…

    • Oversee multiple project managers and their teams.
    • Ensure program alignment with organizational strategy.
    • Manage resource allocation across projects.
    • Prioritize and make strategic decisions.
    • Utilize program management tools (e.g., Jira Align) for portfolio and resource management.

In case you haven’t quite picked up on it, project management is much more focused on technical problems and smaller-scale deliverables, whereas program management is much more about strategic outcomes and handling managers dealing with individual projects.

In other words, both roles are rewarding, depending on your individual career aspirations. If you’re the type who likes working with engineers to achieve a short-term project, project management might be right for you. On the other hand, if you’re the strategic type who enjoys guiding a company’s roadmap, you might gravitate more towards program management.

According to Dice’s Tech Salary Report, a program manager can make an average of $139,683, up 12.9 percent year-over-year; project managers make $120,653, a 1.8 percent increase year-over-year. Those salaries can rise, of course, based on skills.