What is the difference between Program management and Project management

Raghu, this is an interesting question which I asked five years ago but did not get an immediate answer and actually never seek to do research on it. Being contracted to work in a project management unit which was later changed to a development unit that manages only international funded projects/programs I noticed the term project/program were used nterchangeably and suspect that the consultants never took time to pay attention to this . However, I will attempt to answer the question as follows:

Program management or programme management is the process of managing multiple interdependent projects that lead towards an improvement in an organization's performance. Program management also emphasises the coordinating and prioritizing of resources across projects, managing links between the projects and the overall costs and risks of the program.

Program management provides a layer above the management of projects and focuses on selecting the best group of projects, defining them in terms of their objectives and providing an environment where projects can be run successfully. Program managers should not micromanage, but should leave project management to the project managers.

A program management team works to identify the mission, projects to be accomplished, and it’s close. The team provides support for the requirements of the projects. They monitor the program plan and keep track of information within the specific projects. After the completion of the project, it is reviewed and documented.

Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific (and usually) one-time objective.

Project management includes developing a project plan, which includes defining and confirming the project goals and objectives, identifying tasks and how goals will be achieved, quantifying the resources needed, and determining budgets and timelines for completion.

It also includes managing the implementation of the project plan, along with operating regular 'controls' to ensure that there is accurate and objective information on 'performance' relative to the plan, and the mechanisms to implement recovery actions where necessary.

A project management team works to identify the triple constraint of time, scope and cost of a project. Then, they plan and report on the delivery of the project. While the project is being accomplished the triple constraint is reviewed. At it’s close, the project management team will review and report on the accomplishment of the project.