Program Management role differs a lot between service and product based companies. To our surprise, many people are yet unaware of the differences. In this article, you will find a high level summary of differences.
These differences holds good to 90% of the organisations. You may find some variances depending on the size and age of the organisation and its PMO.
Off course this is covered in depth in the only Practical Program Management course in the world Post Graduate certificate in Program Management
Below is the hierarchy differences between Program Manager role in service and product based companies. As you can see, Program manager role in Service based companies is a people manager, more or less like Delivery Manager.
Responsibilities / Activities | Service Based Company | Product Based Company |
|---|---|---|
PEOPLE MANAGEMENT | People Management responsibilities are present. Typical reportees are project managers, team leads, architects etc. | Individual contributor role. Principal / Director program managers have reporting of program managers |
PROJECT MANAGEMENT INVOLVEMENT | Being the Manager of project managers direct Project Management responsibilities are limited. | Drives the projects |
DELIVERY OWNERSHIP | Being the Manager of project managers direct delivery responsibilities are limited. As the ownership is with the respective Project Managers | Owns the project delivery |
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT | Yes | No |
BUSINESS GROWTH | Yes | No |
DRIVES COMPLEX PROJECTS? | No | Yes |
HANDS ON ROLE? | No | Yes |
AVERAGE SALARY FACTOR | 1.5 times the experience | 3 times the experience (2X of service based companies) |
EXPENDABLE ROLE? | Yes, Mostly non billable and adds less value | No, Program Managers contribution is quite significant in Product Based companies. |
