Strategic Program Management
1st Edition by Robert Prieto.
ISBN: 978-0-9815612-1-9; 124 pages; Construction Management Association of America

According to the author, Robert Prieto, program management is anything but simple. “By their very nature, the strategic business objectives that program management seeks to implement are complex and linked to successful accomplishment of many change-management efforts,” ranging from institutional changes within the owner organization to supply chains, risk allocation and management framework. “This book looks at topics that are essential to ensuring that the right foundations are built within the owner organization as well as in the program manager’s organization,” he says.

“In its simplest form, an organization’s strategic business objectives are addressed through development of a comprehensive strategic plan,” Prieto says. “Program management is about translating that strategic plan into a defined set of discrete but interrelated activities and then managing the delivery and successful completion of these activities.”

One potential set of core elements of program delivery is represented in the cover graphic. Other elements also can be added, but Prieto says all of the core elements must be sufficiently present in order to have a successful program.

A strategy is the linchpin to any successful program management. But so is its governance. All changes in strategic business objectives must be made through a controlled process with executive-level involvement. Prieto adds, “Hope is not a strategy.”

Prieto notes that program management differs from project management in that PM delivers a series of projects to meet the business plan using a variety of delivery techniques to best achieve the strategy.

Robert Prieto is senior vice president for Fluor Corp., Irving, Texas, and former chairman of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc., New York City.