How to Manage Complex Programs: High-Impact Techniques for Handling Project Workflow, Deliverables, and Teams

by Tom Kendrick

Program manager—it’s one of the most challenging jobs you can have. Overseeing and coordinating multiple project teams and thousands of activities may seem a Herculean task, but it’s easier with the right tools in hand.

Successful program management begins with a good command of project management processes, but these are never sufficient. Once a program exceeds a certain scale, project processes become unwieldy. To see a program successfully through to completion, you must break the work down into simpler, smaller pieces and organize it into interdependent tasks.

Complete with diagrams, graphs, and real-life examples, How to Manage Complex Programs explains the ins and outs of program management and provides concrete and effective techniques for structuring deliverables, workflow, and staffing. You’ll learn to:

Decompose complex deliverables into manageable chunks Develop coherent plans for component projects Handle cross-project dependencies Organize program staff and project leaders into a high-performing team And more

Yes, program management is challenging. But with these proven strategies, it can also be highly rewarding—for you and for your organization.

336 pages, Hardcover

Published May 10, 2016

About the author

TOM KENDRICK has over 35 years of project and program experience, including senior positions with Hewlett-Packard and Visa. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) and the author of several highly respected project management books, including Identifying and Managing Project Risk.

Reviews

[Jenn "JR" · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this for a Program Management course -- the last in my sequence for a Project Management certificate. If there's one thing I have learned from these courses -- it's that in the past 20 years, I am barely doing project management. My last couple of roles have had the title "program management" and reading this book (unfortunately, the class was cancelled due to low registration) -- has really illuminated what program management actually is, and why it's such a desirable trend in software/web to use the "program manager" these days.

Program managers are REALLY working on massive projects with tremendous complexity, loads of people, departments and budgets in millions of dollars. I've personally never worked on anything of that scale.

This book is very thorough - but very general - if that makes any sense. It's almost as though someone took all the bulleted slides from the Program Management course and turned them into a book. There's tons of useful information -- as you can see, I highlighted the heck out of the book.

The chief role of a program manager is to build consensus on the goals of the program, and then thoroughly break down all the work to be done into the smallest components as possible.

Or, more simply: build consensus, decompose & document.

In every phase -- the author emphasizes the need to hear out all stakeholders, document issues, risks & change requests, review regularly for patterns and trends, and escalate above the program governance/committee level as little as possible.

The examples that the author uses in each chapter are helpful but on a certain level - they all read very similarly. It's a very dry book -- I'm interested in reading more on the subject and will be happy to take recommendations for alternatives!

[Samori Augusto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically: Manage people and risk

I've been applying for PMO positions without really knowing what would be required of me. Thanks to this book, I have a way better idea. Also, as I was reading I reminisced over several of the projects I'd managed, and conceived things I could have done much better or differently; if only one could have a second chance at fixing the past!

I do wish Tom had included the HP examples throughout all the sections in order to have more concrete examples, or even if he had borrowed more detailed stories from past projects. Some of the wordage gets a little heavy and it's hard to relate to real life situations so that the information sinks in. But overall a useful read.