I would now like to consider how a Project Board relates to a program. But before we do that we should consider the differences between a project and a program. As there are many books written about this subject one can understand that I will not fully go into this in one posting.
However, the statement that 'projects cost money while programs save money' helped me to get the difference a bit more clear. This is a bit short. Another way to look at it is the difference in attention area. Where programs tend to look for a bigger picture, a project focusses on a smaller area. This could be organization wide against departmental. Maybe this is more useful in your situation.
But what should be clear is that a project provides a part of the solution a program is aiming for. This is different from having a project portfolio and the management of it. The latter has more to do with setting priorities. Where do we spend the limited amount of money? Portfolio management can be a part of program management bit is just one of the attention areas.
All projects, also the ones initiated by a program should have Project Boards. A program will have several Project Boards with their own mandates. This will give project management team room to operate at their own pace and their own responsibility. A Project Board will be much more involved with the projects objective then a Program Board.
The Project Board will take its own role and responsibility and will respond to the Program Manager instead of to line management. And a Project Board should not leave this up to the Project manager. For what reason are you a Project Board? If it turns out that it is perfectly possible for a Project Manager to respond to a Program Manager one should consider if there is a program at all or if it is just a big project. If this seems to be the case a Project Board can, no should, take immediate action. Functional organization is one of the responsibilities of a Project Board.
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