Program management in the engineering & construction industry represents a fundamental re-allocation of responsibilities and authorities between the traditional owner organization and an engaged program manager. The readiness of the owner organization to adopt such a delivery strategy will be governed by many factors including overall capital project delivery volumes; prior experience, if any, with program management delivery approaches; inherent organizational capabilities and depth of staff; and, perhaps most importantly, degree of recognition of the level of self-change that adoption of a different delivery and management methodology will require.

From the program manager’s perspective, a key factor for success will be the degree to which its responsibilities can be clearly defined and responsibility and authority allocated consistent with these responsibilities and the owner organization’s own readiness. A well developed contractual and implementation framework are therefore key ingredients for success but in many cases, even the best developed frameworks are undermined by a poorly defined governance regime and inadequate contract administration capabilities within owner organizations. This later factor sometimes reflects passive resistance to change while in other instances it reflects inadequate organizational maturity to adopt the new delivery regime.

This paper is not intended to dwell on the failings of either the program management contractor or owner organizations but rather outline some of the governance features which are hallmarks of successful program management implementations.

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About the Author: Roberto Prieto Author Robert Prieto is a Senior Vice President for Fluor, responsible for strategy in support of the firm’s Industrial & Infrastructure Group and its key clients.  He focuses on the development and delivery of large, complex projects worldwide. Prior to joining Fluor, Bob served as chairman of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc.  He is a member of the executive committee of the National Center for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, a member of the board of directors of the Business Council on International Understanding, a member of the board of the Civil Engineering Forum for Innovation, and co-founder and member of the board of the Disaster Resource Network. He currently serves on the National Research Council’s committee framing the challenges on Critical Infrastructure Systems. Until 2006 he served as one of three U.S. presidential appointees to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and served as chairman of the Engineering and Construction Governors of The World Economic Forum and co-chair of the infrastructure task force formed after September 11th by the New York City Chamber of Commerce.  He is also a member of the board of trustees of Polytechnic University of New York.

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The Strategic Project Manager

By Morris Panner

In the typical organization, the project manager is like a sergeant in the army – a noncommissioned officer. This person has the most salient knowledge of what’s happening on the ground, yet it so often seems the big decisions are made from above.

Forward-thinking organizations would be wise to commission those sergeant PMs. Strategically, the PM occupies key ground within the organization: the intersection between planning and fulfillment. From this vantage point, the PM has the best insight into which plans deliver the most bang for the buck – and which ones suck the lifeblood from the company, being far more bother than they’re worth.

Reality is that few project managers take the time to strategize – mostly because they can’t. In today’s overbooked world, most projects are fulfilled in a to-do list way. The goal is finishing the project successfully and meeting the basic project goals. It’s tactical.

As a result, strategic thinking is something PMs don’t do because they don’t have the resources, or the organization’s stamp of approval.

That is a big organizational error.

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About the Author: Morris Panner Author Morris Panner is co-chairman of the Board of the Software Division of the Software and Information Industry Association and CEO of OpenAir, a provider of project workflow solutions designed for project-based organizations.  Formerly, he was the Resident Legal Advisor in the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, responsible for joint anti-narcotics training. He can be reached at mpanner@openair.com York.

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