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What Is the Best Way to Manage Multiple Projects as a Program?
Learn why multiple related projects, like department-wide IT upgrades, should be managed as a program rather than individual projects to achieve strategic organizational benefits.
Question
A company is rolling out multiple IT upgrades across departments. Each upgrade has its own project manager, but the company wants overall alignment to strategic goals.
How should this initiative be managed?
A. Manage the upgrades as part of a program to achieve organizational benefits.
B. Treat each IT upgrade as a separate project with no overarching coordination.
C. Consider all upgrades as a single project to simplify management.
Answer
A. Manage the upgrades as part of a program to achieve organizational benefits.
Explanation
When an organization undertakes multiple related projects—such as various IT upgrades across different departments—that need to be aligned with overarching strategic goals, they should be managed as a program. Program management focuses on coordinating related projects to obtain combined organizational benefits and centralized control that would not be possible if the projects were managed individually or entirely separately. Treating them as a single project would make the scope too complex and inflexible, while treating them as completely separate projects would sacrifice strategic alignment and resource efficiency.