- Designing the form factor
- Software development
- Source the components or materials that will be used in the design
- To set up a factory to make the device
- Marketing the device
- Distributing the device through distribution channels
- Designing and making the cardboard boxes that the device will come in.
It would be impossible to manage all the specialists required to successfully bring this product to market. Even if you outsourced some of the work, it would still be difficult. The program manager is crucial. A Program Manager is responsible for leading the effort to launch the satellite navigation device successfully. We might create seven projects, one each for each of these bullet points. We would have a software project and a project to source components for the device. Five additional projects would be created. Assuming that we did this, each project would have its own project manager. The program manager would oversee all seven projects and thus the overall program. The program managers? The program managers are responsible for coordinating all projects so that the business gets more value than if they run each project individually. Program managers must manage dependencies between projects. This is one of the most important tasks they will perform in their coordination role. In this example, they would need to make sure that the components are sourced before the final hardware design can be completed. They would also ensure that any software requirements changes do not affect the proposition the marketing project is promoting to customers. They are responsible to manage all dependencies between teams. The program manager coordinates the dependencies but they are not responsible to plan the projects. This is the responsibility of the individual project managers. However, they may provide top-down guidance to project managers on plans. It should be a combination top-down and bottom up planning that results in the overall program plan. Benefits Management is another important responsibility for program managers. Program managers don?t just focus on the deliverables of individual projects, but rather the overall benefit to the organization. Benefit can be defined as profit in our example, but benefit can also be measured in many other ways. Program managers are most concerned with the benefits of the product and may recommend broad decisions such as removing entire feature sets in order to speed up product development or sequencing product building in a way that is not intuitive to engineers. Expert Program Management is a website that covers all aspects of program management. Expert Program Management offers step-by-step instructions, best practices, and templates.