Project vs Program vs Portfolio

These three terms can not be used interchangeably. This is something that had you asked me a week ago, I likely would have been oblivious to. How does a project differ from a program? Is Project Management the same as Portfolio Management? All of these questions plus more were answered in today's class.

Projects

The definition of a project, simply put, is:

A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.

Fairly straight-forward, however the part that I was not familiar with was the temporary requirement of a project. Ideally, a project should have a set due date. This will help prevent a project from dragging on and never reaching completion. Looking back on failed projects that I am familiar with, I instantly recognized this as a failure to establish a time constraint on a project. My laid-back nature has betrayed me here many times, as I did not realize how important this attribute of a project truly is.

Program

Taking it a level higher, a program is defined as:

A group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually.

This definition made me reflect on my current business. Little did I know, I actually have clearly defined programs that I offer as well. For my particular business, my programs include:

• Website Development
• Website Hosting
• Website Management
• Website Marketing

These four key areas describe what my business is all about. For example, I receive projects that can be categorized as simply a website development job, while I have other projects that are more about managing the technical aspects of websites that have already been created. These are the programs I offer.

Portfolio

Lastly, we learned that a portfolio is:

An organization's strategic plan that determines which programs and projects to take on.

On that note, it would not make sense for my business to accept a project to build a house, or fly an airplane. By using proper Portfolio Management, I can ensure that my business stays on track by only selecting projects and programs that contribute to my company's success.

Being self-employed, I often have to play the role of Project Manager, Program Manager and Portfolio Manager all at the same time. However, in larger organizations, it would make sense to have these as separate departments with separate managers. To that end, each department has to work together in order to create successful projects, designate logical programs, and to craft a sound portfolio management strategy.