Knowing When to Define a Program

Choosing between program and project

As discussed earlier in this section, scope is the major differentiator between a program and a project. When your company’s projects are around half a year to a year in length, a program may be multiple years long. If projects are a few months long, a program may only last up to a year. In any case, though, they are relative to one another.

When you are faced with a set of requirements or goals and are trying to decide whether to spin up a project or a program, there are a few litmus tests you can do to see whether a program is the right fit:

• Do you have multiple goals to achieve?

• Is the timeline fixed or based on achieving the goals?

• How many ...