How can you identify program inputs and outputs effectively?

Defining the objective and scope must happen even before approving the portfolio of programs and projects. Having a well-crafted and mature Program Initiation Request and Program Business Case is essential to the success of the program or project. It is important to have clear definitions of what is and what is not part of the scope. Another thing to consider is ensuring the involvement of the main stakeholders at this stage, ensuring that these documentations contain the correct information and are generated with quality.

When identifying program goals and scope, also look for non technical goals like business, people, economic, risk, productivity and process goals. Once the goals are identified and agreed upon by all stakeholders, then it should be determined what inputs and outputs will produce the desired goals.

I have always looked at the program as a placenta. The projects feed upto the program and are closely linked by strategy and RIDAC. There should not be double dipping so if a task is on the project it's not on the program. But a RIDAC can begin on a project and then be escalated by the PM to the Program Manager. The over-site committee should also be slightly escalated on the program vs. the related projects. In most cases the program over-site operates as the sponsor for projects. The Program sponsor ultimately being accountable for all program and project work, but delegating to the program leads to steer projects.

Programs should exist for valid reasons, and keeping a program in perpetuity without periodic evaluation thereof makes it worthless. I had this happen with a verification program of employment of nonimmigrant aliens, and when we did an evaluation of it, we found there was no valid outcome for reports of fraud, and our findings resulted in revamping the program.

Resource allocation will depend on the type of program/project you are managing. For instance, if you are managing an engineering project, you will most likely be using Waterfall Methodology, in this case, planning for resource allocation would be something much more robust, which would be detailed after generating a WBS and the project schedule. However, if it were an IT project, using an agile framework, such as Scrum, this scenario is much more adaptive, which allows greater flexibility and this robust planning no longer exists.

In evaluating our program on site visits to companies employing nonimmigrant aliens, we found information gaps in a program designed more for speed and simplicity rather than evaluating the total situation, and our evaluation found this lack of information was detrimental to the overall results.

Thinking about Waterfall, another tool you can use is PBS (Product Breakdown Structure), which is widely used in Axelos' Prince2 and MSP methodologies. Thinking about Agile, there are some things you should consider and keep in mind, such as: Epics, Features, MVP, DoR and DoD.

In evaluating our program on site visits to companies employing nonimmigrant aliens, we found that the program was designed more for statistical collection rather than actual results, and the lack of information for effective use of the resources made it nothing more than a numerical report with no real value.

Any program has to have tangible results, and our program on site verification of companies employing nonimmigrant aliens found that there was no real desired outcome other than to provide statistics thereof. In identifying the information and purpose gaps, we were able to revamp the program to provide action results for cases with fraud findings.

Our program was found to have impact well beyond the reporting of numbers alone, in that fraud cases with no action resulted in people receiving follow-on immigration benefits for which they were ineligible. In identifying the impacts and the lack of action, we successfully revamped the program to require action as needed.

Classic article with extremely high level info, but very useful. As inputs we have purpose of the Pgr and expectation of stakeholders which are chained with resources, regulations and standards ( also legal), strategic objectives, risk and info assessment. For output: measurable goals, lessons learnt, quality standards and measurement, reports and impact assessment

Adaptability and resilience: Be prepared to pivot. External factors such as policy changes, economic shifts, or technological advancements can influence the relevance and effectiveness of your inputs and outputs.