Program manager vs. project manager — what’s the difference?

Whether hiring for a leadership position or considering your next career move, understanding the distinction between program and project management is crucial. While both roles involve leading teams and driving initiatives, their scope, responsibilities, and organizational impact differ significantly.

Both roles are essential to an organization’s success — program managers define the strategy, while project managers ensure flawless execution. In this article, we’ll break down the differences, key responsibilities, and how these roles work together to drive results. In this guide:

• Program manager vs. project manager.
• What is program management?
• What do program managers do?
• What is project management?
• What do project managers do?
• Key differences between a program manager and a project manager.
• How they work together.
• Skills and responsibilities.
• Tools for managing programs and projects.

Both program and project managers have leadership roles and manage teams. They mainly differ in the types of work they take on and their timelines. If you’re trying to understand the difference between project and program managers broadly, projects are small (micro), while programs are large (macro).

Program managers are responsible for big-picture work for organizations. The job is more high-level and focused on the organization’s overall direction. Program managers are all about long-term strategy, so the duration of their work is ongoing. They support more significant company initiatives and more than likely will only change direction on a quarterly or annual basis.

Project managers, on the other hand, are responsible for individual projects with fixed end dates. They’re in charge of specific deliverables that are highly structured and organized. Project managers have a narrower scope than program managers. They’re also time-bound and guided by the budget. When a project manager completes their project, they move on to the next one.

Programs serve a business’s strategic goals and are usually more permanent. To create a program, businesses map their long-term objectives to annual initiatives, which shape and influence the organization’s projects. Program management then breaks down an organization’s big goals for the year into smaller—but still high-level—programs to execute.

The goal of program management is to optimize a business. It touches on change management principles and digital transformation to proactively spot and solve inefficiencies. It’s common for businesses that want a competitive advantage to invest in program management to future-proof the business and support silo-free decision-making.

A program manager’s work is ongoing, includes multiple projects, and supports more significant company initiatives, while project managers focus on specific deliverables with set start and end dates.

Program managers oversee these high-level objectives, meaning they often work on many different projects simultaneously to support a program. Since programs support the organization’s overall direction, it isn’t unusual for program managers to pivot their focus as needed. Their work is rarely time-bound by deadlines and usually doesn’t have a set stopping point.

A program manager’s role will change depending on the organization’s objectives, but they usually oversee tasks like:

• Taking the C-suite’s goals and creating programs to achieve them
• Reviewing projects and providing advice
• Auditing and quality control
• Running programs in conjunction with project managers
• Overseeing the strategic direction or larger vision of where the company is headed
• Balancing the needs of various stakeholders by acting as “the glue”
• Improving operations for the sake of the program
• Reducing risks wherever possible
• Offering mentorship and direction to project managers and their teams

Program managers need the ability to think big. Unlike folks who get tied up in the minutiae and tasks required to get across the finish line, program managers look beyond the finish line. They are forward thinkers who inspire, motivate, and rally an organization behind a more significant cause.

Project management involves planning, guiding, and monitoring tasks to ensure successful execution. Like program management, project management ties back to your organization’s goals. But unlike a program, a project doesn’t last forever — it’s clear, organized, and quantifiable.

Projects often follow SMART goal-setting frameworks, meaning goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Projects also have:

• Start and end dates
• Defined team members
• Organized processes
• Set timelines
• Budget limitations

Nearly every industry uses project management to take care of business. Whether hiring or looking for a career in IT, marketing, HR, graphic design, or finance, you’ll likely need project management skills.

Not all project management is the same, either. Depending on the business and how your team works, you’ll likely need to rely on one or more of the different project management methodologies, including:

• Agile
• Kanban
• Waterfall
• Scrum
• Six Sigma
• Hybrid

Like program managers, project managers are strong leaders who know how to bring people with diverse skill sets together. While program managers focus more on strategy, project managers’ responsibilities are more task oriented.

Program managers also tend to focus on a singular high-level strategy, while most project managers manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Project managers are responsible for:

• Taking the program manager’s goals and developing them into actionable ideas
• Assembling a team to achieve the desired outcome
• Effectively delegating tasks
• Creating and managing a budget
• Mitigating potential risk
• Keeping the team on the same page with effective communication

Whether you’re hiring a project manager or want to become one yourself, these qualities are a must to succeed:

• Organization
• Communication
• Time sensitivity
• Budget savviness
• People skills
• Adaptability to change

Project managers facilitate communication not only among their team but also with stakeholders outside of the team. Unlike program managers, project managers don’t necessarily need to worry about the big picture. They have set finish lines that they work hard to cross with their team. Project managers certainly have a lot on their plate, but they’re more focused on the small to-dos that need to happen to turn the cogs in the machine that is your business.

Here’s a closer look at the key distinctions between these two roles:

Program and project managers are not rivals but partners in achieving organizational success. Program managers set the strategic direction and provide guidance, while project managers execute the individual projects that contribute to the program’s overall goals. They collaborate closely, sharing information, managing resources, and ensuring alignment between project deliverables and program objectives.

While their focus areas differ, program and project managers share many essential skills:

• Leadership: Both roles require strong leadership skills to motivate teams, guide decision-making, and navigate challenges.
• Communication: Effective communication is crucial for both roles to keep stakeholders informed, manage expectations, and ensure alignment.
• Strategic thinking: Program managers need strong strategic thinking skills to define and align program objectives with business goals. Project managers need strategic thinking to plan and execute projects effectively within the program’s framework.
• Risk management: Both roles involve identifying and managing risks that could impact project or program success.
• Problem-solving: Both roles require strong problem-solving skills to address challenges, resolve conflicts, and keep projects on track.

Even the most talented program and project managers need support handling the complexity of their jobs. Fortunately, the right tools will help them complete their deliverables on time and within budget.

Ask yourself if your current tools:

• Simplify workflows or complicate them
• Connect your teams for streamlined work
• Allow program managers and project managers to align their tasks with strategic goals
• Provide flexibility and scalability

There are plenty of tools on the market, but if you want a platform designed to bridge the gap between programs and projects, Adobe Workfront can help you meet your goals.

Workfront is a project planning and work management platform that centralizes work across teams and applications. It unites people, processes, data, and technology across an organization so you can manage the entire lifecycle of projects from start to finish. By optimizing and centralizing digital projects, cross-functional teams can connect, collaborate, and execute from anywhere to help people do their best work.

Take a Workfront product tour now, or watch the overview video to learn more.