Programme manager vs. project manager — what’s the difference?
04-14-2025
Whether hiring for a leadership position or considering your next career move, understanding the distinction between programme and project management is crucial. While both roles involve leading teams and driving initiatives, their scope, responsibilities and organisational impact differ significantly.
Both roles are essential to an organisation’s success — programme 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:
- Programme manager vs. project manager.
- What is programme management?
- What do program managers do?
- What is project management?
- What do project managers do?
- Key differences between a programme manager and a project manager.
- How they work together.
- Skills and responsibilities.
- Tools for managing programmes and projects.
Programme manager vs. project manager.
Both programme 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 programme managers broadly, projects are small (micro), while programmes are large (macro).
Programme managers are responsible for big-picture work for organisations. The job is more high-level and focused on the organisation’s overall direction. Programme 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 organised. Project managers have a narrower scope than programme 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.
What is programme management?
Programmes serve a business’s strategic goals and are usually more permanent. To create a programme, businesses map their long-term objectives to annual initiatives, which shape and influence the organisation’s projects. Programme management then breaks down an organisation’s big goals for the year into smaller—but still high-level—programmes to execute.
The goal of programme management is to optimise 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 programme management to future-proof the business and support silo-free decision-making.
A programme 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.
What do program managers do?
Programme managers oversee these high-level objectives, meaning they often work on many different projects simultaneously to support a programme. Since programmes support the organisation’s overall direction, it isn’t unusual for programme 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 programme manager’s role will change depending on the organisation’s objectives, but they usually oversee tasks like:
- Taking the C-suite’s goals and creating programmes to achieve them
- Reviewing projects and providing advice
- Auditing and quality control
- Running programmes 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 programme
- Reducing risks wherever possible
- Offering mentorship and direction to project managers and their teams
Programme 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, programme managers look beyond the finish line. They are forward thinkers who inspire, motivate and rally an organisation behind a more significant cause.
What is project management?
Project management involves planning, guiding and monitoring tasks to ensure successful execution. Like programme management, project management ties back to your organisation’s goals. But unlike a programme, a project doesn’t last forever — it’s clear, organised 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
- Organised 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:
What do project managers do?
Like programme managers, project managers are strong leaders who know how to bring people with diverse skill sets together. While programme managers focus more on strategy, project managers’ responsibilities are more task oriented.
Programme 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 programme 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:
- Organisation
- 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 programme 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.
Key differences between a programme manager and a project manager.
Here’s a closer look at the key distinctions between these two roles:
How programme managers and project managers work together.
Programme and project managers are not rivals but partners in achieving organisational success. Programme managers set the strategic direction and provide guidance, while project managers execute the individual projects that contribute to the programme’s overall goals. They collaborate closely, sharing information, managing resources and ensuring alignment between project deliverables and programme objectives.
Similar skills and responsibilities.
While their focus areas differ, programme 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: Programme managers need strong strategic thinking skills to define and align programme objectives with business goals. Project managers need strategic thinking to plan and execute projects effectively within the programme’s framework.
- Risk management: Both roles involve identifying and managing risks that could affect project or programme success.
- Problem-solving: Both roles require strong problem-solving skills to address challenges, resolve conflicts and keep projects on track.
Tools for managing programmes and projects.
Even the most talented programme 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 programme 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 programmes and projects, Adobe Workfront can help you to meet your goals.
Workfront is a project planning and work management platform that centralises work across teams and applications. It unites people, processes, data and technology across an organisation so you can manage the entire lifecycle of projects from start to finish. By optimising and centralising 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.
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