Project Meta-management and Program Management
John M. Nicholas, Herman Steyn · 2025
Meta-management refers to aspects of project management over which project managers have little or no influence. They include project management maturity, project management methodology, knowledge management, and the project management office. Maturity refers to how advanced a company is in terms of project management. Methodology specifies an organization’s project life cycle stages and the roles of project managers and stakeholders at each stage. Conformance to a methodology helps ensure that all projects are conducted and managed in a similar manner. One pitfall in projects is treating each project as if it were completely distinctive, ignoring lessons learned and repeating mistakes from past projects. Knowledge management aims at capturing knowledge from projects to benefit future projects. The project management office is responsible for all these matters and for assisting project managers. Projects are frequently undertaken as part of a larger agenda, called programs (or programmes). A program is a set of projects organized and coordinated to achieve an overarching purpose or goal. Program management differs from project management in many ways in terms of life cycle phases, roles and organization structure, and themes of management emphasis, and requires different methods for initiation, planning, definition, and control.