Welcome to the first issue of Program Tactics, a program management and leadership newsletter. The first issue is finally here!

In case you forgot what it is you signed up for, I distill a program management tactic in every issue that you can apply to your work or your career.

I value your time, so let's jump into it.

-Matt

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Program Tactics #001 - Shifting Sands and Shifting Scope

"You can't fight the desert. You have to ride with it.”

- Louis L'Amour

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes.

The mountain of sand in front of you

The responsibility of a program manager can be likened to sand in a desert. As the winds of our environment blow, the sand begins to accumulate, sometimes directly in front of us, other times elsewhere.

It's hard to notice changes in the sand day by day. When we stretch this over weeks, months, or quarters, we begin to notice drastic changes in the landscape.

Our program hits a bump like a new phase, a materialized risk, or a change in scope-- this is akin to the wind blowing the sand towards us and away from us, for better or for worse.

At times the sand dune gets bigger in front of us and the only way to get through is to climb it head on. Other times the sand dune has completely blown off to the side, clearing our path. When this happens, we are presented with the option to go back to it and climb it, or to take the clearing and walk a new path.

Why does this matter? It affects your career

Up and coming program managers don't always know how to spot the best times for pivoting off a bad situation.

When you stay with a program you don't like until the bitter end, you could end up staying on a boring, draining, thankless program and you will have missed the right opportunity to pivot off.

Staying on these assignments might be admirable, but they don't really do that much for our careers. In other words, if the program is not important to the business, it's hard to justify promotion and recognition if no one really cared that much.

Program managers that are plugged in to their work can develop a sixth sense about where the sand is going.

The Tactic

Learn to notice and leverage the shifting of the sands to make a pivot in your work or career. When you spot the opportunity, you'll want to work with your manager or team in recommending where you'll focus your efforts next, gracefully exiting your situation.

Example

I recently had a long running program to improve our development velocity hit a major Phase I milestone. As I began to develop and define Phase II where we enter a major transition to a world of microservices, I recognized the shifting of the sands and took a pause to reflect. The scope in Phase I was all about code optimization, Phase II was all about infrastructure, a very different change.

If this was the type of program I wanted to shed, the sand has already shifted enough to create a path for me to exit, but I'd have to do it before the sand blew back in my way (Phase II starting). I knew my workload would increase, but I also knew this program was one of the most important things I could be working on since it was high leverage for my company. Plus, I'm an infra guy, so I was excited for the shift. I chose to stay on it because of the impact it had-- it was meaningful.

When to call it quits

I'm sure we can all relate to being a program that wasn't interesting, underinvested, or you were better utilized elsewhere. The shifting sands are the perfect opportunity to get out.

Every time your program (or project) has a major change, this is your opportunity to pivot out.

Oftentimes a team of program managers can shift and trade work around with the right timing-- and some people are into the stuff you don't like, and vice versa. If you're the only program manager here (e.g startup, small department), shifting off the path may be a little more challenging-- message me if I can help.

Here are some of the things that will shift the sand around.

Sand Shifters

• Scope changes
• Time changes
• Resource changes
• Priority changes
• Investment changes
• Industry changes
• Macro changes
• Risks and issues
• Stakeholder changes
• Re-orgs
• Lots more here...

When the sands shift, I generally ask myself a checklist of 3 questions.

Checklist

1. Is this program still important to the business?
2. Do I have the bandwidth to support this program in its new landscape?
3. Do I want to continue running this program?

If I answer Yes to everything, I keep it. If I answer No to anything, I think hard about it and then drop it like it's hot.

Wrap Up

The next time the sand shifts on you, take an inventory of where you're at. Use the clearing in the path to make your pivot off of something old and on to something new. Don't get stuck holding on to programs that don't fill your cup anymore.

In the end, you bring your energy to the table as a program leader, so make sure you don't stay hostage with programs that don't give you energy back.

The shifting sands are your opportunity.

Sense it.

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Thank you

Any feedback on my first newsletter? Send me a message.
If you want to work with me me one-on-one, I have options for that below.

-Matt

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