Project Management

Project Management — questions and answers

What's the difference between a project manager and a programme manager?

A project manager delivers a single defined outcome with a clear endpoint. A programme manager coordinates multiple related projects that together achieve a strategic objective, managing dependencies between them and ensuring the combined effort delivers more value than isolated projects would. Programme management operates at a higher altitude, concerned with benefits realisation rather than individual deliverables.

How does scope creep actually happen if everyone agrees on requirements at the start?

Requirements documents capture what stakeholders think they need, but understanding deepens as work progresses. A client sees early output and realises adjacent problems worth solving. Small additions seem reasonable in isolation but accumulate. Verbal agreements bypass change control. Scope creep happens when these incremental shifts aren't formally assessed for their cumulative impact on time and resources.

What does a RAID log track and why is it separate from the project plan?

A RAID log records Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies. Risks are potential future problems; issues are current problems requiring action; assumptions are things believed true but unverified; dependencies are external factors the project relies on. It sits separate from the plan because these items need different handling—escalation, mitigation, validation—rather than just scheduling and task assignment.

When does Agile methodology stop being appropriate for a project?

Agile struggles when requirements are fixed by regulation or contract, when teams can't access users for regular feedback, or when work has hard dependencies requiring strict sequencing. Construction projects, compliance implementations, and hardware manufacturing often need more predictive planning. Agile also falters when stakeholders demand detailed long-range commitments that iterative discovery contradicts.

What's the purpose of a project charter if detailed planning happens later?

A charter authorises the project to exist and consume resources. It defines high-level scope, names the project manager, identifies key stakeholders, and establishes success criteria before detailed planning begins. The charter provides formal authority to spend time on planning and protects the project manager's mandate when priorities conflict. Without it, projects operate in a governance vacuum.

Why do project managers spend time on stakeholder analysis rather than just managing the team?

Stakeholders outside the core team control approvals, funding, access to information, and political support. A stakeholder analysis maps who influences the project, what they care about, and how to communicate with them effectively. Ignoring this dimension means discovering too late that someone with veto power feels blindsided, or that a crucial resource owner never understood what was needed.