Nearly a decade ago, APM published APM Introduction to Programme Management.

At that time I had just been appointed Chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority charged with delivering the London Olympics 2012: the question on many people’s lips was “Does Britain have what it takes to deliver such an ambitious programme given the perception of performance on major public sector programmes?” The answer is one more notch in the history of achievements that this country can lay claim to.

The field of programme and project management is both as old as time itself and also a young profession. When I started my career, project management was ‘just a part of’ whatever profession you happened to be in – too often with inglorious consequences for delivery that have lodged in the perceptions of many. Times have changed and now professionalism in project management has made successful delivery the expected norm.

Recognition that programme management is much more than ‘just big project management’ is a relatively recent concept. The success of the London 2012 Olympics, and the ‘Learning Legacy’ shared with the world, has stimulated interest and progress in this field, most recently exemplified on Crossrail. These programmes are not so much a pinnacle of success as the beginning of the greatest proposed investment in infrastructure ever seen in this country. The National Infrastructure Plan sees a forward portfolio of work that will challenge our global skills to deliver – a challenge we must rise to if we are to achieve the growth and prosperity we owe to those who follow us.

While my career has been predominantly in infrastructure, the world of programme management stretches way beyond these limiting boundaries. Wherever change is required to deliver benefits to an organisation or society, there you will find a demand for programme management skills to realise the outcomes sought rather than simply deliver constituent project outputs that do not quite achieve expectations.

One can see, in the worlds of IT and defence, examples beyond infrastructure of both success and failure at programme level that build on successful project delivery. This update to APM Introduction to Programme Management brings new insights as to what programme management is all about. It is an ‘easy read’ for the top executives, for those relatively new to programme management who have a thirst for knowledge and for the project management community who should, and need to, understand how their project management skills play into the ‘bigger picture’. To all of you, in whatever field you practise your profession, you owe it to your clients, your successors and yourselves to make sure your work delivers the outcomes society expects from you; understanding the programme management context in which you operate will help you achieve this.