A Practical Guide to Scaling Up a Tech Project into a Program

Once a tech project is scaled up beyond its initial goals, new challenges are apt to arise. Yet with careful planning, strategic partnerships and judicious risk-taking, organizations can successfully expand their projects into programs for a wider audience.

With a focus on actionable steps and practical advice, lets explore key suggestions and considerations for building a framework to scale your projects effectively.

Program Management Do’s and Don’ts

A program consists of multiple projects strategically linked to each other to fit into larger overarching business goals. Those involved in scaling up a program or any projects within it need to decide on a formal approach for orchestration, prioritization and delivery.

Here are some do’s and don’ts for everyone involved in the project.

Do

• Follow a clear and methodical approach.

• Leverage the right tools to accomplish desired outcomes.

• Communicate to the right people at the right time.

• Form a governance committee.

• Delegate efficiently.

• Discuss risks with stakeholders.

Don’t

• Say “yes” to everything.

• Avoid necessary conflicts.

• Be overly self-critical.

8 Points for Effectively Scaling Up a Project

1. Estimate the scope of the projects

A high-level analysis and estimation of the projects involved in the program can help in preparing timelines and budgets. Rather than wait for all the details, kick-start the expansion by planning an initial scope and budget, allowing for changes in the coming months or years.

2. Lay out the plan with dedicated timelines

Once you’ve made your estimations, create a roadmap of the program, beginning with the start and end dates of each project. A calendared view of the program with timelines is a good reference point for budgeting and resource management.

3. Begin human resource planning

After identifying the resources required each month, submit your requests to the HR department. HR should be able to provide you with a list of available people with the required skills, allowing you to onboard and offboard them from projects as needed. This enables you to prepare for upcoming needs and efficiently allocate and release resources as required, streamlining the process.

4. Identify key project leaders

The people running your projects ultimately decide the fate of the program. So, identifying the key project managers is critical. Ensure your project leaders have the skills, experience and expertise necessary for the roles. Interview them, assess their management skills based on program requirements and then deploy them accordingly.

5. Define and streamline processes

Establishing a set of processes for all project participants is crucial for ensuring consistency and alignment toward the common goal. The best way to communicate the processes is to prepare a checklist and provide it to each onboarding project team member. This can help streamline processes and ensure that all program essentials are addressed.

Here is a go-to checklist for designing processes to keep the team on track.

6. Define a communication plan

Like strategic planning, effective stakeholder communication is vital in program management. When developing a communication plan, keep the following steps in mind.

• Identify all external and internal stakeholders.

• Determine what information needs to reach which stakeholder and in what way.

• Make relevant information available at the right time.

• Manage stakeholder expectations by addressing their issues whenever they arise.

7. Review and present progress reports

Collect all status and progress reports from your managers and distribute them to your stakeholders in a program deck. Try to extract and present relevant information, including progress projections, in a concise and meaningful way.

8. Provide thorough closure 

This involves delivering the final products to the customer, transferring documentation to the business, terminating supplier contracts, releasing staff and equipment and informing stakeholders. Documenting project closure details in your program overview is crucial, as is obtaining approval from the business to conclude the project.

Scale Your Projects with Material

At Material, we leverage extensive research, behavioral science and analytics to uncover and anticipate human preferences and behaviors. Integrating these insights into strategic decision-making unites diverse client stakeholders around key objectives and winning strategies. If you’re seeking assistance with scaling your project into a program, connect with us for an expert consultation.