ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the main differences between a project and a programme. Programme management is now an important and recognised management technique in the world of business change. It is the approach taken to manage a programme, which may comprise the employment of a management method or selection of appropriate management techniques. Programme management becomes a much more sophisticated discipline in order to tackle the complexities of some accelerating change. Forces such as the Internet, e-commerce, social networking and digital money will significantly change working habits and patterns, and management techniques will have to cater for the revolutionary changes. Programmes exhibit certain characteristics, which some people like to include as part of the definition. A key difference between a project and a programme relates to the achievement of benefits. Benefits are achieved during the life of a programme, as completing projects are decommissioned and new ones commissioned.
