Controversial statement: Programmes should be fun.  If you’re on a programme, you get to play a front-line role in removing all of the frustrations of your working life; the clunky applications with their long wait times and counter-intuitive interfaces, the arcane processes layered with workaround band-aids, the non-sensical org structures that mean everything takes three times as long.   The outsourcing arrangements that were designed for ten years ago.  All of that can be swept away and replaced with the world as it should be.  How satisfying!

Nowhere should the fun be greater than at the executive sponsor level, because you get to lead it.  You get to liberate the organisation, and to make your mark in the most positive, creative and altruistic way that any executive ever could.  That legacy should feed a sense of accomplishment and a quiet pride like no other entry on the executive CV.

Alas, when I speak to executive sponsors, ‘fun’ doesn’t tend to be the underlying sentiment.  Instead there’s an unease about the burden of responsibility for something that they don’t feel entirely in control of. 

There’s a real satisfaction to be derived from being in control of a high-performance programme.  For those who have never had that experience, here’s a sketch:

The scope

You are crystal-clear on the scope.  It’s detailed, it’s actionable, and it’s consistently understood across the programme team and the wider organisation.  It’s explicit, not only about what’s in scope, but also what’s out and why and where it will be catered for instead.  Every member of the programme team has access to the scope statement and is able to explain it in the same manner, with consistently of concepts and terminology.  In short, you’re in charge of a team that knows exactly what its mission is. 

The plan

You have direct line-of-sight to the plan, so you are able to understand and validate what specific tasks are being delivered when, where and by whom – and you can check that, anytime you like.  There’s a steady metronomic drum beat of tasks complete, week-on-week – just like watching a progress bar on a computer interface.  You’re able to see slippage as it occurs and direct interception before it does any lasting damage.  Where slippage does occur, you’re able to pinpoint the cause and ensure that it does not re-occur.  You’re able to use and account for contingency in real-time.

Your plan is so good that you’re even able to use it to model impacts to see if there are options to phase the delivery or even accelerate it.  And modelling only take hours, not days.

Governance

Situational awareness is already provided offline via meaningful MI that everyone understands.  Programme boards are no longer an hour-long update.  Board conversations have shifted to focus instead on outcomes and adoption, not this week’s crisis.  Any discussions around risks are concerned with the cumulative picture, or the trajectory, or the emerging themes: The irritating debate re the scoring of Risk #3 in the Top 5 Risks no longer happens.  Decision paths are well understood and sequenced.  Papers are delivered well in advance of programme board, and decisions are considered in advance and reached in a manner Amazon would be proud of.

Risks

You know the programme’s cumulative risk exposure.  You can even put a figure against it because you’ve costed your risks.  You know your risk trajectory, and it’s downwards month-on-month because the risks  you’re closing outnumber the new risks than you’re encountering.  You can see a clear ant-trail from your risk log to your programme plan because the treatments of the risks are being converted into planned, scheduled, resourced actions.  You can even analyse your risks thematically so that you can have the right conversations with the Board and with senior stakeholders.

Issues

Your cycle-time (from the occurrence of an issue to its resolution) is already low and still reducing.  Most of your issues are being dealt with before they cause slippage/impact the critical path – bullets dodged.  The resolution of the issues is drama-free: It’s a well-rehearsed, well-oiled response, not a reaction.

And the result of all of this?  You’re able to do what a successful executive sponsor does best: Lead the organisation confidently and calmly through the change and into a well-engineered, well-executed and better future.  After all, isn’t that what a high-stakes programme should be about?