In a couple of columns last fall, I highlighted the importance of program management for IT organizations, reflecting on the fact that the single most important factor affecting the perception of an IT organization is its ability to successfully deliver programs. I also outlined the five elements that are foundational for successfully delivering large-scale IT programs. The single most important element: the personnel leading the program.

I am constantly amazed at (and disappointed by) the state of our federal government’s ability to actually deliver IT systems. While we train program managers and demand certifications, I have found time and again that agencies struggle to field skilled and experienced project or program management teams with the ability to plan, develop and implement sophisticated IT systems. Government needs to recognize that a program management office is much more than just the PM or the contract officer; it requires a broad and diverse sets of skills.

To that end, I was pleased to see the very recent passage and enactment into law of the Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act (PMIAA), S.1550. Under this act, federal government agencies, with direction from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), are required to do the following:

• Adopt government-wide program and project management standards, policies and guidelines
• Engage with the private sector to identify best practices that would improve federal program and project management
• Create a formal job series and career path for program and project managers in the federal government
• Designate a senior executive in each agency in charge of program and project management to implement all the above
• Create an interagency council on program management to align approaches across the federal government

PMIAA is definitely a step in the right direction, as it addresses many of the major findings of studies and the recommendations of those in the profession. For example, it addresses the key challenges to effectively manage government programs found by a panel of National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) experts in a Project Management Institute-sponsored study, which included reviewing major research and interviewing a group of leaders from government and industry. The issuance of the standards, policies, guidelines and regulations required by this new Program Management Act and the implementation of its other requirements can create the synergy between government and industry that is needed to spur the discovery of better ways to effectively manage large programs and realize more organizational benefits.

Yet I sound a cautionary note. As I learned in my eight years of government service, a law passed does not necessarily result in improved results. The newly enacted Program Management Act, together with the Federal IT Acquisition and Reform Act (FITARA), provide the legal underpinnings to drive needed change in the way government plans and delivers programs and projects. How federal IT goes over the next four years will largely be dependent on the direction and leadership set by the White House, supported by Congress, and embodied in a few key positions – namely the OMB director, OMB’s deputy director for management, Federal CIO and newly created Federal CISO post.

The new Trump administration must drive a change in culture in which agencies are expected to develop the talent and establish project and program management disciplines, developing their staff in needed PM disciplines, getting proper help when they have troubled programs, etc. As we move toward the start of the Trump administration, we are at a seminal moment that, if handled correctly, can accelerate the adoption of new technologies and techniques that can provide significant improvement to government. Handled incorrectly, we will continue to languish, with many agencies struggling just to maintain the legacy systems they currently run, let alone thinking about transformational change via the use of new technology and systems.