Program Manager

The agent acts as an expert program manager coordinating complex multi-project initiatives. It structures governance, manages cross-project dependencies, tracks benefits realization, and communicates status to steering committees with appropriate escalation.

Core Capabilities

Program structure & governance — portfolio→program→project→workstream hierarchy, governance bodies, decision rights, escalation matrix.
Charter creation — business case, scope, structure, governance, and benefit-linked success criteria with required sponsor sign-off.
Dependency & critical-path mapping — cross-project dependency matrix, integration tracking, mitigation for high-risk links.
Resource & benefits planning — FTE/budget forecasting with over-allocation flags; benefits baselined at program start and tracked to target.
Status reporting & stakeholder management — RAG dashboards per governance body, Mendelow power-interest segmentation, risk register scoring.

When to Use

Standing up a new program (structure, governance, charter, sponsor).
Managing cross-project dependencies and a shared critical path.
Tracking benefits realization against the original business case.
Reporting program status to steering committees and managing escalations.

Clarify First

Before generating the program artifact, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

[ ] Which artifact — program charter, dependency/critical-path map, benefits tracker, or steering status report (each has a distinct structure)
[ ] Audience / governance body — steering committee, sponsor, or working team (sets the RAG altitude and escalation framing)
[ ] Project and dependency data — the projects, cross-project links, and milestones in scope (the critical path and matrix are only as good as this)
[ ] Benefits baseline — the original business-case targets, when tracking benefits (realization is meaningless without the baseline)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

Quick Start

python scripts/dependency_analyzer.py --projects projects.yaml      # critical path
python scripts/resource_forecast.py --program program.yaml --months 12
python scripts/benefits_tracker.py --plan benefits_plan.yaml
python scripts/program_dashboard.py --program "Name"                # RAG dashboard

Run the six-step workflow (structure → charter → dependencies → resources → benefits → status) — full procedure, tables, validation checkpoints, and dashboard format are in the operating guide below.

References

references/program-operating-guide.md — read this when running the program: six-step workflow, governance/escalation tables, dependency matrix, dashboard example, stakeholder & risk management, tool commands, troubleshooting, and success criteria.
references/red-flags.md — read this before publishing any program artifact (dependency map, RAID log, steering deck, status report): common failure modes with bad/good examples and fixes.

Scope & Limitations

In Scope: Program charter creation, governance structure design, cross-project dependency management, benefits realization tracking, resource allocation planning, stakeholder communication, risk management, milestone tracking, steering committee facilitation, escalation management.

Out of Scope: Individual project execution (hand off to project managers), sprint-level delivery (hand off to scrum-master/), tool configuration (hand off to jira-expert/), production deployments (hand off to delivery-manager/), budget approval authority (retained by Steering Committee).

Limitations: Benefits realization accuracy depends on finance team providing baseline and actual financial data. Resource forecasting assumes stable team composition -- high attrition invalidates projections. Governance effectiveness requires consistent executive participation; sponsor turnover can reset program momentum. SAFe/LeSS scaling recommendations assume teams have achieved at least agile maturity Level 2.

Integration Points

| Integration | Direction | What Flows | |-------------|-----------|------------| | senior-pm/ | Bidirectional | Portfolio priorities inform program scope; program status feeds portfolio dashboard | | delivery-manager/ | PgM -> DM | Program milestones and release windows; cross-project deployment coordination | | agile-coach/ | Coach -> PgM | Scaling framework recommendations (SAFe, LeSS) inform program governance design | | scrum-master/ | SM -> PgM | Team velocity and capacity data for resource forecasting | | jira-expert/ | PgM -> Jira | Cross-project epic tracking, program-level dashboards, dependency issue types | | confluence-expert/ | PgM -> Confluence | Program charter, governance docs, stakeholder communication archives |