Defence project newbies: Is your project actually a programme?

Recently, I was tasked with establishing a brand-new aviation equipment department within a fast-paced engineering environment of a newly established organisation. I was given this responsibility without a formal theoretical framework or project methodology to guide me, and without an official project manager title or an accredited project sponsor. I suspect many of my counterparts in the defence sector will recognise this 'no framework, just deliver' mentality all too well. We were just a growing team of professionals delivering engineering support to military helicopters.

Initially, I approached the work as a project: defining outputs, creating a plan, and driving tasks toward completion. It was only later while studying the APM Project Fundamentals Qualification (APM PFQ), which I had specifically sought out to gain this missing structure, that an epiphany struck: I realised I had not been leading a project at all. I had been managing a programme.

That realisation was significant because it changed how I understood both the work and my role within it.

A quick look at APM definitions:

Project:. A unique, transient endeavour undertaken to bring about change and to achieve planned objectives.

Programme:. A unique, transient strategic endeavour undertaken to achieve beneficial change and incorporating a group of related projects and business-as-usual (steady-state) activities.

My ‘project’ succinctly fit the definition of a programme in its entirety. Once I recognised the key difference between a project and a programme, comparing theory with my reality, the work I was undertaking took on a different shape. Building this department from the ground up shifted beyond creating processes, practices, systems and checklists. I was, after all, increasing the organisation’s effectiveness and facilitating incrementally increasing capability. This meant focusing on outcomes rather than outputs and coordinating multiple interdependent streams of work, some of which were sequential and others in parallel, and teams of people.

The realisation and subsequent change in perspective consequently altered the way I engaged with stakeholders because it was no longer enough to report on task progress. What mattered was demonstrating how the initiative supported the strategy, identifying risks that needed attention and outlining how long-term benefits would be embedded. And conversations shifted from status updates to driving discussions about efficacy, alignment and outcomes.

It also reshaped how I saw my own responsibilities. As project leader I had thought of myself as someone who oversaw delivery. Through the lens of a programme manager, I had to find ways to navigate complexity, manage interdependencies and guide people through uncertainty and change. I also had to support others, mentoring and developing people from different departments so that individual efforts contributed to the overall strategic goal. Looking back, the switch from project thinking to programme thinking was, crucially, about adopting a different lens. Projects end when their outputs are delivered. Programmes endure through the benefits they leave behind. Recognising that difference made it possible for me to structure governance and planning around outcomes rather than activities, and to engage stakeholders in terms of value rather than progress.

A key lesson I learned, and the one I hope is worth sharing, is that if an initiative feels larger than a project, it probably is. If its purpose is strategic, if it involves complex change, and if it requires the coordination of multiple related efforts, then treating it as a programme is likely a better approach. Doing so brings clarity to how success is measured, strengthens stakeholder engagement , and ensures that efforts deliver lasting value rather than succinct outputs.

To conclude, projects deliver outputs and programmes leave a legacy. The real question isn’t what you’re managing, but whether you’re building a checklist for today, or shaping your organisation for tomorrow.