Project/Program Management

Disclaimer: Numbers have been altered and information has been redacted out of an abundance of caution for data security

Lighthouse Project

While working on the Lighthouse Project, I managed timelines for projects piloting innovative solutions to address customers’ business needs. My team drove the operational side of the program, which included working cross-functionally with Field Sales, Engineering, Customer Experience, Finance, Marketing, and occasionally representatives from the client as well.

Each Account Team that wanted to obtain funding through our program had to go through an extensive validation process and funding request session with key stakeholders and the operations team. Once a project was approved, they would be assigned a program manager.

After a project was approved, I held a kick-off meeting with everyone on the project team to go more in depth to our program’s processes.

As a program manager, I was assigned several accounts to oversee and track the project progress and spending. I led weekly meetings with all members on the project team for everyone to share project updates, problem-solve any obstacles, and provide next steps and upcoming deadlines to keep the project timeline on track. I also facilitated processes between Finance and project team to complete inter-department cross charges.

After each weekly check-in, I consolidated the updates and information shared during the meeting as well as some next steps and upcoming deadlines in an email to send out to the team. This was helpful for the project team to reference for next steps… — After each weekly check-in, I consolidated the updates and information shared during the meeting as well as some next steps and upcoming deadlines in an email to send out to the team. This was helpful for the project team to reference for next steps and a great resource to update those who could not attend the meeting.

To ensure the project team stayed in budget, our program utilized inter-department cross-charging instead of having them directly invoice our department. As a PM, I facilitated the communications between the Account Team, Product Team, and Finance t… — To ensure the project team stayed in budget, our program utilized inter-department cross-charging instead of having them directly invoice our department. As a PM, I facilitated the communications between the Account Team, Product Team, and Finance to ensure that the receiving department was reimbursed by the end of the quarter.

project Budget tracking

In addition to tracking the spend of the project team, I was in charge of maintaining the overall budget for the whole program. There were several other Program Managers in this program (to share the load of projects assigned), so I would meet with them regularly to get updates on projected spend for their projects. I regularly maintained the $2.5M budget and attended monthly meetings with Finance to share any updates on the programmatic side - including projected spend for the quarter as well as any delays.

In the last week leading up to the end of the quarter, Finance required that we provide frequent updates on project spend to get as close to the actual spend as we could. As most projects don’t spend exactly what was initially predicted, I had to provide reasoning for any discrepancies in projected spend amount.

Below is a reconstructed snapshot of the budget tracker used to keep tabs on anticipated and actual budget spend for each project. I used this tracker as a tool to consolidate the information and updates I received from the other Program Managers as well as the projects I were responsible for.