Program management is sexy
While running the PMO at Zendesk, one of my program managers was trying to decide whether to stay in the PMO or move to another department — into a role that was also a good fit for her qualifications and experience in a domain that she loved. The department head and I were in touch, as we both wanted to make sure she ended up in a place where she’d be happiest. He admitted to me that “well, program management is sexy!” I had to laugh when he said that, but what he meant was that the PMO was full of top-notch program managers who were (and still are) doing work that was very impactful and who were highly regarded around the company, making the employee in question hesitant about leaving the team. This is the kind of reaction you can get when program managers are proactively driving programs that move the needle on the company strategy. Effective. Awesome. Couldn’t have managed without them. I’ve heard all of those many times. Sexy? Hey, I’ll take it!
