Programs

A program is a named grouping of related projects owned by one PM or program team. It is the OSS coordination unit that sits between standalone projects and the Enterprise portfolio: programs let one PM manage several related projects as a single working set, with shared membership, a shared backlog (#501, forthcoming), and a future combined burndown.

Edition

Programs are part of the Community (OSS) edition. Portfolio governance — multiple programs under PMO oversight, cross-program health rollups, approval workflows — is part of the Enterprise edition.

When to use a program

A PM with three to six related projects benefits from a program when:

• There is a single roadmap or umbrella initiative that all the projects feed.
• Work occasionally moves between the projects — a feature deferred from Project A might end up in Project B’s next sprint.
• You want a single navigation path between the projects without bookmarking each one separately.

If you are running a single project, or a handful of completely unrelated projects, you do not need a program. Projects without a program (the default) are fully functional standalone.

Creating a program

Open the sidebar PROGRAMS section and select + New program, or navigate to /programs and select + New program. Fill in:

• Name — display name, e.g. “Phase 2 Modernization”.
• Description — optional.
• Methodology — Hybrid (default), Waterfall, or Agile. The choice is a default for new projects created within the program; existing projects in the program keep their own methodology.

You are added as the program Owner automatically.

Program access is independent of project access

Adding someone to a program does not add them to the program’s projects. Adding someone to a project does not put them in the program. Both memberships are explicit grants — this matches the principle of least privilege and keeps audit trails clean.

Adding projects to a program

From a program’s Projects tab, select + Add project. The picker lists:

1. Standalone projects — projects with no program. Select one to add it.
2. In another program — projects that already belong to a different program. Selecting one will move it to this program.

You need at least Project Manager role on both the project and the program you are adding it to. If you are moving a project from one program to another, you also need Project Manager role on the source program. This three-way gate prevents one side unilaterally reorganising the other side’s container.

A project can belong to at most one program. The same project cannot be in multiple programs at once.

The program shell

/programs/:id is a three-tab shell:

• Backlog — coming next (#501). Will be a shared pool of cross-project features / stories / tasks that any project in the program can pull from.
• Projects — the projects currently in this program. Click a project name to navigate to it. The Remove action detaches the project (it becomes standalone, untouched).
• Members — manage program-level membership. Roles use the same 5-role model as projects: Viewer, Team Member, Resource Manager, Project Manager, Project Admin (Owner).

The sidebar shows a Program · {name} line under each project that belongs to a program.

Deleting a program

Only the Program Owner can delete a program. The delete dialog explicitly shows the impact:

• All program members are removed.
• All projects in the program are detached (they become standalone — project data and project member lists are not affected).
• The program itself is permanently deleted.

You must type the program name to confirm. The cascade is atomic — there is no intermediate state where some memberships are removed but not others.

Roles and permissions

Action	Minimum program role
View program shell and tabs	Viewer
View program backlog (#501)	Viewer
Edit BacklogItems (#501)	Team Member
Pull BacklogItem to project (#501)	Resource Manager
Add or remove projects	Project Manager
Manage program membership	Project Manager
Update program name / methodology	Project Manager
Delete program	Project Admin (Owner)

For details on the OSS / Enterprise boundary around programs and portfolios, see ADR-0070.