A Valentine to Programs
Why programs are awesome in nine reasons
Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!
As a subject, business management is often presented as devoid of human emotion. We schedule, plan, and strategize, but avoid the complexities of the emotions we feel towards the work itself. A tense paradox, given that for many, our work represents a core part of our identity, a place of community, and our greatest intellectual pursuit.
To counter that trend in management literature, I’m bringing Valentine’s Day to “The Non-Profit Program.” But I won’t take total credit. Original props go to the “Planet Money” podcast as my source of inspiration. They put together an awesome Valentine’s Day episode (1), in which the hosts give valentines to their greatest loves this year in economics, including the self-checkout machine at Uniqlo.
Inspired by their fun, I wrote up my nine favorite things about programs.
Dearest Programs,
In a world of nearly unlimited career options, you are my best match. Yes, you may simply be a human construct of the most common of acts - the combining of many activities into a larger benefit meant to help others.
But regardless, you are great fun and my dearest work partner. Here are the nine ways that I 🩷 programs this Valentine’s Day.
1) Discovery
While the phrase “program management” brings to mind paper pushing, schedulers, and many other boring tasks, that reputation wildly misses the point. You are the place where people become inventors. Building new programs is where we can create, learn, fail, and try again... project over project over project.
2) The Right “Social to Anti-Social” Mix
As someone who loves presenting to a crowd and sitting alone at her desk for hours, programs are the perfect place for ambiverts to be our truest selves. You provide endless opportunities to collaborate with like-minded colleagues as well as reflect on complex problems. I 🩷 programs because you give time for both the introverted and extroverted sides of our human nature.
3) Longevity
You are a commitment. The marathon of work for a transformation agent. But in our sporadic world, I enjoy the time it takes to settle in and figure out how to improve upon a unique problem - either societal or operational. Gaining knowledge that can only be obtained through time and experience. Programs are a place where one can reside for many years and build something grand.
4) Skill Set Overload (but in a good way)
Managing a program turns one into a Swiss Army Knife. An expert in your field 🗸. A data analyst 🗸. A communicator extraordinaire 🗸. A visionary 🗸. A networker 🗸. A problem solver 🗸. A leader 🗸. Almost no stone is left unturned when it comes to the skill sets and knowledge needed to manage a program. Yes, you are demanding, but rarely boring.
5) Launchpad to BIGGER things
For those of us who wish to be great leaders, you are a superb training ground. You provide the smaller space to learn how to lead people, communicate a vision, uphold relationships, pivot plans, corral finances, and put our ethics to the test. To manage a program is to demonstrate one’s capability for greater responsibility, both in output and personal character. I 🩷 programs because they make great leaders.
6) Nesting ground for caregivers
In a world where many of us tango between our jobs and caregiving responsibilities, programs provide a safe haven to build fulfilling careers and still leave work at 5pm for daycare pickup. Your predictability, often with limited work emergencies and same-day turnarounds, gives us the steadiness we need to be available to our loved ones. A facet not true of every job. And when the time is right for more, you give us the work experience and history of success to catapult us into bigger leadership roles (see my favorite thing #5).
7) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Resilience
As AI threatens to upend what feels like everything, those at the Project Management Institute (PMI) predict that the future will need more project professionals*, not less (2). Yes, programs will evolve to need less time on the monotonous tasks that often drag us down (thank you, AI gods, for automating meeting minutes), but – hopefully – AI will open more room for the bright side of work: discovery, innovation, and relationships.
8) Social Good
I 🩷 programs because your end goal is not the deliverable, but the benefits that give us the chance to help our community. Want to help your city fight gender inequality? You can build a program for that…I did. Solve youth homelessness. Cure Cancer. While we may not be able to solve the problem worldwide, almost anyone can make a meaningful dent in the problems they care most about through a program.
9) Programs are for everybody
To that end, the most wonderful part about programs is that anyone can be a program management professional. You don’t need to have gone to school forever or be a savant of world-renowned acclaim. The work of sewing together projects into a larger benefit has been done throughout human history, by many regardless of their education, gender, race, or social status. Even today, many people start pursuing program management careers in mid- to late career and enter through various paths across many industries. Because you are for everyone, you are a perfect Valentine.
Yours Truly,
Casey
With all these warm, fuzzy feelings, this article’s pairing has got to be a love song. With many to choose from, I’m going to select “Higher Love” by Whitney Houston. A simple call for things getting better and better.
References
Betty Boop, Excel Olympics, Penny-isms: Our 2026 Valentines : Planet Money [Internet]. NPR. 2026 [cited 2026 Feb 18]. Available from: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/13/nx-s1-5713954/2026-planet-money-valentines-day
Up to 30 Million Project Professionals Needed by 2035 [Internet]. Pmi.org. 2023. Available from: https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/global-project-management-talent-gap
*PMI’s definition of project professionals in that report includes “project, program and portfolio managers, Agile professionals, product managers and product owners” (2, p. 12).