Why Program Controls Matter

Every program begins with the same three questions: when will it be finished, how much will it cost, and what risks lie ahead. On the surface, these may seem like questions of deadlines, budgets, and forecasts. But beneath them lies something more powerful. Every program is a story. A story of ambition, of challenges overcome, of promises delivered. And like any story, it can either inspire confidence or create doubt.

This is why program controls matter. They are not just about tracking progress. They are about owning the narrative. Program controls professionals transform fragmented data into a story of discipline, foresight, and control. A schedule becomes more than dates on a chart. A cost report becomes more than numbers in a dashboard. A risk becomes more than a line in a register. Together, they provide evidence that the program is on course and in capable hands.

Turning Insights into Impact

In today’s defense ecosystem, new innovators are proving that disruptive technologies can move from concept to mission faster than ever before. Their speed and agility are real competitive advantages, and their success shows what is possible when innovation takes center stage.

But winning fast does not eliminate the need for control. If anything, it makes it more important. Agility alone can carry a program through its early stages, but as programs scale in size, complexity, and stakes, customers demand more than speed. They want assurance. They want confidence that the team will meet milestones, understand risks, align resources, and control costs.

And for good reason. Across 84 major defense acquisition programs, the GAO found $615 billion in cost overruns, representing 52 percent growth over original estimates, and average delays of more than two years. Another CSIS study of 98 programs since FY 2010 showed $402 billion in cumulative overruns and average schedule slips of 22 months, largely driven by unrealistic baselines and immature technologies. Customers have seen this movie before, and they are skeptical of speed without substance.

This is where program controls come in. Integrated schedules and earned value systems don’t slow innovation, they anchor it. They connect rapid iteration to clear objectives, ensuring speed creates value instead of drift. They surface risks early enough to act, and they turn optimism into evidence leadership can trust.

The Story

Speed alone doesn’t win. Without control, momentum collapses into chaos. With it, programs don’t just move fast, they finish first.

The Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) is more than a list of tasks. It is the storyboard of the program. Each milestone is a chapter. Each dependency is a subplot. Each schedule slip a plot twist. Built with rigor and honest updates, the IMS becomes a living story of progress, risk, strength, and vulnerability.

The Earned Value Management System (EVMS) adds financial truth to the story. It ties performance to resources and reveals whether investments are creating value or are being squandered. Together, IMS and EVMS form a storytelling engine. They transform complexity into clarity, and clarity into confidence. Far from limiting agility, they make it sustainable.

This isn’t just best practice, it’s required. DoD’s EVMS Interpretation Guide stresses that cost and schedule data must be timely, accurate, reliable, and auditable to inform leadership decisions. NASA goes further, requiring Joint Cost and Schedule Confidence Levels for major programs to set realistic baselines. Customers demand integration because they know what happens when it is missing.

The power of program controls comes to life in real programs

Aerospace Program Recovery

A $3.5 billion major aircraft subsystem program slipped more than six months behind schedule, threatening customer delivery commitments and trust. A customer review revealed major gaps in schedule quality and oversight. The program controls team stepped in, building Tier 1 and Tier 2 schedules, developing a resource-loaded IMS, and standing up a dedicated PMO. The milestone was recovered, confidence restored, and the effort recognized with an industry award. What began as a story of slippage became one of disciplined recovery.

Defense Reinvention

A $186 million Navy program was overwhelmed by an IMS with over 10,000 lines, weak logic, and poor integration. The critical path changed daily. Forecasts were unreliable, and oversight was heavy. By rebuilding the IMS into a milestone-based, 3,000-task structure, integrating cost and risk, and creating simplified views, the program controls team restored credibility. Within two weeks, the customer’s own on-site scheduler declared oversight no longer necessary. The new baseline was later adopted as a model across programs. The story shifted from confusion to clarity.

Shipbuilding Transformation

A shipbuilder transforming their construction process needed confidence in its execution of two flagship-naval programs. Through an independent cost estimate and a six-level independent estimate at completion analysis, the program controls team uncovered hidden costs, validated performance metrics, and identified opportunities to recover costs, and close retired risk. The result was a 360-degree view that empowered leadership to act decisively. What began as uncertainty became a story of transformation and strategic clarity.

The risks of neglecting program controls

In 2024, the U.S. Space Force canceled a multibillion-dollar communications satellite program after years of ballooning costs and persistent schedule overruns. Optimistic updates masked deeper issues, but without integrated controls tying technical progress, cost, and risk together, leadership never had a credible picture of reality. Even with strong technology, the absence of program controls turned promise into failure.

These failures are not isolated. GAO reports that the average MDAP now takes 10 to 12 years to deliver initial capability, three years longer than originally planned. In a single year, cost growth across 30 programs added $49 billion. And once growth hits 25 percent over baseline, the program has a Nunn-McCurdy breach requiring a “critical” review, often leading to termination. The stakes could not be higher.

The lesson is unmistakable

Tools alone do not deliver success. Processes alone cannot guarantee alignment. Reports alone cannot inspire trust. And speed alone does not keep programs sold. Success comes from integration. When technical, schedule, cost, and risk are aligned, they create a story that explains today, illuminates risks and opportunities, and inspires confidence in tomorrow.

This is the essence of keeping the program sold. Customers and stakeholders stay invested when they hear a story that is credible, transparent, and under control. The corollary is just as important: keeping the team aligned. Internally, program controls provide the clarity that allows teams to move fast together, anticipate risks, and execute with confidence.

For leaders, the challenge is urgent. Competitive advantage does not come from technology alone. It comes from control, the ability to see clearly, decide confidently, and deliver consistently. Program controls is not overhead. It is a strategic capability that makes agility credible, innovation sustainable, and execution trustworthy.

Your programs will always tell a story. The question is: will it be a story of drift disguised as agility, or one of discipline, clarity, and delivery? The strongest organizations will be those that move fast and keep control, those that can turn data into decisions and own the narrative.

Jacque Keats, CF APMP, is SMA’s Chief Operations Officer and is a recognized industry expert in the field of system integration for project management, with over 30 years of experience developing and implementing award winning scheduling, resource planning, costing, and enterprise project management systems for fortune 500 companies and government agencies.