Imagine this: your company takes up an ambitious project with sky-high expectations. The team is ready, the goals are clear, and the timeline is tight. But somewhere along the way, decisions get delayed, risks aren’t flagged on time, and confusion spreads like wildfire. Sounds like a recipe for chaos, right?
This is where project governance steps in. It goes beyond managing tasks or meeting deadlines. It is about creating a well-oiled system where every decision, communication, and risk is aligned with your bigger business goals.
In this article, we’ll uncover the key components of project governance, where you will understand how it keeps projects on track. You will also learn why it is the backbone of any successful project strategy.
What is project governance?
Project governance is a framework that refers to a set of structures, controls, and processes that support project management. It acts as a guide for project planning, execution, and monitoring, to help the project reach its goal.
Project governance vs project management: Know the difference
Project management and project governance framework are different yet complementary parts of any project.
Project management focuses on the execution of a project such as planning, organizing, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals. It executes that with constraints like time, budget, and scope and is led by project managers who handle tasks, teams, and deliverables.
In contrast, to define project governance, think of it as a strategic framework that makes sure the project is aligned with organizational goals. It lays out policies, decision-making authority, and accountability structures. It is ongoing, overseen by governance boards or senior leadership, and spans multiple projects. The main focus of governance in project management is on compliance, risk management, and strategic alignment.
While project management handles the “how” of delivering a project, project governance focuses on the “why” and “what” to ensure broader organizational success.
Key components of project governance
As we discussed above, project governance is a framework. This means it consists of multiple key components that work together to make it successful. These key components are:
Process
Well-defined processes form the backbone of project governance. These include the workflows, methodologies, and procedures that guide the project from initiation to completion.
Data
Accurate, timely, and relevant data is critical in project governance for informed decision-making. The availability of reliable data provides the stakeholders with insights they need to steer the project in the right direction.
People
People management is important to move the needle in any project. Without a management system for skilled members aligning the project with objectives becomes tricky. This system should cover projects, governance boards, and teams as they directly influence the outcome of your project.
Decision Making
A strong project governance process needs clear decision-making authority. Creating decision-based roles and responsibilities defines who makes critical decisions and establishes mechanisms for escalating issues when necessary.
Communication
Transparent communication channels are essential for keeping all stakeholders on the same page. These channels provide a way for the information to flow without delays among teams, governance boards, and other stakeholders. Having a strong communication web also minimizes misunderstandings.
Risk Management
Identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks is at the center of project governance. A proactive approach to risk management safeguards the project against potential setbacks. This way, the project remains aligned with organizational objectives and timelines.
Performance Management
Evaluating the project’s progress through key performance indicators (KPIs) makes sure that it stays on track. Performance management helps governance teams identify areas of improvement to course–correct as needed.
Stakeholder Engagement
Engaging stakeholders increases trust as well as transparency that in turn builds a solid foundation for partnership. Providing regular updates to them, engaging in open discussions, and showing active involvement in key decisions from stakeholders keep them invested in the project’s success.
Three pillars of project governance
Governance model for project management works on 3 pillars that are crucial for its success. These pillars are:
Structure
For any company to undertake a project, they need to create an environment and structure that supports it. This means that the company’s senior management or stakeholders need to give time and energy to align the project’s vision before they pass it onto the project managers.
You can think of structure as a framework not limited to just the project, but the entire organization.
Information
Information is at the center of governance in project management. Even if you have goals and vision set out for your project, without the right information and a way to share that information consistently on time, your project will fail.
Every project needs a clear and open communication path for data to reach the relevant place, time, and person. Only then, will the project governance work.
You can think of structure as a framework not limited to just the project, but the entire organization.
People
Successful project governance needs skilled project managers and teams. They should clearly understand the goal of the project, and tasks they need to undertake to reach there.
For this, the stakeholders of the company need to pave the way via strong governance to help the project managers understand their responsibilities.
Important project governance roles
Now, let’s see the different roles within project governance. These roles are responsible to ensure the success of your project governance framework.
Project Owner
The role of project owner is a business facing role. They oversee the project manager, interact with the stakeholders, and play an important part in making strategic decisions for the organization.
Key Stakeholders
Key stakeholders are the members of the project board. These stakeholders can be investors, clients who hired your services, or suppliers. It is ideal to have a limited number of stakeholders in any governance project (ideally no more than six), to execute it smoothly.
Advisory Group
Let’s say you have a very big project on your hands, with multiple stakeholders that need to actively be in the loop. It may not be advisable to add them all to a project board. In that case, form an advisory board.
An advisory board is different than a project board. In a project board, key stakeholders are actively involved in the day-to-day activities with the project managers. But the advisory board only deals with the bigger issues.
Project governance model – How to use it?
Project governance model is different than project governance, which is a framework as we discussed earlier.
The governance model essentially takes the neatly created framework and puts it into execution. Which means that, it focuses on how the framework can be applied to the project to achieve its goals.
To implement the project governance model, follow these steps:
- Define the roles and responsibilities of each project manager and stakeholder
- Prioritize the relevant project goals and strategic objectives based on your business goals and customer needs
- Create a transparent, result-driven, and realistic process
- Establish clear communication channels for everyone to share important information
- Support your team with the right tools to execute the project
Wrapping Up
A good governance and project management plan needs a solid project management tool. Once you set up your governance framework, it is important to execute it well, so your project stays on track.
5day.io helps you break down your projects into tasks, communicate and share files specific to each task, and track your time. It provides order to a chaotic process of managing projects, communication, tasks and timesheets while helping you stay on track and avoid scope creep.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How does project governance help in project success?
Project governance sets up a foundation for any project that provides flexibility and control. It brings clarity to responsibilities and communication, so you can prevent avoidable delays.
What is the difference between PMO and project governance?
Project management office focuses more on every individual project to deliver it on time and with quality. Project governance, on the other hand, focuses on managing the entire organization including its policies, procedures, people and more.
What does project governance include?
People, data, and structure make up the three core pillars of project governance. Misalignment one any one of these pillars can cause the project and organization to fail.
