Project Governance provides the project team with the overall structure, processes and tools that help the team to deliver the project successfully. Though it may look similar to an organizational governance, but is distinct in the sense that it aligns with the overall organizational governance to help provide governance to the projects to help ensure their successful delivery. The project governance framework encompasses the complete project.
The project governance is a critical component in the management of the project in the sense that it provides consistent method of handling an otherwise complex and changing nature of the project. It has a wider scope in the overall management of the project and is comprehensive in its approach.
To ensure that you have the right project governance, ensure that you start early in planning the overall project governance during the planning phase itself. Ensure that your plan includes the following:
- Clear success and delivery criteria.
- Clear communication channels and matrix, especially for escalation of issues and concerns.
- Project Org chart with clear responsibilities and roles.
- Project decision making process.
- Proposed project life cycle approach.
- Stage gate and phase review criteria.
- Process to implement changes in scope, quality, time, cost etc. through proper change control.
- Tools needed to manage the overall project delivery.