Developing a Project Governance Framework

Abstract

The UK Government lists "decision making failures" as one of the top 5 causes of project failure. Victorian Treasury which runs the Victorian Gateway Review Process lists project governance and stakeholder management as the second and third most common causes of project failure. Effective project governance underpins project success and results in efficient and timely project decision making. And yet, project governance appears to be a haphazard affair with few, if any, established principles, let alone common structures. Most organisations can display a multiplicity of governance arrangements often with little commonality even between projects of a similar type. Few organisations have a principles based project governance policy that defines a common and structured approach to project governance. This paper establishes four key principles designed to avoid the common failures associated with ineffective project governance. It then develops a project governance structure that puts these principles into action. The framework is applicable to most projects in most organisations but focused primarily on high risk projects. Lower risk projects should subscribe to the same principles but their implementation can take different forms to suit the needs of the organisation. The paper provides guidance on how to select the role holders to ensure the correct persons hold the correct positions. The governance framework is applicable to all projects, whether they be ICT, business change or infrastructure. The framework is applicable throughout the full life cycle of a project, commencing at concept development and continuing through to commissioning.