Governance is never a one-size-fits-all. Designing a framework around capability comes into its own when it is designed to be fit-for-purpose.
Building effective project and program governance is critical for long-term success of any program of work and non-negotiable for sustainable project outcomes.
Governance is often designed from a top-down approach, rather than a bottom-up one, and what this often means is that project governance is established from the perspective of company ‘norms’ i.e. “We’ve always done it this way”, rather than designing it to match the needs of the program.
The challenge of a top-down approach is that governance may not be fit-for-purpose, for example, either too much or too little.
So how – and why – should this be remedied?
The Value of Governance
First some context: What is governance and why is the design of it so important to long-term success?
Despite being a ‘catch-all’ term, governance is vital for the way a project or program will be steered; defining the roles and responsibility of key players, and the structures that will be set up to enable decision-making and enable workable paths of escalation.
As with many things, governance comes into its own when faced with a crisis or a serious project challenge. A project with insufficient – or too much – governance can still be successful, but it will be more by luck or heroic effort than by design. More often, however, we see projects fail because poor governance has played a part.
Work Out What We Need – Then Build
Basing governance around a capability model is a good starting point for ensuring that it is designed to be fit-for-purpose. Governance should not be a one-size-fits-all: Every project or program has its own nuances and require a framework that is appropriate to the outcomes.
First and foremost, it’s important to understand the types of capabilities that are needed to run the project or program. Over-engineering is as much a problem and just as damaging as under-cooking what is needed. Furthermore, it’s essential to be mindful of the delivery methodology that is being deployed to the project, i.e. Agile, Waterfall, Iterative and so on, given that this plays heavily into the capabilities that are required and their importance.
Project capability modelling is a valuable exercise when defining the scope of any project. Consider the following perspective:
We use an approach that first identifies which capabilities are required to deliver the project, based upon our standard capability model framework. It may be that a slice of these capabilities that cuts across the three key levels (i.e. Enterprise, portfolio, and project). Once you know the “what” required to run your project, the governance can – and should – be designed accordingly.
For example, it may be an Agile-run project developing a new product that is wholly contained within a module of an existing enterprise system. There may be no impact on the overall enterprise architecture and as such, on-going governance will not be required from the EA perspective beyond passing an initial gate.
An alternative example is that the project may be largely outsourced to a vendor, so there is less involvement required to resource internally and that will limit the governance required from the resource competency and resourcing centres.
Design governance to align to project capability
No matter the circumstance, governance is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Following a capability-based governance framework will enable your organisation to make more educated decisions on the level of governance required, why it is required, and how to set it up accordingly. The aim is always to have appropriate governance – not too much, nor too little. Referencing governance back to project capability models is a valuable framework to design against.
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Want to talk to us about designing governance based on project capability modelling? Contact us here or call 02 9098 6300