Notes on Program/Project Governance

This paper discusses varying understandings of the nature of governance in general, and program/project governance in particular, in the relevant literatures. It starts with organisational governance, where definitions and descriptors vary substantially, and are mostly too generalised to give a clear understanding of what the authors believe is actually involved in organisational/corporate governance. There is an evident need for further work to develop a clear common understanding of governance at large.

The next section of the paper is concerned with strategic portfolios (of programs/ projects), where one author gives a good coverage of what is actually entailed in their governance.

The main section of the paper is concerned with the direct governance of programs/projects. One definition/descriptor gives a reasonably detailed coverage of what is involved in program/project governance. Two other sets of definitions/descriptors do not spell out any details, but also include as governance components several processes which used to be regarded as management responsibilities. This suggests that there is a need to better define program/project governance, and to clearly specify how it differs from normal program/project management responsibilities

This is followed by a discussion of APM’s Guide to Governance of Project Management, developed in the context of guidance to an organisation’s board of directors about the governance of its programs/projects. This sets down some eleven governance principles, and four sets of checklists of key questions relating to four main components of governance, which appear to be very useful contributions.

However, several prominent authors believe that specific program boards should be established to exercise such governance, and add reasonably detailed materials on what is involved in program/project governance by such boards.

I then discuss governance of projects in a projectised organisational situation (rather than matrix) by presenting a case study from my old employer, Civil & Civic, showing how it developed Project Control Groups (PCGs) as its project governance mechanism in the early 1960s.

Finally, I synthesise a basic set of program/project governance processes from the literature which appears to offer a reasonably sound framework from which to develop individual program/project governance processes. 

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About the Author Alan Stretton, PhD Author Alan Stretton is currently a member of the Faculty Corps of the University of Management and Technology, Arlington, Virginia, USA. In 2006 he retired from a position as Adjunct Professor of Project Management in the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia, which he joined in 1988 to develop and deliver a Master of Project Management program. Prior to joining UTS, Mr. Stretton worked in the building and construction industries in Australia, New Zealand and the USA for some 38 years, which included the project management of construction, R&D, introduction of information and control systems, internal management education programs and organizational change projects. He has degrees in Civil Engineering (BE, Tasmania) and Mathematics (MA, Oxford), and an honorary PhD in strategy, programme and project management (ESC, Lille, France). Alan was Chairman of the Standards (PMBOK) Committee of the Project Management Institute from late 1989 to early 1992. He held a similar position with the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), and was elected a Life Fellow of AIPM in 1996. He was a member of the Core Working Group in the development of the Australian National Competency Standards for Project Management. He has published over seventy professional articles. Alan can be contacted at alanailene@bigpond.com.au.