Governance and project management failure
Project failure is often beyond the control of the project manager. Studies1 have shown that half of all project failures can be attributed to project governance – poor project governance structure or inadequate skills / experience of people in a governance role.
This is, of course, a serious matter. After all, those in a project governance role provide high level project approval from the likes of business owners, steering committees, CEOs and government ministers.
Importance of effective project governance
Effective project governance is vital for a project.
- It promotes efficient communication between stakeholders, management and the project manager.
- It defends the project against political interference and ensures that project delivery and performance are protected from high-level outside issues.
- It ensures that such issues and conflicts are identified and addressed.
- It furthermore ensures that the project continues to be in the strategic interest of the organisation.
Project governance plays a significant role in preventing project failure and increased project costs, while improving business benefits and project morale.
Ineffective governance, on the other hand, gives rise to problems such as rapid and unexplained turnover of project managers or project staff, projects constantly failing to meet traditional targets, project team working excessively long hours etc.
Assessing your organisation’s maturity
Caravel® has a wealth of experience in project governance matters. We can conduct a thorough review and address governance issues at key points of the project cycle.
To gain an insight into specific project management strengths and weaknesses, we apply an Organisational Project Management Maturity Model. It provides a snapshot of an organisation’s ability to implement its business strategy and deliver stakeholder value.
Our assessment accurately identifies key gaps in the project, program and portfolio management capability; Clear understanding of these gaps means that they can be effectively addressed with specific plans, thereby providing substantial benefits for organisations.
1Standish Group International; PMnetwork, April 2002, PMI |