OceanFirst Bank

Good project governance is an art and science. It is striking a balance between keeping team members engaged, keeping the project moving forward, communicating to executive management, while not overwhelming folks with process documentation.

In my opinion, the primary goal of project management is to “get things done” in a compliant manner. Project managers have the tendency to overcomplicate project management governance and methodology. Who can blame them? If you read the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) one might have the tendency to make project management a lot more difficult and cumbersome than it needs to be. The secondary goal of project management (especially in highly regulated industries) is to demonstrate good governance around project activities. Auditors will review the project management documentation for new products deployed or major and complex initiatives. Having a simple but effective project governance methodology is important to ensure you are “getting things done” in a compliant manner.

My goal of this article is to provide the five document types that a project manager should use to govern a project. Those documents are Project Intake Form, Project Charter, Project Plan, Project Status Report and Project Closure Form.

Project Intake Form – This highly overlooked document starts the intake process for a project. If people in your organization ask, “How do I start a project”, point them to this form. Post it on your company intranet or similar site. This document should ask who the sponsor is, a high-level description of the request, has this initiative been budgeted, will there be new vendors onboarded etc... One of the challenges when you are having a hallway conversation and somebody says, “Hey we should start a project that builds a widget”, the assumption might be the conversation started the project. You can now manage expectations and respond with a “Hey, great idea! Go fill out the project intake form and we can get things rolling...”

Project Charter - This documents the information about your project - What’s the scope of the work; Who is the sponsor and key stakeholders; How much will it cost; How long will it take. It details requirements and high-level milestones. Most importantly it is signed by the sponsor and executive management. Ultimately this document provides the authority to proceed with the project, spend budgetary dollars and engage resources.

  

Having a simple but effective project governance methodology is important to ensure you are “getting things done” in a compliant manner

   

 

Project Plan – The project plan is a tool that allows you to track activities and budget of your project and allows you to determine a date for completion. I personally like the Microsoft Project suite of tools. However, use what you like. Monday, Asana, a spreadsheet, etc...

Project Status Report – Regular reporting that details project health, status of risk, major milestones upcoming and recently completed. This document should be easy to understand by executive management and those who are not intimately involved in your project day-to-day.

Project Closure allows you to end a project, ensures the sponsor is satisfied that the in-scope work has been completed, and allows you to formally release resources.

Yes, there are lots of additional things you can do to enhance your projects based on the project complexity and industry. I don’t often see those things as extremely helpful in the day-to-day project management world. If a project manager maintains the documentation detailed above, not only will the project be set up for success, but it will free up your time to make you more scalable.