Use classic project governance structures

Most business application projects have some classic governance structures in place, such as steering groups, status reports, and design boards. But having these structures doesn't guarantee effective project governance. You need to evaluate how well they work in practice and how they help you achieve your project goals.

In this article, we'll look at each of these common governance structures and show you how to assess and improve their function and impact. We'll also give you some tips on how to communicate the project status in a meaningful and actionable way for different audiences.

Steering groups

Steering groups are where the project sponsor, senior business stakeholders, and project leaders meet regularly to review and direct the project. But not all steering group meetings are equally useful. Sometimes steering groups can be unclear about their purpose or rely on inaccurate or vague status reports.

Diluted purpose	Clear purpose
Little understanding of project details	Understand primary function
No direct engagement	Time invested
Lack deep knowledge	Comprehensive knowledge

To make your steering group meetings more effective, you should:

• Define a clear purpose for each meeting and stick to it.
• Make sure the project status report is easy to understand, accurate, and actionable for the steering group.
• Encourage the steering group members to engage with the project details and ask relevant questions.
• Give them clear options and recommendations to help them steer the project proactively.

Project status reports

A good project status report is essential for communicating the progress and challenges of your project to the steering group. It should answer questions like:

• Are we on track?
• What are the main risks or issues?
• What do we need from the steering group?

To create an effective project status report, you should:

• Use simple and clear language that avoids unnecessary jargon or technical terms and is both meaningful and actionable.
• Provide evidence for your data and estimates by showing how you gathered, analyzed, summarized, and presented them.
• Compare your actual progress with your planned progress by using metrics like percentage complete or remaining work.
• Highlight any deviations from your plan and explain their causes and consequences.
• Propose actions or solutions for resolving any problems or risks.

Risk register

A risk register is a tool that helps you identify, prioritize, monitor, and mitigate risks that could affect your project. But a risk register is only useful if it's updated and managed properly. Otherwise, it can become a source of confusion or complacency.

To make your risk register more effective, you should:

• Focus on risks that are relevant and important for your project and avoid adding risks that are trivial or unlikely.
• Review your risks regularly and remove or update them as they change or get resolved.
• Align your risk priorities with your project priorities and avoid creating a separate risk management effort that distracts from your main project delivery.
• Communicate your risks clearly and concisely to the relevant stakeholders and assign clear owners and actions for each risk.

Stage gates

Stage gates are checkpoints that mark the completion of one phase of your project and the start of another. They help you ensure that you have met certain criteria before moving on to the next phase. But stage gates can also be misused or ignored, which can lead to problems later in your project.

To make your stage gates more effective, you should:

• Define clear and measurable criteria for entering and exiting each stage gate and make sure they reflect the true dependencies of your project.
• Respect the criteria and don't skip or rush through them because of pressure or optimism. If you have incomplete tasks or issues, address them before moving on or have a realistic plan for how to deal with them later.
• Use stage gates as an opportunity to review your progress, validate your assumptions, adjust your plan, and celebrate your achievements.

Design and change boards

Design boards, also called architecture review boards or design review boards, are groups that review and approve the designs of your solution. They help you ensure that your solution meets the business requirements, IT policies, standards, and best practices. They also help you avoid design conflicts or changes that could affect other parts of your solution.

To make your design boards more effective, you should:

• Include representatives from the project team, the business, IT, and any other relevant parties who can provide input and feedback on the designs.
• Communicate the solution blueprint boundaries and design standards expected by the design board so that the project team can work within them.
• Make the review process interactive and efficient by providing sufficient detail on the proposed designs, asking questions, resolving issues, and making decisions in a single iteration.

Next steps

• Learn how to apply good governance processes to key project areas
• Learn how to create a well-structured project plan that helps you track and improve your project progress and outcomes
• Review the main points and takeaways from this section
• Use the Success by Design checklist to assess and improve your project governance model and processes
• Read a case study of how a customer implemented Dynamics 365 with effective project governance