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Governance is the framework, processes and systems we define for decision making. Basically the rules and standards the team should follow to improve the outcome of the project. Too much governance can be counterproductive and waste massive amounts of time, so keeping it within reasonable boundaries is key, as this shall help your project, not make it harder.

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This section will cover the most useful practices in terms of governing a project. It must be said, that governance is not about “creating a government”. It is setting some rules and guidelines about how things happen and how decisions should be made.

Defining governance basically entails to defining the following:

• Defining roles and responsibilities for decision-making, oversight and control. Something like a RACI matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed), where who has what role inside the team is defined clearly.

RACI Matrix

Responsible

Every project will have a responsible party. This is about more than just showing up to work on time — these people have one or more things they’re directly responsible for doing. A responsible team member usually has to finish a task (big or small), but it can also be a related action, such as reviewing tasks or contacting stakeholders.

Consulted

The responsible person has a task, and the accountable person oversees it. To follow that progression, the consulted person supplies the information everyone needs in order to complete the task. This could be a subject matter expert or someone who knows what the expectations are.

Someone in this role provides input and feedback on project tasks because the project directly impacts their day-to-day job. Not every task requires consultation, but project managers should involve every possible stakeholder to ensure they don't miss anything — and that includes consultants.

Accountable

Each task will have at least one accountable person, ensuring that the responsible team members know project timelines and requirements. Accountable team members are generally in leadership, or at least some sort of decision-making role, because they’re keeping track of other team members. It’s best practice to only have one or two accountable people. Otherwise that project's destiny is the torture of useless meetings to keep too many people in the loop.

Informed

Informed team members are just that: informed. All they have to do is know that task will happen. You don't need to drag informed people into the nitty gritty of every to-do, but a helpful email here and there goes a long way to protecting your project's success with transparent communication.

• Establishing Communication channels and methods with the team and relevant partners.
• Creating feedback and assessment mechanisms to adapt and evolve best practices.
• Create system to ensure compliance with regulatory and legal requirements.
• Managing project knowledge and creating systems to ensure it remains within the team.