MOOC518 – Program Mgt Professional

201460: Topic 4 – Governance

Presenter: Brenton Burchmore

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Governance Summary
• Meeting strategic commitments,
CORPORATE obligations and expectations
• How to make decisions responsibly

• Aligning with organisation’s strategy

PORTFOLIO • The delegation of empowerment
• Integral to portfolio mngt methods

• Aligning value with benefits

PROGRAM • Uses a governance board
• Structured support of the program

• Adherence to inherited principles

PROJECT • Working with the key constraints
• Still about the decision making
Corporate Governance
 Yes it is about compliance, but…
 It is a framework for strategic decision making
 A method of defining & managing expectations
 Creating predictability for vested interests
 Relevant to all stakeholders
 Behavioural as well as practical empowerment
The real mechanism for corporate governance is the active
involvement of its owners.
Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
(ex-CEO and Chairman of IBM)
Governance Principles
 Assurance and the removal of uncertainty
 Empowerment, authority and delegation
 Decision making and its accountability
 Outcomes and expectations in balance
 Adherence to subscribed expectations
 The practical implementation of an ideal

Democracy, good governance and modernity cannot be

imported or imposed from outside a country.
Emile Lahoud
(15th President of Lebanon)
Program Governance Board
 Interpret and define program strategic vision
 Approve, endorse, initiate and authorise
 Funding and phase gates
 Creating a program governance plan
 Reporting, review and communication
 Quality, standards and benefits realisation
During my time we had two chairman of the joint chiefs of
staff, at different times of course, both of whom asked my
permission to sit in the captain’s chair.
Patrick Stewart
(Jean-Luc Piccard, Star Trek)
In your opinion, how does your
organisation view the role of
governance in your workplace?
Portfolio Governance
 A lot like program governance…
 A key and integral function of management
 Defines, authorises and manages portfolio
 A link between strategic goals and actions
 The simplification of decision making through
the application of strategic expertise
An expert is someone who has succeeded in making
decisions and judgments simpler through knowing what to pay
attention to and what to ignore.
Edward de Bono
(originator of Lateral Thinking)
PMI Portfolio Governance
Develop Portfolio Management Plan
Define Portfolio
Optimise Portfolio
Authorise Portfolio
Provide Portfolio Oversight

It is only when there is critical oversight from the people that

the government will be in a position to do an even better job.
Wen Jiabao
(ex-Premier of China)
What is Governance?
1) The application of strategic intent
2) The removal of uncertainty from application
3) The authorisation and approval of certainty
4) The consistency of approval and support
5) The decision making to support consistency
6) The realisation of benefits from the decisions
Stay committed to your decisions,
but be flexible in your approach.
Tony Robbins
(renowned life coach)
Session 4: Governance

Topic: Governance Controls

Presenter: Philip Hosking

 Governance Controls
 Scope Management.
– What is in and out of scope and does this optimise value?
 Value Maximisation:
– Have we identified all the potential value of this investment
 Value Optimisation:
– Have we optimised the costs and value?
 Viability Assessment:
– Is the project still viable and relevant.
 Value Delivery:
– Are we delivering the outcomes, benefits and value in full
 Value Measurement:
– Are we tracking and measuring the delivery of each benefit
Source: TOP – Totally Optimized Projects
 Scope Management
 Initially you want a broad ‘opportunity’ scope to
identify where the value is (and isn’t)
 Then you want a focused ‘solution’ scope to
target the areas of greatest value.
 Then you need to protect the scope from
changes that will adversely impact the targeted
value (and value delivery timing).

Source: TOP – Totally Optimized Projects

 Value Maximisation
 Have all the available benefits been identified?
 It is not the objective to find ‘enough’ benefits
to justify project costs, but ALL of the value that
is available so as to maximise the bang for
each buck
 Maximise first, then optimise
 But don’t compromise
 What is the difference between benefits and
value?
Source: TOP – Totally Optimized Projects
 Value Optimisation
 Is each outcome worth delivering or does the
cost exceed the value to be delivered?
 If not worthwhile, can we delete it?
 If other benefits depend on this outcome, can
we reduce the costs of delivery?

Source: TOP – Totally Optimized Projects

 Viability Assessment
 Have the costs increased and/or benefit values
decreased to make the project/program unviable?
– Don’t have the project/program condemned to completion.
 Has the scope or strategy changed to make the project
no longer relevant?
 Is the project/program still worthwhile perusing?
– A regular viability assessment should formally raise the
question, “is it worthwhile continuing with this project”.
– The governance team have to put their reputations on the line
to say either ‘Yes or No”.

Source: TOP – Totally Optimized Projects

 Value Delivery
 Has the project been set up tp deliver the value
proposition
– The project manger manages the project
– The governance team manages the value and must therefore,
track its progressive delivery
 Are you on rack and schedule to deliver the value as
planned
– Are the targeted outcomes unchanged?
– Note you should plan to deliver value throughout the the
project/program, not just at the end.

Source: TOP – Totally Optimized Projects

 Value Measurement

 Is the available value known?

 Is the available value being delivered?
 Can we explain each variance to the planned
value?
 What remedial action can we take to recover
lost value?

Source: TOP – Totally Optimized Projects

Summary of Understanding
Governance is about ensuring outcomes
Programs and portfolios both embrace
governance as integral to management
Governance provides a framework for decision
making and managing empowerment
Governance controls are about delivering
measuring and maximising value
All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is
not going to last.
Marcel Proust
(French novelist)
THANK YOU