IT Project Management: The Role of Governance

Scenario: Aparticular software development project is described as critical by the organization that initiated it, but it is difficult to acquire the resources needed to get it done. The needed people and assets are always busy with other projects that higher-level managers insist get done first.

The problem described above is an example of a lack of functional governance processes and its effect on IT project management. This paper describes the identifying concepts and features of governance, how it affects IT project management, and some practical examples of what can be done when governance is not functioning.

We believe that many problems in IT project management can be categorized as either governance issues or issues involving how work is done (in our case, project work). This is depicted in the following model, which includes the concerns or issues that are relevant from both of these perspectives.

Figure 1: Issues related to governance and project work

 The concerns of governance influence what work is done and how it is done. When work is being done, the management of priority and resources requires the guidance and input of governance. In this paper, we describe the concerns of governance and its relationship to project work. Issues regarding how project work is done are addressed in a companion paper, titled “IT …