Hosts Merv Jersak and Tim Jerome unpack the critical aspects of governance and compliance in project management. This episode delves into the significance of integrating governance frameworks and compliance processes into project charters and management plans to ensure smooth project initiation and completion. The discussion emphasizes risk mitigation, defining team roles and responsibilities, and maintaining transparency throughout the project lifecycle. Key insights include the importance of ethical behavior, adherence to regulations, and the role of compliance in enhancing project efficiency, team morale, and stakeholder satisfaction.

Main Take-Aways

Following the human factors of ethics and morals, governance and compliance are important to enhancing our performance as project leaders. This podcast begins the discussion:

• defining governance and compliance in project leadership to set the context
• the fundamental role of governance and compliance
• key components of good governance and compliance
• visibility and transparency of governance structure and adherence to compliance measures
• enhancing risk mitigation
• improving project efficiency
• testaments to the health of the project and project management
• overcoming resistance to compliance measures and reasons why project managers often resist
• benefits of governance and compliance

Show Notes

Today’s Project Managers Coffee Chat: Why Project Governance and Compliance Matter

00:28 Putting governance and compliance in context as a follow-on from the previous week’s podcasts in ethics and morals – process of human factors, or both?

01:45 Defining governance and compliance to guide the discussions of the next several podcast episodes.

02:52 The fundamental role of governance and compliance for the project leader: Are we ready to start the project? Have we completed the project? Did we follow governance completely?

05:02 Key components of governance and compliance: project charter, compliance audits as project plan milestones, roles and responsibilities, risk mitigation plan, etc.

08:18 The Importance of visibility and transparency of governance and compliance. Creating a project environment of trust and confidence.

09:26 Enhancing risk mitigation through compliance measures.

10:02 Improving project efficiency through adherence to governance and compliance audits.

12:13 Governance and compliance are testaments to the health of the project and to the health of your ability to manage the project, both to you as the project leader and to the organizations you serve.

13:46 Overcoming resistance to compliance measures – resistance coming from the misconception that they are an impediment to project progress.

15:17 Reasons why project managers often resist fully complying with governance include: time consuming effort (as noted above), complexity, added work, additional cost, etc. However the cost of compliance is often less than the cost of not complying.

16:19 Benefits of effective governance and compliance:

16:34     … improved project success

17:05     … enhancing our customer’s ability to comply with their own customers’ requirements

17:43     … better risk management

18:58     … more satisfied clients

19:25     … enhanced reputation