Set up decision rights, tolerances and escalation for a project, and prepare a steering committee pack that gets decisions made.
Why it matters
As projects grow, the question "who decides?" becomes as important as "what do we build?". Without clear governance, decisions stall, the project lead makes calls they have no right to make, or every small change ends up on an executive's desk. Project governance is the set of roles, rules and meetings that decide how a project is directed and controlled. The steering committee is usually where the big decisions happen, and the pack you prepare for it is one of your most important documents.
Roles in a typical IT project
- Sponsor. Owns the business case and is accountable for the benefits. Chairs the steering committee. Has the final say on scope, budget and date within their authority.
- Steering committee. Senior people whose areas are affected: for Northside Clinics, the operations director, the head of IT, the clinical lead and finance. They give direction, make decisions above the project lead's tolerance, and remove obstacles.
- Project lead (you). Runs the project day to day within agreed tolerances. Prepares information, recommends options and carries out decisions.
- Workstream leads and product owner. Make decisions inside their area, such as backlog order.
- Assurance (sometimes a PMO, risk or audit function). Checks independently that the project is being run properly.
Decision rights and tolerances
The most useful governance tool is a short list of tolerances: how far the project can deviate before it must be escalated. For example:
| Dimension | Project lead can approve | Sponsor can approve | Steering committee decides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule | Up to 1 week slip on a milestone | Up to 4 weeks | More than 4 weeks, or the go-live date |
| Cost | Up to $5,000 within the contingency | Up to $25,000 | More than $25,000 |
| Scope | Backlog changes inside agreed features | Swapping features of similar size | Adding or removing a major feature |
| Risk | Low and medium risks | High risks with a plan | Any risk that threatens the business case |
When a forecast goes beyond a tolerance, you raise an exception: you tell the next level up, with options, before the limit is actually breached. This is "management by exception": senior people do not need to approve everything, only what goes outside the agreed limits.
Stage gates
Predictive and hybrid projects often have stage gates: points where the committee reviews progress and decides whether to continue. A gate asks:
- Is the business case still valid?
- Did we deliver what this stage promised?
- Is the plan for the next stage realistic, and are the risks acceptable?
- Go, go with conditions, re-plan, or stop?
Stopping a project at a gate is a success of governance, not a failure, if the business case no longer holds.
The steering committee pack
A good pack is short, honest and built around decisions. Busy executives may read only the first page, so put the decisions there. A typical structure:
- Summary and decisions required (half a page). Overall RAG status, the one-paragraph story, and each decision needed with your recommendation.
- Progress against milestones. Planned vs forecast dates.
- Financials. Budget, actual, forecast and contingency used. Earned value indices if you track them (next module).
- Top risks and issues. No more than five each, with owners and actions.
- Change requests awaiting approval, with impact.
- Appendix. Detail for those who want it.
Worked example: a decision page
Northside Clinics booking portal: steering committee, 3 June
Overall status: Amber. Portal sprints are on track (pilot clinic live 20 May, 1,140 bookings in two weeks). The records integration is three weeks late because the vendor's test environment was unavailable.
Decision 1: rollout schedule. The integration delay pushes the 12-clinic rollout from 1 August to 22 August.
- Option A: accept the new date. No extra cost. Recommended.
- Option B: keep 1 August by adding a second vendor engineer: +$18,000, and the rollout happens during the clinics' busiest fortnight.
Decision 2: kiosk numbers. Pilot data shows 70% of patients book on their own phones. We recommend reducing kiosks from 24 to 12, saving $21,000.
Notice that each decision has options, costs, a recommendation and evidence. The committee can decide in minutes.
Running the meeting
- Send the pack two working days before the meeting.
- Brief the sponsor beforehand so there are no surprises.
- Spend the meeting on decisions and risks, not reading the report aloud.
- Record decisions, owners and dates in minutes, and circulate them within a day.
Common mistakes
- Watermelon reporting: green on the outside, red inside. Report the real status.
- Packs of 40 slides with no decision asked for.
- No tolerances, so everything or nothing gets escalated.
- Steering committees with no one who can actually commit budget or people.
Quick recap
- Governance defines who decides what; the sponsor owns the business case.
- Tolerances let the project lead manage within limits and escalate exceptions early.
- Stage gates check that the business case still holds before more money is spent.
- A steering pack leads with decisions, options and recommendations.
Try it
Open the Do tab and build a one-page steering committee pack for a project.