Paul,
I tried to asnwer this questions using the ‘SADBET’ response that you reccomended. I thought I would quickly type it out here to see if I was on the right track.
Your feedback would be appreciated.
Regards,
Nick
Q: Explain 5 benefits of effective project management governance.
A:
Strategy
Accountability
Disclosure
Business Case
Ability to Terminate
Effective project governance allows an effective strategy to be formed by the governors of a project. The formation of a good strategy provides guidance, direction and gives a way to measure performance if the strategy has been met. An example would be the governors deciding to target the building of low cost homes to maximise profits, this would be a ‘strategic’ decision which would provide benefit.
Governance also provides accountability to areas of the project. Correct governance brings the benefit of proving clear lines of responsibility and ownership of project areas to determine what has worked and what is failing. An example of accountability would be accidents occurring on a construction project, the governor would provide a focal point for questions if problems had occurred.
Disclosure can benefit a project because the flow of accurate information is vital to the success of a project and poor disclosure can mean costly issues are not dealt with early. An example of disclosure would be a quality team leader highlighting to a governor that the products produced are leaving the factory scratched, rather than let the issue escalate, good disclosure could nip it in the bud.
Good governance can assist in forming or shaping the business case to maximise profit or exploit a gap in the market. The business case may need to change and having good governance on a project can allow this change to occur, An example of this would be a governor altering the business case to adapt to a technological innovation.
Finally, governance will allow a project to be able to terminate if it is no longer required or the project is operating at a loss. if no governance was present, the decision to terminate would likely be difficult to obtain. An example would be a football stadium for a club that has been relegated. Governance could benefit this project as it could be mothballed or terminated.
Julie is quite hard question. Defining scope includes all the work up until the point of developing work breakdown structure. WBS OBS and RACI charts how about define responsibility for delivering scope. Scope definition includes techniques such as focus groups, stakeholder consultation, requirements capture and analysis. it is quite a hard question for APMP level. Question you have answered are how the scope is broken down into work packages and assigned to team members. I don’t think this question will come up in this form so don’t worry about it.
Paul
Julie
Sorry for the delay looking at this answer. Overall this answer is fine but some of the points are a bit too brief, they want 2-3 sentences per point including an example. For example
” Explain the nature of the project. Be able to define scope, deliverables, timescales and roles and responsibilities.” should be
Explain the nature of the project. Be able to define scope, deliverables, timescales and roles and responsibilities. This would ensure that everyone in the project team has a common understanding of the project goals and objectives. This common focus will improve motivation and commitment in the team.
Other parts are a bit too long. Remember each point of the five is marked out of ten.
Dominic,
Interesting observation!
When sitting the APMP it is sometimes useful to recall that each question relates to just one of the 37 topics. I think it is quite clear from the wording of this question that we are addressing Governance.
However, in practice, most organisations address their governance requirements, primarily, by the adoption of a formal Method. As a consequence there is a huge overall between the practical application of the two topics e.g. the need for a business case, a plan, clear roles & responsibilities, stakeholder engagement etc. For this reason I can understand confusion between the two but they are different and there are some instances where the difference is clear. For example, “Fostering a culture…†is not something that can be readily addressed in a formal method, it is more associated with behaviour.
I hope this helps.
Adrian
The response to the question seems to focus on Governance of Project Mangement (GoPM) would the answer to this question relate more to the benefits of a project method that inherently provides governance framework i.e. consistancy, clarity, communication, continuity? Have I misinterpretted the question?
Hi Nicholas,
Can I offer the following.
It really is important that you answer the exact question. The questions asks for “benefits of…?” whereas your answer seems to be tending towards answering the question “what are the elements of…?”. This is an example of how partially repeating the question at the start of the answer helps to get your mind (and answer) along the right lines. For instance “The first benefit of effective governance is……..”. I appreciate, that in terms of content, the answers will be similar but make it easy for the examiner and phrase the answer very directly towards the question
SADBET is a mnemonic that Paul uses to aid students remember the 11 principles of governance and if it helps you remember then fine.
I would suggest also that you try and make your responses more specific and avoid the tendency to ramble.
For instance, you refer to “disclosure†which is not quite the same as “fosters a culture of improvement and frank disclosure of information†and accordingly your answer is a bit weak. I think you would be better writing something like.
“A fourth benefit of effective governance is that it ensures that there is an open and honest dialogue between all members of the team that allows both accurate reporting and feedback to take place which in turn allows the team to improve is collective performance, and individuals improve their individual performance. This is achieved primarily by fostering a suitable culture i.e. a culture of improvement and frank disclosure of information.”
Also, your paragraph relating to the Business Case and only addresses the fringe aspects of the business case. Firstly, governance requires a BC to be in place rather than assist its creation and secondly the change aspect is only secondary. I think you would be better writing something like.
“A fourth benefit of effective governance is that it ensures that for each project there is absolute clarity about why the project is to be undertaken and that this explanation includes an estimate of the costs, a reference to the benefits that ultimately are to be realised and also how these align with the strategy of the organisation. This is done by ensuring that each project has a sufficiently accurate and viable business case that must be endorsed by senior management in approving the project.”
You would get some marks for your answer but I am sure that a bit more precision and focus would offer rich rewards from the examiner.
I hope this helps.
Adrian