Project Governance and Organisation
Governance
Governance is the framework of authority, accountability, decision rights and reporting within which the project operates. It typically includes a sponsor/executive who owns the business case and champions the project, a project board accountable for direction and for decisions beyond the project manager's delegated authority, tolerances (agreed limits on time, cost, scope, risk, quality and benefit variation), stage gates at which continuation is justified, independent assurance, and escalation routes. Governance sets direction and controls; it does not do the delivery work.
Organisation and roles
Know the structural options: functional (project sits inside a department, PM has little authority), matrix (weak, balanced or strong - authority shared with line managers, and the classic trap of dual reporting), and project/dedicated team (PM has full authority, resources ring-fenced). Understand a RACI: one person is accountable for a task, others are responsible, consulted or informed. Accountability cannot be delegated in the way responsibility can.
PMO types must be distinguishable: supportive (templates, advice), controlling (compliance, standards, gate reviews), directive (PMs report to the PMO and it manages delivery).
Traps
Assuming the sponsor manages day-to-day delivery; assuming the board makes technical decisions; confusing responsibility with accountability; treating assurance as something the PM performs on their own project.
Worked example
A project forecasts a cost overrun of 8%. The stage tolerance permits the PM to vary cost by up to 5% without escalation. Because 8% breaches tolerance, the PM must not absorb it - they prepare an exception report with options and escalate to the board for a decision.