$1)$ Initiation:

The first phase of a project is initiation. This is when project leaders describe the project, set the overall project direction, and define its initial objectives.

The seeds of poor performance or failure are often planted in the initiation phase. In many cases, senior leadership does not have an effective process in place for determining whether the project should be approved. Someone may come up with what seems like a worthy idea, and the project gets approved without senior leadership asking key questions necessary to determine whether it should proceed. Instead, resources are allocated, and work begins. When the project fails because necessary governance was not applied, it$$s nearly impossible to determine the exact reason for the failure. Consequently, leadership can$$t learn from its mistakes.

To give the project a better chance of succeeding, governance in the initiation phase must be focused squarely on the rationale for proceeding with the project. The governance team must ask the right questions. What are the outcomes of the project? How do those outcomes benefit the organization? Is the project aligned with the organization$$s strategic objectives, its goals, its values?

$2)$ Speculate$($planning$)$:

Once a project is approved based on meeting criteria meaningful to the organization, it moves into the planning phase. In this phase project leaders should be developing a clear plan to guide the team towards success. The plan must outline the scope, goals, resources, costs and schedule of the project while assigning responsibilities so that everyone involved knows what to do and what they are accountable for.

Many organizations have gaps in their planning process that can lead to the approval of projects that should have been rejected. Even though the project leaders may have created a project plan, the governance team may not know how to evaluate the quality of that plan. They may not know what to look for or what questions to ask to determine if the project should move forward.

In the Planning phase governance takes on a different role. The governance team must assure that the planning process is proceeding as expected. They should see the creation of a progressively more accurate and detailed project plan so that they are aware of exactly what the project looks like. This means that project leaders should articulate the project$$s scope, duration, cost estimates, deliverables, and deadlines in a way that meets the managerial needs of the governance team.

$3)$ Incubate$($Executing and Controlling$)$:

If the project makes it through the planning phase, it enters the execution and controlling phase. Here, the execution of the project and control of the project run concurrently. It$$s like taking a trip in your car. After determining that your car is road$-$worthy, and you have enough fuel, you are ready to go$.$ As you drive, you are executing your trip. At the same time, you are controlling your trip by keeping an eye on the fuel gauge, following the path set by your GPS$,$ and ensuring you will arrive when expected.

n this phase the project team executes the project. They do the work, they invest hours and expend the allocated resources. As work is completed, the project manager provides the governance team with status updates that include progress on deliverables and project metrics.

From the controlling perspective, the governance team must analyze the status updates and make any needed decisions. The key in this phase is for the team to know the metrics it should be examining to ensure that the project is performing as planned. For instance, if a status update indicates that the project is behind schedule or is over budget, the team will expect the project manager and team to take or have taken corrective action. If the corrective action is deemed insufficient, the governance team must take action themselves either through the project manager or directly.

$4)$ TReview$($closing$)$:

In this phase, the project manager begins closing the project once the final product is delivered. Among other things, they wrap up the project by communicating completion to stakeholders and releasing resources to other projects.

As a part of the closing process, the project manager should report a range of metrics to the governance team. These metrics might include statements relating to the achievement of established objectives, a final comparison of costs to original estimates along with any adjusted estimates, an updated timeline to assess whether the project was completed on time, and an ROI calculation.

If the organization wants to continuously improve its project management practices, the governance team can review communications from the project manager to gain valuable insight on two levels. On the execution level, they can determine whether there are any process changes that should be made regarding how projects are carried out. Perhaps the projected ROI wasn$$t achieved. In