Project Assurance: Where to Start

What is project assurance?

Project assurance is all about giving confidence to stakeholders. It shows projects are delivering–in terms of cost, time, scope, quality, and benefits. I’m certain that organizations have project teams that work with maximum integrity. Further, the departure point for any assurance function shouldn’t be one of distrust! However, it’s also fair to say that some organizations are so focused on delivering speed that they overlook some early warning indicators.

Others have a culture of blamestorming, where people don’t feel comfortable presenting the reality of their projects and end up painting them with a stretched optimism. Have you heard of watermelon reporting? Projects that look green on the outside until someone looks closer and realizes they are bright red on the inside. Assurance can help in instilling a culture of responsibility and transparency, where it is accepted that a red indicator is not necessarily ‘someone’s fault’ but where there is an appreciation for other factors that can be outside the project manager’s control and where red can be a cry for help. Resources, anybody?

Did I get your attention? Then let’s talk more about what good looks like and how you can start on the exciting world of assurance in your organization.

Start with Engagement

1. Be Clear on the Why: challenged projects serve as invaluable case studies for understanding the importance of assurance. Clearly defining the purpose behind assurance measures is essential. By delving into real-world scenarios, teams can better comprehend the necessity of a robust assurance framework.
2. Co-create the Assurance Framework: co-creation ensures that everyone is invested in the assurance framework’s success. This collaborative approach fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility among team members, reinforcing the notion that no one destroys what they help to build.
3. It’s Not About You, but Your Customers: shifting the focus to assurance as a service and seeing your stakeholders as customers is fundamental. Understanding the “What’s in it for me?” aspect helps teams recognize the direct impact assurance can bring to their project activities.
4. Make Assurance Everyone’s Responsibility: assurance goes beyond traditional audits and health checks; it involves active participation from every team member. Encouraging self-assessments and peer reviews empowers individuals to take responsibility for the project’s success, and it helps embed assurance as a normal practice in the organization.
5. Find Assurance Champions: identifying assurance champions within different business units is essential. These individuals act as advocates, promoting the importance of assurance throughout the organization. Their influence and commitment are crucial in embedding assurance as a core value.

Start with a Plan

6. APM’s Measures for Assuring Projects: there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. The Association for Project Management (APM) provides established Measures for Assuring Projects as a toolkit. Leveraging existing frameworks saves time and resources, whereas a pragmatic approach ensures that the assurance process is aligned with industry best practices.
7. Just Enough Assurance: tailoring assurance to the project’s scale and complexity is vital. Proportionality ensures that the level of assurance matches the project’s requirements, preventing unnecessary bureaucracy while focusing on risk management. Let’s aim for Minimum Viable Bureaucracy.
8. Communicate: effective communication is the backbone of successful assurance, contributing to a culture of accountability and trust. People need to know what is going to be assured, when they are going to be assured, or what evidence is going to be consulted. Don’t leave until the last minute.

Start with a Pilot

9. Select a Pilot Project: a controlled environment allows for testing and optimizing your assurance processes before full-scale implementation. Use a project representing the average type or a sub-set of the portfolio.
10. Feedback and Iteration: collecting feedback from project stakeholders and assurance team members is crucial. Actively seeking input ensures that the assurance framework remains adaptable and responsive.
11. Document Lessons Learned: as with any project, documenting lessons learned from the pilot is essential for knowledge transfer to the organization. Capture successes, areas for improvement, and any unexpected challenges that can be used as a base for future projects and reinforce a culture of continuous learning.
12. Fine-tune & Scale Up: based on insights gathered, fine-tune the assurance processes and consider scaling them up to other projects in the portfolio/organization. Remember to share successes and consider doing an internal roadshow to launch it with the attention it deserves.

Fundamental Principles of Project Assurance

To be effective, according to the Association for Project Management (APM)’s Guide to Integrated Assurance, you should also be guided by six fundamental principles:

1) Independence: assurance providers should be independent. In other words, they need to be objective in their evaluation and not emotionally attached to what is being assured. After all, we want facts, not opinions. This is demonstrated by promoting an environment where the assurer is free of any influence, interest, or relationship that might impair objectivity.

2) Accountability: effective assurance turns a culture of blame into a culture of accountability. Different roles carry different responsibilities, and everyone knows what is expected of them.

3) Proportionality: assurance should be reasonably practicable; otherwise, we risk ‘death by assurance.’ The volume of assurance work carried out should be proportionate to the complexity and risk profile of the project.

4) Risk-based: unless you have a small portfolio or don’t have a resource shortage, you likely won’t have a dedicated assurer for each of your projects. So, where to start? You guessed it right; you will have to prioritize your effort. Assurance work should be planned to focus attention on areas of highest risk to the organization.

5) Planning & Coordination: assurance engagements should be properly planned, including defining the engagement’s objective, scope, timing, and resource allocation. You can find this information on the project’s Integrated Assurance and Approvals Plan

6) Impact, Follow-up, & Escalation: make no mistake, effective assurance does not end with identifying findings and recommendations. The value of assurance is a result of the impact of assurance.

Final Thoughts

Good assurance is designed to be proportionate, risk-based, independent, coordinated, and planned; competent professionals deliver, support continuous improvement, and spread good practice. Ultimately, project assurance should help you make better and more informed decisions with confidence.