Strong project governance is not about bureaucracy; it is about clarity, accountability, and confidence. PRINCE2 governance provides a structured yet adaptable way to ensure that projects remain aligned with business objectives while maintaining transparency and control. At its core, PRINCE2 governance is built on three pillars: roles, controls, and assurance. When these are well understood and correctly applied, governance becomes an enabler—not an obstacle.
Understanding Governance in PRINCE2
In PRINCE2, governance answers three fundamental questions:
- Who is accountable for decisions?
- How is progress controlled and reported?
- How do we know the project is being managed properly?
Rather than centralising power, PRINCE2 distributes responsibility across clearly defined roles, supported by formal controls and independent assurance. This balance ensures that projects can move quickly while remaining compliant and predictable.
Roles: Clear Accountability by Design
PRINCE2 places significant emphasis on role clarity, ensuring that decision-making authority is explicit and not diluted.
Key governance roles include:
- Executive
Owns the Business Case and is ultimately accountable for the project’s success. Governance begins and ends here. - Senior User
Represents the interests of those who will use the project’s outputs, ensuring benefits are realistic and achievable. - Senior Supplier
Ensures that the solution is technically feasible and delivered to the required quality.
Together, these roles form the Project Board, which directs the project at a strategic level rather than managing day-to-day activities.
Below the Project Board, the Project Manager handles operational control, while Team Managers manage specialist delivery. This separation preserves governance integrity by avoiding conflicts between direction and execution.
Controls: Staying in Command Without Micromanagement
PRINCE2 controls are designed to provide management by exception—a concept that keeps governance efficient.
Core control mechanisms include:
- Stages
Projects are broken into manageable stages, with formal authorization required to proceed. This ensures regular strategic review. - Tolerances
Agreed limits for time, cost, scope, quality, risk, and benefits. As long as the project stays within tolerance, escalation is unnecessary. - Reporting Structures
Highlight Reports, Checkpoint Reports, and End Stage Reports provide structured visibility without information overload.
These controls allow senior management to remain confidently hands-off—until intervention is genuinely required.
Assurance: Trust, but Verify
Governance without assurance is optimism masquerading as control. PRINCE2 embeds assurance to independently confirm that the project is viable, compliant, and on track.
PRINCE2 assurance covers three dimensions:
- Business Assurance – Is the project still worth doing?
- User Assurance – Will the solution deliver the expected benefits?
- Supplier Assurance – Is the solution technically sound and achievable?
Assurance can be provided by Project Board members, internal audit teams, or external reviewers. The key principle is independence from the Project Manager, preserving objectivity and credibility.
