Defines a minimum of good enough governance rules
The term Minimum Viable Governance means introducing only as many rules, processes, roles, and controls as are necessary for a team or organization to work safely, compliantly, effectively, and in a coordinated way, without slowing down innovation and delivery speed. It’s the governance equivalent of a “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP), a concept from agile product development.
Minimum Viable Governance in Project Management
In a project management context, MVG becomes relevant when defining an (enterprise) project governance framework that sets guardrails—the minimal requirements to be adopted. Easy-to-understand guidelines, clear accountabilities, and simple decision paths are defined in an MVG, as is the approach to risk management.
Note for regulated environments: In highly regulated industries (e.g., financial services, pharma, public sector), MVG still applies—the minimum is simply higher (e.g., stricter approvals, more evidence, specific compliance checks).
Guiding Principles of a MVG Approach
- Clear: Decision rights, processes, and escalations are unambiguous. Lean RACI role mapping. Exactly one Accountable person per decision.
- Fast: Decisions in days, not weeks; a short decision log instead of endless steering committee meetings.
- Auditable: Short, verifiable documentation (checklists, logs, support tickets). One-page 7W templates (Who, What, Why, When, Where, How, How much) rather than extensive manuals. Segregation of duties / four-eyes principle for risk-relevant approvals.
- Adaptive: Rules can be easily updated when reality changes. Regular reviews check effectiveness and fitness, and adjustments are made as needed.
What should Minimum Viable Governance cover?
An MVG should include the following directives, rules, and control mechanisms to be effective:
1. Roles & Responsibilities
2. Decision & Escalation Paths
Communication and decision flow:
- Team ↔ discusses internally and with the Project Manager
- Project Manager ↔ aligns with the (Functional) Line Manager on functional matters and with the PMO on PM matters
- (Functional) Line Management & PMO ↔ align with Executive Management; involve Legal (data protection, compliance) as needed
- Executive Management ↔ aligns with the Board
3. Fixed Cadences (regular rhythm)
- Daily within high-velocity teams, max. 15 minutes
- Weekly standing meeting for project status updates, max. 30 minutes
- Monthly standing meeting for cross-departmental projects
- Quarterly MVG review within the PMO
4. Standardized Start Checklists (Project Planning)
- Project brief with mandatory data fields aligned to defined KPIs
- Business case for the project with costs / schedule / scope
- Identified risks and mitigating actions
- Stakeholder communication plan
- Data protection check via checklist
5. Standardized Status Report
Includes the key KPIs for project health:
- Number of tasks by status
- Number of tasks per person
- Burndown chart
- Risk matrix
- Planned vs. actual costs and revenues
6. Standardized Change Workflow
- Change requests exceeding thresholds for value X / scope X / schedule X → escalate to the next level.
- All changes below these thresholds → decision within the project team with the Project Manager.
Which minimum controls should an MVG include?
The following mechanisms are important and should be implemented as risk-based controls:
- Segregation of duties (SoD) / four-eyes principle for production/finance/sensitive data.
- Information security & data protection: Data classification, access, data processing agreements, retention/deletion.
- Financial controls: Budget approvals, purchasing processes, separation of ordering/acceptance/payment.
- Document control: Versioning, approvals, retention periods.
- Continuous improvement: Lessons learned/retrospectives at close-out and on a fixed cadence; action tracking.
How to measure the effectiveness of Minimum Viable Governance
Projects should still be planned, executed, and evaluated as quickly and as well as possible. The following KPIs should be tracked and should improve as MVG is followed:
- Decision lead time — should decrease
- Rework and hot-fix rate — should decrease
- Plan variance — should decrease
- On-time delivery — should increase
- Transparency — should increase
- Customer & stakeholder satisfaction — should increase