Distributed Project Governance Assessment (DPGA): Contextual, hands-on analysis for project governance across sovereign boundaries

Abstract

Managers of technology-intensive projects know that external dependencies beyond their direct control can pose significant risks to their performance. Unfortunately for them, there is a trend toward collaborative systems of systems with combined or threaded capabilities that generate many external dependencies. Today's world of networked, interoperating applications calls for a management perspective that seeks governance across sovereign boundaries.1 The Carnegie Mellon® Software Engineering Institute (SEI) proposes a Distributed Project Governance Assessment (DPGA) process, a work in progress, which helps organizations understand the number and characteristics of external dependencies. We seek to describe the proposed process and solicit community feedback on feasibility, shortcomings, or improvements.