In today’s complex business landscape, where organisational success increasingly depends on the effective delivery of transformational projects and programmes, Project Assurance has emerged as a critical strategic function. Yet many senior executives remain unclear about its true value and how it differs from traditional project management or audit functions.
Beyond Traditional Oversight
Project Assurance isn’t merely another layer of bureaucracy or a tick-box exercise. Rather, think of it as your organisation’s strategic radar system – detecting risks before they materialise, identifying opportunities for optimisation, and ensuring your major investments deliver the promised value.
Unlike traditional project management oversight, Project Assurance provides independent, objective insights that help senior leaders make informed decisions about their project portfolios. It acts as a ‘critical friend’ to both the project team and senior stakeholders, offering constructive challenge and support throughout the project lifecycle.
Project Assurance is a continuous activity throughout the project lifecycle, not a one-off or periodic review process. The person undertaking your Project Assurance becomes an integral part of the project governance; they attend regular project board / steering committee meetings, have access to all stakeholders and the ability to engage with the project teams and those seeking to benefit from the project outcomes.
The Strategic Value Proposition
For the C-suite, Project Assurance delivers extraordinary value through risk mitigation and early warning systems. It provides independent verification of project status and health whilst ensuring governance frameworks remain robust and effective. Perhaps most crucially, it alerts leadership to emerging risks that might not be visible through normal reporting channels.
From an investment protection perspective, Project Assurance validates that projects remain aligned with strategic objectives and ensures benefits realisation is actively managed. It provides comfort that resources are being used effectively and confirms that investment decisions remain sound as market conditions evolve. In terms of performance optimisation, a well-structured assurance function identifies opportunities for improvement in delivery approach, shares best practices across the project portfolio, and ultimately strengthens organisational project delivery capability.
The Cost of Inadequate PROJECT Assurance
The statistics paint a sobering picture: approximately 70% of major transformation projects fail to deliver their intended benefits. The financial impact of these failures can be devastating, with some organisations experiencing losses in the hundreds of millions of pounds.
Many of these failures could have been prevented or minimised through effective Project Assurance. Common patterns in project failure often include misalignment between project objectives and business strategy, unrealistic expectations and planning assumptions, inadequate stakeholder engagement, poor risk management, weak governance structures, and insufficient focus on benefits realisation.
The PROJECT Assurance Framework
Effective Project Assurance operates at three distinct levels, each serving a crucial purpose in the overall governance structure. At the strategic level, it ensures alignment with organisational strategy, validates business cases and benefits, assesses market conditions and external factors, and reviews stakeholder engagement effectiveness.
At the portfolio level, Project Assurance evaluates portfolio balance and interdependencies, whilst assessing resource allocation and prioritisation. It maintains a watchful eye on portfolio-level risks and issues, monitoring overall portfolio health with a keen focus on value creation.
At the project and programme level, the focus shifts to reviewing delivery approach and methodology, assessing team capability and capacity, evaluating technical solution viability, and monitoring project performance and progress against agreed metrics.
The Critical Friend Approach
The concept of Project Assurance as a ‘critical friend’ is particularly valuable for senior leadership. This approach provides constructive challenge without being confrontational, offers insights and recommendations based on experience, and maintains independence whilst building trust. Rather than fault-finding, it focuses on problem-solving and value creation.
Making it Work for Your Organisation
Implementing effective Project Assurance requires careful consideration of several key factors. Independence is paramount – your assurance function must have sufficient autonomy to provide objective insights, potentially through a separate reporting line to the board or audit committee.
Timing is equally crucial. Implementing assurance activities early in the project lifecycle proves far more cost-effective than addressing issues later in the delivery cycle. The cost of remediation increases dramatically as projects progress, making early intervention essential.
Your assurance team must possess the right mix of skills and experience, combining technical expertise with business acumen. This capability should be integrated within your project delivery framework rather than operating as a separate function.
The Future of Project Assurance
As organisations increasingly rely on projects to deliver strategic change, the role of Project Assurance continues to evolve. We’re seeing greater integration of AI and data analytics in assurance activities, alongside an enhanced emphasis on benefits realisation and value creation. Sustainability and social impact considerations are gaining prominence, as is increased attention to cyber security and digital risks.
A Strategic Imperative
In today’s complex business environment, effective Project Assurance isn’t optional – it’s a strategic necessity. By providing independent oversight, constructive challenge, and early warning of potential issues, Project Assurance helps protect your investments and increase the likelihood of project success.
For C-suite executives, the question isn’t whether to implement Project Assurance, but rather how to maximise its value to the organisation. When properly implemented and supported, Project Assurance becomes a powerful tool for driving project success and achieving strategic objectives.
Consider this: the investment in robust Project Assurance typically represents a mere fraction of overall project costs, yet can significantly reduce the risk of project failure and increase the likelihood of realising intended benefits. In an environment where project success is increasingly critical to organisational success, can you afford not to have effective Project Assurance?
The choice is clear: invest in proper Project Assurance now, or risk joining the ranks of organisations whose projects fail to deliver their promised value. After all, in today’s fast-paced business environment, the cost of failure far outweighs the investment in getting it right.

I specialise in project assurance, governance, PMO and ‘technology enabled change’; helping clients obtain greater value from their investments in projects, programme, portfolios and technology.
My clients choose to work with me because I am a pragmatist; I recommend and deliver solutions that can be easily implemented. You also get what you see – I will define what you need, then it will be me who is on site helping you deliver your change.
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