Project governance and scrum. Compatible? Differences? I just started to learn the ropes of Project Management. While doing so I was confronted with the concept of Project governance. As I like the concept of scrum I was somehow reminded of the scrum master. As far as I understand I would put the project governance on a higher level than the scrum master (more or less a scrum master of the scrum master and his team). 1. Is this understanding reasonable? As I do not think this is a proper description: Is there a more accurate way to describe this relation? 2. Are these two concepts compatible at all? Or do they exclude each other? What are your experiences? 3. What are the main differences and similarities? * * * **EDIT** Thank you for the fast replies. In the meantime I also did some further research and found an interesting article. I think I have a better understanding how project governance and scrum work together now. Further contributions are welcome. * * *

My experience is that governance in an Agile setting is successful when it's put in place to enhance the work itself rather than as a means to control the workers.

Scrum has certain elements of governance built in. The Product owner has governance over the Product backlog. The team has governance over the Sprint backlog. Etc.

Basic Scrum does not address governance across larger teams (teams of teams). Certain scaling frameworks address governance (i.e. - Disciplined Agile embraces an architecture owner). Most scaling frameworks allow for a Program Layer and Portfolio Layer that exist above the team level.

Hope that helps!