Deliberate project planning to effectively apply resources. Cross-jurisdictional collaboratives create a new set of complexities – cross-jurisdictional complexities. Governance will ensure proper representation and oversight. Enterprise architecture will capture the vision and design the new entity – the cross-jurisdictional enterprise - and ensure complexity is well managed. Project management will ensure proper delivery, staging, application of resources. Together these three elements ensure proper execution.
Project planning is consistently listed as a necessary ingredient in the recipe for success with creating collaboratives. Proper timing, sequencing, staging, and active project change management are essential to planning and orchestrating the delivery of a cross-jurisdictional collaborative. Project management includes a lot of up-front work in identifying the activities and tasks that must be planned and successfully executed. Additional aspects include a deliverables list, defining roles and responsibilities for deliverables, and managing progress. Project management in concert with governance will coordinate the necessary analytics for monitoring progress and making necessary adjustments and course corrections.
David Behen, CIO, State of Michigan, Co-Chair of the NASCIO State & Local Collaboration Working Group