Published by JMB Project Management Co. LLC
An initiative involving several departments needs clear arrangements for decisions that cross organizational boundaries. Each participant may understand its own responsibilities while the shared dependency remains unresolved.
Public sector project management in the UAE should begin with the organization’s applicable governance and approval requirements. The practical task is to connect those arrangements with the program’s day-to-day delivery work.
Identify the decisions that span departments
Map the approvals, information and resources needed from each participating organization. Ask who can decide when the requirements of one workstream affect another.
For an illustrative digital service program, the technical team may need a process decision from an operational department before it can finalise requirements. Identify that decision and its accountable owner in the plan.
Establish joint working arrangements
Agree how departments will coordinate, which issues belong in shared meetings and which should be escalated through existing authority structures.
Document who prepares the information, who recommends an action and who approves it. A coordination group should understand the limits of its authority, including matters requiring a sponsor or committee decision.
Use a shared delivery view
Maintain an integrated view of milestones and dependencies alongside the individual workstream plans. Show where one team’s delay affects another team’s commitments.
Report changes in operational requirements as well as technical delivery. A new approval step or service obligation can affect testing, staffing and implementation readiness.
Define acceptance and operational ownership
Agree who will accept each deliverable and who will own the resulting service. Where ownership is shared, explain how ongoing responsibilities and escalation will work.
This is particularly important when the program team will close but the service will continue. Handover should identify the unresolved matters that remain with operational owners.
The UK Government Project Delivery Functional Standard is a useful comparative reference for governance roles and project oversight. It is UK guidance, not a statement of UAE requirements; the responsible UAE organization’s arrangements govern the engagement.
Make reviews produce a response
Before each review, identify the decisions required and circulate the relevant options. After the review, record the outcome, responsible owner and effect on the plan.
If a decision remains outstanding, state what activity it prevents and when escalation is needed. This gives the reporting process a direct connection to delivery.
For sponsors, a practical test is whether every critical cross-department dependency has an owner, an agreed requirement and a decision route. Gaps should become actions before they become delays.
JMB provides government and public services project support, including program coordination, governance and operational readiness.