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#165 | What to Look for in a Steering Committee Pack (And What to Leave Out)
Ever sat in a steering committee meeting drowning in data but starving for decisions? You’re not alone—and it’s a sign your pack might be working against you.
In this solo episode, Fatimah shares what she’s learned from years of working with steering committees across some of the largest and most complex organisations internationally. She unpacks the critical elements that make a steering committee pack effective, cutting through the noise to help leaders focus on what matters most.
We explore the five essential elements every pack should include, why visual summaries beat wordy walls of text, and how to structure information so it actually supports strategic decision-making. Plus, Fatimah shares a few personal lessons from early career mistakes (including one pack she hopes never resurfaces).
Whether you're a project manager, a delivery lead, or part of a PMO supporting governance, this episode offers a blueprint for building steering committee packs that inform, influence, and drive outcomes.
🎧 Don’t forget! Registration is now open for the Global PMO Leader Conference, happening October 15th. Join over 1,000 project professionals from around the world. Link below;
https://www.thepmoleader.com/2025-annual-conference
In this episode, I cover:
0:00 Introduction & Conference Announcement
7:58 Understanding Steering Committees
14:37 Three Levels of Governance Explained
22:32 Purpose of Steering Committee Packs
30:16 Essential Components to Include
39:12 What to Leave Out
43:19 Personal Experiences and Lessons Learned
And more…
Have you built a PMO from the ground up—or thinking about it? Tune in to learn how to create a solid foundation that supports growth, governance, and agility. Then, share your PMO wins or challenges—I’d love to hear your Agile
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Learn more about podcast host Fatimah Abbouchi
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You're listening to Agile Ideas, the podcast hosted by Fatimah Abbouchi. For anyone listening out there not having a good day, please know there is help out there. Hi everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Agile Ideas. I'm Fatima, CEO at AMO, mental Health Ambassador and your host. In today's episode we will be talking about steering committees, and I'll explain all about that in just a moment, but before that, I just want to remind everyone that we have the Global PMO Leader Conference happening on October 15th. It is a virtual conference and it generates over a thousand attendees globally. We have over 75 volunteers who are currently assisting with getting the conference ready. It's completely free to register and attend, and that's thanks to our sponsors. Free to register and attend, and that's thanks to our sponsors. So, for those of you who are interested, I will include in the show notes a link to the conference and I hope to see you there.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now on to the episode. Have you ever sat in a steering committee meeting and thought why am I flipping through 40 slides just to find the one thing that I need? The problem is steering committees are there to help make high impact decisions, and bad steering committee presentations and PACs lead to bad decision and decision paralysis. Pacs are the signals to steering committee that help to guide what decisions you need them to make and often, when they're not done well, it creates a whole lot of confusion, and that confusion is just noise. Now, for those of you who are listening, who probably haven't heard about what a steering committee is, it's there to help guide projects and programs to actually stay on track in the direction. Hence the comment around steering committee direction, hence the comment around steering committee stay on track in the right direction.
Fatimah Abbouchi:For the life of the project or a program. It's made up of a group of senior stakeholders. Often there's a sponsor the person or persons that are paying or funding for the program or project along with key decision makers who oversee the direction and progress of the project's program initiative. Think of it like a governing body that provides the guidance needed and makes those strategic decisions that often can't be made by the project or program manager itself. The way that I like to think about things when I'm setting up a new project, program, or even within the portfolio, is I like to think about things in a way that categorizes governance into three groups, and these three groups of governance I apply and have applied in every engagement that I can recall for at least the last 10 years, successfully. So let me give you a quick overview of the three different governance groups and how to introduce them for your projects program, and then I'll tell you a bit more about how to make sure that your steering committee can be as best as possible so you can get better outcomes, and I'll also tell you about what to leave out of your steering committee. So, in terms of governance, you've got to think of it this way there are decisions and hierarchies that can and can't be made Sorry, there are decisions that can and can't be made based on approval hierarchies that exist already within an organisation.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Typically, as a program or project manager, you will have some level of authority over the project or program, and that itself will be based on, often, some thresholds. As an example, in most projects I've seen over the years, there is usually a small nominal amount depending on the size of the organization. In a large organization I've seen it as low as ten thousand dollars that a program or a project manager has the ability to make decisions as long as the cost doesn't exceed that. They also have the ability to make decisions on how projects get managed, as long as they meet the business requirements and the scope of the project. That was agreed up front. There's other different examples of that that pertain to other parts of the project, but just to provide that example, that is relevant for the purpose of level three, which to me is the lowest level in my three level hierarchy for governance. So project and program managers sit at level three, and often there are many decisions that can be made that are level three, meaning they don't need visibility or escalation any higher than that level.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Level two is what I would determine as a steering committee level, and the steering committee level is exactly the type of content that you would include in your steering committee pack. The steering committee itself is often made up with the project sponsor, which is a senior executive, and often business unit operational leaders that are impacted by the project or providing resources to support the project. There's often someone from finance and probably someone from risk, and, depending on how big or complex your project or program are, there might be third-party suppliers that are involved in the program, like a consultancy, et cetera. They'll often meet at regular intervals as well, and they will be there to provide strategic oversight, decision making. They're also there to drive accountability and help to mitigate risks or address issues. So think of that level two, steering committee level, as a governing body that is there often to make sure that you meet what deliver, what you promise to deliver in terms of value for the organization, the stakeholders. Then we've got the third and final level, which is the top level.
Fatimah Abbouchi:So, again, depending on the organization, there might be structural differences for these three levels, but level one of governance is usually the senior leadership team. It could also be your executive committee, it could even be your board, depending on the size of the company, but ultimately that is the director level aspect of the organization, where decisions that have been endorsed by the steering committee but don't sit within the thresholds of a steering committee approvals goes up the line. For example, the sponsor on the steering committee might not have the authority to make a decision over something that impacts the project pertaining to timelines, pertaining to, maybe, a budget, that's over the delegation that they have, and so therefore, that decision has to go up the line. Another example that's really relevant for me right now is where there is new obligations on the organisation. These things go up to the executive committee, who are those that are directly accountable for the organisation, meaning its regulatory and compliance obligations. So just really quickly to recap, there is three levels Now, depending on the size of the organization, you may go further down.
Fatimah Abbouchi:For example, level four might be team member level. That being said, I've never really had to use that and I would be surprised if you needed to go any further. So level three is your program project level, where program manager has the ability and authority to make certain decisions within thresholds. Level two is your steering committee, who makes decisions, again within their delegation, and drives risk and issue resolution and strategic oversight of the initiative. And then, when needed, there's an escalation point up to level one, which is your executive committee or senior leadership team. So always have that in mind when you're establishing projects and programs for the very first time, because doing so will help you to make sure that you are in fact meeting the relevant, necessary structural obligations of governance from the outset and stop you from getting caught out.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now let's go back to the steering committee pack. This is a question that's come up a few times. I had heard it again recently and I thought it would be really helpful to talk through the steering committee pack what to leave in and what to leave out. So let's start off by talking about the purpose of a steering committee pack. The steering committee pack is not just a status update. It's used to make executive decisions. Now, of course, within any pack, you do want to give a progress update, particularly because steering committees are usually once a month. Depending on the life of a program, they could be every few months, but often I find almost every organization is usually once a month. The smaller the project, the more frequent they will be, and the longer project, the more drawn out they'll be, and the longer project, the more drawn out they'll be.
Fatimah Abbouchi:So the steering committee pack is not there to just provide a status update. It's important to give the context quite quickly, and doing so helps them to then be able to make informed decisions. So what you'd want to do is make sure that you include a bit of a background on progress, particularly as you may have made some progress since the last steering committee that you talked about, and so things like what you've achieved since the last steering committee, any open actions that you addressed, any new information, anything that's going to really be the foundational support items for being able to get the decisions that you need. I'll cover off what to include specifically, but just to reiterate, you're not there to give a status update. It's an executive decision making tool. You need to give the context quickly to enable them to get to a point where they can make informed decisions. You'd want to highlight the key risks, dependencies and decision points. Key risks are things that have not become issues yet Dependencies pertaining to things that you may be dependent on internally, from other teams or even externally, from regulators or from another third party, and what key decision points that you will be raising in this steering committee. What you want to do is make sure that there is enough discussion relevant to the decisions that you need made, but doing so in in the minimal time. So you want enough information for them to make a decision, but not too much that they drown in all of it.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now, the cardinal rule of a steering committee is, if you feel like there is information that is necessary to include in that pack and in that meeting and you really feel strongly about it, put it in the appendix, because the appendix, as I've learned, is there to provide additional context for those who want to look at it, but it doesn't directly link or inhibit the ability to make the decision that you're asking of. As someone who receives PACs and reports all the time, I like to skim through the appendix, but I do find that many executives tend to not look at that. So be aware what you put in there may or may not get read and effectively, that's the point really. So, now that we've covered off the purpose of a steering committee and the pack, let's talk about what to include, what's essential in a steering committee pack, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to take you through a real live example of a steering committee pack that I currently prepare for one of my clients and talk you through the relevance of it and also some of the things I've had to include. Now, each pack and meeting will be different, based on your organization's maturity, size, expectations of the executives involved. So take what I'm giving you as a guide and then I will ask that you apply that to your situation, based on feedback that you get from your steering committee members and leaders.
Fatimah Abbouchi:One of the things that can be helpful early and upfront, before you go into numerous steering committees, is it would be a good idea to start your first steering committee by setting the scene in terms of what you plan to cover in the meetings going forward, setting the scene in terms of what you plan to cover in the meetings going forward. As an example, one of the things relevant to an existing client is a particular update pertaining to a specific change that they want to see regularly. Now, that sort of change itself is not something that would be in a standard pack, but it is something that our steering committee and sponsor has directly requested. So it's good to get that feedback early and upfront. Now, thinking about what to include, what is essential to include, in your steering committee pack. Okay, so there is a number of key sections that you would want to focus on. What I'll first do is I will give you an overview of some of the essential components and then I'll take you through that real example of what I've got and why I've had to personalize it to suit the situation and environment that I'm in for one of my recent clients. So there is a number of sections and, first and foremost, you would want to include the executive summary overview.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now, an executive summary overview is usually one or two pages. I prefer to keep it to one, which is usually quite visual and high level. It gives status at a glance for someone who just doesn't read any other part of the pack, who just doesn't read any other part of the pack, and gives them a quick overview of what they need to know progress decisions coming up, key risks, key issues, et cetera. Now the way that you lay out an executive summary can vary significantly. Most people will put a executive summary in just text format with bullet points.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now the way that I've laid it out, which I find extremely beneficial, is I've actually got a summary page that includes the current and previous red, amber, green status or RAG status, with the overall paragraph that outlines what the status is in a nutshell. I also highlight on that same page the key decisions or escalation points that need to be discussed in that day. I have a overview of the red, amber, green or RAG status across the previous months. That gives them an overview of the trend of health, trending health across the months. In the same one page layout I also have an overview of the key components of the project and their RAG status and an overview summary, for example, the schedule, scope, budget, the resources, the change, and then I have an overview for anything that is red or amber in that point in time, how we'll get to green the key deliverable, the next step, when it's due and who is actually accountable for it. And then, on the right hand side, I would outline the key activities completed since the last report and the next period's key activities, just to keep everyone on track with what's coming up and what's been the top. Maybe six or seven milestones that number is not, there's no math behind it, it's just what conveniently fits on a summary page. And then your top five risks or issues.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now, that sounds like a lot but laid out really efficiently on a page can be very well received, and it's something I've been using quite often for all my clients and they seem to resonate very well with it. It's the talking point for the beginning of a meeting and really gives that snapshot. With those traffic light indicators, milestone progress, it gives a really good overview and a great basis to start your conversation. Now, in some instances you might need to add an overview executive summary text page, although it's rare that I do that. The only time I would do that is when we're in a really complex part of a program or a project, for example nearing a transition, where I may want to provide more background and context, where I may want to provide more background and context. The same can be said of another key, essential element, which is progress against your plan.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now, your progress against your plan needs to be an overview. Usually it's a very visual timeline with key milestones. I have a number of different ways that I do this. One of them is utilizing a critical path view, and a critical path view is a simplified version of my detailed timeline but provides an overview of the critical path activities and milestones that we need to meet to get to the end of the project or program, and in that progress slide, or what you would want to include is call out any deviations and or any, I guess, key risks to milestones that are maybe behind or at risk of being completed on track. And you'll also want to make sure that you include any other visual indicators. For example, in some projects they might include a detailed Gantt chart. They might include a dashboard view of progress against different streams. There's really lots of different ways of doing it, but to keep it really simple, the way that I've laid it out is I have an overview of the critical path, which shows the key phases and then the critical path milestones across the phases. And then I also have a next slide which is more detailed. For example, at the moment I'm going through a process where I'm including a detailed timeline for our transition, including a detailed timeline for our transition, and so that's where, if they want to dive into more detail beyond the critical path, they can have a look at that as well. So progress against the plan is the second most important thing to include in your steering committee pack.
Fatimah Abbouchi:The third piece which is really important is risks issues, dependencies. Now, risk issues and dependencies can be done in lots of different ways. What I like to include is an overview of, say, the top five risks and issues and in that same overview I like to provide a number of different visual aids to support understanding the number of risks. Risks by status so what's closed, what's in monitor state, what's in progress, what's new? The overview of risk by governance level, what I explained early on. So, level one, level two, level three that gives a good overview to executives of how many risks being managed at the program level that has not been raised to them. It shows the sign of maturity but also just the complexity of the program.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Open risks by stream. So if you've got multiple different streams or sub-projects within your program. Open risks by residual risk level that is what the risk level is when you take the likelihood and the consequence and bring them together. Issues by status, what's new, what's being investigated, what's resolved and so forth, and then issues by stream as well. Now some people like to include detailed pages in the appendix of explanations of those top five risks or issues with more information, in case someone wants to delve into. What is that risk or issue, particularly if there's any that are rated high or very high. You can do that and that's easy addition to the appendix. I'll only do that when asked. If people don't ask for it, I don't add it because otherwise you're creating unnecessary work for yourself.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now, for your top five risks or issues that you include, you typically need to include your risk severity and also any mitigation actions. It's all well and good to call out top five risks and issues, but without explaining what you're doing about them, there is really no point, because if they are high or very high and you don't have a mitigation, I would be concerned. And then, finally, your dependencies. Now the dependencies can be done in a couple of ways. One of the ways that you could do this is you could include that on a dashboard page summary as a visual and again have some graphs that outline the dependencies in the different stages, etc. But one of the better ways I like to do it is to include it on my visual of my detailed timeline, so I would actually highlight and show a linkage between the different dependencies and call them out as well. These dependencies should be the ones that are going to derail your timelines if not addressed.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Okay, so then we move into one of the I guess one of the most common and most important slides in a steering committee pack, and that is your financials overview. Now, your financials overview typically is there to provide an overview between your budget and your spend today. So, how much money did you get approved for at the sponsor level? How much money have you spent? What's the variance between that? What are the reasons for the variance? And then also, if there's any additional asks, if you have a requirement for new resources, if you have a requirement for new budget, for a change in the budget, anything at all that could be different to what was originally outlined and agreed early on, usually in a business case, before the project itself kicked off. This is where you would highlight it. Usually you'll find a finance representative who provides input into the financial slide in larger organizations, their finance business partners, and other times you have to do it yourself. So it's really important to have a good view on what is your budget, how you're tracking to your budget, what you've spent so far and what's the estimate to complete. So how much more money do you need to complete your project and then call out the variances and explanations to support that and that summary slide? There is something that you typically don't really need to talk to unless there is some variance or some decision that needs to be made.
Fatimah Abbouchi:And then the last kind of key essential element is around decisioning and decision requests. Decisions need to be called out upfront and early, so I like to do decisions in a couple of ways. First and foremost, at the outset of my steering committee pack, in my executive summary, either in that visual slide I mentioned or in a supplementary slide, I will have an overview of the key discussion points, which usually pertain to the decisions that I'm looking for. I also have a decisions register that is managed offline in SharePoint most often, and I extract those decisions on a regular basis and I include them in the steering committee pack, up front and early. And just to give you an example of what I would include in something like that. So, just like you would have your actions log, the decisions log typically outlines what the decision is. Is it a change request? Is it something you want them to know? Is it an escalation that needs to go further up the line? So there's a number of things that you can include. It's a decision, an escalation or a noting item, what it relates to, what's the decision required, who's the owner, owner and the status of it.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now those decisions themselves typically have come up from level three, the program level, and sometimes decisions that need to go up to level one, that senior executive level. So you'd outline that in a summary table and then you would reference the pages that you're going to cover off throughout the pack and throughout the meeting to help the steering committee follow along. So that's the first sort of place that I would reference it. The second place I would reference it is on the actual detail page. For example, if I'm looking for a decision on a particular change request and I need to give context and background, I would include a supplementary page and on that page I would have a decision box. That's quite clear, it's highlighted, it's you know borders are, read, says decision required and calls out the exact same decision that was referenced on that decision log page so that you can follow along. You need to give the history that's relevant, but keep it minimal and just enough context to be able to make that decision.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now, in summary, the five essential elements is your executive summary slash snapshot and that, as I said, visual is always works best. Your progress against plan, which can be your critical path or your detailed timeline that shows any deviations from the plan, and also a visual, whether it's your Gantt chart, a milestone chart or similar. Your risk issues and dependencies, usually over a couple of pages one for risks and issues, with those graphs, mitigations called out, and then a dependency view can be on its own or it can be incorporated in the progress plan timeline page. A financial slash resource update, which is usually left in the appendix unless there's a discussion around it. And then your decision log, which is at the front and early, but also referenced throughout where the decisions need to be made, reference throughout where the decisions need to be made.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now there are a few things that I would recommend you keep in mind. But before we do that, let me just take you through a couple more examples of things I genuinely have in a real life steering committee pack that at the moment goes all the way up to the CFO level of a very, very large company, one of Australia's largest companies. So in that we would typically have a running view of all the previous actions. We would have a running view of the decisions, escalations and noting items. I would then kick off with the executive summary and in that executive summary I would outline, as I said, the essential components that we want to discuss for that day and enable people to dig in. We would revisit the timeline, be it the critical path or the detailed timelines, and then often in programs and projects of this size, we would have a breakdown by the individual subprojects or streams. Within and in that subprojects or streams you would want to provide an update on how the stream is going, what their RAG status are they red, amber or green a trend from the last report and also whether they're improving, staying steady or declining, with some commentary. You have your risk and issues page as well, and then also, in addition to that, I like to include, and always have, my steering committee charter and members page to provide an overview so that if anyone needs to reflect on it, particularly when we have guests that may join a steering committee upcoming leave relevant for a large, complex program. And then also I would include an overview of what the definitions are pertaining to RAG status and provide that information so that they can understand when something's green, amber or red, the reasons behind it.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Now, the steering committee pack does vary from time to time. As I said, in one month steering committee I would include more detail relating to communication checkpoints we've got to make, or I would include an overview of third party status and the activities pertaining to those third parties when the program is complex. But as long as you focus on those five key areas I mentioned, you would be really well set up for your steering committee, okay, so now I want to talk about what to leave out. Now, when you think about steering committee packs, often what people typically find and I know because I've been one of these people who loves detail sometimes you go way over the top and put in way too much detail. Now, the problem with that is you usually only have a very limited time for your steering committee. I've never really seen them more than 30 minutes, on the odd occasion 45. But excessive detail is a distraction. It's going back to what I said earlier about the excessive noise.
Fatimah Abbouchi:So you don't want to include full raid logs, you don't want to include all the details for the risk, all the actions, you don't want to include all of the nitty-gritty detail around the design or all the issues from that level three. So think about everything at a level three. At the program, project level. You can manage. You can manage as a program or a project and you only want to raise things that are relevant. Otherwise it becomes a distraction from the key decisions you need to drive the project forward. You also don't want to include everything that happened at the last meeting. All I would do with reflecting on the last meeting is the actions and have a summary table at the beginning of any open actions, not only from the last meeting but from any previous meetings that have not been closed. Now I'll give you a tip One of my favorite things to do when logging actions from previous meetings is I like to date the actions and number them in a way that makes it really easy for anyone to see how long that action's been open.
Fatimah Abbouchi:As an example, if I had an action, let's say, on the 31st of July 2025, then my action would read 2025-07-31. So the date, the year, the month, the day backwards .01, and then the subsequent action would be .2, .3, .4, and so on. What that means is when I get into my August, september, october steering committees and I look at my actions register and my actions log and I see something dated with July, I'll know that that action is actually from that month and it gives me a good visual and it cuts out the extra noise on the actions page, because you won't necessarily be able to fit everything that you want to. So only include the actions that are open. Don't worry about providing any further information on meeting minutes. You also don't want to provide walls and walls and walls of text, because I've done that many times and it seems like steering committee members are allergic to it. They don't like it. It's not helpful. You think you need to provide all the detail To counteract that for people like myself who can be quite detailed. I've started to prepare that for my own benefit and having it in my in my notes so that when I get asked questions I can reflect on those, as opposed to including
Fatimah Abbouchi:it in the pack. Don't include data that links to nothing. So be very aware that if you include a graph with numbers in it, the numbers need to be correct. You need to make sure that there is a link or something that supports the data that you're including. All my actions link to an actions register. All my decisions link to a decision register. All my risks, issues, dependencies link to their own sources of truth. There is a direct throughput and a linkage between all of those as well. All my actions, decisions, risk issues, dependencies, et cetera all linked to one another, and I've done that to make sure that we understand when a risk becomes an issue, where the issue came from, when an action or a decision is made, what change request it may relate to, and so forth. Don't include metrics in there that are irrelevant and actually don't provide
Fatimah Abbouchi:any substance or value. And also, you don't want to provide too much unnecessary information at a steering committee where you don't have time to explain it. For example, if you have a major issue and you're going to need some specific attention to that issue, then you might need to call a subsequent meeting to deep dive into it, or you may need to provide additional time for people to absorb that and really come to the steering committee prepared to talk through it. You also want to think about making sure that, when you're running your steering committee, that the right people who have been agreed as members of the steering committee are present. Otherwise, you will run a steering committee and not all the decision makers will be there, and then sometimes, in stricter governance, you will find that you don't meet the requirements and therefore the decision could be null and void. As a really good example of that, I worked in an organization where the program was being funded by a third party, and so we agreed that there would be a quorum of members that needed to be present for a steering committee to go ahead, of members that needed to be present for a steering committee to go ahead, and where five of the seven members weren't present, the steering committee had to be cancelled, which is a waste of time, and you should know that upfront if people aren't coming along, but unfortunately it doesn't always work that way, so you might need to have something like that, very similar. What you don't want to do is make decisions and not have the right people in the room. Now, in some instances, the sponsor can override the decision because they might be of a senior level and they have the ability to do that, and if that's the case, that's fine. But where you've got a number of head of or senior managers that are all the same level, that represent their functions and they all need to be part of that decision, you need to be careful not to be
Fatimah Abbouchi:making decisions without them. Now, from a structural perspective, I sort of outlined briefly how I would lay it out. You've got your agenda, which is similar each month but also can be modified. You also have your actions, your decisions, and then you move into your executive summary. You want to call out your decisions right up front and early, directly after your actions, so that they don't get lost and also people know what they're there to do. And it also helps to keep the flow of the meeting because you know what hasn't been decided and that it's coming up. You want to use graphs, charts, etc. You want to try to create those up front and early and reuse them, as opposed to having to customise each time. And then you also want to make sure that you are consistent as much as possible in the layout of your pack. Now, the consistency relates to enabling the steering committee members, who don't have lots and lots of time to pre-read the packs, the ability to skim through it in a way that
Fatimah Abbouchi:becomes comforting for them. Speaking of pre-reading, my rule of thumb is you want to give a minimum of two days for pre-reading, so you want to send the pack out two days before a steering committee, at least. Sometimes, depending on how complex the program is, you might have to send it out a week before. I know we definitely send it a week before for more senior executives at that level one, but for a steering committee, two, three days minimum two days is ideal to give them a chance to pre-read the pack. The assumption for a lot of steering committees is that the pack is read prior to the meeting and so you can focus on making the right decisions. And then, finally, the length of the pack. As I said, it's okay to have numerous amounts in the appendix, but the core length of the pack typically, depending on the size of your program, you might have five to seven pages. You know, I find on average I sit around seven or eight, depending on what part of the program we're in, and then everything else in the appendix. I mean, I've been known to have 10, 15 pages in the appendix and that's okay. You just want to make sure that you provide that context in the up first steering committee, that you will include things in the appendix that they
Fatimah Abbouchi:don't have to read. One thing that is a really important thing that I learned along the way sometimes, when you're drafting these packs, you may need to get a review or approval from your line manager or whoever it is that needs to endorse it before the steering committee pack goes out. And a top tip for me is always send it out in PDF format if you are wanting a manager to review it, but also when you send it out to members. Two reasons for that One, when you send it out to someone you want to review and give you feedback. If they are anything like most execs, they're on the go and on their phones and so skimming through a file that's in PowerPoint or similar is too complicated, whereas in PDF you can actually skim through it quite easily. So it makes it quicker and easier for them. And the reason I would send it to members in PDF is because people are notoriously bad and modifying a steering committee pack after the pack's been distributed, and we don't want that because the pack that you sent for pre-reading needs to match the pack that you present on the day, otherwise it can cause mistrust and confusion. So I like to start my packs with the naming convention that includes the date and the words draft, and when the pack has been distributed I convert it to PDF and I mark them as final. That way, people always know they're receiving the PDF version, which is the final document, and not having to worry that changes are being made
Fatimah Abbouchi:after they've read them. Now a few last tips. Getting the pack right is making sure that you build the pack with the audience in mind. Remember, executives have limited time. They just need to know what they need to know and nothing else. You want to make sure you review the pack with the relevant person or persons who are going to provide you valuable input before you circulate. They might pick up on something that you don't, particularly if you're preparing the pack on behalf of a group of people. You don't want to go into a steering committee and your line manager, who may not be the sponsor or the steering committee chairperson, and not make sure that they are across what's going to be raised in terms of decisions, etc. So, working backwards, I would like to set a pre-review meeting when I'm drafting the pack with that manager, and I'd also then do a quick follow-up before I actually get the
Fatimah Abbouchi:pack out for distribution. Now, a good steering committee pack is worth its weight in gold. It provides the ability to make better decisions. The meetings are more productive. You need to focus on what's really necessary to drive your program or project forward, and the steering committee itself is a really good segue into what you are able then to proliferate in terms of insights and information down to the broader project and program team. So you want to be able to create a pack that makes the decisions that you can then relay back to keep the project moving forward. One question you can think of when preparing your presentation is this does this slide or section or visual, or whatever it is that you're doing help the executive to make a decision or act or actually inform them on something that they would need for their higher ups? If not,
Fatimah Abbouchi:cut it out now. My experience with steering committee packs is very vast and varied, and I've had lots of great and lots of bad experiences along the way. When I first started in the corporate world. My first experience of creating a steering committee pack was literally one of the worst I've ever ever come across, and that is because I had no idea what a steering committee was. Simply put, I did not know I'd come up the project journey as an administrator and really didn't get involved in so much in those, and I also didn't attend those meetings, so I had no idea what to expect. So I think I overwhelmed the executives far too much and provided every single possible detail I could think of and the pack was huge and surprise, surprise, we didn't get through it. Inside that steering committee slot that we had with those executives. I also, in one of my first experiences, minuted the meeting, took the actions and the meeting notes, and I recall after a 30-minute meeting I had over seven or eight pages of notes. Why? Because I had no idea what taking steering committee meeting minutes or actions really was. I literally wrote down every single word that everyone was saying as quickly as I possibly could, which was completely useless and a waste of time. But I learned the hard way and that's what happens when you work in this corporate world or
Fatimah Abbouchi:in life in general. So don't do the mistakes I made and make your steering committee something that people look forward to, something that people get value from attending and something that really helps you as the project manager, the PMO manager, the program manager, to drive your project forward. Without that support, you really are going to struggle to get the value and to deliver the outcomes. So use it to your advantage. Make your steering committee pack and meeting work for you, not the other way around. So, in summary, there are things to include in your pack and
Fatimah Abbouchi:things not to include. You want to keep it consistent. You want to front load your decisions. You want to keep your detail in the appendix, you want to make sure you send it out in advance and you want to make sure there is continuity with all of your actions, decisions, risks, etc. All throughout each pack as you go, so that the story continues in an informed way. You want to give committee members the right context quickly. You want to highlight key risks, dependencies and decision points early and you want to be able to help executives make informed decisions and have discussions relevant, but in the most minimal time. So don't be one of those people who sits in a steering committee and wonders why there is 50 pages to flip through that don't actually provide the story of what you're there to do, and it's bloated, it's inefficient, it's unclear and it becomes wasted time. Instead, enable your steering committee to make high impact decisions with good quality packs that are clearly laid out, that support doing it right.
Fatimah Abbouchi:So that's it, guys. I hope you have enjoyed this episode. It's a little bit different to what we normally do, but if you did find it helpful this bit of a deep dive into the steering committee packs world, please let me know so I know to do more or less content like this. Thank you for listening.
Fatimah Abbouchi:Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. Please share this with someone or rate it if you enjoyed it. Don't forget to follow us on social media and to stay up to date with all things Agile Ideas, go to our website, www. agilemanagementoffice. com. I hope you've been able to learn, feel or be inspired today. Until next time, what's your Agile Idea?