Governance, Portfolio Value & the Executive PMO

Turning major capital investments into delivered value.

One Executive Day with three leading international experts, then your choice of three specialist courses. For executives, sponsors, PMO leaders and portfolio directors in capital-intensive, complex and megaproject environments.

26-29 October 2026
Johannesburg, South Africa · venue TBC
Classroom-style · capped seats
The faculty
Ross Garland, author of the P3G Guide
Ross Garland
Steve Jenner, portfolio management author
Steve Jenner
Eileen J. Roden
Learn from the people who wrote the best practice standards

This is not a passive engagement. It is a practical, classroom-style learning experience built around real decisions, real delivery problems, and tools you can use on Monday morning.

Choose your learning path

Choose your learning

01
Executive Day
Mon 26 Oct · 1 day

A one-day interactive workshop with three leading subject-matter experts across governance, PMO and portfolio value.

02
Choose Your Course
27-29 Oct · Choose one of three streams

Three specialist courses to choose from: P3GP® certification with Ross Garland, Value-led Portfolio Management with Steve Jenner, or Designing EPMO Services with Eileen Roden. 

Full experience
03
Executive Day + your chosen course(s)
Executive Day + your chosen course(s)

Attend the Executive Day and continue straight into your chosen specialist course. Get the strategic foundation on Monday, then go deep with the author of the course you choose.

Attend the strategic Executive Day, one of three specialist courses, or both. The Executive Day runs Monday 26 October; the specialist courses run Tuesday 27 to Thursday 29 October.

Who should attend

Two audiences who govern and deliver more effectively together

Senior executives, sponsors and Senior Responsible Owners

Leaders accountable for investment and outcomes: those who approve capital, chair boards and investment committees, sponsor major programmes, or hold Senior Responsible Owner accountability. The series strengthens command of investment governance, portfolio value and benefits realisation.

  • Executive and C-suite leaders accountable for capital investment
  • Programme sponsors and Senior Responsible Owners
  • Board members, investment committees and accounting authorities
  • Portfolio directors and heads of transformation

Outcome: the assurance to interrogate investments at each gate, enable sponsors effectively, and hold delivery to account without assuming its role.

Practising project, programme and portfolio managers

Experienced practitioners responsible for delivery, ready to influence how change is governed, prioritised and realised across the enterprise: programme and portfolio managers, PMO and EPMO leaders, and assurance professionals.

  • Programme and portfolio managers, and senior project managers
  • PMO and EPMO leaders and managers
  • Assurance, governance and business-change professionals
  • Delivery leads progressing to enterprise responsibility

Outcome: a recognised governance credential, immediately applicable tools, and fluency in the language of the executives who fund and govern the work.

The two audiences are convened deliberately: sponsors gain insight into the requirements of sound delivery and PMO support; managers gain insight into how investment decisions are genuinely made.

Why attend

Organisations don't fail at projects only because of poor delivery.

In capital-intensive and megaproject environments, programmes rarely fail on technical delivery. They fail because the wrong work is started, gate discipline is weak, sponsors aren’t enabled, PMOs are underpowered, and benefits aren’t owned. This week connects the three disciplines that fix that: governance, portfolio value and benefits, and the executive PMO.

The imperative is acute in South Africa. Public infrastructure and state-owned enterprise investment across energy, transport, water, mining and utilities faces sustained pressure to deliver value from constrained capital, under the accountability expectations of King IV and the Public Finance Management Act. Sound governance, disciplined portfolio choices and clear benefits ownership are now board-level priorities.

01

How decisions are made

02

How PMOs support delivery without becoming bureaucratic

03

How portfolios are prioritised when resources are limited

Your faculty

Learn from the people who wrote the best practice standards

Three globally recognised authors and practitioners lead the Executive Day and the three specialist courses.

Ross Garland, author of the P3G Guide
Ross Garland
Project, Programme & Portfolio Governance

Author of the P3G Guide and President of P3GQA. Ross has specialised in project, programme and portfolio governance for over 20 years, designing and reviewing governance arrangements on billions of dollars of investment across infrastructure, transport, health, utilities and ICT, and has authored P3G guidance for government.

Session 1 · P3GP® Course lead
The P3G Guide, authored by Ross Garland

Published
Co-author of the P3G Guide

Steve Jenner, portfolio management author
Stephen Jenner
Portfolio Value, Prioritisation & Benefits

Steve is the author of Managing Benefits and Managing Portfolios, and co-authored Axelos’ Management of Portfolios (MoP®). He worked for the UK Major Projects Authority, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants with an MBA and a Master of Studies from Cambridge.

Session 2 · Value-led Portfolio Management
Managing Portfolios, authored by Steve Jenner

Published
Author of Managing Portfolios and Managing Benefits

Eileen J. Roden, House of PMO co-author
Eileen J. Roden
PMO Design, Services & Capability

Co-founder of PMO Learning and the House of PMO, and lead author of Axelos’ P3O® guidance and the PMO Competency Framework. Eileen is an experienced PMO and P3M consultant who works with organisations at executive level across finance, transport, pharmaceuticals, defence, utilities and the public sector.

Session 3 · Designing EPMO Services
House of PMO Essentials, co-authored by Eileen Roden

Published
Co-author of PMO Competency Framework

All publication titles, marks and cover images are the property of their respective owners and publishers, including TSO, APMG International, AXELOS / PeopleCert and the House of PMO. Use of these titles does not imply endorsement of this event.

Your executive learning day

Monday, 26 October 2026

Format. Three expert-led sessions, each 90 minutes including a facilitated exercise. The day is deliberately full; the running order can flex to suit the venue and delegate numbers.

Tap a session to see what is inside.

08:15-09:00
Arrival, Registration & Networking Breakfast

LAYER 1 · GOVERNANCE · ROSS GARLAND

We open by looking at the full project, programme and portfolio lifecycle and the governance system that surrounds it.

·Why projects fail despite strong technical teams
·Where governance, PMO, portfolio & benefits connect
·What “good” looks like in practical terms
·How the day produces usable outputs
OutputShared language and a map of the governance system for the day ahead.

Ross Garland. 90-minute interactive session with a facilitated exercise.

Capital programmes rarely fail on engineering; they fail on governance. This session shows how effective governance enables better investment decisions: how sponsors, boards and investment committees hold the right conversations at the right points, and how governance operates as a discipline distinct from, and complementary to, project and programme management. In most capital-intensive organisations, internal training covers project delivery mechanics thoroughly while offering little or nothing on how boards, sponsors and gate reviews actually govern investment decisions and how that governance should be structured; this session specifically addresses that gap.

Grounded in the P3G Guide, Ross introduces the governance system that surrounds the project, programme and portfolio lifecycle, and how clear accountability and decision rights keep the investment rationale intact from ideation to benefits realisation.

The session covers

  • Why capital programmes underperform despite strong technical teams: flawed governance rather than weak delivery
  • The governance system: roles, decision rights and accountability across the project, programme and portfolio lifecycle
  • Project accountability vs delivery accountability
  • Sponsor accountability: what a sponsor is genuinely accountable for, and how to enable rather than overload them
  • How boards and investment committees govern change at the investment gates
  • Separating governance decisions from management decisions, and the role of the business case
  • What good gate discipline looks like in practice, the questions a gate should really answer, and the role of assurance in gate reviews
  • Governance that enables faster, better decisions rather than adding bureaucracy

Facilitated exercise (30 minutes). Table teams identify three governance concepts discussed above that need strengthening in their organisation. For each concept:

  • state how strengthening it will benefit the organisation
  • identify the main obstacles to its implementation
  • determine the initial steps in progressing the implementation

Output. A short list of the key governance changes required in their organisation and a basic action plan for their implementation.

11:00-11:15
Coffee Break

LAYER 2 · PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT · STEVE JENNER

Steve Jenner (anchor session). 90-minute interactive session with a facilitated exercise.

Portfolio management from an executive perspective. Portfolio decisions operationalise business strategy, and benefits form the link between strategy and projects. One connected session on choosing the right initiatives and ensuring performance matches the promise. Portfolio management is often the least-trained discipline at senior level: where it appears in corporate learning catalogues at all, it rarely reaches the executives who actually make portfolio decisions.

The session covers

  • The three ‘rights’: doing the ‘right’ projects, the ‘right’ way, and at the ‘right’ time
  • The problem portfolio management is designed to solve
  • Aligning projects with strategy through benefits
  • Balancing risk and return
  • Strategic buckets and tailoring the investment criteria
  • Managing project flow: matching delivery to capacity
  • Stage and phase gates: maintaining the investment rationale across the lifecycle
  • Focusing on risks, dependencies, constraints and benefits

Facilitated exercise (30 minutes). A short ‘3 Rights’ self-diagnostic in which table teams rate their organisation on doing the right projects, the right way, and at the right time, and name their single biggest gap under each. This previews the in-depth exploration of how to apply portfolio management and a portfolio effectiveness assessment delegates complete in Steve’s masterclass.

Output. Each delegate’s priority portfolio gaps identified across the three ‘rights’, as a preview of the masterclass assessment.

12:45-13:30
Lunch

LAYER 3 · EPMO SERVICES · EILEEN RODEN

Eileen J Roden. 90-minute interactive session with a facilitated exercise.

Governance, portfolio discipline and benefits ownership only become embedded when someone turns them into repeatable, usable services. This session shows how an EPMO can move beyond reporting and administration to become a deliberate service-based capability: shaping how change is governed, safeguarding delivery confidence and servicing the people who make and carry out investment decisions. Using the PMO Canvas and the House of PMO Service Catalogue approach, Eileen introduces the five essential EPMO service areas and demonstrates how individual services can be described in terms of their customer, purpose, output, operating expectations and intended organisational outcome. EPMO service design is almost never covered by internal learning catalogues, leaving enterprise PMOs to define their services by trial and error; this session gives them a deliberate method instead.

The session covers

  • The EPMO mandate: shape, safeguard and service the organisation’s delivery of change
  • How the PMO Canvas connects sponsors, stakeholders, governance, objectives, resources, reporting, services and the improvement roadmap
  • The difference between a list of PMO activities and a customer-facing service catalogue
  • The five essential EPMO service areas: governance design and oversight; strategic alignment and portfolio integration; independent assurance and challenge; benefits management and value realisation; and knowledge management and reuse
  • How a service is framed around a customer, defined output and desired organisational outcome
  • Two worked examples: governance forum support and gate or assurance readiness
  • Selecting a realistic service mix based on organisational need, maturity, urgency, capability and available capacity
  • Why the EPMO should measure both service performance and service impact

Facilitated exercise (30 minutes). Table teams use a simplified PMO Canvas and service-selection worksheet to identify the two EPMO services that would make the greatest practical difference in their own environment. For one selected service, they define the principal customer, the problem or decision it supports, the expected output, the intended outcome and one sensible measure of success.

Output. A prioritised pair of EPMO services and a first-cut service outline for one priority service, a practical starting point for the day’s governance-to-value operating model.

15:00-15:15
Afternoon Tea

A 90 minute facilitated reflection across the three themes (governance, portfolio value and benefits, and enabling EPMO services), so each delegate leaves with a short, prioritised set of concrete actions to take back to their own organisation.

It draws together the day’s outputs: the priority governance changes and action plan, the portfolio ‘three rights’ gaps, and the prioritised EPMO services with a first-cut service outline, into a single practical starting point.

Delegates who want to go deeper: each expert leads a dedicated course, see the course outlines below.

Programme outcomes

On completion, participants will be able to

Executive Day: all delegates

  • Explain why capital programmes underperform and isolate the governance, portfolio and PMO causes rather than the symptoms.
  • Distinguish governance decisions from management decisions and define the scope of sponsor accountability.
  • Assess gate discipline and frame the questions each investment gate should resolve.
  • Apply the three-rights test: the right projects, the right way, at the right time.
  • Depart with a prioritised set of governance, portfolio and PMO actions for their organisation.
P3GP certification adds
  • Apply the ten principles of governance across agile, hybrid and traditional delivery.
  • Scale and tailor governance to size, risk and complexity.
  • Evidence governance competence to a recognised certification standard.
Portfolio tier adds
  • Prioritise and optimise a portfolio against strategy, constraints and benefits.
  • Benchmark portfolio effectiveness and identify priority gaps.
  • Define short, medium and long-term actions to strengthen performance.
EPMO tier adds
  • Determine whether a proposed EPMO service meets a genuine need.
  • Define a service by its customer, trigger, inputs, outputs and boundaries.
  • Construct a 90-day plan to validate and mobilise a priority service.

Three expert-led courses. One capability system.

The Executive Day shows you the whole governance-to-value system. Three specialist streams then build it, each led by the author of the standard it teaches and running classroom-style from Tuesday 27 October: P3GP certification over three days with Ross Garland, Value-led Portfolio Management over one day with Steve Jenner, and Designing EPMO Services over two days with Eileen Roden. The programme builds competence step by step: a foundational grasp on the Executive Day, working competence in the specialist courses.

Outcomes and deliverables

A credential, an applied toolkit, and a professional network

A recognised outcome

P3GP certification with examination on the three-day tier; a certificate of completion on the masterclasses; a certificate of attendance for the Executive Day.

Applied tools and templates

The governance action plan, portfolio three-rights diagnostic, PMO Canvas and EPMO service-design worksheets, completed against the delegate’s own priorities.

Prioritised action plans

Priority governance changes, the portfolio’s priority gaps, and a 90-day plan to mobilise a selected EPMO service.

A performance benchmark

On the portfolio tier, an effectiveness score set against data from previous cohorts.

A senior peer network

A capped cohort of 16 executives, sponsors and senior practitioners from capital-intensive and public-sector organisations, with direct access to the authors of the standards taught.

Ross Garland, author of the P3G Guide

Ross Garland · Author, the P3G Guide

P3GP® Certification: Project, Programme & Portfolio Governance

3 days · Classroom · 16 seats · P3GP® certification exam

Governance as a discipline: who makes decisions, when, and on what basis.

Too many projects and programmes fail not because of poor management, but because of weak or missing governance. Based on the globally recognised P3G Guide by Ross Garland and Adrian Morey, this course introduces governance as a discipline distinct from project management and prepares you for the P3GP® certification. Structured around the ten core principles of P3G, it works in agile, hybrid and traditional delivery environments.

P3G Guide · Ten principles · Case studies · Certification

Module 0: Welcome & Orientation

  • Course objectives, learning style and participant introductions
  • Overview of global demand for governance capability
  • P3GP® exam structure, resources and expectations

Module 1: Introduction to P3G

  • 1.1 Purpose: why governance matters; closing the gap between strategy and delivery; reducing failure rates through accountability and oversight
  • 1.2 Target audience: sponsors, boards, PMOs; how roles differ across projects, programmes and portfolios
  • 1.3 Organisational context: governance as distinct from management; alignment with corporate governance codes (OECD, King IV)
  • 1.4 Benefits of effective and efficient P3G: visibility, control and confidence; value for money, optimised investments and improved outcomes

Module 2: What is P3G

  • 2.1 Projects, programmes and portfolios: definitions, relationships and governance needs
  • 2.2 Defining P3 governance: governance as a decision-making framework; roles, rules and accountability
  • 2.3 Delivery approaches and P3G: traditional, agile and hybrid methods

Module 3: Principles of P3G

The ten core principles:

  • Principle 1: Treat change differently from business as usual
  • Principle 2: Ensure a single point of accountability
  • Principle 3: Business-outcome accountability determines accountability for change
  • Principle 4: Support the accountable person with a governance board
  • Principle 5: Separate decision-making from stakeholder engagement
  • Principle 6: Align investments with strategic objectives
  • Principle 7: Maintain the business case
  • Principle 8: Design portfolio governance to drive investment outcomes
  • Principle 9: Ensure consistent and logical decision-making rights
  • Principle 10: Enable evidence-based investment decision-making

Module 4: Application of the principles (implementation)

  • 4.1 Scaling governance to fit the need: tailoring for size, risk and complexity; a Governance Minimum Viable Product for agile projects
  • 4.2 Establishing new or enhanced P3G arrangements: rollout strategy, change enablement and common challenges
  • 4.3 Effective operation: aligning performance, behaviours and culture with structure; evaluation and iteration
  • 4.4 Documenting and communicating: handbooks, role charters and RACI charts; visuals and templates
  • 4.5 Implementation and agile approaches: agile cadences; product owners, delivery teams and iterative gating
  • 4.6 P3G maturity: maturity models; the P3GQA Maturity Assessment Tool; continuous improvement

Module 5: Consolidation and exam preparation

  • Real-world failures from governance breakdowns
  • Group exercise: redesign governance for a turnaround scenario
  • Exam tips, mock question review and open Q&A

The certification course of the week, led by the author of the standard it certifies.

EPMO Focus

Eileen J. Roden · Lead author, P3O® guidance & PMO Competency Framework

Designing EPMO Services: From Mandate to Delivery Confidence

2 days · Classroom · 16 seats · Certificate of completion

Two-day design and mobilisation course, led by Eileen Roden.

An enterprise PMO creates value when it is more than a reporting function; it must be clear about the organisational problems it helps solve, the customers it serves, the services it provides and the capability required to provide them well. Built around Eileen Roden’s five essential EPMO service areas, the PMO Canvas and the House of PMO Service Catalogue approach, this practical two-day course moves beyond awareness into design and mobilisation. It builds directly on the Day 1 diagnostic and first-cut service outline; for those joining only the course, a concise pre-read and short opening recap provide the context. By the end of the two days, participants will be able to:

  1. Test the need. Test whether a proposed EPMO service addresses a genuine organisational need and whether the PMO is the right provider.
  2. Prioritise services. Prioritise services using value, urgency, risk, maturity, demand, capability and capacity.
  3. Define the service. Define a service’s customer, trigger, eligibility, inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and boundaries.
  4. Map the flow. Map a practical service flow using SIPOC.
  5. Clarify ownership. Clarify ownership, accountability and interfaces using service roles and RASCI.
  6. Set expectations. Set proportionate performance expectations and distinguish service performance from organisational impact.
  7. Identify capability. Identify the competences, data, tools, relationships and resources required to run the service reliably.
  8. Decide its future. Assess whether a service should be piloted, improved, automated, transferred, scaled or stopped.
  • Day 1: Select and design the priority service. Choose a priority service and define how it should operate, and the capability and interfaces it depends on.
  • Day 2: Measure, test and mobilise the service. Set proportionate measures, distinguish service performance from organisational impact, and build a realistic plan to validate or pilot it.

Output: a realistic 90-day plan to validate and mobilise a priority EPMO service.

Steve Jenner, portfolio management author

Steve Jenner · Author, Managing Benefits & Managing Portfolios

Value-led Portfolio Management

1 day · Classroom · 16 seats · Certificate of completion

One-day masterclass, led by Steve Jenner.

A one-day, interactive, executive-perspective overview of value-led portfolio management. It builds on the Day 1 portfolio session, works through the modules below, and closes with a portfolio effectiveness assessment, after which each delegate identifies priority actions for the short, medium and long terms.

Five principles · Optimisation · Delivery · Sustaining

  • The five principles that underpin efficient and effective portfolio management.
  • Portfolio design, with a specific focus on prioritisation and optimisation: we can do anything, we just cannot do everything.
  • Portfolio delivery, with a focus on constraints, dependencies, risks and benefits realisation.
  • Implementing and sustaining portfolio management, including the key success characteristics of effective portfolio management.

Close and output: a portfolio effectiveness assessment where delegates can benchmark their scores against data from previous courses, plus three prioritised short, medium and long-term actions for the delegate’s organisation.

Builds directly on the Day 1 portfolio session.

Ticket options

Reserve your seat

Specialist-course seats are capped at 16 to preserve the table-team workshop format.

Mon 26 Oct

Executive Day

Garland · Jenner · Roden

£450

per delegate · early bird until 10 Sep, then £500

Tue 27 Oct · 1 day

Value-led Portfolio Management

Steve Jenner

£585

per delegate · early bird until 10 Sep, then £650

Wed 28 to Thu 29 Oct · 2 days

Designing EPMO Services

Eileen Roden

£1,125

per delegate · early bird until 10 Sep, then £1,250

Certified
Tue 27 to Thu 29 Oct · 3 days

P3GP® Certification

Ross Garland

£1,690

per delegate · early bird until 10 Sep, then £1,890

Discounts

Group, corporate, government and SOE bookings are supported, with invoice or purchase-order routes. Enquire about group rates.

15%Early bird. The prices shown are early-bird rates; register by 10 September 2026, standard rates apply after.

10% / 20%Groups. 10% off for 2 or more delegates, 20% off for 4 or more, applied to the final price.

Prices are per delegate, in GBP. Discounts are confirmed at registration.

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