Executive Checklists — Template

Version: 1.1.0 | Licence: CC BY 4.0

Copyable checklists for decisions, reviews and operation. Use them as prompts, not as a substitute for judgement.

Execution and portfolio

Used with the Executive Playbook and Digital Portfolio Governance.

Before an investment decision

• [ ] Problem, user and strategic outcome are explicit.
• [ ] Baseline, target, date and benefit owner are stated.
• [ ] Viable options include process change, reuse and defer / do nothing.
• [ ] Mandatory status, evidence and deadline are verified.
• [ ] Scoring evidence, confidence, lifecycle cost and capacity are visible.
• [ ] Dependencies, material risks and assurance needs have owners.
• [ ] Decision authority, conditions and review trigger are clear.

Before delivery authorisation

• [ ] Scope boundaries, acceptance evidence and tolerances are approved.
• [ ] Executive sponsor, Initiative lead, Service owner and Benefit owner are named.
• [ ] Integrated plan, funding, skills and dependencies are credible.
• [ ] Security, privacy, architecture, quality and operational readiness are addressed proportionately.
• [ ] Adoption, communications, support and benefits measurement are planned.

At each governance review

• [ ] Actuals are separated from forecasts and assumptions.
• [ ] Top risks and dependencies have owners and next actions.
• [ ] Tolerance breaches are escalated to the right authority.
• [ ] Decisions have options, a recommendation, an owner and a due date.
• [ ] Capacity and portfolio trade-offs are considered.
• [ ] Adoption and outcome evidence informs the next action.

Portfolio health

• [ ] Every initiative has an Executive sponsor and Initiative lead.
• [ ] Mandatory commitments are visible.
• [ ] Prioritisation decisions and trade-offs are recorded.
• [ ] Strategic dependencies have owners and decided responses.
• [ ] Benefits have owners, baselines and measurement plans.
• [ ] The portfolio is periodically rebalanced and initiatives can be stopped or reshaped when evidence changes.

Open source

Used with Open Source Strategy & Governance and the Open-source assessment.

Adoption

• [ ] Need, users, outcome and alternatives are explicit.
• [ ] Project, source, version, dependencies and maintenance path are understood.
• [ ] Strategic-dependency status and governance health are assessed.
• [ ] Licence and intended-use questions have qualified review.
• [ ] Security, privacy, architecture and operations have proportionate assessment.
• [ ] Lifecycle cost includes internal skills, integration, support, updates and exit.
• [ ] Owners, acceptable use, exception authority and review date are clear.

Contribution or stewardship

• [ ] Strategic rationale and expected value are stated.
• [ ] Participation mode, scope and mandate are explicit.
• [ ] Rights, security, legal and communications reviews are complete.
• [ ] Capacity, funding and continuity are realistic.
• [ ] Success measures and pause or exit conditions are agreed.

Critical dependencies

• [ ] Maintainer and governance concentration are understood.
• [ ] Continuity options (mirror, fork, replace) are credible.
• [ ] The organisation knows whether it intends to remain a user, contribute, take part in stewardship or eventually replace the dependency.
• [ ] Exceptions are time-bounded and reviewed; actual costs and service outcomes are visible.

Enterprise AI and RAG

Used with the Enterprise AI & RAG Governance Blueprint and the AI/RAG use-case assessment.

• [ ] The use case has a defined user, task and measurable outcome.
• [ ] RAG has been compared with simpler alternatives, including conventional search.
• [ ] Source owners, permissions and lifecycle rules are known.
• [ ] Access controls are enforced before retrieved content reaches the model.
• [ ] Citations and provenance are available and testable.
• [ ] Prompt injection and data disclosure risks are assessed.
• [ ] The evaluation set includes unanswerable and adversarial questions.
• [ ] Human oversight and escalation are defined.
• [ ] Strategic dependencies and exit implications are understood.
• [ ] Operating ownership, monitoring and incident response are funded.
• [ ] Benefits, quality and cost will be reviewed after deployment.

Digital infrastructure and sustainability

Used with Digital Sustainability and Data Centre Energy Governance and the Infrastructure capacity decision.

Before approving an initiative

• [ ] The service need, user outcome and demand forecast are evidenced.
• [ ] Optimisation, reuse, shared capacity and phased options were considered.
• [ ] Energy, grid, water, carbon, site and equipment impacts are visible.
• [ ] Resilience, security, service quality and local constraints are assessed.
• [ ] Lifecycle cost and key assumptions are explicit.
• [ ] Data boundaries, baseline, measure owner and review date are agreed.
• [ ] Delivery maturity, ownership, dependencies and exit approach are credible.

During delivery and operation

• [ ] Actual load and forecast are reviewed against the approved mandate.
• [ ] Indicators use stable, documented boundaries.
• [ ] Supplier evidence is available and reviewable.
• [ ] Material variances trigger an accountable decision.
• [ ] Benefits are assessed using measured service output and resource use.
• [ ] Unused capacity, equipment and data are periodically reviewed.

Checklists for adaptation. Independent professional reference material.