Standardization is often misunderstood in project management. It is sometimes treated as bureaucracy: more templates, more approvals, and more documents to complete. That is not the purpose.
I have created standard project charters, plans, RAID logs, requirements documents, testing materials, change plans, communication plans, and status reports because teams should not have to reinvent the fundamentals for every project. A useful standard artifact answers three questions: What information is necessary? Who needs it?
What decision or action does it support? If a template asks for information no one uses, remove it. If an artifact is required but no one reviews it, fix the operating process.
If projects require different levels of rigor, scale the artifact appropriately. AI can populate first drafts from approved project information, identify incomplete sections, check consistency across documents, and adapt a standard template to the size and risk of an initiative. That allows the PMO to maintain discipline without making the process unnecessarily difficult.
Standards should create clarity. Governance should improve decisions. Artifacts should help people deliver.