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Project Management Seminar - The Top Ten Attributes of a Great
Project Sponsor
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$4.99 Free
Some years back I was appointed the lead program manager on an initiative to consolidate a number of disparate order management systems into a single system which supported all of the company’s order management needs. There were about five program managers working with me who each dragged in their respective customers to participate in the project. The project was sponsored by the IT organization with no sponsorship from the business owner. The project lumbered along for about two months with the customers continually questioning why they were working on a project that wasn’t on their manager’s radar. The business owner finally had enough and called IT management and the lead program manager (me!) into a meeting. The meeting started off with the manager saying to IT, “Who told you to do this project?” Now, I’m no rocket scientist, but it was pretty clear at that point that this was not to be one of my shining project management moments. While the meeting was very uncomfortable, I learned an extremely important lesson: absolutely, without a doubt, secure sponsorship on a project at the beginning, or suffer the consequences.
For any project, it’s crucial to get an appropriate level of project sponsorship. I’ve never seen or managed a successful project that didn’t have an appropriate level sponsor leading the charge. Optimally, your project sponsor should have decision making authority over the in-scope project areas, while staying close enough to the work in order to understand the implications of any issues raised. If your sponsor is at too low of a level, they’re unlikely to be able to make decisions that will stick and will have to get authorization from their management before committing to decisions. If your sponsor is too high of a level, decisions will be made, but you’re probably not making the best use of management because others at lower levels could have handled the decisions.
Identifying an appropriate-level project sponsor is a great first step in ensuring a successful project. The project sponsor also needs to exhibit some key attributes to help the project navigate the turbulence and nail a three-point landing. Through my experience, I’ve zeroed in on ten key attributes a great project sponsor should possess to better ensure a project’s successful completion.
Leading on the Edge ™ Self-Study Seminar Focus Topics
- Topic #1 – Clearly understand the problem to be solved
- Topic #2 – Ensure the solution fixes the problem
- Topic #3 – Know where “good enough” is
- Topic #4 – Build the right team to solve the problem
- Topic #5 – Hold the team accountable for results
- Topic #6 – Know the big issues and what is needed to resolve them
- Topic #7 – Be the advocate, coach, influencer, and battering ram
- Topic #8 – Make the thoughtful, tough decisions
- Topic #9 – Ensure the project finishes strong
- Topic #10 – Know when to pull the plug
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The Project Management Advisor - 18 Major Project Screw-Ups And How To Cut Them Off At The Pass (Prentice Hall, 2004)
Read about 18 of the most common project
management screw-ups and how to avoid them on your next project.
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