Dear PM Advisor. June 24, 2013

Dear PM Advisor,

How do I pick a sponsor?

Going it alone in Maryland

Dear Going it,

If you are a member of senior staff, overseeing all the company's projects, you should use the following criteria taken right out of the PMBOK:

1. Provides the project budget
2. Spokesperson to higher levels of management
3. Lead the project from engagement to authorization
4. Helps develop scope and charter
5. Serves as escalation path
6. Authorizes changes to scope, phase-end reviews

Older versions of the PMBOK asked that the sponsor be External to the project. I still think this has its advantages to the organization in that highly placed people do not unfairly wield their influence to further the interests of bad projects that are their pets. 

To sum up the requirements, the sponsor is someone high in the organization who wants the project to succeed and will assist the Project Manager in her efforts. 

However, since most of my readers are Project Managers, not Senior Staff, I'm going to assume that your question comes from one of us. How does a Project Manager pick a Sponsor?

All of the previous criteria still apply. However, you want your project to succeed regardless of its effect on the other projects in the company. So you want someone who does consider this their 'pet' project. Perhaps it is the person who conceived of this project in the first place. Perhaps they will be the eventual customer of the result of the project. Having that person as your sponsor will really help you succeed. 

Good luck,

PM Advisor

Send your questions to bfieggen@gmail.com

Dear PM Advisor. March 11, 2013

Dear PM Advisor,

I just recently read this part of the definition for Project Sponsor and had to laugh out loud: 'Sponsor's primary job is to remove obstacles.' In my experience, the sponsor spends most of his time creating obstacles for my projects. He's constantly changing requirements and adding features. How do I reconcile this with the PMI Definition? 

Sponsored-out in Woodbridge, NJ.

Dear Sponsored-out,

Sounds like where you work your sponsor is your internal customer. That is a dangerous combination. PMI defines Sponsor as someone OUTSIDE the project for this very reason. That way they can be objective. The Sponsor's job is to use their influence to ensure that the project succeeds without gaining any personal benefit or loss for its success.

I remember the first time I worked in an organization that ran projects properly. I was running a new product development project that was quite R&D-centric. My sponsor was the V.P. of Regulatory Affairs. I wondered how she was going to help me. When there were occasions when I needed to apply more resources or get items through bottlenecks, she would talk to her peers and remove those obstacles quite effectively.

Be very careful about the separation of customers and sponsors. If he is your customer, as I suspect, treat him as a customer. Since he is officially assigned to your team as sponsor, go ahead talk to him as if he was your sponsor but get your obstacles removed that go counter to his best interests by someone else.


Good luck,

PM Advisor

Send your questions to bfieggen@gmail.com