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Project Management Mistake - We Didn’t Have The Right Sponsorship - The Steering Committee

October 30, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Project Stakeholder Management

Project Management Mistake - We Didn’t Have The Right Sponsorship - The Steering Committee (#2 in the series Project Management Mistake - We Didn’t Have The Right Sponsorship)
By Lonnie Pacelli

Now, I recognize that as a project manager you only have so much control over your project sponsor. Nonetheless, it’s important to diligently try to manage your project sponsor to ensure that you’re getting what you need from him/her.

Depending on the scope of your project, it may be beneficial to have a steering committee in place in addition to the project sponsor. Your steering committee is typically comprised of key managers of your stakeholder organizations. The primary functions of a steering committee are:

  • Be a decision-making body on key issues that cannot be resolved by the project team
  • Eliminate any project barriers that the project team is running up against
  • Be a supporter of any resultant change that the project will bring about to their respective organizations
  • Provide counsel and guidance to the project team on key aspects of the design and implementation of the product
  • Assist the project manager in securing required resources for the project
  • Provide recommendations to the project sponsor on major issues which are beyond the authority of the steering committee

You need to decide whether a steering committee is beneficial to the project. Some criteria that I have used on projects are as follows:

  • There are multiple stakeholders that are directly affected by the outcome of the project
  • There are internal or external subject matter experts that can provide functional, technical, or execution guidance to the project team
  • The project sponsor has limited time to spend on the project and delegates some of the project decision making responsibility to the steering committee

I’ve successfully completed projects with and without a steering committee depending on the criteria above, but every successful project always had an engaged project sponsor.

Lonnie Pacelli is an internationally recognized project management and leadership author and consultant with over 20 years experience at Microsoft, Accenture and his own company, Leading on the Edge International. Read more about Lonnie, subscribe to his newsletter, see his books and articles, and get lots of free self-study seminars, webcasts and resources.

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