9. Corporate Management's Responsibilities

1.

Never forget that projects do not exist in isolation. Every project manager also has a boss!

While the project team brings intelligence, motivation and skills to the project, the sponsoring organization must also play its part.

Corporate management's job is to provide the right environment for the work on the project.

The organization's representative to the project, i.e. the project manager's boss, is typically known as the "Project Sponsor" or "Project Director" or, if multiple related projects are involved, the "Program Manager".

2.

The Project Sponsor has very important responsibilities in connecting the project to its outside world.

Principle amongst these responsibilities, if the project is to be really successful, the project sponsor must:

1. Act as the essential communication link between the project's management and the sponsoring organization's senior management
2. Ensure that corporate policies and procedures are in place and are followed
3. Create a positive working environment by acting as advocate for the project
4. Provide high-level direction, and oversight up to successful project completion and beyond. This includes participation in the development of the project's Business Case, ensuring its alignment with the corporation's higher "mission", and subsequently obtaining its approval so the project can move forward into the planning phase.
5. Later, review and obtain approval of the Project Charter so that the project can move into the production phases. This includes:
• Approval of project's scope
• Deciding what is "in" and "not in", and
• Identifying the project's Key Success Indicators as the basis for project management decisions in the course of the work and the post-project review assessment.

3.

In addition:

• Facilitate release of corporate resources
• Including resolving conflicts, and
• Generally removing management bureaucracy and roadblocks, and
• Finally, ensure orderly transfer of the "care, custody and control" of the product upon completion.

4.

And after the project has been completed:

• Take steps to ensure the harvesting of the intended benefits after the project has been completed

5.

In short, what is required of the corporate organization is to provide:

• Customer focus to crystallize the "What", taking it from a "vision" to something useful
• Integrity, to foster a high-trust environment and keep the "Why" at the forefront, and
• Results orientation to successfully deliver the "How" by meeting or exceeding expectations for all criteria.