The Critical Project Sponsor Role
Paul H Barshop · 2016
This chapter describes the project sponsor role and explains what being accountable for the value delivered by a project actually means. The project sponsor leads by guiding the work and overseeing decision making. The project sponsor position is assigned during the assess stage of the project. The project sponsor generally spends about 20 percent of his or her time leading the project frame and the development of the initial business case. The most important relationship is between the project sponsor and the project manager. The nature of the project sponsor role and the project sponsor's high level of interaction with internal and external stakeholders demands that the sponsor have strong interpersonal skills. The most effective mechanism for holding project sponsors accountable is to judge the completeness of the business case they present at the stage-gate and to have consequences if the quality is poor.