Ten tips for good project sponsorship

  1. Act as a critical friend

    Offer constructive criticism and don’t be afraid to ask the seemingly naïve questions, if the people involved can’t make themselves understood then it is likely that they don’t understand the issues themselves.

  2. Be a project champion

    Always act as an advocate for your project. Sell the benefits and be alert to areas of resistance. Take a personal interest in managing the relationships with senior stakeholders, particularly those whose support could make or break the project.

  3. Make sure that stakeholders are being managed and informed

    Stakeholders are people who will be affected by the project. All projects involve change and people can be resistant to change if they feel threatened by it or believe that they have not been consulted. Ensure that a thorough impact analysis has been done and that strategies are in place for managing, communicating with and seeking the views of each stakeholder group.

  4. Make sure your effort is focused where it counts

    The most critical phase in the project life cycle is the concept phase. This is the foundation upon which the rest of the project is based. Inadequate time spent in framing the project will lead to inaccurate planning and poor execution. Ensure that project documents are properly critiqued and views sought from key stakeholders. You don’t necessarily have to do this yourself, you can delegate critiquing to people with the right knowledge and experience. However it is your responsibility to make sure this is done and you must have a thorough working knowledge of the project. If you have set a good framework and have planned around this then it will reduce the need for your intervention in the later phases.

  5. Use project assurance

    Don’t be afraid to set up a review of the project at any stage and use external project assurance to conduct the review on your behalf. In large projects with major implications build in independent project assurance from the start.

  6. Make sure the project is divided into stages and ensure that the project remains viable before allowing progress to the next stage

    A Brookes project should have a minimum of four stages: Concept, Definition, Implementation, Handover and close. The sponsor should formally sign off as complete each stage before giving authority to use resource on the next stage. In practice the project may well need to broken down into more sub-stages, particularly in the Implementation phase where actual products are being produced.

  7. Projects are about benefits not products

    Project managers and the project team will inevitably become focused on budgets and deadlines; your job is to keep the focus on the benefits. If the benefits realisation becomes compromised then you will have to assess the on-going viability of the project and if necessary re-focus or cancel the project altogether. You own the business case and it is your job to defend it and ensure delivery against it.

  8. Manage the use of tolerance and contingency

    Its always wise to have some contingency in any plan to deal with risk or unforeseen events. The authority to use that contingency should lie with the project sponsor and not the project manager. Time and money will always expand to meet available resources. Contingency should be used to deal with the unforeseen or as risk minimisation not to cover up poor planning.

  9. Manage defensively

    Ensure that risks, assumptions and issues are properly managed. The temptation is to produce a list of risks and assumptions at the beginning of the project but then not refer to them again. The project manager should show the status of each of these logs with each highlight report, and should also show you what issues have been raised and how these have been addressed.

  10. Always look forward; don’t dwell on past problems

    Projects can descend into acrimony very quickly. When you are in the middle of a project avoid dwelling on where blame should be placed, deal with the issue and move on. However ensure that problems are logged and if there are longer term issues about the performance of individuals or contractors do this in the post project review.