Making It Happen: A Non-Technical Guide to Project Management

9.1. The Sponsor

She pointed to the sponsor first. "We already talked about this one. What does he or she contribute?"

How I could I forget? "In my case it's a he, and he is supposed to contribute the money."

"And all the responsibility that goes with it," Martha finished for me. "Since he is paying, the sponsor can decide everything. Of course, a good sponsor doesn't want to do that, which is why he hires a projectmanager. However, the basic framework of an assignment provides the sponsor with neat, controlled opportunities to provide his approval. At the very minimum, you should get the sponsor's signed approval of the just-completed phase, and the agreement to continue on."

I was thinking of Ralph and I wasn't so sure. If Ralph had to signoff on each phase, he would be very aware of what had happened so far, and how this would affect the future of the assignment. It was obvious: if he understood the current state of the assignment, the sponsor would be in a much better position to make decisions about the future of the assignment. I told Martha this. "Correct," she said. "You learn more and more about how your assignment will turn out as you get further and further along. By the end, you know everything there is to know, except it's a little too late to help you. So as you go, you want the sponsor to be continually aware of what the situation is. The end of each phase happens to provide an ideal point for review. For example, what will you have a better idea about once you ...