Rise Of The Sponsor & Fall Of The PM
One of the things that has baffled me of late is the increasing demand PM’s are placing on sponsors. Yes, we’ve always needed sponsors and word travels really quickly when we find a good one. However, in times past the sponsor didn’t have to spend so much time and energy dedicated to the project. After pondering this I’ve concluded that this has come about as a direct result of the contraction of the perceived and in a lot of cases real role of the PM.
As PM’s focus, and are often driven to focus, on the paperwork and reports, someone still has to focus on delivery – and that now tends to be the sponsor. The way to give sponsors back their time is to ensure the PM is big enough, brave enough, capable enough and accountable enough to step up and actually drive the project.
The paperwork is not the purpose of the project!