The Expected Project Sponsor Profile

In my last post titled, “Sponsorship… The Project Sponsor Roles and Responsibilities”, I briefly discussed the roles and responsibilities expected from a Project Sponsor as well as what means a good sponsorship performance.

In today’s post I want to share what kind of “profile” we should expect from a Project Sponsor.  As somebody said, “Many people are honored to be a sponsor of a large and important project, the problem is that it is not an honorary position”, let’s see…

Sponsorship… The Project Sponsor Roles and Responsibilities

Project Sponsor is defined as “a person or group who provides resources and support for the project, program, or portfolio and is accountable for enabling success”. (PMBOK5Ed.)

Project Sponsor is one of the key roles in the project management environment and is directly related to organizations business strategies.  While project managers are accountable for project success (deliver the right product, in the planned timescale and on budget), the project sponsor is the owner of the business case and consequently accountable to deliver the business benefits to the organization.  In other words, the responsibilities of the project sponsor include the identification and definition of the project and should not hesitate to recommend cancellation of the project if the business case no longer justifies the project whereas the project manager is concerned with delivering a project that is already defined.