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Each month, Tom Mochal presents a set of project management tips and techniques for handling various aspects of planning and managing a project. Tom has developed a number of comprehensive, scalable methodologies, including a project management process called TenStep (www.TenStep.com). Tom also published a popular book called Lessons in Project Management.
Projects of different sizes have different ways and
requirements on how the people are organized. In a small project, little organizational structure
is needed. There might be a primary sponsor, project manager and a project team. However, for
large projects, there are more and more people involved and it is important that people understand
what they are expected to do, and what role people are expected to fill. It is important to
understand roles so that the project manager knows who is acting in what capacity and who should
be involved in various project situations.
Client - The people (or groups) that are the direct beneficiaries of a project or
service. They are the people for whom the project is being undertaken.
(Indirect beneficiaries are probably stakeholders.) These might also be called
customers.
Client Project Manager - If the project is large enough, the client may have a primary
contact that is designated as a comparable project manager. As an example, if this were an IT
project, the IT project manager would have overall responsibility for the IT solution. However,
there may also be projects on the client side that are also needed to support the initiative, and
the client project manager would be responsible for those.
Functional Manager - A functional manager is the person that you report to within your
functional organization. Typically, they are the person that does your performance review. The
project manager may also be the functional manager, but they do not have to be. If your project
manager is different from your functional manager, then your organization is probably utilizing
matrix management.
Project Director - A role for a senior manager who has some role of influence and control.
Many times, this role is given to the functional manager of the project manager.
Project Manager - The person with authority to manage a project. This includes leading the
planning and the development of all project deliverables. The project manager is responsible for
managing the budget and workplan and all project management procedures.
Project Team - The project team consists of the full-time and part-time resources assigned
to work on the deliverables of the project. They are responsible for:
Sponsor (Executive Sponsor and Project Sponsor) - This is the person who has ultimate
authority over the project. The Executive Sponsor provides project funding, resolves issues and
scope changes, approves major deliverables and provides high-level direction. They also champion
the project within their organization. Depending on the project, and the organizational level of
the Executive Sponsor, they may delegate day-to-day tactical management to a Project Sponsor.
Stakeholder - These are the specific people or groups who have a stake, or an interest,
in the outcome of the project. Normally stakeholders are from within the company, and could
include internal clients, management, employees, administrators, etc.
Steering Committee - A Steering Committee is a group of high-level stakeholders who are
responsible for providing guidance on overall strategic direction. They do not take the place of
a Sponsor, but help to spread the strategic input and buy-in to a larger portion of the
organization.
Suppliers / Vendors - Although some companies may have internal suppliers, these terms
will always refer to third party companies, or specific people that work for third parties. They
may be subcontractors who are working under your direction, or they may be supplying material,
equipment, hardware, software or supplies to your project. Depending on their role, they may need
to be identified on your organization chart.
Users - These are the people who will actually use the deliverables of the project.
Sometimes these people are also involved heavily in the project in activities such as defining
business requirements. In other cases, they may not get involved until the testing process.
Would
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TenStep Project Management Tip of the Week at www.TenStep.com.
The project team can consist of human resources within one functional organization, or it can
consist of members from many different functional organizations. A cross-functional team has
members from multiple organizations.
