The Timing and Importance of the Project Manager Assignment

Besides the project charter, the other critical output of the Project Initiation phase is the authorized assignment of the project manager. Ideally, PMI would like to see the project manager selected, assigned, or identified at the point of project initiation. PMI advocates this practice because it feels strongly that the project manager should be a key player in any and all planning activities. PMI wants to reduce the number of real-world experiences whereby the person now responsible for the project (the project manager) does not have proper input into the key planning assumptions.