Whatever the preferred distribution of responsibility among the PO and other project stakeholders, it is important that none of the tasks falls through the cracks and that everybody understands what is expected of him or her in order to minimize conflicts. An excellent vehicle to achieve this is the responsibility matrix [5], which provides, in a compact form, an unequivocal definition of the authority and responsibility of all the project's stakeholders: senior managers, sponsor, project manager, line managers, PO managers, technical and PO support staff, and so on (see Table 3.1). Different responsibilities allocations would lead to different types of PO. The one shown here corresponds to a managerial type of PO.
Senior Managers | Project Sponsor | Line Managers | Project Office Manager | Project Manager | Project Office Specialists | Technical Disciplines | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
Project Formulation | O | ||||||
Set project goals | AE | I | I | I | |||
Set project requirements | A | I | I | E | |||
Prepare project schedule | A | E | I | I | |||
Prepare project budget | A | E | I | I | |||
Determine required quality | AE | I | I | I | |||
Determine revenue dependencies | AE | I | I | I | |||
Determine technical dependencies | I | I | I | AE | |||
Determine solution approach | A | A | I | AE | |||
| |||||||
Project Startup | O | ||||||
Appoints project manager | A | A | |||||
Modify project requirements | A | AWL | AWL | AWL | I | E | |
Modify project budget | A | AWL | AWL | AWLE | I | I | |
Modify project schedule | A | I | AWL | E | I | I | |
Modify manning plan | I | A | AWL | AWLE | I | I | |
Select team members | AE | I | I | I | |||
Select engineering tools | A | I | I | E | |||
Select development methods | A | I | I | E | |||
Make/buy decisions | A | AWL | I | AWLE | |||
Project Execution | O | ||||||
Interface with sponsor/customer | E | ||||||
Interface with line managers | E | ||||||
Modify project requirements | A | AWL | AWL | AWL | I | E | |
Modify project budget | A | AWL | AWL | AWLE | I | I | |
Modify project schedule | A | I | AWL | E | I | I | |
Modify manning plan | I | A | AWL | AWLE | I | I | |
Remove team member | A | A | |||||
Authorize the use of overtime | A | AWL | AWL | ||||
Authorize travel | A | ||||||
Authorize purchases | A | ||||||
Approve payments | A | ||||||
| |||||||
Project Closure | O | ||||||
Hand-over deliverables | A | ||||||
Evaluate team member performance | A | E | |||||
Approve lessons learned | I | A | I | I | |||
Grant rewards | I | A | A | I | |||
| |||||||
Conduct Tollgate Review | O | ||||||
Evaluate business reality | E | I | I | I | |||
Evaluate project progress | E | I | I | I | |||
Evaluate resource usage | E | I | I | I | I | ||
Approve tollgate | A | I | I | I | I | ||
Project Portfolio Planning | O | ||||||
Cancel project | A | I | I | I | I | I | |
Accepts new projects | A | I | I | I | |||
Decide growth strategy (hire, outsource, hold, downsize) | A | I | E | I | |||
Prioritize projects | A | I | I | I | |||
Resolve escalated issues | AE | I | I | I | I | I | |
| |||||||
Project Oversight | O | ||||||
Orders spot check | A | I | E | I | |||
Approves project diagnostic | AE | I | I | I | |||
| |||||||
Portfolio control | O | ||||||
Authorizes the use of more resources | A | AWL | I | I | |||
Authorizes a schedule extension | A | I | I | AWL | I | I | |
Authorize the use of reserve funds | A | I | I | ||||
Orders a project audit | I | A | I | E | I | ||
| |||||||
Procurement Management | O | ||||||
Select sourcing strategy | A | I | I | I | E | I | |
Select contractors | A | I | I | I | AWLE | I | |
Select vendors | A | I | I | I | AWLE | I | |
Negotiate | A | I | I | AWLE | I | ||
Human Resources Management | O | ||||||
Recruit PO staff | A | AWL | E | ||||
Evaluate performance of PO staff | A | AWL | E | ||||
Promote PO staff | A | AWL | E | ||||
Terminate PO staff | A | AWL | E | ||||
| |||||||
Project Audit | O | ||||||
Process and Information Systems Management | O | ||||||
Measurement Process | O | ||||||
Change Management | O | ||||||
Quality Assurance | O | ||||||
Administrative Support | O | ||||||
Project Accounting | O | ||||||
Legend: | |||||||
O Owns process, is responsible for its execution. | |||||||
A Approves, is accountable for. More than one A in a row means that it must be agreement. | |||||||
AWL Approves within limits. If the magnitude of the decision is outside limits, it is referred to A. | |||||||
I Input, provides information. | |||||||
E Executes, does the actual work. |