Chapter 20. Getting the Sponsor You Deserve

"You'll excuse me, gentlemen. Your business is politics. Mine is running a saloon."

” Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) ^[1]

^[1] Casablanca , Michael Curtiz, Director; Julius J. and Phillip Epstein, Writers, 1942.

If there is one common theme shared by virtually all 20,000 people who have participated in our project management workshops, it is their relationship, or lack of, with their project sponsor. ^[2]

^[2] Although this chapter concentrates on the sponsor role, all the rules and situations covered apply equally to project steering committees .

The role of the project sponsor is critical in ensuring the success of both IT and business projects. Our research and experience has shown that the effectiveness of the project sponsor role is the single best predictor of project success or failure. Simply put, a project without the appropriate degree of executive sponsorship will fail.

As a result, for you ”a project manager ”the relationship that you build with your sponsor is the most critical relationship in your project.

Over the past 25 years of project management consulting and education, we have discovered a series of patterns and rules for developing and managing your relationship with the person undertaking the project sponsor role. We have confirmed the validity of these rules with many executives who have undertaken project sponsor roles. They work!