2.1.4T Roles and Responsibilities

(2.1.4T.P1)

Projects of different sizes have different ways and requirements for how the people are organized. In a small project, little organization structure is needed. There might be a primary sponsor, project manager and a project team, or perhaps just a project manager and project sponsor. However, for large projects, there are more and more people involved, and it is important that people understand the things they are expected to do and the role they are expected to fill. This section identifies some of the common (and not so common) project roles that may need to be defined for your project (in alphabetical order).

  • Clients. These are the people (or groups) that are the direct beneficiaries of a product that the project produces. They are the people for whom the project is being undertaken (indirect beneficiaries are probably stakeholders). These might also be called customers, but the TenStep process refers to them generically as clients.

  • Functional Manager. A functional manager is the person that you report to within your functional organization. Typically, he is the person that does your performance review. The project manager may also be the functional manager, but he does not have to be. As a team member, if your project manager is different from your functional manager, your organization is probably utilizing matrix management.

  • Program Manager. The program manager is the person with authority to manage a program. (A program is an umbrella organization that provides overall guidance for a number of related projects.) The program manager leads the overall planning and management of the program. All project managers within the program report to the program manager for the purposes of the program.

  • Project Director. In the TenStep process, this role is given to the functional manager of the project manager. The responsibilities of the role are flexible and should be defined for your organization and project. However, this role recognizes that in most organizations the project manager is not totally responsible for a project. Typically the functional manager of the project manager has a role to play as well. This role includes helping to provide resources, helping resolve difficult issues, dealing with organizational politics, etc.   

  • Project Manager.  This is 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, schedule and the Project Management Plan (scope management, issues management, risk management, etc.). See 1.2P Role of a Project Manager for more details.

  • 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:

    • Building the project deliverables

    • Understanding the work to be completed

    • Planning their assigned activities in more detail if needed

    • Completing assigned work within the budget, timeline and quality expectations

    • Informing the project manager of issues, scope changes, risk and quality concerns

    • Proactively communicating status and managing expectations

The project team can consist of 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. Having a cross-functional team is usually a sign of your organization utilizing matrix management. Project team members should be considered a distinct stakeholder group.

  • Quality Manager. On a large project, quality management could take up a large amount of project management time. In this case, it could be worthwhile to appoint someone as quality manager. Under the guidance of the project manager, this person would write the Quality Management Plan, develop the quality control and quality assurance procedures, check that these procedures are being followed and provide advice and guidance to team members on quality-related issues.

  • Risk Manager. On a large project, risk management may be a significant part of the project manager's work and it may be advantageous to appoint someone to coordinate the risk management process. The project manager retains overall responsibility for project risk but the risk manager would control the process of identifying, classifying and quantifying the risks and for monitoring the Risk Management Plan to ensure it is successful.

  • Sponsor (Executive Sponsor and Project Sponsor). The sponsor is the person that 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. He also champions the project within his organization. Depending on the project, and the organizational level of the executive sponsor, he may delegate day-to-day tactical management to a project sponsor. If assigned, the project sponsor represents the executive sponsor on a day-to-day basis and makes most of the decisions requiring sponsor approval. If the decision is large enough, the project sponsor will take it to the executive sponsor for resolution.

In addition, the sponsor will:

  • Define the business objectives of the project

  • Represent the project interests to the next highest management level

  • Determine whether the project is a success. If the project was not totally successful, the project sponsor determines the degree of success

  • Obtain approval for any capital expenditures

  • Monitor the progress of the project

  • Monitor the business environment to ensure the project still meets the business needs

  • Chair the project steering committee, if one exists

The sponsor is the business owner of the project and the solution that is created. While the project manager is responsible for the success of the project, the sponsor is responsible for delivering business benefit to the organization.

  •  Stakeholder. These are the specific people or groups that have a stake, or an interest, in the outcome of the project. Normally stakeholders are from within the company and could include project team members, internal clients, management, employees, administrators, etc. A project may also have external stakeholders, including suppliers, investors, constituents, community groups and government organizations.

  • Steering committee. A steering committee is a group of high-level stakeholders that are responsible for providing guidance on overall strategic direction. The sponsor could take this role, but if the impact of the project is cross-functional, the sponsor may not want to make all the decisions. The sponsor may want to organize a steering committee of representatives from the different organizations impacted by the project. The steering committee does not take the place of a sponsor, but helps to spread the strategic input and buy-in to a larger portion of the organization. The steering committee is usually made up of organizational peers and consists of a combination of direct clients and indirect stakeholders.

  • Suppliers / Vendors. Although some companies may have internal suppliers, in the TenStep Project Management Process suppliers and vendors always refer to third-party companies or specific people that work for third parties. They may be subcontractors that 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. For instance, if you are partnering with a supplier to build a critical component, you probably want them on your organization chart. On the other hand, if there is a vendor supplying a common piece of hardware, you probably would not consider them a part of the team.

  • 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. Sometimes you want to specifically identify the user organization or the specific users of the solution and assign a formal set of responsibilities to them. Users can be inside and outside of the client organization. For instance, if your company has a time reporting system, the client organization might be the Human Resources Department. However, the users would include people from every organization that used the time reporting system.