Project Sponsorship: Achieving Management Commitment for Project Success

"Project Sponsorship addresses vital ingredients that resonate with my recipe for project success—identifying the right people to sponsor projects, taking care of them, describing how to create an environment that leads to excellence in project sponsorship, and providing sponsors and project managers with guidance and good directions."
—Rick Belluzzo, chairman of the board and CEO of Quantum Corporation

"If enterprise strategy becomes reality by means of projects, then everyone involved—especially senior managers—should understand and apply the wisdom Englund and Bucero present in this valuable development guide to the operational advantage of proactive project sponsorship."
—David O. Block, PMP, senior project manager, Agilent Technologies, Inc.

"Having worked with thousands of project managers throughout Australia over the past two decades, I know that Project Sponsorship will be an invaluable tool for every project manager. This book is full of practical solutions that can be applied—anywhere in the world."
—John Abbott, director, ATS, Sydney, Australia

The success or failure of any project often hinges on how well the project sponsor—the person who funds the project and ensures that desired benefits are achieved—relates to the project, the project manager, and other stakeholders. However, executives who are assigned as project sponsors often have little if any experience understanding their roles and responsibilities during the project life cycle. Problems in communication and execution are inevitable as long as senior managers and project managers do not understand the mechanics of their relationship.

Project Sponsorship—which includes case studies, checklists, and action plans—shows how project sponsors and project managers can develop the skills they need to manage successful projects. Randall L. Englund and Alfonso Bucero—experts in the field of project management—have written the definitive guide for educating all stakeholders in the nature of project sponsorship. They describe in detail the responsibilities of the project sponsor, from communications and liaison, selection and training, problem solving, mentoring, and feedback, to the review of project execution. The project sponsor and manager learn how to negotiate effectively with each other and the project team to achieve their commitments.

This book offers a key resource for expanding best practices in project sponsorship across organizations. Project Sponsorship helps project sponsors establish directions for the future, communicate through vision, create aligned high-performance teams, and focus on planning—all of which will lead an organization to success. This book illuminates the stairway to achieving excellence in project sponsorship.

Randall L. Englund is a successful project management consultant, author (Creating an Environment for Successful Projects, Creating the Project Office), and speaker. He was previously a senior project manager with Hewlett-Packard and a member of its corporate Project Management Initiative. His website is www.englundpmc.com.

Alfonso Bucero is an independent consultant and author who resides in Madrid, Spain. He trained sponsors while a project manager for HP Consulting, is a contributing editor to PM Network, and is the author of Project Management: A New Vision (in Spanish). His website is www.abucero.com.