Project Management Roles and Structure

Critical to creating the right environment that ensures confidence of delivery is having a set of necessary and sufficient roles carried out in the project. Figure 6.3 depicts these roles and their interrelationships. Remember that these are project roles, not organizational line positions. Any individual can assume multiple roles except for the project manager, who can’t assume the role of acceptor or champion—that would be a conflict of interest. The roles shown are the total set that could be considered. This doesn’t mean that all roles have to be in place in every project, especially for a smaller initiative in a smaller organization. The core team roles, however, must be filled. The following sections will briefly cover the major responsibilities associated with these roles.

These roles are key. Ignoring them will only result in problems later. Again, a particular individual might be involved in more that one role. An acceptance advisory team member might also sit on the quality assurance team, and the program manager might also conduct a task as a project team member. The roles aren’t positions, which means that your boss could be conducting work for you as part of your team. Don’t confuse project roles and job positions. Also, the communication, represented by the two-headed arrows in Figure 6.3, is two-way, not one-way. These relationships continually keep working in both directions. This takes time, which must be planned and used to ensure a common and confident set of commitments.

Core Team Roles

Project manager

• Delivers the business solution to the acceptor (that is, gains acceptance for it)

• Plans and manages the project day to day

• Motivates and manages the team

• Is the focal point for project issues

Project acceptor

• Accepts the project results on behalf of the process champion (that is, ensures delivery)

• Coordinates the multiple vested interests of the range of business stakeholders

• Acts as project and business conscience

• Can also be the project champion if a separate person isn’t assigned to accept

Program manager

• Ensures that the project manager’s delivery of the project results is consistent with an overall program of change or set of initiatives

• Clears the path and warns of roadblocks

• Assures professional and technical quality

• Resolves political and cross-organizational escalations along with the process champion

• Monitors the business and senior customer relationships

• Helps the project manager maintain the project balance factors affecting confident delivery

Project champion

• Ensures the delivery and acceptance of the project results by the acceptor

• Clears the path and warns of roadblocks

• Resolves political and cross-organizational escalations along with the program manager

• Takes responsibility for the ongoing operation of the new process subsequent to delivery

• Chairs the executive advisory team

• Might continue to be the process owner after delivery

• Assumes the role of acceptor if one isn’t appointed

Project team member

• Is dedicated to conduct the day-to-day activities of the process project

• Understands the business requirements and delivers results to the acceptor on behalf of the project manager

• Brings to the project either process management professional practice knowledge and experience or subject matter expertise, knowledge, or skills

• Coordinates an ongoing relationship with an extended team of stakeholders outside the day-to-day activities of the project, gains their input, and manages their expectations

Extended Team Roles

Acceptor advisory team member

• Brings specialist knowledge and perspective to the analysis and evaluation, based on knowledge of a business function, location, or body of knowledge

• Helps create a solution as part of periodic input and review

• Acts as an agent of change going back out to the business

• Advises the acceptor on acceptability of project results, not only from his represented area, but also from the overall business

Senior executive

• Is the path for exceptions, unresolved issues, and policy changes outside the mandate of the program manager and project champion

• Is the final arbiter on direction and outside stakeholders’ perspectives

• Sells the concept upward to the business owners and possibly to other outside stakeholders

• Makes the ultimate commitment

• Rallies the executive team

• Shows visible support to all internal and external stakeholders

Executive advisory team member

• Advises the champion on key acceptance issues

• Acts in the best interest of the company, not just his area

• Represents her area’s perspectives on the process

• Ensures support for the new process from her area

• Provides a corporate message on the management of change in his area

Quality assurance team member

• Acts as independent advisor separate from the core team

• Helps teams plan the process change by assessing the planned approach in advance

• Brings best practices to the project through checklists and questionnaires to be used at checkpoints

• Advises team on process management and subject matter requirements before review sessions

• Assesses risk and business value at predefined checkpoints

• Recommends acceptability to pass the checkpoint to the executives based on quality and risk, not on project constraints

Process management advisor

• Has expertise in process management

• Provides process management methods, tools, templates, examples, training, and coaching to project teams

• Facilitates some key sessions where independence is needed

• Coordinates lessons learned and best practice feedback and knowledge-sharing across initiatives

• Provides modeling and technique support

• Helps the team plan and improve the project process on an ongoing basis