Initiating Projects

The concept for a project can come from anywhere. Once the project is authorized, usually by a project management office (PMO), a portfolio steering committee, or some other authorizing body, a project sponsor is assigned. Sometimes it is obvious who the sponsor will be, such as the chief information officer when replacing a major system in an organization. In other situations, the sponsor and the customer are the same person, such as when a project is done under contract and the customer who is paying for the project also functions as the project sponsor.

Regardless of how the sponsor is assigned, their responsibilities for initiating a project include:

• Championing the project at the executive level: Most organizations have more projects than they have resources to deliver them. The sponsor negotiates for resources at the corporate level, such as team members and budget. They also continue to champion the project and the benefits it will provide throughout the project.
• Providing financial resources: In some cases, the sponsor pays for the project out of their department budget; in other cases they will negotiate and gain funding from other sources.
• Approving the project charter: A project charter is often used to get a high‐level understanding of the project, including objectives, expected benefits, and so forth. The sponsor may work with the project manager to develop the charter or the sponsor may develop the charter and hand it off to the project manager. Their signature signifies approval for the project and provides authorization for the project manager to begin work.

Up‐Front Planning

At the start of the project the sponsor and project manager often work together to define some of the high‐level information that will guide the development of more in‐depth plans. Sponsor responsibilities during the up‐front planning for the project include:

• Providing the initial high‐level requirements and information about the project: Much of the high‐level information is included in the project charter. However, there is usually additional information, such as the high‐level requirements, assumptions, constraints, variance thresholds, and other information that the sponsor provides during the early stages of planning.
• Determining the priority among project constraints: Project managers are constantly balancing scope, schedule, cost, resources, quality, and risk. The project sponsor identifies which are most important so the project manager can make decisions aligned with the relative importance of these constraints.
• Approving the baselines: The project sponsor will assess and approve the project schedule and budget baselines. They are a second set of eyes to ensure the schedule and budget reflect the risks involved, resource availability, and other variables. The baseline will be used to measure progress throughout the project.

Monitoring Progress

Once the project is underway, the sponsor is not as involved. They generally stay informed via status reports and are available as needed. Throughout the project, the sponsor may be called on to:

• Monitor project progress: The sponsor is the recipient of all project status reports. They will review the schedule status, budget status, projected work for the next reporting period, and any new significant risks and issues.
• Review all variances outside the acceptable variance threshold: If a project variance is outside the established threshold, the sponsor will review the situation and likely work with the project manager to determine appropriate actions to bring performance back in line with the baseline.
• Approve major changes to the project: Any significant change to the project scope, schedule, and budget must be approved by the sponsor. This usually means additional scope, but it can also include changes to resources, schedule, or budget.

Supporting the Project Manager

The project manager may have a dotted‐line reporting responsibility to the sponsor of the project for the duration of the project. Whether or not the project manager reports to the sponsor, the sponsor can support the project manager in the following ways:

• Resolve conflicts outside the project manager’s authority: As project managers, we may find ourselves in situations where we have people on our team with more position‐power than we have. If there are issues with those team members, or if a conflict involves someone outside the immediate project team, the sponsor generally has the position‐power, or political clout to remove roadblocks and address issues more effectively than the project manager.
• Provide mentoring and coaching to the project manager as appropriate: Whether it is working with difficult stakeholders, navigating political situations, or employing emotional intelligence, project managers occasionally need someone to provide mentoring or coaching. A sponsor often has the experience and perspective to be able to help the project manager in these situations.
• Provide insight into the high‐level organizational strategy and objectives: When faced with a project decision, it is useful to have insight into the organization's strategy and objectives to ensure the project is aligned with the direction the organization wants to go. Since project managers often don't have access to this knowledge, they may turn to the sponsor to get guidance and insight to help guide them in the right direction.
• Manage corporate politics that could affect the project: Managing a project is challenging enough on its own, but coupled with navigating corporate politics, it can be downright exhausting! The project sponsor can provide political cover for the project manager and keep the politics away from the project.

Leadership Skills

Leadership skills involve working with the team, engaging with stakeholders, and demonstrating leadership behaviors. Project managers demonstrate leadership in the following ways:

• Establishing a supportive environment for team members: People are more likely to give their best efforts if they feel supported and valued. One of the most important jobs for the project manager is to create and maintain an environment that provides psychological safety. This enables team members to do their best work and thrive.
• Managing stakeholder expectations: Anyone who has worked with large and/or diverse groups of stakeholders knows that trying to manage stakeholders is a fool's errand. However, we can engage with stakeholders and manage their expectations. Project managers who are successful in working with stakeholders have better outcomes than those who ignore stakeholders or merely tolerate them.
• Employing leadership skills: Leadership skills are one of the most important keys to project success. Project managers are constantly drawing on these skills—for example, communicating effectively, facilitating meetings, solving problems, influencing without authority, and negotiating. Even though we often don't have position authority over our team members, we can and should always demonstrate leadership skills.
• Demonstrating integrity, stewardship, fairness, and a positive attitude: Our team looks to us to set the bar on expected and acceptable behavior. Therefore, in addition to the leadership behaviors identified above we must also demonstrate integrity and ethical behavior at all times. One way to do this is to be impartial, fair, and transparent in our decision‐making. We should also show respect and demonstrate stewardship for the environment and company property. Finally, we should maintain a positive attitude. Our team members will tend to follow our lead with regards to upbeat energy or a defeatist and whiny attitude. Demonstrating positive energy, especially when confronting challenges and setbacks, sets an example for our team members to follow.

Management Skills

In addition to leadership, the other part of a project manager's role is to manage the project to achieve the desired outcomes. This entails a different set of activities, such as:

• Developing plans: A big part of managing predictive projects is developing plans. This is an ongoing process throughout the project. As more information is known, our plans get more detailed and more realistic. When risks or changes occur we need to update our plans. Thus, while a majority of the planning is done toward the start of the project, we aren't done with the plans until the project is done!
• Establishing project systems: One way we support our team is by making it easy to accomplish their work. Obviously, where there are processes and systems that have been established by the organization, such as defect reporting, quality assurance, and change management, we need to follow those processes. Where there aren't organization‐driven processes, we can establish set ways of working that support the project work. For example, set meeting times, schedules for reporting, common terminology, and so forth.
• Keeping the project on schedule and within budget: One of the most prevalent definitions of project success is on time and on budget. Therefore, many of the behaviors listed are meant to enable timely delivering within the approved budget.
• Managing issues, risks, and variances: Projects are a breeding ground for uncertainty, risks, and issues. In addition to having processes and systems in place to manage risks and issues, we also need to be skilled in finding ways to prevent them from happening in the first place. Once a risk, issue, or variance has occurred, we need to work with the team to determine and evaluate corrective actions to get project performance back on track.
• Collecting project data and reporting progress: Managing stakeholder expectations and keeping the project on schedule and on budget depend on being able to see and interpret information. Therefore, we need to collect and analyze data and then present it in an effective and compelling way.

Product Functions

Typical product functions that product owners perform include:

• Establishing the vision for the product: At the start of a project, they will develop a vision statement for the project and/or product.
• Choosing and prioritizing features to maximize value: Using market research, customer feedback, and other sources of information, the product owner identifies the most important features for the product and prioritizes them for the team.
• Managing and prioritizing the backlog: A backlog is a repository of project work, features, and/or requirements. The product owner prioritizes the backlog so the team is always focused on the most valuable work. They can also update the backlog by adding or removing work or reprioritizing existing work.
• Determining acceptance criteria: Each deliverable has acceptance criteria that must be met before it can be accepted. It is the product owner who establishes and communicates the acceptance criteria.
• Accepting or rejecting deliverables: At the end of an iteration the team demonstrates the work they have done. The product owner accepts the work, requests changes, or does not accept the work, explaining why it is not acceptable.

People Activities

Another aspect of the product owner role is working with the team and various other stakeholders. This includes:

• Ensuring the team understands the backlog items: The team will take the information from the backlog and create deliverables. The product owner makes sure that the team understands the information on the backlog and is available to answer questions and provide clarification.
• Attending planning meetings, demonstrations, and retrospectives: The product owner is usually in close proximity to the team. They often have daily interaction with the people working on the project. Part of their interaction includes attending planning meetings, demonstrations, and retrospectives.
• Working with external stakeholders: Part of the product owner's role is to work as a liaison with external stakeholders. They communicate stakeholder needs and wants to the team and manage stakeholder expectations. This allows the team to focus on development work.
• Remaining engaged and available to the team: A primary difference between a sponsor and a product owner is that the product owner is always available to respond to questions and clarify areas of uncertainty. This reduces time spent waiting for a response and rework based on assuming answers to questions.

Facilitation

A scrum master is much more a facilitator than a manager. As a facilitator, scrum masters will:

• Help teams self‐manage and self‐govern: Many Agile teams are self‐managing and self‐governing. The scrum master supports this by making sure the team has what it needs to self‐manage.
• Facilitate communication between the team and other stakeholders: scrum masters allow the team to stay focused on the work at hand by engaging stakeholders and facilitating conversation. This serves to protect the team from outside interference and other distractions.
• Facilitate meetings: Agile methods have several types of meetings, such as daily stand‐ups (aka scrums), iteration reviews, iteration planning, and retrospectives. The scrum master facilitates these meetings. As part of the retrospective, the scrum master helps the team improve their processes.

Support

In a support role, the scrum master will:

• Employ servant leadership: As a servant leader, the scrum master puts the needs of the team first. Scrum masters lead by supporting the team in accomplishing work rather than directing the team.
• Remove barriers and impediments: Barriers and impediments delay progress. During the daily stand‐up meetings, team members communicate any barriers or impediments (also known as blockers) to getting their work done. The scrum master follows up and endeavors to resolve and remove any barriers and impediments.
• Provide guidance on Agile methods: The scrum master ensures the team is following Agile processes and using Agile methods appropriately. This can include coaching, guidance, and education about Agile methods and the benefits they provide.
• Assist the product owner: The scrum master works closely with the product owner in keeping the backlog up to date. Scrum masters also assist in communicating the project vision and engaging with stakeholders as appropriate.

With hybrid projects, you may see the term “Agile project manager” or “Agile delivery lead.” These roles fulfill the same responsibilities as a scrum master, but they may have additional responsibilities as appropriate in a hybrid environment.

Generalizing Specialists

There is a concept in Agile called generalizing specialists. This refers to people who have deep knowledge in one area and broad knowledge in other areas. These people are also known as T‐shaped people, where their area of expertise is the vertical line of a T and the broad areas of expertise are represented by the crossbar, or horizontal line, as shown in Figure 3‐1.

The benefits of T‐shaped team members are that they can represent multiple perspectives and perform activities in a number of areas. This reduces the need for knowledge transfer and handoffs among team members, thereby saving time. They can also help resolve bottlenecks as they can step in to help in a number of areas.

Figure 3‐2 shows an I‐shaped person. An I‐shaped person is the opposite of a T‐shaped person. I‐shaped people only have deep knowledge in one area and little to no knowledge in other areas.

When building a team, it is useful to have as many generalizing specialists as possible to keep your project running smoothly.

Key Terms

• generalizing specialists
• I‐shaped people
• product owner
• project manager
• scrum master
• sponsor
• T‐shaped people