Wisdom for Building the Project Manager/Project Sponsor Relationship: Partnership for Project Success

The project sponsor can promote information technology (IT) project success in several ways, yet many projects either have no formally designated project sponsor or the project sponsor is confused about his/her role. The project sponsor's role traditionally includes project approval, funding, and staffing, but can include much more. The project sponsor is sometimes called the champion of the project or the key stakeholder of the project. Because the role of the project sponsor sometimes overlaps with the project manager's role, confusion can arise. This article discusses conventional roles and responsibilities of the project sponsor and then discusses strategies a project manager can employ to define boundaries to reduce role confusion and promote partnership to facilitate project success.