Persuading a sponsor about project planning
One of the very difficult barriers to doing projects the right way is the reluctance of sponsors and stakeholders to participate in the planning process. Its much easier for them to avoid making the the tough decisions that should be made at the beginning of a project. Project managers have to muster effective arguments or they wind up starting work without a plan which is the seed of project failure.
The current edition of our PM talk newsletter has a video of a project manager trying to persuade a sponsor that Project planning is worthwhile. Watch the video and examine the two attempts the project manager makes to persuade the executive. Then add your comments to the blog about how to handle this difficult situation.
Best regards,
Dick Billows, PMP, GCA
posted by Dick Billows, PMP, GCA @ 1:10 PM
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While the second attempt was a big improvement over playing the 'PMI sayas so' card, the sponsor did not seem too convinced. The line about programming the project management and gicing everyone a script did not resonate in this culture of flexibility. I would emphasize the similarity between the key purpose of the project management plan and the planning efforts he already bought into; we resolve these issues now, before anyone has any biases, to savetime and avoid arguments later. I would also point out that we are not looking to reinvent the wheel. We will start with a template based on past best practices for a project of this size, review it with the stakeholders and modify as needed.
Whatever the project. It requires a project plan that shows a start and finish time that people can agree in advance. Otherwise the project will fail due to inadequate planning.
I agree. Whatever the project there needs to have adequate planing ie a project plan showing start and finish times, milestones and interdependences for success of the project.
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