READOS / Business
Project Sponsors, Governance and Decisions
Who decides what on a project: sponsors, owners, methods, escalation and when to say no or stop.
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- 01Sponsors who can stop the work and owners who must make it pay: getting the right people at the tableA sponsor is the person who can stop a project, not its most senior supporter, and benefits come from those who must change how they work. How to fill both roles and write benefits they own.
- 02Who can change what the job is for? Drivers, unwritten expectations and involvement that fits the phaseScope does not creep on its own; people move it, one request at a time. How to decide who may redefine a job, surface expectations before they harden and involve people at the right time.
- 03Choose your decision measures before the design: why criteria belong at the startMeasures applied after a design is chosen can only report on it. How to set technical, financial, environmental, stakeholder and risk measures early enough to shape the design.
- 04Read the constraints, then tailor the method: choosing how to run a job from what binds itSimilar deliverables can hide very different jobs. How to find the constraint that binds, rank conflicts before delegating, and tailor the method without weakening accountability.
- 05Borrowing from PRINCE2 and PMBOK: what a small business can use from formal project methodsFormal project methods were built for large organisations, but their core ideas suit small firms. Which parts of PRINCE2 and the PMBOK Guide to borrow and how to keep them light.
- 06Difficult, complex or ambiguous? Diagnose the kind of problem before choosing how to manage itMore planning helps difficult work but can hinder complex work, and more data won't settle a disagreement about values. How to tell problem types apart and match the way you manage.
- 07Setting up a project team before the work starts: roles, day jobs and readinessMany project problems are set up before delivery begins. How to build a team from people with day jobs, run a kickoff that settles real questions and check readiness early.
- 08Who controls the people on a project: structure, authority and fractions that do not add upA project lead held accountable without control of people, scope or budget is set up to struggle. How to match structure to the work, close authority gaps and allocate time honestly.
- 09Stakeholders you do not control: competing claims, scarce resources and engagement that changes decisionsMany stakeholder conflicts are really fights over scarce people, money or authority. How to tell conflicts apart, weigh who knows and who is affected, and engage so it changes the outcome.
- 10Most of your plan is someone else's promise: collecting commitments that holdA plan looks like your commitment, but most of it rests on suppliers, customers and colleagues you do not direct. How to collect real commitments, not signatures, and use a no well.
- 11Escalation rules that fire on the right things: tolerances, consequences, accumulation and authority that expiresMost escalation rules fire on the size of one problem against a budget or date. How to add consequence triggers, catch small risks with one cause and give delegated authority a renewal date.
- 12How work gets in without a decision: the free routes for new requests and what they really costMost businesses control one route for new work and leave others free, so work flows down the free ones. How to map every route, price the cost of considering requests and show goodwill.
- 13When a side task needs an owner: recognising work that has outgrown the role it was filed underSome important work lives as a side task inside someone else's job, with no owner, budget or agenda slot. How to spot work that has outgrown its place, and decide whether promoting it helps.
- 14What calling a project critical commits you to: priority labels as promisesCalling a project critical costs nothing to say and commits you to supply whatever it takes. How to treat priority labels as promises, hold a reserve and stop tracking optional work.
- 15How much change a business can carry: capacity, capability and too many projectsA business can afford its projects and still be unable to deliver them. How to find the real constraint, tell capacity from capability and sequence work so benefits arrive sooner.
- 16Saying no to good projects: opportunity cost, balance and choosing what to fundMost proposals look worthwhile on their own. How to compare them against what else the money and people could do, keep the mix balanced and decide what not to fund.
- 17Stopping well: ending projects that no longer deserve the people and moneyBusinesses are good at starting projects and poor at stopping them. How to spot weak commitments early, decide clearly, close properly and make sure freed-up people go to better work.
These topic-based reading collections are organised alphabetically; chapters may be read in any order.
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