Sample Policy Statement
for Project Managers & Sponsors

It is the responsibility of the project manager to:

1. Understand the project requirements and ensure they are thoroughly and unambiguously documented;
2. Prepare a project plan with achievable cost, schedule, and performance goals;
3. Identify and manage project risks;
4. Ensure the project team is well-organized, adequately staffed, and working well together;
5. Manage project cost, schedule, requirements, and design baselines so they are traceable;
6. Report meaningful metrics for cost, schedule, quality, and risk;
7. Conduct regular status and design reviews;
8. Ensure the adequacy of project documentation and testing;
9. Maintain meaningful communications among project stakeholders; and
10. Manage the project to attain the project goals and achieve stakeholder satisfaction.

The person in the organization responsible for the project, above the project manager, is the project sponsor. It is the responsibility of the project sponsor to:

1. Select, develop, and guide, or change, the project manager to achieve project goals;
2. Hold the PM accountable for fulfilling the responsibilities listed above;
3. Support the PM in obtaining resources and tools needed to conduct the project;
4. Require regular status briefings and design reviews, and pass pertinent information up the line;
5. Advise the PM on conditions likely to cause project risks; and
6. Be an advocate for the PM and the project team.

© Copyright 1997, James R. Chapman, All rights reserved.

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