ABSTRACT
The Project Sponsor should be involved in the selection of all the key players in the team, either by being present at interviews or by having recommendations referred to him or her. However, the responsibility for leading the project team and making sure that it delivers the project as defined by the sponsor rests with the project manager. Unfortunately, on many projects the project manager is appointed after some other team members. For example, on a building project the architect and quantity surveyor may already have been appointed because the sponsor wanted to have a better idea of building layout and cost before proceeding further. This seems perfectly reasonable except that it is the project manager’s job to lead the team and get it to deliver. People also usually have a sense of loyalty to the person who appointed them and often a sense of resentment towards anyone who comes between themselves and their master. You can see how difficult this makes things for the project manager arriving after the project has started. Therefore I urge Project Sponsors to make sure that their first appointment is the project manager. Of course Project Sponsors have every right to influence the selection of the project team, I am only saying that the project manager has this right too.
