While many project managers regard the project steering committee (PSC) and its required reports as a chore and a nuisance, the PSC meeting which is attended by the right people who are informed by an intelligent project status report is absolutely essential for the success of complex projects.
This is the view of Dirk le Roux, ICT executive at Mediclinic International, who has experience in the project management field as a project manager, as well as in the role of project sponsor and senior business executive.
According to Le Roux, a PSC should be chaired by the project sponsor and consist of senior or executive project stakeholders. Its meetings are where the project manager presents the project status report.
"Where complex projects are critical to the execution of business strategy, project failure is serious and could well be career limiting not only for the project manager, but also the sponsor who has to report on the project's progress to the board and executives.
"It is therefore essential that projects are well governed to guard against the risk of failure and that the project sponsor, whose job is to champion the project and assist with resolving issues that may arise, is fully informed. This is particularly important when it comes to the inevitable corporate politics and interdependencies that plague many large projects, resulting in unanticipated problems that could be beyond the project plans and may require executive input to resolve," he told delegates at the recent Gauteng PMO Forum.
However, being informed does not mean being drowned in data. The project sponsor and project steering committee require data to be contextualised, meaningful and understandable.
If the project status report tabled at the PSC meeting is regarded as a necessary evil to comply with the PMO requirements [..] then it becomes a waste of time for all concerned.
Dirk le Roux, Mediclinic International
"The project manager has to give the sponsor an honest opinion about the project's progress, including providing an indication of his or her confidence in achieving its goals or highlighting areas of concern," Le Roux said, adding executives needed more than facts to be able to provide guidance and support.
The project manager was therefore expected to:
- * Present a 'true' picture of project status.
- * Share his/her level of confidence about project performance (current and looking ahead).
- * Reveal his/her concerns about meeting project objectives within the agreed constraints.
- * Prepare an executive-level project status report to allow on-communication by PSC members.
According to Le Roux, the project status report should always provide answers to questions like:
- * Is the project on track to complete on time?
- * Are there any significant issues? What is being done to resolve them?
- * Are there any critical risks (high-impact/high-likelihood)? Do the risks have remediation plans?
- * Is the project expected to complete within budget? What is the project-to-date variance and what is the expected variance at completion?
- * Are there any actions or decisions that are required from the stakeholder?
"If the project status report tabled at the PSC meeting is regarded as a necessary evil to comply with the PMO requirements - a template to be completed as quickly as possible without any critical thinking about the project's real status - then it becomes a waste of time for all concerned. However, treated with the respect and care it deserves, the project status report and the PSC can make an exceptionally valuable contribution to ensuring the success of every project," he concluded.
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