7 Steps to Strength Your Bond with Your Sponsor

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as expected. So that, necessary changes are done on timely basis and can be delivered. But if the sponsor delays the testing of this particular module then it will take longer for the project manager to start another module lined up in the queue thereby delaying the entire project timeline.

6. Anticipate surprises:

Transparency should be maintained while the project work is in progress, this will help everyone to know about each other’s task. Also everyone should update on a weekly basis regarding the tasks completed and the ones yet to be completed. It may happen, that the project is getting delayed due to negligence by some person either internal or external or is on leave or maybe doesn’t want to take risk due to lack of knowledge, during these times the project manager or the project sponsor should be notified. This will help fix problems at the same stage and an appropriate action can be taken to avoid such delays. Time and cost run hand in hand in any project, the more the delay the more the cost. The project manager and the project sponsor should always create an outline and be prepared for the tasks which might be out of scope and predict the number of days, resources, cost according to their experience. This usually happen with big projects where the scopes can change.

7. Always suggest the best and perform some tasks as a goodwill:

It is always recommended for a project manager to suggest his sponsor regarding services which are not in scope but will help them in future. For example, my client is using character interface and has been comfortable with its usage and the services, they are more accustomed to old technologies then the newer ones, so I will suggest my sponsor for a GUI version which is much easier to operate and function. This will give a new experience to the employees and will also improve their working experience. Also in some cases the system administrator won’t be available to help out on small server related activities which might be known to the database administrator. In this case, the DBA should inform the sponsor about the situation and carry out the task as a goodwill for the sponsor. This will not only build trust but will also help built confidence with the sponsor.