Project Roles
Everyone involved in a project has a role. Areas included in these roles are:
- Decision making
- Resourcing
- Organisation
- Risk management
- Doing
- Reporting
Roles applied in project management differ in name and scope depending on the framework being applied.
In line with my ethos I like to keep project roles simple and transferrable across frameworks, whilst also ensuring key accountabilities and responsibilities are covered.
My key roles
Why are project roles important?
Here are my top 5 reasons why project roles are important:
Can I combine roles?
Absolutely.
Providing the accountabilities and responsibilities are clear a Sponsor might also be the Owner, the Project Manager might also be hands on delivering, and so on.
Combining roles is especially relevant for small businesses and start-ups with simple business structures.
I’ve summarised the typical business roles who might take on each project role:
Accountable or Responsible?
I’ve mentioned these terms several times, but what do they actually mean in the project governance world?
Accountable
Having ultimate ownership and answerability for a decision, outcome, or area of work.Responsible
Having ownership for carrying out the work needed to deliver a task or outcome.
Responsibility defines who does the work, while accountability defines who owns the result.
I could go on......
There’s much more to cover in the area of project roles and how they impact the success of a project, so keep an eye out for my project role guidelines which I’ll share in the future.