These past few weeks we have been assessing a very large multi agency project. As part of our review of project governance we attended a few steering committee (SC) meetings. Here are some of our observations:
- The project manager (PM) chaired the committee;
- The PM spent a great deal of time discussing minute details of the project schedule, detailed technical design decisions the project had faced, and each and every risk the project faced (upwards of 100 risks in the meetings we attended);
- The meetings were scheduled twice a month for four hours;
- When time was running out the PM (committee chair) read faster to get through the agenda;
- No steering committee member asked a single question in either session we attended but they all took notes;
- Several attendees were delegates for someone else (when we asked why, we were universally told “well the actual member is a very busy person…”);
- Most of the members were people who would be impacted by the project but did not have the authority to make a final decision about project issues;
- When decisions were called for long debates ensued on even the most trivial items and ultimately few decisions were made;
- When issues of importance (things effecting scope, schedule, cost, quality, or project resources) were brought up decisions were always deferred for another time;
- All members reported they took their notes back to their respective agencies and e-mailed them to their “boss”. It was unclear what, if anything, happened as a result of this e-mail.
Behind the scenes, when the need for an important decision reached a critical state (i.e. the project couldn’t continue without some joint decision being made), the PM would take this issue to his agency director who in turn would call the other agency directors and jointly make a decision.
The steering committee here is what we refer to as a “shadow committee.” They don’t have the authority to do much and when large decisions are required the people really steering the project have to step in (in this case the group of agency directors). There are several issues that arise with shadow committees including:
- Decisions tend to get made only when the pressure to do so is very high. This generally puts projects behind schedule;
- The decision makers never have all the information they need (in this case for two reasons: They didn’t attend the SC meetings and the information disseminated at the meetings was at too low a level);
- Gathering the real decision makers can be difficult and time consuming because it is done ad-hoc;
- The meetings waste the time of shadow committee members and they know it; and
- Shadow committee members become demoralized because they really are not contributing to the project and they know it.
We’ve talked about what the roles and responsibilities of the SC should be (here and here). But in order to fulfill these roles and responsibilities, steering committee members need some authority. This leads us to the question “Who should be on your steering committee?” Here are a few simple criteria for choosing steering committee members:
- Members must have some skin in the game. Generally, the larger the stake they have the better the fit they are (there are some exceptions to this). Members need to have motivation for the project to succeed;
- They must represent project constituents. As a whole, the committee should represent all those impacted by the project;
- Members need the authority to make decisions on behalf of their constituents and authority over the project team itself (more on this below);
- They must be willing and able to work with other committee members (having members who constantly clash violently about the project is a no-win situation);
- They must be able to perform the roles and fulfill the responsibilities of the steering committee (see our previous discussion mentioned above); and
- The committee should have a clear line of authority over the project team. Committee members should not be part of the project team (note the project team might attend the SC meeting – just not be a voting member of the committee).
Choosing the right members for your steering committee will greatly increase the odds of your project succeeding. Go look at the criteria above and ask yourself: “Do I have the right people steering my project?”
Note: The particular steering committee mentioned above still has some issues. They include inappropriate agenda, excessive number and duration of meetings, and the lack of a decision process. But we’ll save a discussion about those issues for another time.