Sources of Authority

• A Project Charter written by an executive sponsor specifies the Project Manager, establishes priority and gives enough information for the team to initiate project planning.
  
  
• The Project Manager and Team Members should have job descriptions that define project evaluation criteria. These are different from their technical job descriptions.
  
  
• “Executive Rank” means that a PM should be recognized as being on the same managerial level as the functional managers who employ the team members. Not subservient.
  
  
• A procedure manual addresses processes and potential conflict issues in writing and is used to establish consistency.

Exercise of Authority

• The Project Manager should be responsible to make schedule changes within scope.
  
  
• The Project Manager should be authorized to change work priorities within scope, without further review.
  
  
• Project teams measure everything on the project. They don’t guess. Excellent milestone and performance management puts the PM and team in charge.
  
  
• Some companies have given Project Managers the legal authority to make contract changes.
  
  
• A certain amount of tangible authority is recognized if the Project Manager controls all project funds. A definition of the Golden Rule is that “the person who controls the gold, makes the rules.”