Speaking from personal experience, an absentee project sponsor historically ranks as one of the top reasons for project failure. In the previous section I talked about sponsors who won t let you do your job. This section deals with sponsors who aren t active on the project.

An absentee project sponsor is a pretty obvious risk to spot. They don t attend status meetings, won t return phone calls or e-mails, and tell you they have other concerns on their plate that are much more important than your project. Although those issues are worrisome in and of themselves, the problems this causes can seriously impact the project. Some of the risks you face when a sponsor shows no interest in the project include

• Project failure

• Lack of timely decision making (leading to increased risks or project failure)

• Poor scope definition

• Lack of commitment from project team members

• Unclear expectations of the project and of the project team

• Limited stakeholder involvement

• Poor morale

• Uncontrolled changes

• Lack of funding

Any one of these risks alone can kill a project. But when they re all present because of a sponsor who doesn t want to participate, your project is likely headed for real trouble.