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Unlike the other initiation phase themes, which all start immediately, this final theme generally starts a short time after the project work has begun. This happens because as work progresses more people will become involved in the project. This results in a need for you to gain control of the work being undertaken. This quickly becomes difficult since in advanced projects many people within the organization will be keen to take a leading role. They will be keen to demonstrate to the organization that they are wholly behind the advanced project and its strategic aims. It is essential that you quickly gain and keep control. This means the definition of the roles and responsibilities of the people working on the project. You should consider two aspects: 1) reactive control; 2) proactive control.

Reactive control is gaining control of responsibilities that others assume without your agreement. To achieve this you should set up a mechanism that publishes who’s who within the project. If introduced successfully the mechanism will become an effective way of stopping people taking assumed responsibility. Instead they will realize that they need to go through the proper channels to be recognized by project team members as having a particular responsibility.

Setting up a suitable mechanism is a relatively simple task. First you should gather together a list of the people involved in the project. This list should include key information about the people on it. If possible you should create the list using a spreadsheet or database program. This allows it to be sorted alphabetically and allows for the easy insertion of new names and associated information. It also enables you to publish the information quickly using e-mail or Internet technology. At this initial stage in the project you should personally retain control of the content of this list. This enables you to ensure that the people who are on the list only have authority and responsibility that you are willing to give them.

Proactive control is gaining control by deliberately appointing people into certain roles and responsibilities. To achieve this you need to seek out appropriate people and appoint them into certain key roles. The roles that should be filled are those that can and will have a significant impact on the early project work. Identifying these roles is a relatively simple task. They are the roles that will be highly active in the initial day-to-day work of the project. They are likely to include the project sponsor, any major resource provider and any senior management interested in the project.

Once key roles have been identified you should spend some time agreeing a suitable role description. This can be very simple in nature and should state clearly what the role’s involvement in the project is. At this stage it isn’t necessary to go through the formality of writing down the role description. It is more effective to retain the informality that accompanies a lack of paperwork. This helps to reduce the potential barriers that paperwork can introduce to relationship building. However, it is helpful to add a simple description to the project who’s who.