In doing reference interviews for this project, one interesting issue came up more than once, in response to the question “What would you do differently?” That issue involved the project steering committee.

Several project managers, who had concluded successful installations of enterprise search products, shared that they wish they had put in place “more effective project governance”. They wished that the had paid more attention to who participated in the project steering committee, and the role of the committee.

These days, it is not enough to deliver a technically successful IT project – you have to bring the customer community along, and the best way to do that is with a Steering Committee.

What does a Steering Committee do? Here is a list of Steering Committee Roles and Responsibilities:

• take responsibility for the project's feasibility, business plan and achievement of outcomes;
• ensure the project's scope aligns with the requirements of the stakeholder groups, and represent stakeholder interests in project deliberations;
• provide those directly involved in the project with guidance on project business issues, especially those which would compromise the success of the project;
• ensure effort and expenditure are appropriate to stakeholder expectations;
• Assist in the evaluation of project risks, and project risk management approaches;
• keep the project scope under control as emergent issues force changes to be considered;
• reconcile differences in opinion and approach, and resolve disputes arising from them.

Quite a tall order – Who in your organization has the skills to do all of this, and the time available?

One last thing – the steering committee members have to be committed to showing up for the meetings.