What is a Steering Committee?

A steering committee is a must and is formed and manned before the project is even outsourced. Consists of sponsor, high end users and actors, the project committee. The reporting on the  project is often done by the PM.  They are generally formed just after a project brief is circulated as a 2 bullet  point at the top level where an technology solution is envisaged for a Business problem.

Steering   committees review feasibility issues, implementation, budget v/s actual factors, visit reports presented by the PM on external factors affecting the project. They act on these factors if within their control, would look and have roles in the Risk Management and Contingency issues.  The best material to collect and read on Steering committee and their roles is PRINCE2 methodologies (PRojects IN Controlled Environment guidelines from  the .uk sites).  There is some good material included in CMM Integrated 2.0 guidelines as well. It is very poorly drafted under CMM version 1.

They appoint user=side fulltime coordinators, or entire departments, or even training facilities from an IT vendor on new technogies, control budgets, form   teams to feed you Acceptance Test plans and data - so ensure they are in your communication loop, and at no point of time keep them confused or worried, or not adequately informed of project status in pure business and financial terms - they can  really make you sweat if they are not well informed even in a cool A/c Room as the first man who would talk to you after a really bad meeting is your company M D.

If u have good trained and experience senior managers who can manage and communicate well with the Steering committee, and manage a group of project managers who have to deliver their technicalese in terms that show solutions and progress to the initial business problem which the SC is managing, your company will have this customer for at least three or four years.

The only rules of engagement with steering committees is business etiquette and proper business communication with regard to budgets, quality, deliverables, timeliness, schedules without technicalese..

ENSURE YOUR SEPG IS DESIGNED TO SATISFY ALL REQUIREMENTS OF THIS COMMITTE AND IS NOT CONFINED TO THE ODC. Steering Committees report to powerful entities in the user organization, and can have   your own company's M D sitting as a member to oversee project  progress as a viewer, but an active participant at quarterly or semi annual reviews.

 

Currently, the only book I can recommend to you to build overall skills in handling a steering committee is Mark McComark "what they dont teach u at Harvard ...", the rest is investing in yourself to build good personality and skills, and appreciation of cultural factors on issues relating to value, time, communications, body language, social skills in non-Indian environments across the globe.