Stakeholder management is another critical process for a successful project. However, we always mismanage or underestimate it. Most of the time, we only consider our key stakeholders when we talk about project stakeholders. Yet, the stakeholder has a broader meaning than the core project team. A stakeholder can be anyone, a group, or an organization that directly or indirectly is impacted by a project. For example, if we share sources with other program managers, we also need to consider them as our stakeholders. As you see, other project managers have nothing to do directly with our programs; however, because of them, our plans may be delayed.
The best way to understand our stakeholders is by creating a stakeholder register. In this way, we can document and discuss as a team and decide who we need to include in our stakeholder register. The idea is identifying the shareholders who have high influence and interest in our project and what their expectations are. Also, our stakeholder’s interest and influence may not always be positive, so our goal should be to be aware of all the stakeholders and their impact on our success.
For many projects, customers and management are the most important stakeholders because they are the ones who can provide requirements, constraints, milestones, and funds. Also, throughout the project lifetime, we may have many short term stakeholders for different phases of projects that help us to complete our projects on time. Some of these stakeholders may not be even fully aware of their impact on programs, but without them, our projects can not be completed.
One of the most critical lessons learned I have learned from my projects so far: The more I engage and involve stakeholders, the more I reduce and uncover risks on our project. For this reason, weekly meetings with key stakeholders are essential because these meetings can help us to see misalignment early in the programs and prevent possible delays.
The best way to understand our stakeholders is by creating a stakeholder register. In this way, we can document and discuss as a team and decide who we need to include in our stakeholder register. The idea is identifying the shareholders who have high influence and interest in our project and what their expectations are. Also, our stakeholder’s interest and influence may not always be positive, so our goal should be to be aware of all the stakeholders and their impact on our success.
For many projects, customers and management are the most important stakeholders because they are the ones who can provide requirements, constraints, milestones, and funds. Also, throughout the project lifetime, we may have many short term stakeholders for different phases of projects that help us to complete our projects on time. Some of these stakeholders may not be even fully aware of their impact on programs, but without them, our projects can not be completed.
One of the most critical lessons learned I have learned from my projects so far: The more I engage and involve stakeholders, the more I reduce and uncover risks on our project. For this reason, weekly meetings with key stakeholders are essential because these meetings can help us to see misalignment early in the programs and prevent possible delays.
Last but not least, we need to pay attention to all our other stakeholders for a successful project because each stakeholder’s action matters. If our project is a jigsaw puzzle to complete it, we need all the pieces in place. And needless to say, it is always small pieces that make the big picture.
I’m a Project Manager with a deep passion for both professional and personal growth. Designing and building the next generation of vehicles is incredibly rewarding, but it comes with its challenges—especially for someone as emotionally invested as I am!