What is a Stakeholder?
Simply put, a stakeholder is anyone with interest in the project. A stakeholder is anyone that is positively or negatively affected by the project. This can be a broad range of people, but most closely to the project it is normally your customer, employees, suppliers, and regulatory agencies.
Why is Stakeholder Management important?
To ensure project success (business success), you need to have everyone marching to the same beat. You must manage customer expectations, juggle subs, and keep the team informed. Everyone on the team needs to be in alignment, working towards the same goals and deadlines. Just ONE person can derail a project. All it takes is one person to miss a deadline, forget a feature, etc. It is important to manage stakeholders so they don't assume things, overreact, or become disgruntled. This is not only important in completing your business transaction - it is vital to your reputation.
What is Stakeholder Analysis?
Stakeholder analysis is where you evaluate an individual's power and interest so as to rank them in priority. Your communication needs and management efforts should be tailored accordingly. See example below. People with High Interest and High Power must be managed closely. For example, your customer needs to be involved in regular communication so you can manage their expectations. It is up to you to proactively make sure they understand what they can afford, what they will be getting, how long it will take, and communicating any changes along the way.
What are Stakeholder Management solutions?
Stakeholders rely on effective, straight-forward communication. This must be done on a regular basis. The best way to ensure effective communication is to utilize a standard template to be sent out on a set day of the week each week. Utilize our Project Update template here.
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