Locked lesson.

Upgrade

About this lesson

Identifying stakeholders enables the project team to create a strategy for each that guides the communication and interaction with each stakeholder.

Quick reference

Stakeholder Identification

Identifying stakeholders enables the project team to create a strategy for each that guides the communication and interaction with each stakeholder.

When to use

At the time of project initiation, the stakeholders should be identified and their needs addressed within the project plan.  At the beginning of each phase, review the stakeholders to determine if they have changed or if your communication and interaction strategy needs to change for the new phase.

Instructions

  • List the direct stakeholders of the project (all that apply) – customers/users, senior management reviewing the project, functional managers providing resources for the project, project leader, and core team.
  • List the indirect stakeholders of the project (all that apply) – individuals or organizations affected by the project, regulatory bodies with oversight of project activities or results, community groups.
  • Record the stakeholders and their contact information in a Stakeholder Register.
  • Clarify the goal of each stakeholder in the register (this will be discussed in detail in another lesson) so as to focus on the communication and interactions.
  • Determine a strategy of interaction for each stakeholder.  This strategy will impact the definition of some of the project tasks in the project plan and the estimates and resources on those tasks.
  • Use this Stakeholder Register when developing your project communication plan.

Hints & tips

  • Brainstorm a large list of potential stakeholders.  Use the goal element of the register to narrow the list.  If a potential stakeholder has no goal with respect to the project, they probably are not a stakeholder.
  • Stakeholders frequently change over the life of a project, so update the register at the beginning of each phase.
  • If the project is small with only two or three stakeholders, the register does not add much value, but if the project is large it could easily have dozens of stakeholders and the register is invaluable.
Login to download
  • 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
  • 00:05 I'd like to talk with you about stakeholder identification and
  • 00:09 its importance on your project.
  • 00:12 The project management body of knowledge, the PMBOK Guide, tells us that
  • 00:16 stakeholders are individuals, groups, or organizations who may affect,
  • 00:21 be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or
  • 00:26 outcome of a project, program, or portfolio.
  • 00:29 Stakeholders are people who care or should care about the project.
  • 00:33 That's why we want to manage our interactions with them.
  • 00:36 Now I recognize you normally don't manage the stakeholders.
  • 00:39 In fact, often, they're the ones managing you.
  • 00:42 But we can manage our interactions with stakeholders.
  • 00:45 We'll manage the stakeholder relationship with the project.
  • 00:49 We can manage how we communicate with them, the frequency, and the topics.
  • 00:54 One of the reasons we need to proactively manage these interactions is that
  • 00:58 stakeholders change throughout the life of the project.
  • 01:01 Different stakeholders are engaged at different times.
  • 01:04 And even those who are engaged on the project will change their interests as
  • 01:09 the project progresses or as business circumstances change.
  • 01:13 Sometimes managing our interaction with stakeholders is referred to as working
  • 01:18 the politics of the organization.
  • 01:20 And there is an element of that.
  • 01:21 Part of stakeholder management is understanding who has power to
  • 01:26 affect your project and who does not.
  • 01:28 So let's address how we identify stakeholders that matter.
  • 01:31 We start by identifying the stakeholders who have direct involvement in some
  • 01:36 aspects of the project.
  • 01:38 There are several categories of individuals in this group.
  • 01:41 There are the people who will make decisions about aspects of the project.
  • 01:45 Some of these may be on your project team and
  • 01:48 some may be reviewers at oversight meetings.
  • 01:50 Team members are always stakeholders, but
  • 01:53 we will talk about them more in our sessions on teams and team building.
  • 01:57 On some projects, customers are major stakeholders,
  • 02:00 especially if they are paying for the project.
  • 02:02 Of course, there is senior management.
  • 02:05 These individuals are providing resources and reviewing the project progress.
  • 02:10 There may also be other functions providing resources, such as suppliers or
  • 02:14 people from other locations in your organization.
  • 02:17 In addition to these individuals who will be directly involved in some aspect of
  • 02:22 the project,
  • 02:23 there may be some additional stakeholders whose interactions you need to manage.
  • 02:28 This is a judgment call as to which ones to include.
  • 02:30 These are usually those who are affected by the project result but
  • 02:34 are not directly involved in the work on the project.
  • 02:37 This group may include community groups or regulatory bodies who have very strong
  • 02:42 ideas about what a successful project should or should not do.
  • 02:45 If there are only two or three stakeholders,
  • 02:48 managing communication is easy.
  • 02:51 But when there are many stakeholders I suggest you use a stakeholder register.
  • 02:55 According to the project management body of knowledge, PMBOK Guide,
  • 02:59 this is a project document including the identification, assessment, and
  • 03:04 classification of project stakeholders.
  • 03:06 It's just a simple table to help you manage the communication process.
  • 03:10 Start by listing all the stakeholders we just mentioned.
  • 03:14 Then we add their contact information.
  • 03:16 Typically, that would mean their email and phone number, but
  • 03:20 list whatever information you will use to contact them.
  • 03:23 I also list the stakeholders' goal or objective with respect to the project.
  • 03:26 We'll talk more about how to determine this in another session.
  • 03:30 The last column is the interaction strategy.
  • 03:33 There are a number of ways that you can use this column.
  • 03:36 I like to complete it using the stakeholder interaction cube that
  • 03:39 we will also discuss in another lesson.
  • 03:41 Identifying your stakeholders is the first step to managing your relationship
  • 03:46 with them.
  • 03:47 Knowing who they are allows you to plan and
  • 03:49 execute your project in a manner that keeps them supportive.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

PMI, PMP, CAPM and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Gift this course