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Stakeholder Engagement is the effort by the Product Owner to communicate with all affected stakeholders in order to identify potential requirements and provide project status.

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Quick reference

Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder Engagement is the effort by the Product Owner to communicate with all affected stakeholders in order to identify potential requirements and provide project status.

When to Use Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder engagement is normally a major part of the Product Owner’s role prior to the initiation of Sprint cycles. From that time on it the stakeholder engagement consists of periodic updates.

Instructions

  • The Product Owner is the primary interface with stakeholders with respect to requirements and project performance. The Scrum Master will support the Product Owner when needed. Typically this is to explain the Agile/Scrum process to stakeholders and clarify the stakeholder’s role.
  • There can be both internal and external stakeholders. These will be people who are affected by the project results.
    • Customers who may purchase a product or service that is developed.
    • Users who will interface with product or service that is developed.
    • Internal organizations and departments who will assume operational responsibility and support of whatever is developed by the project.
    • Senior Management or business team that is relying on the project to implement a portion of business strategy and thereby yield business benefits.
  • Each of the stakeholders will likely have needs, wants, and requirements they would like the project to meet. The Product Owner must meet with each stakeholder to identify those needs, wants, and requirements.
  • The Product Owner documents the customer needs on a Story Card – both the Story and Demo Criteria that will be used to show that the Story capability has been fully completed.
  • The Product Owner is also making an assessment of the relative importance of each of the needs, wants, and requirements. This will allow the Product Owner to prioritize the Product Backlog once the list is complete.
    • Determine the impact if the Story is not done.
    • Determine the impact if the Story is only partially accomplished.
  • The Scrum Master will work with Senior Management to assign the Scrum Team and remove roadblocks, but with those exceptions, the Product Owner is the primary interface between the Scrum Team and the stakeholders. The Product Owner represents the Scrum Team to the stakeholders and the stakeholders to the Scrum Team.
  • Once a Sprint has started, most communication with the stakeholders goes through the Product Owner
    • Set expectations for which Stories are being addressed in the current Sprint.
    • Communicate status and invite to the Sprint Demo when appropriate.
    • If needed, assist the Scrum Master in stakeholder interactions to remove roadblocks.

 

Hints and Tips

  • In many ways the stakeholder engagement and stakeholder management activities for an Agile/Scrum project are similar to those for a traditional project. The primary difference is that virtually everything goes through the Product Owner. The stakeholders do not directly connect with Scrum Team members.
  • As with any stakeholder engagement activity, different stakeholders want a different level of involvement. Some want to hear about the status almost every day and others don’t want to hear about anything until the end. Learn your stakeholder’s preferred interaction pattern and do your best to work with it.
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  • 00:03 Hi, this is Ray Sheen.
  • 00:04 I'd like to talk about stakeholder engagement
  • 00:07 with respect to an Agile/Scrum Project.
  • 00:10 Let's start with stakeholder identification and
  • 00:14 who is or is not a stakeholder.
  • 00:16 In this regards,
  • 00:17 the Agile/Scrum Project is essentially the same as a traditional project.
  • 00:21 Stakeholders are those who are affected by the outcome of the project.
  • 00:25 This includes both internal and external stakeholders.
  • 00:28 Some obvious ones are customers who buy the product that the project creates or
  • 00:32 those who use the product or system that is created.
  • 00:35 In addition, there's almost always some internal organization that will assume
  • 00:39 operational control of whatever is created or developed by the project.
  • 00:43 And then there is Senior Management or the business team.
  • 00:46 They have a strategy that the project is helping to implement,
  • 00:48 and there is some expected benefit from completing the project.
  • 00:52 The Product Owner will be the primary interface with the stakeholders, at least,
  • 00:55 with respect to project requirements and performance.
  • 00:58 So that individual is usually taking the lead in identifying stakeholders.
  • 01:03 The Scrum Master, if they are experienced, will often be able to provide some
  • 01:07 guidance for the Product Owner in the identification of stakeholders.
  • 01:11 Once identified, the Product Owner must work with the stakeholders
  • 01:15 to get the project requirements.
  • 01:17 Here we begin to see differences between traditional and Agile/Scrum Projects.
  • 01:22 In traditional projects, the stakeholders often will issue a requirement
  • 01:25 specification or standard that the project team is expected to meet.
  • 01:29 With Agile/Scrum, the Product Owner meets with the stakeholder to try and
  • 01:34 understand their needs and wants.
  • 01:36 The Product Owner documents these needs and
  • 01:38 wants in Story Cards instead of specifications.
  • 01:41 This focuses the stakeholder on what they are trying to accomplish.
  • 01:45 Rather than letting them hide behind bureaucratic specifications,
  • 01:49 they must explain what they really need and
  • 01:51 how they will know when that level has been achieved.
  • 01:54 The Product Owner will eventually need to prioritize all the stories, so
  • 01:58 they also need to understand the importance of each stakeholder's needs.
  • 02:02 Of course, every stakeholder considers their needs and wants to be paramount, so
  • 02:06 the Product Owner needs to find a way for assessing the relative importance.
  • 02:10 The method I use for
  • 02:11 this is to ask several questions in the course of the discussion.
  • 02:15 First, I ask what happens if the project is unable to complete the activity and
  • 02:19 the need is not met.
  • 02:21 What will the stakeholder need to do instead?
  • 02:23 Then I also ask what happens if the activity is only partially completed?
  • 02:27 The Scrum Team gets some of the requirements met, but not all of it.
  • 02:31 The answers provide insight into the business impact and ultimately,
  • 02:35 the importance of each requirement.
  • 02:37 Once the requirements are set, someone will still need to manage the ongoing
  • 02:40 interactions and communication with the stakeholders.
  • 02:44 That someone is normally the Product Owner,
  • 02:46 they're the primary interface with stakeholders.
  • 02:49 As the Sprint starts,
  • 02:50 they will communicate what stories are in the Sprint Backlog.
  • 02:54 This is to set expectations.
  • 02:56 The stakeholder knows whether to expect any results from this Sprint.
  • 03:00 In addition, the Product Owner will normally be the one to answer any status
  • 03:03 questions during the Sprint and to invite the appropriate stakeholders to the Sprint
  • 03:08 demonstration at the end of the Sprint.
  • 03:10 The Product Owner will often work with the Scrum Master on the resolution of
  • 03:14 Roadblocks when the resolution requires stakeholder input or support.
  • 03:18 The Product Owner already has a relationship with the stakeholder,
  • 03:21 and the Scrum Master may not.
  • 03:23 The Product Owner often knows how best to communicate the urgency to
  • 03:27 each stakeholder.
  • 03:28 If the stakeholder has questions about the Agile/Scrum process, the Scrum Master will
  • 03:33 normally be the person to explain and coach the stakeholder.
  • 03:36 In particular, if the stakeholder must provide a person
  • 03:39 to be a member of the Scrum Team, then the Scrum Master will meet with
  • 03:42 the stakeholder to explain the Scrum Team role and guide them in member selection.
  • 03:46 We have said it before, the Scrum Team members do not interact with stakeholders
  • 03:51 except at the end of the Sprint in the Sprint demonstration.
  • 03:54 This insulates the Scrum Team from outside distractions and
  • 03:57 keeps them focused on completing as many stories as possible.
  • 04:01 The Product Owner has the toughest role with respect to stakeholders.
  • 04:05 They must wear multiple hats.
  • 04:07 They speak for the stakeholders when talking to the Scrum Team and
  • 04:10 they speak for the Scrum Team when talking to the stakeholders.
  • 04:14 A good Product Owner will be able to win the trust and confidence of both groups.
  • 04:18 A poor Product Owner will be viewed as partisan,
  • 04:21 taking the side against the other.
  • 04:24 And a really bad Product Owner becomes hated by everyone.
  • 04:28 Stakeholders are the reason for a project.
  • 04:32 If they didn't have a need or want, we wouldn't be doing the project.
  • 04:36 Stakeholder engagement is an important element of successful
  • 04:40 Agile/Scrum Projects.

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