Concepts
Theories and practices from PMI prove that identifying stakeholders should be the foundation of stakeholder engagement. Stakeholders can include customers, users, management, investors, regulators, other teams affected by the project, members of project team, and some others.
PMI recognizes a process of stakeholder identification:
- Identify all potential stakeholders through brainstorming, reviewing project documents etc.
- Identify the potential impact or support each stakeholder could generate
- Classify stakeholders’ influence, enforceability and interest
- Understand stakeholders’ key interests and expectations
- Record stakeholder identification information in the stakeholder register.
Unlike the traditional waterfall process, Agile methodologies advocate for stakeholders’ continuous interaction with the team, which can widen the scope of identifying stakeholders.
Engaging The Stakeholders
PMI-ACP exam relies on Agile principles that stress the need for customer satisfaction through continuous software delivery. This means project team need to keep stakeholders involved and engaged throughout the process.
Here are few practices tailored from PMI and Agile methodologies for engaging stakeholders:
- Regular Communication: Keep stakeholders in the loop with frequent updates, changes, and challenges. Use face-to-face conversations wherever possible as it’s the most effective way of conveying information(Constant collaboration is key agile principle)
- Involve Stakeholders in Decision Making: It’s always optimal to involve the key stakeholders in Sprint Reviews or decision-making process to make them feel valued and enhance their commitment.
- Provide Regular Deliverables: Instead of giving nothing until the final product, Agile advocates for having deliverables after each iteration to keep stakeholders engaged and aware.
Periodic Reviews
Periodic reviews with stakeholders are a key aspect of the stakeholder engagement strategy. It should cover checking in on stakeholder’s interests, their needs, expectations and confirmation of the benefits realized from the project’s output.
Following a systematic pattern for these reviews can be fruitful:
- Feedback: It’s important to understand stakeholders’ viewpoint about the project’s progress. This can help in unearthing unseen challenges, rectifying mistakes and meeting their demands more precisely.
- Performance Reporting: Regularly share the project’s performance metrics with stakeholders to keep them abreast of the progress and achievements.
- Stakeholder Satisfaction Surveys: Conducting such surveys helps in understanding how effective the stakeholder engagement plans have been, and what changes need to be undertaken.
Conclusion
The empowered and engaged stakeholders can steer any project to success, and hence this approach is valued highly in PMI-ACP. It’s significant for anyone studying for the PMI-ACP exam to get a good understanding and practical experience of identifying and engaging stakeholders effectively. This continued engagement not only leads to better project outcomes, but also ensures a more collaborative and respectful team environment.
Answer the Questions in Comment Section
True or False: It is not necessary to engage stakeholders periodically, once a project has reached the implementation phase.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: To ensure a project’s success, it is crucial to engage stakeholders at every stage, not just during initiation or planning. Their interests may change, new issues could arise, and therefore, reviews must be performed periodically.
A stakeholder’s interest in a project can be defined as:
- The resources they are willing to invest in the project
- The money they will make from the project
- The degree to which they care about the outcome of the project
- The amount of time they are willing to devote to the project
Answer: c) The degree to which they care about the outcome of the project
Explanation: Stakeholders’ interest is their concern about the project’s outcome. It is measured by their level of concern and active involvement in project-related decisions.
It is the project manager’s responsibility to ensure that the team is knowledgeable about stakeholders’ interests and needs. True or False?
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: One of the project manager’s roles is to facilitate communication and ensure the team understands all factors that impact the project, including stakeholder’s interests and needs.
Multiple-answer question: Which among the following are effective ways to engage stakeholders?
- Regular communication
- Creating a stakeholder map
- Seeking their feedback and addressing their concerns
- Ignoring their queries
Answer: a) Regular communication, b) Creating a stakeholder map, c) Seeking their feedback and addressing their concerns
Explanation: Regular communication, stakeholder mapping, and addressing concerns are effective ways to engage stakeholders. Ignoring their queries could lead to misunderstandings and project failure.
Stakeholders’ interests and needs should be identified and understood only at the beginning of a project. True or False?
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Stakeholders’ interests and needs should be understood and addressed throughout the entire project cycle, as they may change over time.
Which is NOT a reason for conducting periodic stakeholder reviews?
- Identify changes in stakeholders’ interests and needs
- Recognize new stakeholders
- Determine the project timeline
- Address any stakeholder concerns
Answer: c) Determine the project timeline
Explanation: Conducting periodic stakeholder reviews ensures alignment with stakeholders’ interests, allows the identification of new stakeholders, and addresses any concerns they may have. However, it is not directly connected to determining the project timeline.
An empowered business stakeholder is one who has:
- Control over project budget
- Decision-making authority
- Information about the project
- All of the above
Answer: d) All of the above
Explanation: An empowered business stakeholder has control over resources, decision-making authority, and complete information about the project, enabling them to influence the project outcome.
The responsibility of ensuring that the team is knowledgeable about stakeholders’ interests and needs falls solely on the project manager. True or False?
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Although the project manager plays a crucial role, it is the shared responsibility of the entire team to ensure they are knowledgeable about stakeholders’ interests and needs.
It is not necessary to conduct periodic reviews with stakeholders who have minor interest or low influence over the project. True or False?
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Even stakeholders with minor interest or low influence could provide valuable perspectives or identify issues that might not be apparent to those directly involved in the project.
What might be an outcome of not engaging stakeholders effectively?
- Delays in project completion
- Misalignment with stakeholder interest
- Project success
- Both a and b
Answer: d) Both a and b
Explanation: Failing to engage stakeholders regularly may lead to delays and misalignment in the project, potentially jeopardizing project success.
Great blog post! I learned a lot about the importance of periodic reviews for stakeholder engagement.
Using periodic reviews to understand stakeholder needs has been key in our projects. Anyone else agree?
I think frequent reviews can sometimes be overkill. What’s a good balance?
Thanks for the insights in this post.
How do you handle stakeholders who are not very responsive during these reviews?
I appreciate this post; it has added a lot to my understanding of stakeholder engagement in agile projects.
Periodic reviews ensure that the team is always on the same page with the stakeholders.
This blog is helpful for anyone new to managing stakeholders.