You must have learned by now that project stakeholders can make or break a project’s success. As a project manager, it is important that you know who they are and what they expect. Stakeholders come in varied forms – clients, teammates, functional leaders, account directors, operations teams, vendors, sponsors, and so on. The internal stakeholders are more directly involved with the day-to-day operations. However, their external counterparts can also steer the future of the project. In this article at Simplilearn, find out how these stakeholders control your project’s future.
Requirement of Project Stakeholders
Who Are the Project Stakeholders?
Do you know who your stakeholders are? If not, that is the first thing you must find out at the very beginning of the project lifecycle.
How Do They Impact You?
Stakeholders get involved in the project because they have specific expectations of your project’s outcome. If you take care of their interests, you will get more support. However, you must control their influence to avoid rework or scope creep.
Why Are They Necessary?
The stakeholders provide you with opportunities within the project. Additionally, diversity of opinions allows you to have a 360-degree view of the project’s potential. When you respect and manage their requirements, all will be in agreement with the project outcome.
How Do You Interact with Them?
Most project teams have members from various geographic locations. So, you must set up a communication protocol right at the start of the project lifecycle. This way, you can have seamless interaction and handover of tasks when required.
Must There Be a Communication Format?
Yes. No two project stakeholders will prefer the same mode of communication. Some might choose emails, while others would want an instant voice call. Some others would like both. Identifying the communication format is as important as recognizing who are the stakeholders.
Are There Benefits?
Involving the stakeholders from the project initiation phase is necessary to keep a transparent and professional relationship. You can then control their expectations from contract creation and statement of work (SOW) to project charter mapping.
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