Project Stakeholder Management Whats, Whens, and Whys

by Project Management Process Group

1. Identify Stakeholders

• WHAT Identify Stakeholders Is. Identify Stakeholders implies creating a stakeholder register that includes all of the key stakeholders and describe their interests, interdependencies, and potentially positive or negative impacts on the project.
• WHY Identify Stakeholders Is Important. Identifying stakeholders and understanding their needs are critical to meet their expectations and, consequently, to the success of the project.
• WHEN Identify Stakeholders Is Executed. The stakeholder register is a living document – stakeholders join and leave the project or their levels of interest and influence change – and, even if stakeholder identification occurs at the beginning of the project, the process continues throughout its life. Likewise, the stakeholder analysis and strategy are reviewed on a very regular basis throughout the project and updated as needed.

2. Plan Stakeholder Engagement

• WHAT Plan Stakeholder Engagement Is. Plan Stakeholder Engagement implies identifying how to effectively engage stakeholders.
• WHY Plan Stakeholder Engagement Is Important. Critical factor for the overall success of a project, a project manager plans carefully upfront the stakeholder involvement in all aspects of the project.
• WHEN Plan Stakeholder Engagement Is Executed. The Plan Stakeholder Engagement process is performed early in the project’s life cycle and repeated iteratively then after, not to run the risk of marginalizing and alienating stakeholders.

3. Manage Stakeholder Engagement

• WHAT Manage Stakeholder Engagement Is. Manage Stakeholder Engagement implies executing the stakeholder management plan to meet stakeholders needs, resolving their issues, and making sure they remain interested and active in the project.
• WHY Manage Stakeholder Engagement Is Important. The Manage Stakeholder Engagement process ensures that stakeholders are happy with the project, properly involved, and have a voice on the project. As a matter of fact, a project manager capitalizes on stakeholders satisfaction to assure project success.
• WHEN Manage Stakeholder Engagement Is Executed. A project manager seeks to capture, promote, and enforce stakeholder engagement and expectations throughout the life of the project, from very early until it is closed.

4. Monitor Stakeholder Engagement

• WHAT Monitor Stakeholder Engagement Is. Monitor Stakeholder Engagement implies comparing stakeholder management plan against actual stakeholder engagement to investigate variances and change the plan accordingly to ensure the stakeholders’ continued engagement in the project.
• WHY Monitor Stakeholder Engagement Is Important. Just as a project manager cannot control stakeholders, Project Stakeholder Management can deviate from the plan. The management of stakeholders level of engagement compensates for this distortion and can save the project from failure.
• WHEN Monitor Stakeholder Engagement Is Executed. A project manager monitors the overall levels of stakeholder engagement from time to time throughout the project’s life cycle after the stakeholder management plan has been developed and executed.

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