Dear PM Advisor. Oct 15, 2013

Dear PM Advisor,

Last week 'Ignorant in California' asked what stakeholders were. I defined the term and how to identify them but didn't explain what to do about stakeholders. In this post I will go over the next step in dealing with stakeholders: Stakeholder Management. 

Once you have your list of stakeholders, you should get together with your team, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, and fill out this grid:

Power Interest Grid:

You do this behind closed doors and hide the results from the stakeholders because you don't want the VP Human Resources to find out that you consider his power to be minimal. It's a simple job to fill it out. Write the stakeholders names on post-its and move it around the grid until your team agrees where they stand. Then manage them accordingly.

Nex tthing to do is come up with a communications matrix. Here's an example from my novel in progress. You list your stakeholders on one axis and your types of communications on the other axis. Then visit each of the stakeholders, explain your project, show the different forms of communications you will be putting out and ask them three questions:

1. Which of these communications do you want?
2. How often do you want them?
3. In what media would you like them? (Verbal, face-to-face, electronic, paper, etc.)

D = daily, I = as issued, Q= quarterly, W = weekly

You'll have to either color code or put a slash through each box to indicate the media or frequency of receiving communications.

Then do what you promised. 90% of a Prokject Manager's job is communication. Make sure you do this right.

Good luck,

Dear PM Advisor.

Send your questions to Bruce@RoundTablePM.com