Roll Call

We Asked the Project Management Community: What

Steps Do You Take To Identify and Prioritize All
Stakeholders at the Start of a Project?
 
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ARTICLE Stakeholder Engagement 1 November 2018
PM Network
How to cite this article:
Roll Call: We Asked the Project Management Community: What Steps Do You Take To Identify
and Prioritize All Stakeholders at the Start of a Project? (2018). PM Network, 32(11),
20–21.
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ISTOCKPHOTO
We asked the project management community:
What steps do you take to identify and prioritize all stakeholders at the start of
a project?
OPPORTUNITY TO IDENTIFY
What steps do you take to identify all stakeholders at the start of a project?
Share your tips on the PMI Project, Program and Portfolio Management
LinkedIn Group.

ANALYZE IMPACT

“I like to start by creating a list of all impacted areas or departments, internal

and external. Then, I add names of stakeholders as I meet with various
leaders. Even if I think I've identified everyone, at the end of every
conversation I ask, ‘Is there anyone else you'd recommend I connect with?’
For prioritization, I use a digital app for notes on each stakeholder, such as
personal information, likes and dislikes, and anything else—positive and
negative—that might help build strong engagement with them.”
—Jason Orloske, PMP, chief of staff, Dakota Medical Foundation, Fargo,
North Dakota, USA

STUDY SCOPE

“If you haven't received an in-depth debriefing on the project, read the scope
document for the project. It likely will either explicitly list stakeholders or help
you deduce who the main stakeholders will be, such as types of end users
with an IT project. If someone else wrote the scope document, talk with that
person to ensure you're on the same page in terms of which stakeholders are
most critical. As humans, we are prone to make assumptions for sake of
efficiency, so you need an intentional mindset and process to reliably identify
stakeholders.”
—Chris Schleich, engineering manager, Enterprise Automation, Irvine,
California, USA

STRUCTURED QUESTIONS

“From my perspective, identifying all the stakeholders feels like a journey of

discovery, following leads and being a detective. Over the years, I've kept
track of the questions that are most helpful in revealing the various aspects of
a project, including stakeholders. While these questions and the overall
process can vary with every project, I always make sure to seek out people in
the organization's enabling areas to ensure I've captured all the right
stakeholders. These areas can vary, but they typically include purchasing (can
reveal suppliers), legal (can reveal regulators or compliance entities), audit, IT,
marketing, governance and human resources. The biggest challenge that
disrupts any process is a lack of adequate time. But in the face of urgency,
you have to remind yourself at all times that successful stakeholder analysis is
crucial to establishing solid relationships, trust and buy-in.”
—Jan Schiller, PMP, partner and chief project officer, Berkshire Consulting
LLC, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

MATRIX MONITOR

“I use the enterprise architecture as a guide to identifying and creating a

stakeholder registry. I create a matrix to classify and prioritize each
stakeholder's influence and impact on the project. Influence is defined by how
much each stakeholder might modify the decisions of any other involved in the
process. No matter what type of array is used, I try to classify them in these
categories:
■ Keep satisfied: Pay attention to their requirements but don't bore them with
constant communication.
■ Manage closely: Involve these key stakeholders throughout the process of
creating a solution.
■ Monitor: Have them always in mind because they can change classification
through the process of creating a solution.
■ Keep informed: Share information with them and record their needs in order
to reduce stakeholder anxiety.”
—Sergio Luis Conte, PhD, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA, PMP, project and program
management senior supervisor, project management office global trade
services, PepsiCo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

DIVE INTO DOCUMENTATION

“Always start with documentation to identify key stakeholders. For me, the two
major sources are the business case and the benefits management plan. But
the communications management plan is a source of knowledge about the
project's stakeholders, because it indicates a hierarchy for stakeholders that
you can help use to prioritize engagement. The stakeholder registers from
similar previous projects and the organization's lessons learned repository
definitely help identify and prioritize stakeholders. Finally, consider the social,
technical, economic and political context and consequences of a project to
help reveal any stakeholders you might have overlooked.”
—Afshin Montazami, engineering director consultant, Energy Industries
Engineering and Design, Tehran, Iran

USE GOVERNANCE FORUMS

“We utilize governance forums with representatives from across our enterprise
prior to final chartering. This allows for the validation of and/or the identification
of additional stakeholders. The secondary benefit of this process is that the
organization as a whole learns who it needs to include in the future.”
—Heather Vickers, senior continuous process improvement analyst, Defense
Logistics Agency, Arlington, Virginia, USA
Expanding Engagement
As the range of stakeholders in the business world widens, organizations—
and project teams—must ensure strong engagement at all levels.