I Care About Project Stakeholders, How About You?

managing stakeholders

First-time project managers are eager to implement their own ideas and manage their people to successfully complete their project. What they soon find out is that project success depends on the cooperation of a wide range of individuals(stakeholders), many of whom do not directly report to them. For example, during the course of a system…

Gain Perspective: Identify Project Stakeholders (Project Sponsor)

project sponsor

Stakeholder roles: Project Sponsor Many projects are organizational anomalies. They cross department and corporate boundaries; they staff up for short periods, then disband; they may span a portion of a budget cycle while drawing funding from multiple groups within a company. The temporary, ad-hoc nature of projects can create major problems for project managers because…

Gain Perspective: Identify Project Stakeholders (The Customer)

customer

Stakeholder roles: The Customer Whenever a project exists, somebody will be paying for it. And whoever pays usually gets the first and last word on product description, budget, and the criteria by which success will be measured. Although other stakeholders may try to squeeze in extra requirements, the final say on the product will come…

Gain Perspective: Identify Project Stakeholders (Project Manager and Team)

project manager and project team

Stakeholder roles: Project Manager What does a project manager contribute to the project? Magic, or, more precisely, practical magic. Just as a symphony conductor directs the orchestra to bring out the magic in the music, the project manager must keep all the disparate groups in a project moving in harmony. Whether he or she is…

Gain Perspective: Identify Project Stakeholders (Functional Management)

functional management

Stakeholder roles: Functional Management Working productively with the company’s functional management is important to the success of any project. “Management,” in this case, refers to functional management, also known as line management. These can be department managers, first-level supervisors, or executive vice presidents. With the exception of a project-oriented organization, functional managers are responsible for…

How To Define Projects and Get Your Stakeholders On The Same Page

define projects

How do you define projects? Who is responsible for what? Who has authority? What are our goals? How do we communicate? In most organizations, these questions were answered long ago; the unique nature of projects, however, means that all of these questions have to be addressed each time a project begins. How they are answered…