Question

scenario: Setting up (and deliver) a Birthday Party

Stakeholders - this includes anyone with a vested interest in your project (either they would benefit, be neutral or in opposition to your project). Give me one person/category that would benefit, one that would be neutral and one that would be in opposition and why!.

Schedule - Provide me with 4 KEY milestones in your project? Milestones are single points in time...0 duration...and that is a point of measurement where something starts or finishes or you are evaluating progress.

Answer 1

A stakeholder is an individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project.”

Put more simply, a stakeholder is a person, a group of people, or an organization that has an interest in your project or is affected by its outcome, directly or indirectly. It may include project team members, project sponsors, organization members, and people outside of your organization.

Your project’s success depends on the satisfaction of your stakeholders. Sometimes, you have completed the project; the client has accepted all deliverables. However, the project is not successful because some of your stakeholders are not happy.

Stakeholder satisfaction is the sign of successful project completion.

Now, you might be wondering who the stakeholders are and whom you have to satisfy for the successful completion of your project.

Project stakeholders can be grouped into two categories:

1. Internal Stakeholders
2. External Stakeholders

Internal Stakeholders

Internal stakeholders are within the organization. For example:

• A sponsor
• An internal customer or client (if the project is for an internal need of an organization)
• A project team
• A program manager
• A portfolio manager

• External stakeholders are outside the organization. For example:

• An external customer or client (if the project is a result of a contract)
• An end user of the project’s outcome
• A supplier
• Subcontractors
• The government

• A positive stakeholder sees the project’s positive side and benefits from its success. These stakeholders help the project management team to complete the project successfully.

  On the other hand, a negative stakeholder see the outcome and may be negatively impacted by the project or its outcome. This type of stakeholder is less likely to contribute to the success of the project.

  Many professionals think that competitors are also negative stakeholders as your project  

  affects them as well. Please note that competitors are not negative stakeholders because you have to manage your stakeholders proactively to complete your project successfully, but you do not manage or fulfill your competitors’ requirements.

  The public can be a stakeholder, as we have seen in the earlier example. In this case, it would be impractical to manage the whole population, so you will consult their public figures or leaders to understand their requirements and expectations.

• Stakeholders are individuals or a group of individuals who are affected by your project or have an interest in it. It is important to identify stakeholders at the beginning of the project and develop a strategy to manage them and their requirements. This will help you complete the project with minimal obstruction because getting them involved with your project will render support you need it.