Listening to Stakeholders

One of the most important parts of managing a project is making sure that all of the stakeholders buy in or are at least supportive of the project. The problem is Stakeholders change often and the people making decisions may not be the same people sitting in the room when you finish the project. In fact, no one may be left when you finish from initial group of stakeholders.

As the person coordinating the project the most important thing is to listen to everyone even before you get everyone to sit together in a room. If one of the stakeholders hasn't been listened to early enough you could face adoption problems later one. You could also face thousands of additional costs related to customizations that could have been addressed earlier in the process.

Here is one strategy to engage stakeholders and help them support you through the lifecycle of the project.

1. Meet with each stakeholder individually
Ask them questions, learn about their processes, learn about their work arounds.

2. Meet with users of the systems even if they aren't making the decisions
They often understand the systems better

3. Find a product that will meet as many of the needs possible.

4. When presenting options for the decision
Present both what the systems do and address the needs that are not going to be met. Address how you plan on addressing those needs or why that need will no longer be relevant with the new system in place.