Stakeholders Are People, Too!

Bill is President, Project Management Partners in Lexington, Mass., and is a consultant and trainer.

  ProjectsAtWork  

Project success depends greatly on how you manage stakeholders, so engage them in decision making and keep the lines of communication open.

One of my favorite comic strips features a harried customer service representative muttering: "If only these customers would leave me alone, I'd be able to get some work done around here!" I suspect that many project managers have uttered a similar complaint: "If only these stakeholders would get their priorities straight, we'd be able to make some real progress!"

There's no doubt about it: managing your stakeholders can be difficult. But it can be done, and it must be done if you want to maximize the degree of both real and perceived success on your projects.

Let's begin by defining the term—a stakeholder is an individual or organization whose interests may be affected by the project. Interests may be financial or non-financial, positive or negative, and may be affected during the project or upon completion. Most projects will have numerous stakeholders, so the first step in managing them is to know who they are. The following categories may help you to identify your stakeholders:

Creators — the individuals who actively participate in the work of the project. Creators include doers and managers, employees and contractors, part-timers and full-timers.

Funders &mdash…

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