Back to PM Basics (Part 3): Stakeholder Management and the Triple Constraint

Following 20 years at a large Canadian telecommunications firm, Bruce established the project management consulting firm Solutions Management Inc (SMI). Since 1999, he has provided contract project/program management services, been a source for project management support personnel and created/delivered courses to over 7,000 participants in Canada, the United States and England.

  Cost Management   New Practitioners   Schedule Management   Scope Management   Stakeholder Management  

This is the third article in a series that helps build a foundation of project management knowledge. In Part 1, readers were introduced to the fundamentals of project management. In Part 2, the project life cycle was introduced and the importance of a project charter was explained. In Part 3, we explore stakeholder management along with the triple constraint.

Project Stakeholder Management
The goal of any project is to satisfy key stakeholders. The question should be, “What is a stakeholder and what is meant by key stakeholder?”

1. What is a stakeholder? A stakeholder can be simply defined as an individual or group that has an interest in a project. Interest can suggest they are impacted by the project either negatively or positively. The stakeholder may not be happy with the intended outcome of the project, or they could very much be looking forward to the desired change.

Interest can also mean someone who could have an impact on the project. These people might be technical resources, people with special expertise or vendors who are actively involved in project delivery. They may also be providing the funding for a project or other internal resources to support it.

Additionally, stakeholders may be perceived to influence the work. Influence can refer to leaders/managers of technical teams working on the project, as well as outside parties such as …

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