When Stakeholders Don't Want To Plan
From the Voices on Project Management Blog
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Date
By Dave Wakeman
For me, planning is the secret sauce of almost every successful business—and definitely of every successful project. But while most project managers probably agree on that, not everyone else does. So how do we sell planning to an audience whose first reaction isn’t to lead with planning?
Here are a few ideas.
Lead with a discussion about outcomes. When I get stalled by people who don’t want to discuss planning as a strategic tool, I ask them about outcomes and what success is going to look like in this situation.
How does this help you get back to planning?
Well, it makes people think about the future. By doing that, they logically have to draw a plan together that’s going to help them get there. And this is a tool that is easy for you to use.
Ask about failures on similar projects. Just like with the discussion based on outcomes, you can overcome a lack of planning in projects by asking your stakeholders or sponsors about similar projects. Specifically, ask what some of the problem areas in previous projects were and how they were handled.
No one wants to make the same mistake twice. So by forcing your project stakeholders and sponsors to confront the reality of some of their past failures, you can automatically refocus them back onto planning. You can now direct the conversation to how to avoid having these issues arise again.
For you, that means being brave enough to ask about lessons learned during your initial conversations so that you can control the conversation if you are getting pushback on a thorough job of planning.
Find out about key stakeholders and other important people in the project’s success. This is a back door into finding out what these other people hope will be successful about your project.
Sometimes if you are under a lot of pressure on a project, you will discover that the sponsor hasn’t done a good job of accounting for all of the key stakeholders and may be missing something that is essential for one stakeholder. By asking about other stakeholders, you get a chance to refocus on where you are trying to get to and you have more control on pushing for planning.
You can easily do this in your projects by making sure to ask a simple question like, “Has everyone who is essential to the success of this project been asked for input?” This should get the conversation onto favorable footing for you.
What do you think? Am I onto something here? Or have you used other tactics to refocus your projects back onto planning when necessary?
By the way, I write a weekly newsletter that focuses on strategy, value, and performance. If you enjoyed this piece, you will really enjoy the weekly newsletter. Make sure you never miss it! Sign up here or send me an email at [email protected]!
Posted
by
David Wakeman
on: June 29, 2016 09:36 PM |
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Comments (8)
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Great layout - thank you!
Yes , that's right . Thanks for sharing your valuable insights . Identifying all key stakeholders and collecting their inputs are vital for the success for any project . It is important to discuss with them in advance about the benefits of planning in terms of cost ,scope, schedule and quality.Historical information from similar projects can be provided as a reference for the cost overruns or the project failures due to the lack of planning.
Karthik T
Senior Engineering Manager| Nike
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Sergio Luis Conte
Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations
Buenos Aires, Argentina
The point is: you have not discuss planning. Mainly, because planning is not an strategical tool. Strategical planning is an strategical tools which is quit diferent than planning. Nobody have to discuss planning. And in fact, stakeholders are not in charge to make a plan. The project manager is in charge to do that. So, a big mistake, is to tried to sell "planning".
Elena Wilson
Applications Systems Analyst Lead| University of Central Florida
Orlando, Fl, United States
Great article. Educating the stakeholders the importance of planning is the key to a project success. But it is the PM responsibility to put together a good project plan and collaborate with stakeholders.
BANDREVU NAGARAJU
Addl. General manager| Coastal Projects Ltd.
Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Planning is the essential part of the project. According to PMBOK guide, most processes occur in planning. Discussion with the high influence stakeholders is a good initiative for an effective planning.
Julia Cunningham
Manager Project Management| Battelle
Richland, Wa, United States
Planning of all sorts are important to project success.
Luis Branco
CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª
Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear David
Interesting is your perspective on the theme: "When Stakeholders Don't Want To Plan"
Thanks for sharing
Important points to remember:
"1. Lead with a discussion about outcomes
2. Ask about failures on similar projects
3. Find out about key stakeholders and other important people in the project’s success "
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