In a small company where many individuals overlap project teams, I have two questions:
PLEASE help a 'non project manager' with a few project questions:
1) Must a stakeholder attend every project meeting - even when there may not be an action item on the agenda for him? For example, in a product development meeting where the IT person may only need to effect change at the end of the project, is it permissible to have him start attending project meetings when his expertise is needed?
2) How do you determine who needs to be on a project team? With a staff of approximately 80 whereby only a handful are mid managers and up, some managers are asked to sit on every project whereas some want to be included because they like to know what is happening in the organization. Saving Changes...
Renee RobinsonPMO Director| C2GOrlando, FL, United States
Stakeholder identification can be a very tricky game.
1. Yes, and No. I would suggest you hold an initial high level kickoff meeting. IE - This is the scope, we anticipate needing IT support and interaction here. Address the Stakeholders and ask them if there are any other touch points aside from the one you have assumed at which they will need to be informed, and how best to keep them informed - this could be as simple as an email - or notes from your weekly/monthly team meetings. If you don't keep your stakeholder informed with at least push notifications - you could find they cannot accommodate you or make a last minute change that can derail your project.
2. What does your Sponsor say? How about Senior Management? This is an organizational issue that needs to be resolved. More hands do not necessarily make less work - in this case they can increase your work load.
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1 reply by anonymous
May 19, 2017 12:08 PM
anonymous
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Renee, thank you for the response. We do not have an executive sign off on project charters, but I am seeing that this is critically important.
Can you recommend an quick reads on the basics of project management? The challenge for us is the need to drive projects without having a designated Project Manager on staff. The PM role is assumed by the department head in most cases. We are running into problems driving successful projects due to a lack of proper training.
Anon:
Anon:
Aren't you the PM? Make sure you define your role because you should know your level of authority.
Planning is an important part of setting your project up for success. You should have the following:
Project Charter; sponsor approved
Basic communications plan; sponsor approved
Approved core project team, sponsors and key stakeholders; initial list that will change as you move forward with your project
Basic high level schedule
RACI Matrix
If you don't have these your not ready to launch a kickoff meeting yet. I'd get with you sponsor, core team and flush the answer to your questions. Your culture may dictate who attends meetings but you and you sponsor should sit down to review these questions. Saving Changes...
With the info given I agree with Renee.
Define your stakeholders and the strategy for them.
And for 2nd question involve your Sponsor and senior management Saving Changes...
Deepesh RammoorthyICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood ServiceTarneit, Vic, Australia
Identify Stakeholders is a key Project Initiation process which identifies the stakeholders for your project and an output of this is your Stakeholder Register
Plan Stakeholder Management is a Key PMBOK Process where one of the tools and techniques is Stakeholder Requirements Analysis . Essentially this means capturing the information needs of your stakeholders - What information, how frequently they need it , How much power, influence, interest, they have in your project.
Stakeholder Register also happens to be the key input to the Plan Communications Management Process of PMBOK. When you need to know what communication methods and technologies you will use to contact the stakeholders and keep them informed of your project progress.
Off course the Communications Management Plan that comes out of the Plan Communications Management will then determine how often and in what format you communicate with the stakeholders
Therefore you should be in the driver's seat when it comes to deciding what the composition of your status meetings in your project is going to be
If you are not a Project Manager but a team member who has noticed how stakeholders are wasting their time attending meetings where they are not required, its best to inform the Project Manager to add this to the issue log. Guess what .....?? Issue Log just happens to be an input to Control Communications process. Saving Changes...
Know your stakeholders. It also depends on the environment, and the project size.
Involve high level stakeholders (sponsor, senior management) at key meetings. At project level you can involve team members. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Agree with Anupam here. There are many different variables that just cannot be accounted for here. Decision of who and when is based on SH analysis, organization, project itself, meeting type, defined expectations/communication plan.
On an aside, working as a transparent PM, statuses, notes, etc., would be kept in a centralized location accessible by all SH at anytime. Saving Changes...
Seema SonkiyaHead Business Analysis Practices, PMI-PBA trainer| iZenBridge Consultancy Private LimitedJaipur, Rajasthan, India
Just to add, when you do a meeting, the involvement of stakeholders dependent on many factors - Like what kind of decisions are going to take and who has the authority to take the deciisons? Who has the knowledge to make the quality decisions? What is the deciosn making approach the projects is using? - It could be a consensus based or it could be taken by a people who has authority for the final call.
There is no blank and white answer - who needs to be involved, sometime your culture plays a significant role - if the environment is informal - contirbution from each partciupant becomes important but in case of stringent envionement, only few people make the decisions and others are expected to follow. Saving Changes...
John AogonProject Manager| IBM UgandaKampala, Uganda
The way I see, it depends on what the meeting is about. If it is a project kick-off meeting you would like to involve as many stakeholders as possible and probably project closure.
The rule of the thumb is to involve only the right attendees for each meeting. Only those who have a need to know, who will be kept engaged in the meeting. If you have "bored" and idle attendees in a meeting then you run the risk of the meeting getting out control. Refer to your communication plan all the time to check when, what and who needs to be involved for each meeting.
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1 reply by Mia Perez
May 19, 2017 12:02 PM
Mia Perez
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Thank you, John. I am understanding that you are saying in a project team of A, B, C, D, and E, meeting ONE may only include persons A, B, and C. Then, meeting TWO might include only persons C, D, and E. Correct?
In the example above, how are you ensuring that all members of the project team are kept abreast of project outcomes? I'm assuming this would be by excellent notes in a centralized location. Correct?
What if during meeting ONE dialogue ensues that would benefit from insights of a stakeholder not present? Wouldn't it make sense to just include everyone in every meeting?
I appreciate all of the insights. Thank you.
Saving Changes...
Mia PerezCAO| Louisiana FCUCovington, La, United States
May 19, 2017 10:58 AM
Replying to John Aogon
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The way I see, it depends on what the meeting is about. If it is a project kick-off meeting you would like to involve as many stakeholders as possible and probably project closure.
The rule of the thumb is to involve only the right attendees for each meeting. Only those who have a need to know, who will be kept engaged in the meeting. If you have "bored" and idle attendees in a meeting then you run the risk of the meeting getting out control. Refer to your communication plan all the time to check when, what and who needs to be involved for each meeting.
Thank you, John. I am understanding that you are saying in a project team of A, B, C, D, and E, meeting ONE may only include persons A, B, and C. Then, meeting TWO might include only persons C, D, and E. Correct?
In the example above, how are you ensuring that all members of the project team are kept abreast of project outcomes? I'm assuming this would be by excellent notes in a centralized location. Correct?
What if during meeting ONE dialogue ensues that would benefit from insights of a stakeholder not present? Wouldn't it make sense to just include everyone in every meeting?
I appreciate all of the insights. Thank you. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
May 18, 2017 4:34 PM
Replying to Renee Robinson
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Stakeholder identification can be a very tricky game.
1. Yes, and No. I would suggest you hold an initial high level kickoff meeting. IE - This is the scope, we anticipate needing IT support and interaction here. Address the Stakeholders and ask them if there are any other touch points aside from the one you have assumed at which they will need to be informed, and how best to keep them informed - this could be as simple as an email - or notes from your weekly/monthly team meetings. If you don't keep your stakeholder informed with at least push notifications - you could find they cannot accommodate you or make a last minute change that can derail your project.
2. What does your Sponsor say? How about Senior Management? This is an organizational issue that needs to be resolved. More hands do not necessarily make less work - in this case they can increase your work load.
Renee, thank you for the response. We do not have an executive sign off on project charters, but I am seeing that this is critically important.
Can you recommend an quick reads on the basics of project management? The challenge for us is the need to drive projects without having a designated Project Manager on staff. The PM role is assumed by the department head in most cases. We are running into problems driving successful projects due to a lack of proper training. Saving Changes...
