Projects are impacted by and impact a wide range of people and roles. It is but natural, therefore, that multiple personnel in and outside the project organization have a stake in the project. A stake that is active or passive. All those who have an impact and can be impacted can be called project stakeholders. This is how the Project Management Institute defines a Stakeholder.
an individual, group, or organization, who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project.
What is important to note is that the impact may not be real. Even the perceived impact is important to recognize.
Every project is successful as long as it can meet the expectations of its stakeholders. Every Project Manager needs to remember that stakeholders can make or break any project. It does not matter whether one has successfully delivered every deliverable or met every objective. If stakeholders are unhappy, the project is not considered successful.
Stakeholders can be of two types – Internal and External.
The best way to manage the expectations of Stakeholders is to use the tool called Stakeholder Register. The Stakeholder Register includes all the details of the stakeholders for the project. The details included are:
- The stakeholder’s requirements
- Communication Cadence and Needs
- List of Expectations
- Assessment of the Influence on the project
- Articulation of the Interest of the Stakeholder in the project and power that s/he wields with respect to the project
