Project stakeholders

Stakeholders

A stakeholder is a person, group or an organization who has influence or can be influenced by an organization’s actions. Hence, a project stakeholder is a person, group or organization who has influence or can be influenced by a project’s actions.

Needs and expectations from stakeholders are a basis for the project requirements, i.e. something that the team has to comply to. It is therefore necessary to identify the most important stakeholders, and ensure that their needs and expectations are in line with the project plan and goals. Knowing the different stakeholders and their needs and expectations is of great importance to obtain project success.

Examples of project stakeholders

Stakeholders needs and expectations can be transformed to: Performance requirements and requirements on results (i.e. a product and/or service).

An example of performance requirements could be that the project shall be managed with a team-approach, i.e. avoid too much divided work tasks (with the aim to promote efficiency before effectiveness).

An example of requirements can be specifications on weight, amount, size, layout, etc. Below is an illustration of what can happen if a customer’s needs and requirements not are identified and specified.

Stakeholder analysis and management implies:

• Identifying and understanding needs and expectations, and turning them into requirements).

• Prioritizing, i.e. what stakeholders have the most power to influence on the project performance and outcome, and who are most influenced by the same?

• Managing stakeholders’ needs and expectations, mainly through a systematic information and communication plan.