Managing Expectations

One of the most important aspects of project management is managing stakeholder expectations. We hear this message repeatedly in every training course, book, blog, and consultant. Most of us make a concerted effort to make sure we’re aware of what’s expected, but we still struggle due to gaps in communication.

Why?

One cause is a failure to identify all the stakeholders.

We would probably agree that the client, the sponsor and our manager are all stakeholders. But who else? Remember that a stakeholder is anyone who is affected by or has an interest in the project. This includes people inside and outside your organization: clients, suppliers, end users, the financial department and your manager’s manager, to name a few.

We’ve put together a few questions to help you identify your stakeholders. Answering these at the beginning of each project will make a big difference and only takes a few minutes of your time:

1. Who is paying for the project? (Who controls the budget?)
2. Who will be using the final outcome of my project?
3. Who is using my output as his input, and what is he expecting from me?
4. Who is providing input to my project? (This could be a vendor, supplier, or separate group inside or outside your organization that you are relying on.)
5. Who has a separate project that is related to or dependent upon my project?
6. Who can say “no” and stop or delay progress on my project?
7. Who has a vested interest but has not been involved in the project? (These people can emerge at the last minute to voice their concerns so it’s important to know who they are.)
8. Who are the support personnel we need to provide services to the team? (This could be the HR, administrative, document control or financial group.)

Each of these stakeholders can have an impact on your project. Your job is to ask questions to find out what they’re expecting, to clearly communicate your expectations, and to close any gaps in between. Only then can you develop an effective communication plan to keep the stakeholders informed and manage those expectations.