0218 Project Stakeholders (OPEN Unit 2)

A project stakeholder is any individual, group or organisation who…

• …can influence (and/or)
• …is impacted by (and/or)
• …is (or would be) interested in…

…a decision, activity or outcome of the project.

Before embarking on a project, it is vital to understand who your stakeholders are and how best to engage with them.

There is nothing worse than getting half-way through delivery, all of a sudden hearing from someone you hadn’t considered, and being forced to change direction as a result.

Why does that matter?

As we said in the last Unit, the further you get into your project – through initiation, planning and into delivery – the harder (and more expensive) it is to change course.

In this unit we ask (and answer):

• Who are the stakeholders typical to most projects,
• How can we classify and prioritise them, and (perhaps most importantly)
• When and how should we engage with them?