Project Management is People Management
The key to successful project management is to focus on managing people rather than things.
Focusing on people management doesn’t deny there are many “things” that need to be done during a project, but remember you are the conductor and your job is to manage the entire orchestra that makes up all the stakeholders to a project.
When identifying stakeholders break them down into two categories –
Decision Stakeholders and
Influence Stakeholders
Decision Stakeholders are those people and organisations that have direct decision making roles within the project. These include first and foremost the Principal Client. They are the ultimate decision maker on all project outcomes.
Other Decision Stakeholders include the equity and funding partners, local and state authorities and any other stakeholders on which you relay for a decision, no matter how small. Sometimes it’s the small decisions that we ignore that end up becoming the main sticking points.
Influence Stakeholders are people, organisations or even situations that can influence the direction of a project but do not necessarily have a decision making role. Typically this can be political influence and action groups. It can include environmental issues, safety issues, employment issues and a multitude of other factors.
Your role as the Project Manager is to identify every Stakeholder (person, organisation, or situation) that could impact on your project. Review each one and assess its’ likelihood, and its’ level of impact on the project. Where you can, take action to negate the risk before it happens. Where you can’t, have a plan of action in place should that risk occur.
It’s like the Scouts…Always be Prepared.
