Initiating a project is the first of the five phases of project management. Ask why does this project exist?

Working with Stakeholders

Stakeholders are people that have invested time, interest, and resources into the projects that you’ll be working on. This could be a rather diverse group and each project you work on could have a different group of people. Communication among the team is a critical success factor.

Tips for Working with Stakeholders

Discuss goals and objectives. Make sure they are clear. Stakeholder’s requests are often tied to a bigger project or goal. Do you know what those are? Communicate often with regular updates on the project. You may use a change-log which is a file containing chronologically ordered list of changes made to the project. Know the project and how it impacts the organiztion and the other stakeholders. Plan for the unexpected and set aside extra time. Feel empowered to say’no” when you need to. Let others know the real time and resources it will take.