<%group_id=Request("group_id")%>
   

Cheetah Know How Network



Stakeholders Bringing in the 5th Edition PMBOK

By Michelle LaBrosse, PMP®, Chief Cheetah and Founder of Cheetah Learning, and Kristen Medina, CAPM®, Co-Author

The newest and best PMBOK Guide is out, and we are here to welcome the Fifth Edition with a huge bear hug. Call us nerdy, but we like this edition the best yet. Why? Because we think that Stakeholder Management has been put in a corner for far too long, and it is great to see it out in its own knowledge area as it should be.

The introduction of Chapter 13, Project Stakeholder Management, as a new knowledge area is perhaps the most significant change between the 4th and 5th editions of the PMBOK Guide. While stakeholder management was very present in the PMBOK Guide 4th edition (primarily in the Communications Management knowledge area), the significance of this addition is that it raises the importance of engaging stakeholders to the same level as all of the other PM knowledge areas. Lets go through the four processes to see why this addition is so important.

13.1 Identify Stakeholders  - This process group focuses on identifying everyone affected by the work or the project outcomes. In the 4th edition, this lived in the Communications Management knowledge area.

13.2 Plan Stakeholder Management – This process group focuses on deciding how exactly you will engage with the stakeholders that you identified in the prior process. This is a brand new process, and is consistent with all of the new planning processes introduced in the 5th edition, which provides a detailed plan for each and every knowledge area.

13.3. Manage Stakeholder Engagement – This process details how you communicate with stakeholders and ensures appropriate engagement levels. In the 4th edition a similar process, “Manage Stakeholder Expectations” lived in Communications Management.

13.4 Control Stakeholder Engagement – In this process we are focusing on monitoring the relationship with stakeholders and adjusting our communication as needed as requirements change. This new process has nothing comparable in the 4th edition, and is an important addition to take note of.

This added stress on Stakeholder Management is so important because effectively managing stakeholders is one of the hardest tasks in a project. This is because projects cause change, and people need to be prepared for those changes in order to accept them. The more you can involve stakeholders in a way that facilitates change and enhances the project’s objective – the better.

While we may know that Stakeholder Management is important intuitively, if we don’t have a concrete plan in how we will manager our stakeholders, our best intentions can fall to the wayside as other project priorities consume the team’s time and energy. This is why having a Stakeholder Management Plan (an output to Plan Stakeholder Management) is so important.

We have all heard the saying that “a Project Manager’s job is 90% communication.” That is right. And who are we communicating with? Stakeholders! And it makes sense, because practically everyone who touches or is affected by the project is in fact a stakeholder.

Consider the 5 major types of stakeholders:

  • 1.      Project manager

  • 2.      Project team

  • 3.      Sponsors

  • 4.      Customers

  • 5.      Functional Management

And consider that within each of these broad groups, there are both internal (those directly affected by the projects, such as employees) and external (those not in the business but still have an interest in the project outcome, such as suppliers) stakeholders.

There are also primary (have major interest in success of a project, such as project sponsor) and secondary (assist with project completion, but have less of a stake in the projects success, such as legal counsel), stakeholders.

Then there are direct (concerned with day to day activities of the project, such as team members) and indirect (those concerned with just the finished product, such as your customers) stakeholders.

Ok – I think you get the picture – pretty much anyone walking or breathing NEAR your project is a stakeholder. They are important. And we would like to give PMI a big high five for giving stakeholders the distinguished category that they deserve – their very own knowledge area.

Make sure to pick up the brand new PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition book. And, check out Cheetah Learning’s 2 PDU Rapid Synthesis of the PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition to learn everything you need to know about what this new PMBOK is all about. Happy Stakeholder Managing! 

 

About the Author:

A description...

Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, is an entrepreneurial powerhouse with a penchant for making success easy, fun, and fast. She is the founder of Cheetah Learning, the author of the Cheetah Success Series, and a prolific blogger whose mission is to bring Project Management to the masses.

Cheetah Learning is a virtual company with 100 employees, contractors, and licensees worldwide. To date, more than 50,000 people have become “Cheetahs” using Cheetah Learning’s innovative Project Management and accelerated learning techniques.

Recently honored by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), Cheetah Learning was named Professional Development Provider of the Year at the 2008 PMI® Global Congress. A dynamic keynote speaker and industry thought leader, Michelle was previously recognized by PMI as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Project Management in the world.

Michelle’s articles have appeared in more than 100 publications and websites around the world. Her monthly column, the Know How Network, is carried by over 400 publications.

She is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management (OPM) program and holds engineering degrees from Syracuse University and the University of Dayton.