Power/Interest Grid: Prioritizing Project Stakeholders

Stake Holder Analysis can be done using Power Interest Grid

First, Identify the stakeholders through brainstorming.

Once the list of stakeholders is available, next step is to classify them by their Power over the work and by their Interest in in the project work.

Then a 2 X 2 grid as shown in the picture will evolve

A stakeholder's position on the grid shows the action plan one has to take with them:

High Power, High Interest Stakeholders:
These are the people one must fully engage with, and make the greatest efforts to satisfy.

High Power, Low Interest Stakeholders:
One needs to engage these stakeholders to keep them satisfied, but not so much that they become bored with the message

Low Power, High Interest Stakeholders:
The Project Manager has to keep these people adequately informed, and talk to them to ensure that no major issues are arising. These people can often be very helpful with the detail of the project

Low Power, Low Interest Stakeholders: The PM has to monitor these people, but do not bore them with excessive communication.

This way the PM can ensure that the stakeholders are apprised with the right dosage of information.

Stakeholder Based Approach - Analysis & Planning

There are two major elements to Stakeholder Management
1. Stakeholder Analysis : A technique used to identify the key people who have to be won over.
2. Stakeholder Planning. : Based on the above analysis you plan to build the support that helps the project success

There are three major steps in Stakeholder Analysis
a. Identifying Stakeholders: The project team can do this by brainstorming within the team & higher ups
b. Prioritizing Stakeholders: This can be done using power/interest grid
c. Understanding key stakeholders: Understanding what motivates the stakeholders and how to win them around


The benefits of using a stakeholder-based approach are that:

• The opinions & Expertise of the most powerful stakeholders can shape projects at an early stage. Not only does this make it more likely that they will support, their input can also improve the quality of the project

• By communicating with stakeholders early and often, one can ensure that they know what the project is doing and fully understand the benefits of the project. This also means that the risk are mitigated at the right time

• Taking adequate measure to avoid blame game. One can anticipate what people's reaction to the project may be, and build into the plan the actions that will win people's support

Project Stake Holder Management

Projects will be successful when the stakeholders' expectations are managed properly.

For this, stakeholders identification is the primary task, as all the important decisions during the initiation, planning and execution stages of the project are made by these stakeholders.

Typical Stakeholders can be: The Customer, The Sponsor, Project Manager, Project Team, Functional Management etc.

The best way to identify stakeholder is to think of all the people who are affected by your work or who have influence or power over it or whose support you need to execute the project successfully.

In a larger sense, anyone who participates in the project or is impacted by its results is a stakeholder. Each stakeholder has an essential contribution to make and all stakeholder expectations need to be met.

Stakeholder Management is an important discipline by itself that successful people use to win support from others. It helps them ensure that their projects succeed.

Project Stake Holders

Project Stakeholders can either make or break the project.

So, who are the project stakeholders?

Stakeholders are the people that have an interest in the project outcome or process.

Project stakeholders will include:
• project sponsors ,
• steering committee members
• business unit
• project team members
• end users of the products or services of the project
• contractors and consultants supplying services to the project
• departments supplying resources, infrastructure and expertise (such as IT ,Quality team , HR,Training)

Project Planning

Developing a clear project plan certainly takes time, and the project manager will probably be tempted to skip the planning and jump straight into execution.

However, The traveler who plans the route before beginning a journey ultimately reaches the intended destination more quickly and more easily than the disorganized traveler, who gets lost along the way.

Similarly, the project manager who takes time to create a clear project plan will follow a more direct route toward destination project success.

Here are some steps for good project planning

Step 1: Explain the Project Plan to Key Stakeholders and Discuss Its Key Components

Step 2: Define Roles and Responsibilities

Step 3: Develop a Scope Statement

Step 4: Develop the Project Baselines

Step 5: Create Baseline Management Plans

Step 6: Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!

Project Kick Off Meeting

Project Kick Off Meeting is a structured discussion/meeting of the Stakeholders conducted at the initiation of the project.

The primary purpose of Project Kick Off Meeting is to bring all the stakeholders on to a common understanding of project objectives, procedures and plans, and to begin the team-building process to achieve the desired objectives.

A kick-off meeting is typically a workshop which generally include several discussions on project charter, business plan review, team building exercises, a team charter, risk analysis etc.

A typical project planning kick-off meeting agenda covers the following aspects of a project:

1.Build a project framework: what are the project objectives ? who are the stakeholder ? What are the criteria for successful completion ? What are the business objectives ? Update the business plan or business case

2.Organize the Project governance: Who does what? What are the responsibilities of each member? what are the reporting procedures?
Build or revise the master planning (key milestones, sequence of activities, dependencies...)

3.Initiate the risk analysis

4.Team building activities

5.Define the quality management plan, and in particular the change control procedures

Project Initiation - Project Charter

A Project sponsor will prepare a Project Charter.

The Project Charter contains the terms of reference of the project. A project charter identifies high level roles and responsibilities of various participants, outlines the objective of the project.

Most importantly, a Project Charter defines the authority of the Project Manager.

Project Charter serves as an authorization for the project and is the reference of the authority for the progress of the project

Once the project charter is released, the Project Manager calls for a project kick off meeting which involves the discussion of all stake holders.

Definitions of Project

What is a Project?

Can we call all the activity that we do in the name of project as a project??

As per the standard definition, a Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.

So, a project is time bound
It has well defined outcome - product, service, result