1 Working with Project Stakeholders in a Statewide Project PMI-SVC PMO Forum Monthly Meeting Dan Conway, PMP October 22, 2008

2 Agenda Introduction What is Project Success? Who are Project Stakeholders? Stakeholders Unveiled Stakeholders in Statewide Projects Summary and Questions

3 What is Project Success? Traditional view of project success: Cost – Project completes within budget Schedule – Project completes on time. Scope – Project completes within scope.

4 What is Project Success? Maybe it’s applying the guidelines and principles of the nine knowledge areas? Project Integration Management Project Scope Management Project Time ManagementProject Cost Management Project Quality ManagementProject Human Resource Management Project Communications Management Project Risk Management Project Procurement Management

5 What is Project Success? Project Success is not measured solely on the traditional measurements of cost, schedule, and scope. Strictly applying the guidelines and principles from the knowledge areas will not guarantee a successful project Projects completing all the right steps, managing all the right factors, can still be a failure when complete.

6 What is Project Success? Project Focus Areas to Achieving Success: Strong business case for project Identify and understand who are the stakeholders for your project Engage stakeholders early and often Ensure strong executive sponsorship

7 Who are Project Stakeholders? Project Stakeholders can be: People who will be affected by the project or can influence it but who are not directly involved with doing the project work. Managers Process Owners People who work with the process Internal departments that support the process Customers

8 Who are Project Stakeholders? Project Stakeholders can be: People who are (or might be) affected by any action taken by an organization. Customers Owners Employees Contractors Suppliers, related people

9 Who are Project Stakeholders? Project Stakeholders can be: Any group or individual who can affect or who is affected by achievement of a firm's objectives Researchers Legislators Special Interest Groups

10 Stakeholders Unveiled Stakeholder populations – small vs. large Smaller projects Stakeholders are usually well defined and manageable Obtaining consensus can be done through work sessions or interviews Project communication is general straight-forward and direct.

11 Stakeholders Unveiled Stakeholder populations – small vs. large Large projects Stakeholders involvement spans multiple departments, disciplines and/or geographic area Obtaining consensus from all Stakeholders is not possible. Obtaining “representative” consensus must be done through larger group work sessions. Project communication becomes more complex and difficult to reach all involved.

12 Stakeholders Unveiled Stakeholder populations – small vs. large Large projects Stakeholder needs change or vary across departments or entities. Review cycle time increases with larger stakeholder populations. Gathering consistent information becomes more difficult with increased stakeholder numbers and business diversity. Political clout of certain stakeholder groups may impact project progress.

13 Stakeholders Unveiled Stakeholders in a State-wide project Stakeholder personalities: Partners – Stakeholders that fully support the project effort and participate in scheduled sessions, provide positive, detailed, input during information gathering sessions. Stakeholder takes a partner like role.

14 Stakeholders Unveiled Stakeholders in a State-wide project Stakeholder personalities: Fence sitters: Stakeholders that neither publicly support nor resist the project effort. They generally will follow along if the project is moving in a positive manner.

15 Stakeholders Unveiled Stakeholders in a State-wide project Stakeholder personalities: Cynic (it’ll never happen): Stakeholder that never has anything positive to add to the project. Constantly introducing potential “roadblocks” or “red herrings”.

16 Stakeholders Unveiled Stakeholders in a State-wide project Stakeholder personalities: Opposition (phantom): Stakeholder that opposes the project effort and actively pursues opportunities to stop or cancel the project. This stakeholder may “attack” the project in unexpected and disrupted ways.

17 Stakeholders in Statewide Projects Statewide System Development and Implementation of a data collection and fiscal funding and tracking system – Project 1 Key stakeholder summary: State department stakeholders 58 County offices (multiple stakeholders each) Policymaker stakeholders 1,000+ County Reporting office stakeholders

18 Stakeholders in Statewide Projects Project 1 Key project objectives: Document current processes and define detailed business and technical requirements for new environment. Develop Request for Proposal (RFP) and obtain control agency approval. Key information gathering methods: Interview key subject matter experts (SME) on current state. Work shadow SMEs Conduct facilitated Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions

19 Stakeholders in Statewide Projects Project 1 Opportunities Strong executive sponsor support Most stakeholders were supportive of the project. Challenges Extremely complex processes Diverse group of stakeholders, needs, and responsibilities Small group of cynics

20 Stakeholders in Statewide Projects Statewide System Development and Implementation of a case management and fiscal tracking and reporting system – Project 2 Key stakeholder summary: State department stakeholders 20+ independent corporations (each with multiple departments and stakeholders) Policymaker stakeholders

21 Stakeholders in Statewide Projects Project 2 Key project objectives: Document current processes and define detailed business and technical requirements for new environment. Develop Request for Proposal (RFP) and obtain control agency approval. Key information gathering methods: Interview key department subject matter experts (SME) on current state. Interview key corporation subject matter experts (SME) from selected corporation locations on current state. Work shadow SMEs at selected representative locations Conduct statewide facilitated Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions

22 Stakeholders in Statewide Projects Project 2 Opportunities Strong sponsor support Department staff knowledgeable on external office processes Challenges Complex integration of case management and fiscal accounting processes Diverse group of stakeholders, needs, and responsibilities Small group of cynics Phantom stakeholder raised on-going political obstacles

23 Stakeholders in Statewide Projects Statewide System Development and Implementation of a central statewide tracking, data collection and reporting system – Project 3 Key stakeholder summary: State department stakeholders 1,300 Reporting agencies (each with multiple stakeholders) Policymaker stakeholders External interested parties

24 Stakeholders in Statewide Projects Project 3 Key project objectives: Document current processes and define detailed business and technical requirements for new environment. Design, develop, and implement statewide system. Key information gathering methods: Interview key department subject matter experts (SME) on current state and target environment. Conduct statewide facilitated Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions Establish advisory group of Stakeholder population (representative group) for directed information gathering sessions.

25 Stakeholders in Statewide Projects Project 3 Opportunities Strong executive sponsor support Mission critical effort Challenges Complex data collection and tracking processes Diverse and independent group of stakeholders, needs, and responsibilities All stakeholder types exist (yes, the phantom has made minor appearances)

26 Summary and Questions Key Factors to Obtaining Stakeholder Buy-in Listen to Stakeholder concerns Attempt to address specific concerns and repeat concerns back through deliverables. Gain a detailed understanding of their business processes, regulations, and areas needing improvement. Communicate, communicate, communicate Deliver, deliver, deliver Strong executive sponsorship

27 Questions