Project Stakeholders
You will learn later on that one of the key reasons for project failure is that stakeholders lose their commitment to the project. But who are the stakeholders, and why is it difficult to manage them?
A stakeholder in a project is any individual or organization that is actively involved in the project or whose interests might be affected, either positively or negatively, as a result of project execution or successful project completion. Identifying and communicating with the stakeholders is an important responsibility of the project manager.
There is an inherent difficulty in being caught between the sponsor and IBM. Spending all the money in the budget for a fixed-price contract might result in a happy sponsor, but might not meet IBM goals. The opposite can occur with a time-and-materials contract.
Most projects have a number of stakeholders, and they each have their own objectives to meet on the project. The project manager must be aware of each of these stakeholders and their respective objectives. Using this information, the project manager must ensure that what is done on the project is consistent first with the project requirements and then with the stakeholders' objectives. Ideally, the objectives of the different stakeholders are closely aligned. If not, a series of negotiations might be required to align the objectives.
An IBM project manager must be many things to many people. The role of the project manager is to serve as the single point of contact for all matters relating to the project and to continuously balance project scope, cost, and schedule. This must be done while interfacing with a number of people and organizations within IBM, with the customer, and with external or internal suppliers.