Blog 1 Stakeholders - Stakeholder analysis for Content Strategists

When the word analysis is used some people balk. They run away in fear of wasting a lot of time with perceived preliminary research that they find tedious, time consuming and costly. Many people want to get in there and get that website out as soon as possible. When a content strategist says, "Wait, we need to know who the key stakeholders are so that we can tailor the project to address their needs," one may get a veiled glare and speculative grunt. They ponder, why do we need to spend time and money thinking about the stakeholders? 

Here is a simple question, is it better to do the job right the first time? In other words, what is the cost of rework when it is determined that a significant requirement of a major stakeholder has been overlooked? The initial phase of a project is often filled with excitement and an urge to get to the "real work." The "real work" begins in this phase; it is when most participants are open to talking. They express their hopes, fears, concerns and expectations of what the project is to be about and this critical information needs to be captured. It is at this time when you receive the most customer and sponsor input, it is invaluable to learn as much as possible from them; especially about key stakeholders and project requirements.

A definition of a stakeholder is a person, group or organization that will influence or may be affected by the project. Therefore, stakeholder analysis can be time consuming especially on larger projects. However, the benefits are immense. You will learn who is important to keep in the loop to support the project and who will ease issues. On the flip side you will determine who is negatively impacted and opposed to the project. 

It is essential to create a matrix that defines who-is-who and what influence they exert upon the project. A power/interest or influence grid is a visual representation of the stakeholders and their influence on a project (Mitchell, Agle et al. 1997).

There are many other ways to classify stakeholders and I will describe more in upcoming blogs. But, by way of introduction, this diagram eloquently describes the process. Therefore if you do nothing else, place the stakeholders in such a grid. You will save yourself a lot of time down the road. This will guide your approach when situations arise and will inform you of the possible impacts stakeholders may have on your content creation project.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeholder_analysis
(Mitchell, Agle et al. 1997)

Mendelow's Power-interest grid (Aubrey L. Mendelow, Kent State University, Ohio 1991)

Project Charters why do content strategist need one??

The Charter & why Content Strategist need one…

Within the initiation phase of a content development project a charter is created.  A charter is vital to successful projects because it details the key information described below.  Additionally it contains the signatures of crucial stakeholders, which indicates that agreement was obtained and that the concerned parties are on board with the project.  This information is used to build the project management plan and is referred to whenever questions about the approach, general direction or approval come up as the project progresses. It can prevent misunderstandings and assists when confusion arises. Therefore, it is fundamental in the content creation project process.

The charter of a project contains:

1.      A general description of the project

1.1.    Title of project / working title of the project

1.2.    Project Manager (person responsible for the project work)

1.3.    Project Sponsor (person/group responsible for resources for the project)

1.4.    Client (person/group who project is being built for)

2.      Overview of the project

The background to the project, answers questions:

2.1.    How is the project identified, includes the name of the project and any acronym associated with it.

2.2.    How and why was the project been initiated?

2.3.    Purpose and the Business need? Timing (deadlines) and the expected outcomes

2.4.    Scope? Very high level, what will be accomplished (feature and functionality to be delivered)

2.5.    What are the Objectives?

2.6.    Sponsorship and ownership (owner of the project and sponsor, includes defining the stake holders)

2.7.    References? Any documents used to research the project and those that are important to its success.

2.8.    Terms? Dictionary of terminology for people who will be reading about the project at a later date

3.      Approach section

Identifies how the project will be undertaken, a team structure and high level project pla

3.1.    Quality and Key deliverables; how good does it need to be, when does it need to be done, and how do we measure if it is good enough?

3.2.    Organization and Responsibility. Team & roles identification (at minimum project manager, executive committee and business leader)

3.3.    Oversight, reporting & review.  Who is in charge of approving project work and what requires approval?

3.4.    Dependencies or constraints.  Are there any constraints for example: regulatory, budgets, or stakeholders that influence the project?

3.5.    Support.  Where is support going to come from and what are the activities are related to this?

3.6.    Resources and facilities? Where will the work be done and who will provide the resources?

3.7.    Risks? What is the plan to manage and mitigate risk and what are the risks?

3.8.    Process options?  What process will be used PMP,  SCRUM, Agile etc?

3.9.    Process stages after the process has been chosen how will the stages be implemented? What will be the lifecycle implementation?

3.10.   Control = How will project status be communicated to stakeholders? Includes change control, issue management and scope control.

3.11.   Quality Assurance = How and when will quality reviews be conducted?

3.12.   Schedule = High level milestones that will be used to create a schedule of activities

3.13.   Estimate = How much will this cost?

4.       Approval section

4.1.    Defines key stakeholders and contains their signatures for the project work

5.       Appendices

5.1.    Includes any document relevant to the charter such as business case, budget schedule etc., should be attached to the charter.  

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_charter
http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/5159-project-charter-example-for-every-project-manager/