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Understand your Stakeholders with a Stakeholder Map

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Understanding your stakeholders is essential for any project’s success. Stakeholder maps offer a visual way to make it happen.

Who is a Stakeholder?

A stakeholder is someone who has a vested interest in the outcome of a project or a program.

Not all stakeholders are the same.

They come with a variety of needs and expectations.

As a tech leader, you must:

  1. Identify them
  2. Analyze and learn about them
  3. Map them based on their interests
  4. Prioritize and manage

One useful tool to do this is a stakeholder map.

What is a Stakeholder Map?

A stakeholder map is a visual matrix that identifies and categorizes stakeholders based on 2 dimensions – influence and interest.

Influence is the degree to which a particular stakeholder can impact the execution and outcome of a project. For example, a project sponsor is someone with a high influence, who can drive key decisions.

Interest, on the other hand, is about how much a stakeholder is impacted by the project outcome. For example, if you are building an HR application, the end-users in the HR team have high levels of interest.

Once you have established this, the stakeholders can be mapped on a matrix.

  1. High influence, High interest – stakeholders that must be managed closely, as they can steer the direction and outcome of the project
  2. High influence, Low interest – these are key leaders in the organization who may not be directly interested in the outcome of the project, but must be kept happy (no escalations, firefighting, etc.)
  3. Low influence, High interest – these are folks usually part of the project team or the intended end-users. They have a high interest as the outcome with have a direct impact on them but often their influence is limited
  4. Low influence, Low interest – these are enablers or other enterprise bodies, who are not directly involved in the execution or outcome. But they may expect to be “kept in the loop”

Here’s a sample stakeholder map for a project. Do note the categorization is highly opinionated, it can vary for every project or initiative.

A sample stakeholder map
A sample stakeholder map

How do you create a Stakeholder map?

There is no single way to create a stakeholder map and it highly depends on your organization’s culture and operations.

However, here is a 5-step blueprint that works in most cases.

  1. Start with the purpose of your map
  2. Brainstorm and build the stakeholder list
  3. Determine each stakeholder’s level of involvement
  4. Determine their interest and goals in the project
  5. Create a stakeholder map and establish an engagement plan

In summary, a stakeholder map helps you understand the landscape, know the stakeholder interests, and create an engagement plan that works.

How To Create Status Reports That Work?

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Status reports that work

Status reports are often the most “filtered out” emails, ending up in a folder that never gets opened. But that doesn’t mean the stakeholders are not interested in the status… they just hate the way it is reported!

3-Speed Status Reports

From my experience across a wide range of stakeholders, information is often expected at 3 different speeds.

  1. On-demand (fast) – get the information when they need it, without having to contact anybody
  2. Concise (slow) – get them the information in a way they can easily digest
  3. Details as needed (slowest) – they can go into finer details as needed

Often, preference is given to #1 or #2, with #3 being used for information that they care about (e.g., a big failure or escalation)

About 80-85% of stakeholder expectations are addressed by one of these 3 modes.

As someone responsible for reporting status, like a project manager, it becomes important to address these modes.

How do you do that?

The Reporting Sweet Spot!

Here’s a recommendation that works with most. However, you must understand the expectations and tailor them for any specific needs.

Status reports that work

3 recommended ways to report information that is proven to work are:

  1. Information radiators / Dashboards – on-demand, single-page view of status and visualization of key metrics
  2. TLDR Summary – a condensed summary of not more than 6 bullet points that highlight important aspects and key messages
  3. Double-click Reports – a detailed report, not more than 2 pages, that has a double-click of key messages in the TLDR summary

Also, include a specific section that calls out actions for the stakeholder – it can be an approval or have them enable a smooth progress.

Here’s a sample email structure that you can use – covering all of the above:

Sample email status report

I hope these tips help you make the status reports useful, once again! Cheers…

How To Be Good At Negotiation

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Oxford Dictionary describes negotiation as a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement. But you and I know that is a lot more complex than that.

Not all of us, especially nerdy engineers, enjoy negotiations. However, to be a successful tech leader, you need to master this art.

Whether it is prioritizing features for the next release or convincing a top engineer to join your team – good negotiation is vital.

In this issue, I will share two things:

  1. Negotiation tips from Chris Voss’ bestseller – Never Split the Difference
  2. Framework to plan your next Negotiation meeting

Negotiation tips from “Never Split the Difference”

former FBI negotiator. I can never do justice to the book in a few bullet points – I strongly recommend you get a copy and read it if you are interested in the topic.

But I will try to summarize the key takeaways here:

  • A good negotiation starts with listening. Make it about the other person, validate their emotions, and establish trust in the conversation
  • Use mirroring to encourage the other person to empathize and create a bond with you. A good technique is to repeat the last 3 critical (or important) words the other person just said, which helps in a stronger connection
  • Watch your voice tone as it makes a difference too. Some example tones used by professional negotiators are late-night DJ, playful, professional, and assertive
  • Labeling is a technique to validate the other person’s emotion by giving it a name and acknowledging it. It often starts with “It sounds like… It feels like… It seems like…” and describe their emotional state
  • Don’t just focus on a “Yes”. Use “No” tactically to eliminate options that are not relevant or interesting to both parties
  • Before getting to a “Yes”, you need to get the other party to say “That’s right”. You can do that by a good summary of their expectations and emotional state, and get an affirmation. This takes you one step closer to closing the deal

You can read a detailed summary of the book on Shortform (paywall).

Now that you have some tips, let’s look at a template to prepare for the next negotiation.

Negotiation prep template

Please note this is not a one-size-fits-all template for all negotiations. But it can be a good starting point for most.

#1 Figure out what you want

  1. What do you want to achieve in the negotiation? (your end goal, e.g., securing a job offer)
  2. What is it you want more of? (key differentiator, e.g., at least a 30% salary raise)
  3. What are the issues over which you will be negotiating? (e.g., salary, location, hybrid mode, stock options)
  4. What are the potential agreement options for each issue?
  5. What is the relative or weighted contribution of each option to your final decision?
  6. What is your reservation price and alternatives for your negotiation? (a reservation price is the least favorable point at which you can accept a negotiation)
  7. Which factors influence your stance the most and why?

#2 Figure out what your counterpart wants

  1. What problem of theirs will your proposal solve?
  2. What are your counterpart’s goals in the negotiation?
  3. What are their likely issues?
  4. What are their likely interests and why?

#3 Develop your negotiation strategy

  1. How will you gather the additional information you need?
  2. What information do you still need to assess?
  3. What are any potential holes in your strategy?
  4. What are your sources of power? (e.g., a skill that is very rare in the market)
  5. What strategies and tactics will you employ to achieve your goals, taking into account the preferences, goals, and strategies that your counterpart is likely to employ?
  6. Will you make the first offer? (It is important to decide as the negotiation will generally pivot around this)

I hope you have some solid tips and a template to rock your next negotiation. Often, this skill helps at better decision-making as well.

If you have any additional tips, feel free to share it as comments!