10.4 Manage Stakeholder Expectations

 

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10.4 Manage Stakeholder Expectations  The process of communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs and addressing issues as they occur.   Simple Version: Checking people have the information they need and are happy with the format, detail, and delivery methods
PMI	Agile PMBOK, Agile Difference, Comment
Inputs Stakeholder register Stakeholder management strategy Project management plan Issue log Change log Organizational process assets   Tools and Techniques Communication methods Interpersonal tools Management tools   Outputs Organizational process assets updates Change requests Project management plan updates Project document updates	Inputs Stakeholder register Stakeholder management strategy Project management plan Issue log Change log Organizational process assets Story Backlog Velocity stats and projections   Tools and Techniques Communication methods Interpersonal tools Management tools Prioritisation   Outputs Organizational process assets updates Change requests Project management plan updates Release / Iteration plan updates Reprioritized backlog Project document updates   Managing stakeholder expectations is likely the most single important role for any project manager. Agile projects offer some unique challenges as well as advantages. We need buy-in for the iterative/incremental build approach. We need support for the ongoing business involvement, we need trust in letting teams self organize and pull work from the prioritized backlog. This all needs explaining and approving with sponsors and business representatives. The team also needs to know what is expected of them, undertaking a variety of roles, often without complete information and likely to iterate to the true requirements. Getting real buy-in (beyond superficial agreement) can be very difficult and consume a lot of time. On the other hand, when the business understands that they are in charge of feature prioritization and sequencing, they get to control what gets worked on, and can get real time feedback on progress and function; managing their expectations suddenly gets much easier. The process is transparent and easy to adapt.