Stakeholders

According to the PMBOK, project stakeholders are "persons and organizations such as customers, sponsors, performing organization and the public, that are actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected by execution or completion of the project." As a project manager beginning to plan and execute a project, there is no more valuable information than to know who is a stakeholder for the project. This information will help determine who will be on the project team, manage it, sponsor it, and use the output of the project when it is completed. Communication with stakeholders is a constant task of a project manager. On all successful projects, this is one of the most important tasks possible. Here are various stakeholders you will find on all projects.

• Project Manager The person who has the responsibility for the outcome of the project.

• Team Members The project team that does the actual work on the project.

• Sponsor The person or group that allocates resources to the project.

• Customer The individual or organization that will use the output of the project. Other names for this stakeholder may be "client" or "user."

All these people or organizations need to be constantly informed about the progress of the project itself. This communication will ultimately determine the overall success of the project.

Here are questions concerning stakeholders:

Q.	The person or group having the responsibility for the outcome of a project is:
		A.	The Project Team
		B.	The Project Manager
		C.	The Executive Management
		D.	The Sponsor

The answer is B. For the most part, if you see the choice "Project Manager" in any question on the exam, choose it. PMI is very strong on the importance of project managers, and that is evident in the exam.

Q.	Which one of these types is generally not a stakeholder?
		A.	Project Manager
		B.	Sponsor
		C.	Project Observer
		D.	Project Team Member

The answer is C. The Observer is not a stakeholder, whereas the other three clearly are.

Q.	Stakeholders are important because:
		A.	Their intense interest in the workings of the project gives the project energy.
		B.	Their interests may be positively or negatively affected by the project.
		C.	Their knowledge of important product information helps the project manager.
		D.	They know whom to talk to in order to get things done.

The answer is B, even though it would really be handy to have people who knew exactly whom to talk to in order to get things done.