Summary

The traditional practice of hiring IT professionals on the basis of their intelligence quotient is rapidly being replaced by the notion of looking first at the emotional intelligence level of the individual. There have been several studies during the past decade that unequivocally show that those members having significantly high EQs outperform those who have high IQs but low to average emotional intelligence.

Staffing a project can be a challenge for the project manager because of competition for resources from other project initiatives within the organization. The project manager needs to have strong negotiation and communication skills to successfully compete for the resources he and his initial project team have identified for the project.

Finally, one of the most difficult but most important tasks the project manager faces is that of managing the stakeholders. Generally, there are eight steps or activities in the stakeholder management process.

1. Identify the stakeholders.

2. Gather information on the stakeholders.

3. Determine the stakeholders' positions relative to the project.

4. Determine the stakeholders' strengths and weaknesses.

5. Develop a stakeholder management strategy.

6. Predict stakeholder reaction and prepare alternative strategies.

7. Implement the stakeholder strategy.

8. Evaluate the results and adjust the strategy.