One important task that a project manager must do is the identify stakeholders. Stakeholders are those people or groups that have some interest in the project. Some stakeholders are easy to identify and some are not so easy to identify. As a project manager, it is important to find all the stakeholders. Once those stakeholders are identified then it important to discover their issues or where they have stake in the project.
There is a group of stakeholders that are relatively easy to identify. For a project, these stakeholders might include end users, customers, management, or shareholders. These groups are easy to identify because they are not only the most obvious, but they do have an immediate stake in the success of the project.
The other group of stakeholders is those that are not so obvious. These groups might only have a small interest in the project or may not be directly influenced by the success of the project. This might include suppliers, outside industry groups, or other partners.
From my experience I once managed a program with a subcontractor. This subcontractor changed their timekeeping software program without notifying their partners. This transition did not go smoothly and caused their timekeeping reports and invoices to be late. This effected my ability to complete program schedules and invoice the customer. Although this was a small blip in the continuation of the program, it effected me. I was a stakeholder in the success of that timekeeping software project and I didn't even know it.
Once stakeholders are identified, it is important to record them, there interest in the project, and issues that might be encountered in a stakeholder register. Once this is done, then a communication strategy should be developed for each stakeholder and then put into the plan.
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