Chapter 2
IN THIS CHAPTER
Compiling an audience list
Identifying drivers, supporters, and observers
Using an effective format
Determining who has authority in your project
Prioritizing your audiences
Often a project is like an iceberg: Nine-tenths of it lurks below the surface. You receive an assignment and think you know what it entails and who needs to be involved. Then, as the project unfolds, new people emerge who may affect your goals, approach, and chances for project success.
You risk compromising your project in the following two ways when you don’t involve key people or groups in your project in a timely manner:
As soon as you begin to think about a new project, start to identify people who may play a role. This chapter shows you how to identify these candidates; how to decide whether, when, and how to involve them; and how to determine who has the authority, power, and interest to make critical decisions.
A project audience is any person or group that supports, is affected by, or is interested in your project. Your project’s audiences can be inside or outside your organization, and knowing who they are helps you
You may hear other terms used in the business world to describe project audiences, but these terms address only some of the people from your complete project audience list. Here are some examples:
As you identify the different audiences for your project, record them in an audience list. Check out the following sections for information on how to develop this list.
A project audience list is a living document. You need to start developing your list as soon as you begin thinking about your project. Write down any names that occur to you; when you discuss your project with other people, ask them who they think may be affected by or interested in your project. Then select a small group of the audiences you identify and conduct a formal brainstorming session. Continue to add and subtract names to your audience list until you can’t think of anyone else.
In the following sections, you discover how to refine your audience list by dividing it into specific categories and recognizing important potential audiences. This section ends with a sample to show you how to put together your own list.
To increase your chances of identifying all appropriate people, develop your audience list in categories. You’re less likely to overlook people when you consider them department by department or group by group instead of trying to identify everyone from the organization individually at the same time.
As you develop your audience list, be sure not to overlook the following potential audiences:
End users of your project’s products: End users are people or groups who will use the goods and services your project produces. Involving end users at the beginning of and throughout your project helps ensure that the goods and services produced are as easy as possible to implement and use and are most responsive to their true needs. It also confirms that you appreciate the fact that the people who will use a product may have important insights into what it should look like and do, which increases the chances that they’ll work to implement the products successfully.
In some cases, you may omit end users on your audience list because you don’t know who they are. In other situations, you may think you have taken them into account through liaisons — people who represent the interests of the end users. (Check out the nearby sidebar “Discovering the real end users” for a costly example of what can happen when you depend solely on liaisons.)
Suppose you’re asked to coordinate your organization’s annual blood drive. Figure 2-1 illustrates some of the groups and people you might include in your project’s audience list as you prepare for your new project.
Many different groups of people may influence the success of or have an interest in your project. Knowing who these people are allows you to plan to involve them at the appropriate times during your project. Therefore, identifying all project audiences as soon as possible and reflecting any changes in those audiences as soon as you find out about them are important steps to take as you manage your project.
An audience list template is a predesigned audience list that contains typical categories and audiences for a particular type of project. You may develop and maintain your own audience list templates for tasks you perform, functional groups may develop and maintain audience list templates for tasks they typically conduct, or your organization’s project management office may develop and maintain templates for the entire organization.
Regardless of who maintains the template, it reflects people’s cumulative experiences. As the organization continues to perform projects of this type, audiences who were overlooked in earlier efforts may be added and audiences who proved unnecessary removed. Using these templates can save you time and improve your accuracy.
Suppose you prepare the budget for your department each quarter. After doing a number of these budgets, you know most of the people who give you the necessary information, who draft and print the document, and who have to approve the final budget. Each time you finish another budget, you revise your audience list template to include new information from that project. The next time you prepare your quarterly budget, you begin your audience list with your template. You then add and subtract names as appropriate for that particular budget preparation.
After you identify everyone in your project audience, you need to determine which of the following groups those people fall into. Then you can decide whether to involve them and, if so, how and when.
Separating audiences into these three categories helps you decide what information to seek from and share with each audience, as well as to clarify the project decisions in which to involve them.
Suppose an IT group has the job of modifying the layout and content of a monthly sales report for all sales representatives. The vice president of sales requested the project, and the chief information officer (CIO — the boss of the head of the IT group) approved it. As the project manager for this project, consider categorizing your project’s audiences as follows:
The following sections help you identify when you need to involve drivers, supporters, and observers, and how to keep them involved.
Projects pass through the following four stages as they progress from an idea to completion (see Chapter 1 of this minibook for detailed explanations of these stages):
Plan to involve drivers, supporters, and observers in each stage of your project’s life cycle. The following sections tell you how you can do so.
Keeping drivers involved in your project from start to finish is critical because they define what your project should produce, and they evaluate your project’s success when it’s finished. Their desires and your assessment of feasibility can influence whether you should pursue the project. Check out Table 2-1 to see how to involve drivers during the four stages of your project.
TABLE 2-1 Involving Drivers in the Different Project Stages
Stage |
Involvement Level |
How to Involve |
Starting the project |
Heavy |
Identify and speak with as many drivers as possible. If you uncover additional drivers later, explore with them the issues that led to the project; ask them to identify and assess any special expectations they may have. |
Organizing and preparing |
Moderate to heavy |
Consult with drivers to ensure that your project plan addresses their needs and expectations. Have them formally approve the plan before you start the project work. |
Carrying out the work |
Moderate |
As the project gets under way, introduce the drivers to the project team. Have the drivers talk about their needs and interests to reinforce the importance of the project and help team members form a more accurate picture of project goals. In addition, have the team members talk to the drivers to increase the drivers’ confidence that the team members can successfully complete the project. While performing the project work, keep drivers apprised of project accomplishments and progress to sustain their ongoing interest and enthusiasm. Continually confirm that the results are meeting their needs. |
Closing the project |
Heavy |
Have drivers assess the project’s results and determine whether their needs and expectations were met. Identify their recommendations for improving performance on similar projects in the future. |
Involving supporters from start to finish is important because they perform and support the project work; supporters need to know about changing requirements so they can promptly identify and address problems. Keeping them actively involved also sustains their ongoing motivation and commitment to the project. Check out Table 2-2 to see how to involve supporters during your project’s four stages.
TABLE 2-2 Involving Supporters in the Different Project Stages
Stage |
Involvement Level |
How to Involve |
Starting the project |
Moderate |
Wherever possible, have key supporters assess the feasibility of meeting driver expectations. If you identify key supporters later in the project, have them confirm the feasibility of previously set expectations. |
Organizing and preparing |
Heavy |
Supporters are the major contributors to the project plan. Because they facilitate or do all the work, have them determine necessary technical approaches, schedules, and resources. Also have them formally commit to all aspects of the plan. |
Carrying out the work |
Heavy |
Familiarize all supporters with the planned work. Clarify how the supporters will work together to achieve the results. Have supporters decide how they’ll communicate, resolve conflicts, and make decisions throughout the project. Throughout the project, keep supporters informed of project progress, encourage them to identify performance problems they encounter or anticipate, and work with them to develop and implement solutions to these problems. |
Closing the project |
Heavy |
Have supporters conclude their different tasks. Inform them of project accomplishments and recognize their roles in project achievements. Elicit their suggestions for handling similar projects more effectively in the future. |
After you choose the observers with whom you want to actively share project information, involve them minimally throughout the project because they neither tell you what should be done nor help you do it. Table 2-3 shows how you may keep observers involved.
TABLE 2-3 Involving Observers in the Different Project Stages
Stage |
Involvement Level |
How to Involve |
Starting the project |
Minimal |
Inform observers of your project’s existence and its main goals. |
Organizing and preparing |
Minimal |
Inform observers about the project’s planned outcomes and time frames. |
Carrying out the work |
Minimal |
Tell observers that the project has started and confirm the dates for planned milestones. Inform observers of key project achievements. |
Closing the project |
Minimal |
When the project is done, inform observers about the project’s products and results. |
See the “Assessing Your Audience’s Power and Interest” section, later in this chapter, for information on what to consider when deciding how to involve different audiences.
Keeping drivers, supporters, and observers informed as you progress in your project is critical to the project’s success. Choosing the right method for involving each audience group can stimulate that group’s continued interest and encourage its members to actively support your work. Consider the following approaches for keeping your project audiences involved throughout your project:
Flip to Chapter 5 in this minibook for additional suggestions for sharing information about your project’s ongoing performance.
To maximize your audiences’ involvement and contributions, follow these guidelines throughout your project:
If you’re concerned with the legality of involving a specific audience, check with your legal department or contracts office. Suppose you’re planning to award a competitive contract to buy certain equipment. You want to know whether prospective bidders typically have this equipment on hand and how long it will take to receive it after you award the contract. However, you’re concerned that speaking to potential contractors in the planning stage may tip them off about the procurement and lead to charges of favoritism by unsuccessful bidders who didn’t know about the procurement in advance.
Instead of ignoring this important audience, check with your contracts office or legal department to determine how you can get the information you want and still maintain the integrity of the bidding process.
You’re concerned with two issues when developing the format and content of your audience list:
Figure 2-2 shows a sample audience list format you might want to use for your audience list. The format includes three major categories of information:
Note: You can add additional columns on the right for optional information, such as email and phone.
In project terms, authority refers to the overall right to make project decisions that others must follow, including the right to apply project resources, expend funds, or give approvals. Having opinions about how an aspect should be addressed is different from having the authority to decide how it will be addressed. Mistaking a person’s level of authority can lead to frustration as well as wasted time and money.
At the beginning of the carrying out the work stage in your projects, take the following steps to define each audience member’s authority:
Clarify each audience member’s tasks and decisions.
Define with each person his tasks and his role in those tasks. For example, will he just work on the task, or will he also approve the schedules, resource expenditures, and work approaches?
Ask each audience member what his authority is regarding each decision and task.
Ask about individual tasks rather than all issues in a particular area. For example, a person can be more confident about his authority to approve supply purchases up to $5,000 than about his authority to approve all equipment purchases, no matter the type or amount.
Clarify decisions that the audience member can make himself. For decisions needing someone else’s approval, find out whose approval he needs. (Ask, never assume!)
Ask each audience member how he knows what authority he has.
Does a written policy, procedure, or guideline confirm the authority? Did the person’s boss tell him in conversation? Is the person just assuming? If the person has no specific confirming information, encourage him to get it.
Check out each audience member’s history of exercising authority.
Have you or other people worked with this person in the past? Has he been overruled on decisions that he said he was authorized to make? If so, ask him why he believes he won’t be similarly overruled this time.
Verify whether anything has recently changed regarding each audience member’s authority.
Do you have any reason to believe that this person’s authority has changed? Is he new to his current group or position? Has he recently started working for a new boss? If any of these situations exists, encourage the person to find specific documentation to confirm his authority for his benefit as well as yours.
An audience’s potential effect on a project depends on the power he or she can exercise and the interest the person has in exercising that power. Assessing the relative levels of each helps you decide with whom you should spend your time and effort to realize the greatest benefits.
Power is a person’s ability to influence the actions of others. This ability can derive either from the direct authority the person has to require people to respond to her requests (ascribed power) or the ability she has to induce others to do what she asks because of the respect they have for her professionally or personally (achieved power). In either case, the more power a person has, the better able she is to marshal people and resources to support your project. Typically, drivers and supporters have higher levels of power over your project than observers do.
On the other hand, a person’s interest in something is how much she cares about it, is curious about it, or pays attention to it. The more interested a person is in your project, the more likely she is to want to use her power to help the project succeed.
You can define an audience’s relative levels of power and interest related to your project as being either high or low. You then have four possible combinations for each audience’s relative levels of power and interest. The particular values of an audience’s power and interest ratings suggest the chances that the audience may have a significant effect on your project and, therefore, the relative importance of keeping that audience interested and involved in your project.
Figure 2-3 depicts a power-interest grid, which represents these four possible power-interest combinations as distinct quadrants on a two-dimensional graph.
As the project manager, you should spend a minimal amount of time and effort with audiences who have low levels of both power and interest (quadrant I). Spend increasingly greater amounts of time and effort with audiences that have a low level of power and a high level of interest (quadrant II) and a low level of interest and a high level of power (quadrant III), respectively. You should spend the most time and effort keeping audiences with high degrees of both power and interest (quadrant IV) informed and involved. (Check out Chapter 5 of this minibook for different ways to communicate with your project’s audiences.)
18.221.249.198