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Gaining Support for Your Projects

Leslie Martinich

Sr Member, IEEE

Founder, Competitive Focus

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Overview

• Identify stakeholders

• Assess interests

• Plan for effective communications

• Get your ducks in a row!

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Why

• Increase chances of project completion

• Increase chances of project success

• Without support, projects often fail

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Direction

Executive Staff

Project Team

CustomersColleagues

Engineers, Testers, Trainers, Writers, Support Staff

Project Managers, Peers

End Users, Sales, Marketing

Managers, Director, VP, CEO

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Identify Stakeholders

• Consider a project you are working on or an idea you would like to promote

• Who are the stakeholders?

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Sources of Resistance

• Indifference

• Resource contention

• Change

• Jostling for position

• Oblivious to value

• Different priorities

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Testing Assumptions

• Is this project important?

• Why or why not?

• Does this project align with corporate goals?

Executive Staff

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Testing Assumptions

• Does this product meet a need?

• Is it important for you to have this product?

• Are there any difficulties for you in adopting this product?

• How does this product compare to those of our competitors?

Customers

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Testing Assumptions

• Does this project conflict with or complement other projects?

• What resources do we share?

• How might building this project affect your projects?

Colleagues

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Testing Assumptions

• What opportunity does this project represent for you?

• Are there any difficulties for you in working on this project?

Project Team

• What risks does this project represent for you?

• What risks do you see for the project itself?

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Alignment

• Gather the data, initially informally

• Note inconsistencies, conflicts

• Pay attention to fears

• Pay attention to changes that this project assumes or requires

• Modify project objectives to get into alignment; check again

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Resource Contention

• Financial

• People

• Glory

• Lab space and time

• Equipment

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Dealing with Change

• New way of doing things

• How does that affect the stakeholder?

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Priorities

• Do others have a different view of the priority of this project from yours?

• Why?

• Do they need education, information about the project?

• Do they value something else more?

• What are their assumptions?

• What are their objectives?

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Risk

Category Risk Item Probability Loss Area Impacted

Require-ments

Techno-logy

Organiza-tional

Budget

Customer

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Requirements Risk

• Are requirements unstable?

• Likely to change throughout the project?

• Is the user interface likely to change?

• Does the customer have unwritten expectations?

• Are requirements ambiguous? Missing?

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Organizational Risk

• Are there enough people on this project?

• Does the staff lack needed skills?

• Is there a reorganization likely?

• Does the project team lack upper management support?

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Technology Risks

• Does this project use an innovative technology?

• Is the technology changing rapidly?

• Are the suppliers’ businesses at risk?

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Budget Risks

• Are equipment resources available when needed?

• Might the project exhaust funds prior to completion?

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Customer Risk

• Does the customer have a history of being difficult?

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Areas Impacted?

• Project cost

• Project schedule

• Project functionality

• Operational behavior

• Support

Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@competitivefocus.com

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Risk Assessment

• Using the Risk Assessment worksheet, describe the risks you and others see to your project.

• What will be affected (cost, schedule, functionality) if the possible risk occurs?

Gaining S

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Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@CompetitiveFocus.com

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Communications Planning

• For each stakeholder– How does this project represent change?– What are his or her goals?– What are his or her fears?– What risks does the project present to this

person?– What is her or her communication preference?

Gaining S

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Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@CompetitiveFocus.com

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Communications PlanningCustomer Colleague Director

Change

Goals

Fears

Risks

Communication

Preference

What change does this project represent for this person?

What are his or her goals?

What are his or her fears?

Does this person prefer face-to-face or written?

What risks does this project present?

Gaining S

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Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@CompetitiveFocus.com

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Communications Planning

Customer Colleague Director

Needs

Shared Interests

Format

Feedback

What do you need from this person?

What interests do you share with this person?

What format will your communication take?

How will you get feedback from this person?

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Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@CompetitiveFocus.com

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Planning Activity

• Select a project you are working on, or one you would like to propose. Work through the Communications Preparation worksheet. You need not fill in every cell; try to fill in what you know.

• Review your plans within your group.

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Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@CompetitiveFocus.com

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Execute Your Plan!

• What have you learned?

• How will you use it?

• Execute your plan

• Get your ducks in a row!

• Keep your commitments!

Gaining S

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Nov 5, 2008 Leslie Martinichleslie@CompetitiveFocus.com

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Questions?

Contact information:

Leslie Martinich

leslie@competitivefocus.com

lmartinich@ieee.org

(512) 423-5121