Agile stakeholder engagement is often ignored, similar to agile stakeholder management. Time can feel so crunched that management jumps frantically from one problem to the next. They forget to look up, look around, and consider those standing by—the others impacted by the project—sadly leading to failure. That’s why these practices are so important.
When you fully engage stakeholders, you can protect your project, support those around it, and give your team the best shot at successful completion, which is good for everyone. In this post, we are going to break this concept down. We are going to cover each of the following.
- What is stakeholder engagement?
- A recap of the Agile methodology
- Agile Stakeholder Engagement
- How to engage stakeholders in agile
- Skills that support that effort
- Why you should NOT ignore this
Remember, your project (and its environment) is what you make of it. Using this principle will help elevate everyone’s experience of you as a project manager and the project itself.
But First, What is Stakeholder Engagement?
Before we dive into the details of agile stakeholder engagement, we’ll preface. In project management, whether traditional or agile, you have much to manage. You have to keep an eye on your team members, on the actual progress of the project, on the risks that can either elevate or dismantle it, and you have to manage your stakeholders.
The art of managing stakeholders boils down to mentoring, monitoring, and influencing stakeholders to protect and secure ideal project outcomes. Engagement is about how you do all of those things. It’s also about keeping stakeholders continually engaged in the project—something that isn’t as easy as it sounds.
On smaller, close-knit projects, this practice can look like weekly meetings with owners/management and daily meetings with different team members. But as the project’s scope and scale increase, the whole engagement process does the same, getting more and more complicated. Stakeholder engagement is the backbone of stakeholder management.
By regularly “engaging” stakeholders, you are not only displaying your commitment to the project, but you are also supporting theirs.
What is the Agile Methodology?
Simply put, agile project management is less about preparation and more about execution. In traditional project management, you dedicate much time to planning, preparation, and prevention because you have more external conditions to meet.
In agile, you recognize that there aren’t many barriers to entry. You don’t have to get building permits when you’re developing a program. Usually, you just have a budget and a deadline, meaning you and your team can jump right in.
Besides the lack of concrete planning, another major feature of the agile methodology is how data-focused it is. An idea is hatched, and people decide to pursue it. Development picks up, progress is made, and—somewhere in the mix—input is requested.
The biggest difference between traditional project management and agile methodology is that each project’s triangle (scope, schedule, and budget) is inverted. Rather than the main focus being the scope, which automatically makes the schedule and budget flexible, it’s the other way. Agile is completely focused on obeying a schedule and budget, requiring the scope to yield.
The Four Pillars Of Agile
Paired with the inverted triangle, we must also mention the foundation that defines agile and its four parts.
- People Over Tools – The things that are going to solve your problems and be of the most value are not things. They are people. And while we like to act like they don’t, people need support. No matter how effective or independent they are, you should not forget to do that.
- Document Enough – In the heat of the moment, it’s easy to prioritize the wrong things. While documentation is helpful, it’s not as important as making progress and getting “actual” work done. So, we recommend that you document just enough to cover your bases but don’t let it distract from the other tasks.
- Collaboration, Not Negotiation – If progress is the main objective, your efforts (and your contract) must prioritize that. Rather than placing energy into clauses that manage change, leave room for activities of higher importance, like working together. Change is a part of this process, so don’t suffocate it.
- Flexibility First – You may start with a plan, but do yourself a favor and let it remain a rough plan. Don’t abandon the plan, per se. Alternatively, you should all accept that those plans were made when you had the least information, insight, and input. Update it as often as you can and just roll with it.
Agile project management is a great practice for many groups in many industries. It enables projects to pivot and shift without a bunch of fuss. It also pairs beautifully with fast-paced, innovative teams that are always looking to break the mold. But one mold you should not ignore is stakeholder engagement.
Agile Stakeholder Engagement, Explained
To be honest, this practice is not much different than the one used by project managers in traditional settings. It’s a system for how you manage stakeholders’ needs, expectations, and goals with the sole intention of protecting your project. It’s minimal on smaller projects and incredibly crucial on larger ones.
The bigger the project, the more complicated everything gets.
Agile stakeholder management is a bit more direct because it requires you to get to the point with your colleagues. You find out who they are and what they want. Then, you work to influence them. There is so little room for error in Agile that you have to balance the act of engaging stakeholders right along with completing your work. That’s why a system is so helpful—especially in a management setting that is almost completely devoid of set procedures.
A huge portion of agile stakeholder management is communication. You have to establish a shared vision, show them their part in it, and then put your money where your mouth is. Nothing will land right if you simply introduce yourself, talk a big game, and disappear. You have to follow up, and there are two ways to do that.
- Personalized Communication
- Sharing Knowledge
Both of these avenues are explained below.
How To Support Agile Stakeholder Engagement, Personal Communication
While this idea seems straightforward, it’s a bit complicated. Engagement often looks like communication with stakeholders regarding progress updates, issues facing the team, and what is happening next. There are two ways you can share that information.
- You can dispatch it, meaning you can hand the information to a few key (higher-level) team members and let it circulate or trickle.
- You can condense it, which looks like having a conversation with a group/individual and getting instant feedback or, at least, a reaction.
Whichever way you choose, let it be because it’s best suited to the project and its stakeholders—not whichever one sounds like less work.
How To Support Agile Stakeholder Engagement, Sharing Knowledge
This tactic can also be called posting. It looks like placing information in high-traffic areas and letting everyone involved have a base of knowledge. The trick here is that you over-share and never hide details.
Something to keep in mind is that information will circulate regardless of which path you choose. So, you might as well define the narrative before it decides to define you.
How To Engage Stakeholders In Agile Setting, 10 Tips
Every project is sensitive to the environment surrounding it. Agile projects might be the most sensitive due to the iterative nature of things. The collective direction can change and change again. In fact, it will. The over-arching theme might remain, but your team’s path to get there will not.
And we won’t sugarcoat this. This process is a lot to keep up with. You and your team might not have an issue, but your project is probably your whole landscape. In fact, it’s better that way because it makes you all specialists on the matter.
That idea does not apply to stakeholders. They tend to wear more hats and have their fingers in many pots, as is the nature of their position. All of that is to say that keeping them engaged is hard. You may even find that it’s easier not to have much contact at all because everyone is going in different directions, but that would be a mistake.
What we recommend is an open, structured approach to keeping them engaged on their terms, which you can do using the following tips.
- Get Early Involvement
- Get To Know Them
- Show & Share The Vision
- Explain The Benefits
- Include Them
- Don’t Exclude Unintentionally
- Collaborate
- Ask For Feedback
- Show The Result
- Review Their Experience
Note: You will not be able to accomplish all of these tasks with each stakeholder, but you should attempt with at least one group member.
1. Get Early Involvement
Agile projects move faster than traditional ones. But that fact doesn’t negate the need to figure out who to engage with as early as possible. Use the agile stakeholder management model to figure out who you’ll engage with and then approach them. Make them understand their value and importance in the landscape of the project.
Also, try to understand what the end result means to stakeholders, and what they are looking to achieve. You might be able to nudge the outcome a little closer to their goal.
2. Get To Know Them
It is important to understand where they come from, what motivates them, and what they want from this project. But we might argue that it’s even more important that you know them first—at least a little bit. Develop a connection with them. Try to understand them as a person before you try to sway their opinion of your project.
Ask them some questions.
- What stresses them out?
- What are their present concerns?
- What does their job require of them?
- Are they tired?
- Are they excited to be involved?
Find out what drives them as a person and what drives them as a stakeholder.
3. Show & Share The Vision
It’s easy to get into a flow. You just put your head down and do your job. That is even easier when you understand what you’re working towards. Each step and decision feels like it’s part of something bigger. But what happens when you don’t know that stuff?
You know what that’s like. Everything becomes a bit of a drag. You feel like getting through the day is tedious and drawn out. No task makes sense, really. You are just doing what you need to. Stakeholders can experience that same feeling, and you don’t want that. Be proactive and show them the vision as often as possible. And ALWAYS explain the “why.”
Showing them the vision is also important. Show them true progress. Don’t rely solely on telling.
4. Explain The Benefits
Sometimes you need to market your project to stakeholders. You could also look at it as advocating. Point out how this project will benefit them and how it will benefit others. When you go to explain why you’re making certain moves, show your motive as those benefits.
Warning. Be careful not to exaggerate them. You don’t want to give people a false sense of reward or safety. Simply explain why this could be good form from time to time.
5. Include Them
Getting them in the room or in the meeting is another great way to improve agile stakeholder engagement. Being present is a commitment in itself, but you could even go so far as to get their input on estimates, project details, and different routes the team would like to explore.
When the team celebrates milestones, do it with stakeholders. Let them know that you appreciate their involvement.
Another Warning. Some stakeholders can be a burden. They either don’t support the project or ask for too much effort unrelated to making progress, so handle this task carefully.
6. Don’t Exclude Unintentionally
Don’t make the mistake of focusing on just one group or type of stakeholder. If you’ve collected a few different types, you must be sure they represent different perspectives and project inputs. Sometimes, we find ourselves in positions where we’ve only connected with one type of stakeholder because they were available.
Whether or not you meant to, that kind of pattern means you ignore others. You can’t do that.
7. Collaborate
While your instincts might consider this effort (and all of these people) burdensome, we recommend that you fight that. Instead, try to see these people as resources. And as much as we may not like it, resources don’t have to tell you what you want to hear and confirm your basis. They simply tell you what is true from that perspective.
So, to invite true collaboration, try different forms, such as
- Workshops
- Collaboration games
- Votes
Workshops
These meetings need to follow a few rules, or they become rather chaotic.
- There needs to be a kickoff activity that forces everyone to participate within the first few minutes. For example, have everyone say their dream vacation destination and why.
- Make the goal of the session, the schedule you’d like to follow, and the rules clearly visible.
- Encourage people to think outside the box. For example, ask why a lot.
In addition, make an effort to include each participant, even the shy ones. You can do this by taking time for quiet writing, passing some kind of symbolic item around the room that requires everyone to answer, and having everyone shout out their ideas.
Collaboration Games
While the workshops can and should feel like games compared to normal work, we recommend you also implement actual games. One of our favorites is the sailboat game, where you draw out four items separated into quadrants. This helps people visualize the whole process.
- The Island – where you want the team to go, the goal
- The Boat – what is going to get you there, who is going to get you there
- The Anchor – what slows you and the team down
- The Coral or Shallows – anything that risks or could disrupt the project or progress
Votes
Holding a vote is a great solution for getting quick, decisive input. You can just ask the room to put a hand up for a “yes” or “no” vote. You can have people use their thumbs to symbolize approval (up), disapproval(down), and concerns(sideways). Lastly, if you need to show results on a spectrum, you can ask people to show with their hands how much they agree or disagree with the numbers 1-5.
8. Ask For Feedback
Your relationship with stakeholders is a collaborative one—a two-way street. They’ll have input, and you need to hear it. This can be done by 1) keeping the communication channels open and 2) asking for their feedback. Place something in front of them and ask them what they think. Invite them to be honest. If they feel called to rip it apart, let them. Hear it all. Write it all down. By asking for feedback directly (and receiving it directly), you will make yourself vulnerable, but you will also let your stakeholders know that they matter and what they think matters.
9. Show The Result
Now this one might be hard to sell but try to keep an open mind. Use their input. Give their notes to your team. The point of this is to do something with the feedback you received. Make a point of showing your stakeholders that they matter.
10. Review Their Experience
When everything is wrapped up and the dust has settled, return to each stakeholder you engaged and ask them for their final thoughts. How did the experience treat them? This feedback is useful to you, your team, and your organization. Everyone has patterns; sometimes, pulling them into the light and examining them is good.
Top 3 Skills You Need For Agile Stakeholder Engagement
You won’t be able to do everything with every stakeholder for every project, but the goal should be “more often than not.” And even then, as long as you habitually use these three skills in agile stakeholder engagement, you’ll do fine.
The first is active listening. Sure, you think you listen to people, but everyone can improve this skill. You must not only hear what stakeholders have to say but also plug that information into the project’s political landscape. People will tell you who they are. Make sure you listen.
The second skill we find useful in agile stakeholder engagement is negotiation. No one is going to walk away with everything they want. To get, we usually have to give. Don’t be afraid to be honest about your capabilities and what they can expect from the project outcome. And if they want more, negotiate for a middle ground.
The last skill you’ll need is conflict resolution. Sometimes, management feels like herding cats. There will be disagreements, arguments, misunderstandings, etc. We’d encourage you to be unbiased, stick to the facts, and keep your feelings tucked away. It’s much easier that way.
Don’t Ignore Agile Stakeholder Engagement
Agile stakeholder management is a challenging task. You have to jump right in and get things moving without tons of time to prepare—if any. Inherently, this system adds work to your plate, which will put a lot of people off.
But with strong stakeholder engagement, information will stay clear, intentions will get misread, and the team can save time and money moving in the right direction. The customer’s explanation of what they need may be lost in translation, and everyone’s project experience gets messed up.
Some of your stakeholders might have multiple projects and be spread way too thin across too many projects, so it’s up to the project manager to take the initiative and engage with them. Don’t expect them to do it. Use this system and let it make your task of agile project management that much easier.
Let New Ideas Find You
Here at A.McBeth, Inc., we know it’s better to open our thinking caps, receive new ideas, and use them occasionally than act like we know everything. Project management is pretty uncomfortable with that attitude, so we are offering up new (and old) ideas all month long, so sign up to be notified the next time one pops up. You won’t want to miss it!
