AMA: ATG Group Product Manager, James Heimbuck on Stakeholder Management

The lead on this question is about meetings but that is just one context for the more important part of this, what information do you need to radiate out and who needs to hear it? Sometimes as PMs it easy to fall into one of two camps when it comes to updates Try to tell everyone everything. This can be a reaction to hearing that we are . . . not telling enough people or stakeholders what we are doing and someone complaining about "being out of the loop" Neither of these is the right answer beca ...Read More

As a product leader in a small company, you often find yourself wearing many hats, sometimes taking on responsibilities in support, marketing, sales, and other areas. However, as the company grows and new leaders are brought in to oversee these functions, it can be challenging to let go of the things you were responsible for in the past. It is important to remember that your primary responsibility has shifted to creating and executing the product vision, allowing you to dedicate more time and fo ...Read More

The biggest struggle I have seen is providing too much detail in their update and not linking their project to larger business goals. Executive stakeholders DO care about your project, but they need to know less about why you choose that font size and more about how your project aligns with the top level goals, what impact it will make on customers and internal teams and when that impact will be realized. When giving an executive update I touch on 3 main things Remind of the context - "We are wo ...Read More

When addressing stakeholders, it’s best to start with in-person or one-on-one conversations, as they often just want to be heard. During these discussions it is important to share what you are currently working on and clearly explain how it aligns with the broader business objectives. If you find that a stakeholder’s priorities are not aligned with these objectives, it may signal larger organizational challenges that you’ll need to navigate. If you are not going include the request then whenever ...Read More

In my experience there are 3 key things to align stakeholders which applies to remote or in person environments. Get agreement on what the higher level objectives are using existing artifacts or creating new ones as necessary. This does not mean you have to agree on the priority order of them, yet. Get agreement on which of those objectives your team is equipped to execute against the best because of past experience in that area, the right skill set for the solution, etc. Part of this is setting ...Read More