Stakeholders can be individuals, groups, or organizations that may affect, be affected by, or perceive themselves to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a portfolio, program, or project. Stakeholders also directly or indirectly influence a project, its performance, or outcome in either a positive or negative way.

- Stakeholders influence projects, performance, and outcomes.
- Project teams serve other stakeholders by engaging with them.
- Stakeholder engagement proactively advances value delivery.

Stakeholders can affect many aspects of a project, including but not limited to:

▶ Scope/requirements, by revealing the need to add, adjust, or remove elements of the scope and/or project requirements;
▶ Schedule, by offering ideas to accelerate delivery or by slowing down or stop delivery of key project activities;
▶ Cost, by helping to reduce or eliminate planned expenditures or by adding steps, requirements, or restrictions that increase cost or require additional resources;
▶ Project team, by restricting or enabling access to people with the skills, knowledge, and experience needed to deliver the intended outcomes, and promote a learning culture;
▶ Plans, by providing information for plans or by advocating for changes to agreed activities and work;
▶ Outcomes, by enabling or blocking work required for the desired outcomes;
▶ Culture, by establishing or influencing—or even defining—the level and character of engagement of the project team and broader organization;
▶ Benefits realization, by generating and identifying long-term goals so that the project delivers the intended identified value;
▶ Risk, by defining the risk thresholds of the project, as well as participating in subsequent risk management activities;
▶ Quality, by identifying and requiring quality requirements; and
▶ Success, by defining success factors and participating in the evaluation of success.

Stakeholders may come and go throughout the life cycle of the project. Additionally, the degree of a stakeholder’s interest, influence, or impact may change over time. Stakeholders, especially those with a high degree of influence and who have an unfavorable or neutral view about a project, need to be effectively engaged so that their interests, concerns, and rights are understood. The project team can then address these concerns through effective engagement and support leading to the probability of a successful project outcome.

The Standard For Project Management And A Guide To The Project Management Body Of Knowledge (Pmbok® Guide) Seventh Edition

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