Comments on: So Many Stakeholders, So Little Time

By: Arushi Bhardwaj

Arushi Bhardwaj — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:39:46 +0000

Here is another idea:
I did a couple of workshops; based on the documents, sow, user mannual etc. provided by the client; I did my initial analysis and a brief sketch of how things flow in the project. Then arranged a workshop (kept some snacks – make sure they are very cheap else it can be claimed as a bribe :-p) I think everyone seemed so interested into things that information started flowing like a rainfall; all I had to do is write the comments and later on analyze it! You can also break it down into different levels/sections etc. I mean it depends upon the lenght of the project. The one I was working on had about 30 stakeholders and i’d have to say about 13 departments and I held the workshop for three days in which i did kind of work on the sequence of how things should flow but didnt fuss about it too much. We had a team of 5 people!

By: Kupe

Kupe — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:23:43 +0000

Thanks everyone for your comments! And I’m thrilled so many of us are using surveys. maybe it is not as neglected as I thought!!

@Gail – There are about 20 questions I have in my survey. By using SharePoint I used one list as my template. Then copy that for each business process I need information for.

@Laith – I am analyzing business processes, so I have 20 questions related business data needs, how often the process is run, who uses the output, etc. I will get some detailed ino, but there will be follow-up and reviews to clarify the information.

@Megan – Almost all of the questions were open ended. That’s why I am doing some kick-off meetings to help reduce the follow-ups. I am not sure what you mean by stakeholder conflicts. Can you clarify that question? Thanks

By: Kupe

Kupe — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:20:39 +0000

Thanks Ben. I let a few people review it and provide feedback. the next step is to pilot it with a small group then unleash it to the larger audience.

-Kupe

By: Ben Warsop

Ben Warsop — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:56:53 +0000

I’m about to use SharePoint for three or four separate surveys so I’ll be interested to know how you get on.

My main learning so far is to pilot every survey. Like every other aspect of SharepPoint, it’s easy to use it badly, but great when you use it well. You don’t get the chance to send a survey out twice, so piloting it with a colleagues or your most friendly stakeholder is vital.

My other main learning was to Keep it Simple: don’t get distracted by branching logic and make sure that any scales are consistent (if bad’s on the left and good’s on the right in the first scale then it should be the same all the way through).

Let us know how you get on.

By: laith

laith — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:25:03 +0000

i like the idea of using the survey specially when you have many stakeholders, my question is how could you use the survey option to gather detailed requirements from the stakeholders ??

regards
laith

By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:18:48 +0000

Hi Kupe,
Were your survey questions open ended or closed?

How much time did you have to spend on stakeholder conflicts?

By: Gail McPhail

Gail McPhail — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:26:41 +0000

We are using this same process for one of my projects. I’d be interested in know how you constructed your template to capture all of the different answers to the questions on the survey.