They care about functionality, usability, and how the system
affects their daily work. They often have insights about
requirements that other stakeholders miss.
Department Heads
oversee the people and processes that
your project affects. They worry about productivity
disruptions, training requirements, and how changes impact
their team’s ability to meet their own goals.
External Vendors
provide specialized services or products.
They need clear specifications, timely decisions, and prompt
payment. They often have insights about industry best
practices and potential technical challenges.
But here’s what many students miss: stakeholders aren’t
static. People change roles, new people join the organization,
priorities shift. That department head who was enthusiastic
about your project might be replaced by someone who
questions its value. The end user who provided great feedback
might transfer to another department.
Let’s use our network upgrade project as an example. Your
stakeholders might include the IT director who’s sponsoring
the project, the network technicians who’ll implement the
changes, the department managers whose teams depend on
network connectivity, the external vendor providing the new
equipment, the security team who needs to approve the
configuration, and the help desk staff who’ll field user
questions after the upgrade.
Each group cares about different aspects of the project and
needs different information. The IT director wants to know
CHAPTER 5: PROJECT MANAGEMENT FUNDAMENTALS | 85
