Stakeholder Collaboration

🤝 Stakeholder Collaboration: Building Your Dream Team

The Birthday Party Story

Imagine you’re planning the biggest birthday party ever. You can’t do it alone! You need help from:

• Mom and Dad (they pay for things)
• Your best friend (helps you decide the games)
• The baker (makes the cake)
• Your little sister (she’ll cry if ignored!)

Each person cares about the party in a different way. That’s exactly what stakeholder collaboration is!

In Agile, stakeholders are everyone who cares about your project. Working with them well means your project becomes amazing—like the best party ever! 🎉

🔍 Stakeholder Identification: Finding Your Party Guests

What Is It?

Stakeholder identification = Finding out WHO cares about your project.

Think of it like making a guest list. You ask:

• Who will use what we build?
• Who will pay for it?
• Who will be affected by it?
• Who has opinions we should hear?

The Four Types of Stakeholders

graph TD
    A["🎯 Your Project"] --> B["👑 Decision Makers"]
    A --> C["👷 Team Members"]
    A --> D["👤 End Users"]
    A --> E["🏢 Other Groups"]

    B --> B1["Bosses, Sponsors"]
    C --> C1["Developers, Designers"]
    D --> D1["Customers, Clients"]
    E --> E1["Legal, Marketing, Support"]

Simple Example

Building a School App:

💡 Pro Tip: Ask yourself: “If we forget this person, what goes wrong?” If something bad happens—they’re a stakeholder!

🎯 Stakeholder Engagement: Making Everyone Feel Special

What Is It?

Stakeholder engagement = Keeping everyone involved and happy.

It’s like at a party—you don’t just invite guests and ignore them! You:

• Talk to them
• Ask what music they like
• Make sure they have fun

The Engagement Ladder

Not everyone needs the same attention:

graph TD
    A["🪜 Engagement Levels"] --> B["📢 Inform"]
    A --> C["💬 Consult"]
    A --> D["🤝 Collaborate"]
    A --> E["👑 Empower"]

    B --> B1["Just tell them what's happening"]
    C --> C1["Ask for their opinion"]
    D --> D1["Work together on decisions"]
    E --> E1["Let them make decisions"]

Simple Example

For Your School App:

• Principal → EMPOWER (big decisions)
• Teachers → COLLABORATE (design features together)
• Parents → CONSULT (what updates do they want?)
• School Board → INFORM (send progress reports)

Engagement Activities

💡 Remember: Over-communicating is better than under-communicating!

⚖️ Managing Expectations: No Surprises!

What Is It?

Managing expectations = Making sure everyone knows what will (and won’t) happen.

Imagine promising your friend the party will have a roller coaster. When there’s just a bounce house, they’re sad. But if you said “bounce house” from the start? They’d be excited!

The Three Rules

1. Be honest about what’s possible
2. Be clear about timelines
3. Tell bad news early (not at the last minute!)

The Expectation Gap

graph LR
    A["What They Expect"] --> B{Gap?}
    C["What You Can Deliver"] --> B
    B -->|Big Gap| D["😢 Unhappy Stakeholder"]
    B -->|Small Gap| E["😊 Happy Stakeholder"]
    B -->|No Gap| F["🎉 Thrilled Stakeholder!"]

How to Manage Expectations

Simple Example

The Honest Conversation:

• ❌ “Sure, we can add 10 features this sprint!”
• ✅ “We can deliver 3 features really well. Which 3 matter most to you?”

💡 Golden Rule: Under-promise and over-deliver. Never the opposite!

🤝 Customer Collaboration: Partners, Not Strangers

What Is It?

Customer collaboration = Working WITH customers, not just FOR them.

In Agile, we don’t hide in a room for months and then say “SURPRISE!” We involve customers constantly.

Why It Matters

The Agile Manifesto says:

“Customer collaboration over contract negotiation”

This means talking and working together beats just following a contract.

The Collaboration Cycle

graph TD
    A["🗣️ Talk to Customer"] --> B["🔨 Build Something Small"]
    B --> C["👀 Show Customer"]
    C --> D["📝 Get Feedback"]
    D --> A

    style A fill:#e8f5e9
    style B fill:#e3f2fd
    style C fill:#fff3e0
    style D fill:#fce4ec

How to Collaborate Well

Simple Example

Building an Online Store:

• ❌ Build for 6 months → Show customer → They hate it
• ✅ Build 2 weeks → Show customer → They love it! → Build more → Show again → Perfect!

💡 Key Insight: Customers know what they need better than you do. Ask them often!

📣 Feedback Collection: Listening Like a Champion

What Is It?

Feedback collection = Getting and using opinions to make things better.

Feedback is like a treasure map. It shows you where to go!

Types of Feedback

graph TD
    A["📣 Feedback Types"] --> B["📊 Numbers"]
    A --> C["💬 Words"]
    A --> D["👀 Actions"]

    B --> B1["Surveys, Ratings, Scores"]
    C --> C1["Interviews, Reviews, Comments"]
    D --> D1["What they actually DO"]

The Feedback Loop

1. Collect → Gather feedback
2. Analyze → Find patterns
3. Decide → Choose what to act on
4. Act → Make changes
5. Share → Tell stakeholders what you did

Good Feedback Collection

Simple Example

Collecting Feedback for Your App:

• 📊 Survey: “Rate checkout ease 1-5” → Average: 2.8
• 💬 Interview: “The button was hard to find”
• 👀 Watch: Users click wrong button 3 times
• ✅ Action: Make button bigger and brighter!

💡 Important: Collecting feedback is useless if you don’t act on it. Close the loop!

🎯 Putting It All Together

The Stakeholder Collaboration Flow

graph TD
    A["1. IDENTIFY<br>Who cares?"] --> B["2. ENGAGE<br>Keep them involved"]
    B --> C["3. MANAGE EXPECTATIONS<br>Be honest"]
    C --> D["4. COLLABORATE<br>Work together"]
    D --> E["5. COLLECT FEEDBACK<br>Listen and improve"]
    E --> B

    style A fill:#ffebee
    style B fill:#e3f2fd
    style C fill:#fff3e0
    style D fill:#e8f5e9
    style E fill:#f3e5f5

The Party Planning Checklist

✨ Your Superpowers Now

You’ve learned the 5 secrets of stakeholder collaboration:

1. FIND your stakeholders (don’t miss anyone!)
2. ENGAGE them the right amount (some more, some less)
3. MANAGE what they expect (no surprises!)
4. COLLABORATE as partners (work together!)
5. COLLECT feedback and act on it (listen and improve!)

🎉 Remember: Happy stakeholders = successful projects = everyone wins!

You’re now ready to throw the best “project party” ever! 🎈