Strategy
Stakeholder map
One row per stakeholder with what they need from the product, their influence and interest scored one to five, where they stand today, where you need them to be, and who owns the next conversation.
What it is
A stakeholder map lists the people who can affect an initiative or are affected by it, what each of them needs from it, how much influence they hold, how much they care, and where they stand today against where they need to stand.
The two scores are a prompt rather than a verdict. Influence multiplied by interest gives a number that sorts the list, and the sorting is the useful part, because it shows where a product manager's time actually needs to go. Someone with high influence and low interest will delegate, and the map should say to whom.
It carries a risk worth naming. A sheet grading colleagues is uncomfortable if the people in it ever read it, so write what people need rather than what you think of them, keep it to the initiative, and delete it when the initiative closes.
When to use it
- An initiative crosses several teams and you keep meeting an objection late.
- A change needs support from people you do not work with day to day.
- You are new in a role and working out who decides what.
- The same person keeps blocking progress and nobody has written down what they actually need.
The columns
- Name
- Role
- What they need from this
- Influence
- Interest
- Priority
- Position today
- Position needed
- Relationship owner
- Next conversation
The template
| Name | Role | What they need from this | Influence | Interest | Priority | Position today | Position needed | Relationship owner | Next conversation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P. Raman | VP Customer Success | Fewer escalations from enterprise accounts during the rollout | 5 | 4 | 20 | Supportive | Advocating | You | Walk through the cohort plan, 12 Sep |
| T. Okafor | Finance Director | A signed revenue forecast before the pricing change goes live | 4 | 2 | 8 | Neutral | Supportive | Head of Product | Share the model, 19 Sep |
| D. Fischer | Staff Engineer, Platform | Confidence the migration will not land in the same Sprint as the index rebuild | 3 | 5 | 15 | Unconvinced | Supportive | Engineering Manager | Sequencing review, 5 Sep |
Priority is Influence times Interest, so the column runs from 1 to 25. In the sheet that is =D2*E2, filled down. Anything at 15 or above needs a named relationship owner and a conversation already in the diary.
The two scores
- Influence, 1 to 5. How much this person can change the outcome, through budget, veto, hiring or credibility with the people who hold those.
- Interest, 1 to 5. How much the outcome changes their week. Someone with high influence and low interest will delegate, and the map should say to whom.
The position scale
Use the same five words every time, so the sheet can be read across months.
- Opposed, and has said so
- Unconvinced, with a specific concern
- Neutral, or not yet informed
- Supportive when asked
- Advocating without being asked
The gap between position today and position needed is the whole point. Most people do not need to become advocates, and trying to move everyone to a five is how a product manager runs out of time for the product.
How to use it without it becoming a liability
Write what people need, not what you think of them. Keep the sheet to the initiative rather than making it a permanent register, and delete it when the initiative closes. If you would not be comfortable with a row being read by the person it describes, the wording is wrong rather than the row.
Questions people ask
- Is this not a bit political?
- Only as political as you make it. A row saying what someone needs and when you will next speak to them is planning. A row rating someone's personality is not, and it does not belong in the sheet.
- How many people belong in it?
- The ones whose position could change the outcome. For a team of six who meet weekly the map costs more in trust than it returns, and a conversation does the job.
- What does position needed mean?
- The support you actually require, which is usually less than enthusiasm. Most people need only to stop objecting, and trying to turn everyone into an advocate is how a product manager runs out of time for the product.
- Who should see the sheet?
- Keep it to the people running the initiative. If a row would embarrass you to have read aloud, the wording is wrong rather than the row.