Stakeholder Map Page in Confluence: Who to Involve and How
Build a stakeholder map page in Confluence: a power and interest grid that shows who to manage closely, keep satisfied, keep informed or just monitor. A simple table the whole project team can read before every meeting.
Step by step
Why a stakeholder map
- Stakeholder map. A stakeholder map shows who to involve on a project and how. If you miss one person with power, the project can stall. Here we build the map as one Confluence page.
A new page
- Create. The map belongs with the project, so open the project overview page first. Click Create at the top. Then pick Page.
- A clear title. Type a clear title, Stakeholder map - Online Shop, and press Enter to move into the page body.
Build the map
- Insert a table. Type /table and press Enter. The default size is 3 x 3, so press Enter again to insert it.
/table - Interest across. This is a power and interest grid. Leave the top-left cell empty. The top row is a header row, so its text comes out bold. In the second cell, type Low interest, and in the third cell type High interest.
- Power down. In the first cell of the second row, type High power. That column is not a header, so press Ctrl+B first (Cmd+B on a Mac) to make it bold like a heading. In the first cell of the third row, type Low power, in bold too.
- Manage closely. Now place each stakeholder. The head of sales has high power and high interest, so the High power / High interest box says Head of sales - manage closely. Meet them in a weekly review.
- Keep satisfied. The finance team has power but little interest. The High power / Low interest box says Finance team - keep satisfied. Send them a short monthly summary.
- Keep informed. The warehouse team cares a lot but has little power. The Low power / High interest box says Warehouse team - keep informed. Invite them to the sprint demo.
- Monitor. Customer service has low power and low interest for now. The Low power / Low interest box says Customer service - monitor. Send them the release notes.
Publish
- Publish. Click Publish. Confluence shows that the page will sit under the project overview. Click Publish again to confirm.
- Who and how. The map is live. Each stakeholder sits in one box, and the box tells you how to involve them. Check it before every big meeting.
Recap
- Power, interest, how. To recap: high power and high interest, manage closely. High interest only, keep informed. High power only, keep satisfied. Neither, monitor.
Common mistakes
- Row labels that look like normal text. Only the top row is a header, so High power and Low power come out plain. Press Ctrl+B (Cmd+B on a Mac) before typing them, so the grid reads clearly at a glance.
- Swapping keep satisfied and keep informed. Keep satisfied is for high power with low interest, like finance. Keep informed is for high interest with low power, like the warehouse team. Check each box against both axis labels.
- Creating the page in the wrong place. If you click Create from somewhere else, the map can end up away from the project. Open the project overview page first, then check where Confluence will put it before you click Publish.
- Treating the map as done. Power and interest change as the project moves. Edit the page when someone's role or interest changes, for example when customer service gets busy near go-live.
When a business analyst uses this
Before a requirements workshop, a BA checks the stakeholder map to decide who must be in the room (manage closely), who gets a summary afterwards (keep satisfied) and who sees the demo later (keep informed). That way no one with power is missed at sign-off.
Questions people ask
What are the 4 quadrants of a power and interest grid?
High power and high interest: manage closely. High power and low interest: keep satisfied. Low power and high interest: keep informed. Low power and low interest: monitor.
How do I insert a table in Confluence?
In the page editor, type /table and press Enter. The default size is 3 x 3, so press Enter again to insert it.
