Stakeholder Analysis: 4 Tools Every Business Analyst Should Use
"Just talk to the usual people." That's how stakeholders get forgotten. In this video I take one made-up online shop that is launching free returns and do a full stakeholder analysis: the 4 things to learn about every stakeholder (role, attitude, decision making authority, power or influence), the 4 tools from the BABOK Guide (stakeholder list, power/interest grid, RACI matrix, personas), a finished stakeholder engagement plan, and the 5 mistakes to avoid.
Step by step
Stakeholders are more than the boss
- In the BABOK Guide (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge) from the IIBA, a stakeholder is a group or person with a relationship to the change, the need or the solution. That means anyone the change affects and anyone who can affect it: the boss, but also the person who packs the boxes.
Explain like I'm 5: the surprise party
- Think of a surprise party in a hired hall. Forget a guest and the party is smaller. Forget the person with the key and there is no party. So don't only ask who cares about the change; ask who can stop it and who it lands on, like neighbours who complain about noise at 10 pm.
Plan Stakeholder Engagement (BABOK)
- The BABOK Guide covers this in the task Plan Stakeholder Engagement, in the Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring knowledge area. It has 3 parts: perform stakeholder analysis, define stakeholder collaboration, and stakeholder communication needs. Revisit it as people and plans change.
Where to find your stakeholders
- Don't just ask the boss for names. Use the org chart; follow the work (one returned parcel touches the shopper, courier, warehouse, finance and customer service); check old projects, emails and support tickets; and ask everyone you meet who else you should talk to.
The vague request
- The made-up online shop's sales manager says returns are free from next month: just talk to the usual people. That likely means her and the developer of the returns page. Nobody named who unpacks 40 extra parcels a day, pays the courier, or answers emails about late refunds.
A checklist of stakeholder roles
- Put a name next to each common role in the BABOK Guide: sponsor (sales manager), customers (shoppers), end users (shoppers, service agents), domain SME (warehouse lead), implementation SME (developers), supplier (courier), regulator (consumer refund rules). An empty spot is a question to ask.
Things 1-2: role and attitude
- Thing 1 is the role: how the change touches their work. Free returns could double the warehouse returns team's work. Thing 2 is attitude, so ask, don't guess. Customer service loves it, finance worries about postage, and the warehouse lead is quietly against it because nobody asked her.
Things 3-4: authority and influence
- Thing 3, decision making authority: who can say yes or no. The sales manager approves the budget and finance signs off the refund rule. Thing 4, power or influence, isn't about job title: the warehouse lead isn't a manager, but if the dock can't take 40 more parcels a day, the launch moves.
Four tools from BABOK
- To record it all, the BABOK Guide has one technique: Stakeholder List, Map, or Personas. It holds 4 tools: a stakeholder list to write everyone down, a stakeholder map such as the power/interest grid, a responsibility matrix (often a RACI), and personas for groups too big to meet one by one.
Tool 1: the stakeholder list
- Tool 1 is the stakeholder list: one row per person or group, with columns for role, what they care about and attitude. For example: warehouse lead, domain expert, worried about space, against it for now. Write attitudes in their words: 'worried about space' is useful, 'difficult' is not.
Tool 2: the power interest grid
- Tool 2 is the power/interest grid: power up the side, interest along the bottom. High power and interest (sales manager, finance, warehouse lead): manage closely. High power, low interest (courier): keep satisfied. High interest, low power (customer service): keep informed. Low on both: monitor.
Tool 3: the RACI matrix
- Tool 3 is the RACI matrix: Responsible does the work, Accountable owns and signs off the result, Consulted gives input before, Informed hears after. For the refund rule, finance is R, the sales manager A, the warehouse C and customer service I. Give each task one accountable person, never two.
Tool 4: personas
- Tool 4 is personas, for groups too big to interview, like 10,000 shoppers. Busy Bea shops on her phone and has no printer, so a print-your-label step fails her. New requirement: a return code on her phone that the post office can scan. Check personas against real data, like support tickets.
Worked example: the engagement plan
- The engagement plan is the stakeholder list plus 2 columns: how you work with each one and how often. Sales manager and finance: manage closely, weekly. Warehouse lead: first workshop and a weekly dock walk. Courier: monthly call. Customer service: update every 2 weeks, 2 agents test the screen.
Communication needs: what, when, how
- Communication needs: what each group needs to hear, when, how and in what detail. Finance gets a 1-page email every Friday with refund costs. The warehouse lead gets it face to face on the floor, with parcel counts. Customer service needs one clear answer for shoppers: how long a refund takes.
Confirm it and keep it alive
- Play the plan back to the sales manager and ask who is missing. Then keep it alive: 2 weeks in, the shop signs a second courier for big parcels. New row, new spot on the grid. Store it in a shared table in Excel or Airtable, or a Confluence page, and update it whenever something changes.
5 common mistakes
- The 5 common mistakes: listing only the bosses, guessing attitudes instead of asking, mixing up job title and influence, sending one message to everyone, and doing it once then filing it away. Stakeholders change, so the list has to change too.
Recap
- A stakeholder is anyone with a relationship to the change, the need or the solution. Plan engagement in 3 parts: analysis, collaboration and communication. Learn their role, attitude, decision making authority and power or influence. Use the 4 tools, build the engagement plan, and keep it alive.
Common mistakes
- Listing only the bosses. The people who do the work, like the warehouse returns team, feel the change first. Follow one piece of work, such as a returned parcel, from start to end and list everyone it touches.
- Treating job title as influence. The warehouse lead has no big title, but if the loading dock can't take 40 more parcels a day, the launch date moves. Rate power by who can make the change happen or stop it.
- Two accountable people on one RACI task. With two, nobody really owns the result. Give each task one A, like the sales manager for the refund rule, and as many R, C and I as you need.
- Doing it once and filing it away. Stakeholders join, leave and change their minds, like the second courier signed 2 weeks in. Keep the list in a shared table or page and check it every time something changes.
When a business analyst uses this
Before the first requirements workshop for a change, a BA builds the stakeholder list and power/interest grid to decide who to invite and who only needs updates, then adds a RACI so it is clear who signs off the requirements. Someone left off the list can block sign-off late in the project.
Questions people ask
What is a stakeholder analysis matrix?
The name is used loosely. Often it means the power/interest grid, which sorts people into manage closely, keep satisfied, keep informed and monitor. Some templates use it for the stakeholder list table instead.
Does stakeholder analysis cover internal or external stakeholders?
Both. A stakeholder is anyone with a relationship to the change, so outside groups count too, like the courier, the shoppers and the regulator in the online shop example.
Why is stakeholder analysis important?
It finds the people who can stop or delay the change before they surprise you. In the example, neither the warehouse lead nor the courier was on the usual list, but either one could move the launch.
