As a business analyst you would work with numerous people and learning how to work with these people is very important.
If you are a natural people person, it would help with stakeholder analysis but if you are naturally introverted like I am then you would have to learn this all skill set.
The plan stakeholder engagement task involves analyzing the stakeholders and their characteristics to decide on the best collaboration and communicating techniques.
There are various factors which help the business analyst in planning the stakeholder engagement and these are:
1. Needs: The business need and the part of the organization that requires this need would help the business analyst identify the necessary stakeholders to engage.
2. Business analysis approach: the chosen business analysis approach also helps with the stakeholder engagement because based on the approach chosen the business analyst can decide the level of stakeholder engagement.
Once the business analysis has decided on a stakeholder engagement plan there are various tasks which they would have to perform and these tasks are:
a. Perform stakeholder analysis: It is very important for all stakeholders to be identified. If you are not sure on the importance of a potential stakeholder just include their name in the stakeholder list.
It is better to have too many stakeholders than to miss a potentially important stakeholder.
To identify the stakeholders in a solution you can start with the organizational chart, minutes of meetings and review available documentation.
Once you have the list of stakeholders then you have to analyse them and categorize them.
b. Define stakeholders: In order to effectively get the requirements necessary to provide a successful solution the business analyst has to collaborate with the stakeholders.
So planning the stakeholder collaboration is of upmost importance. It can be a mix of different collaborative approaches based on the importance of the stakeholders and their influence in the project.
Other factors to consider when choosing the collaborative approach include the timing and frequency of the collaboration, location, delivery method and preference of the stakeholders.
c. Stakeholder communication needs: The business analyst has to analyse the communication needs of each stakeholder and decide on the best way to communicate with each of them.
In order to analyse the needs of each stakeholder the business analyst has to factor in the following:
1. what needs to be communicated,
2. The appropriate delivery method either written or verbal communication.
3. The frequency of communication.
4. Where the stakeholder is located, that is if they are locally or in another geographic location.
5. How formal communications would be with the stakeholder.