Your Stakeholders Control You

ISO 56007 recognizes the critical role of interested parties by including the “interested parties alignment” as one of the “key decision areas” for selecting concepts. Since ISO 56007 only mentions three concerns for this alignment (overall acceptance, Collateral effects, and sustainability & durability), this chapter provides clues for a more comprehensive analysis. Instead of “interested parties” the IpOp Model focuses on Stakeholders, a limited group of interested parties to whom the project team is accountable, as they play a crucial role in the success of a project. This nuance means that the IpOp Model ignores “interested parties” to whom the team in not accountable. As ignoring the Stakeholders’ concerns and preoccupations can have very significant consequences for the project’s success, this chapter discusses the importance of considering the Aspirations, Resistances, and Constraints of Stakeholders, particularly Investors, when evaluating and implementing a project. Proper mapping of Stakeholders’ Aspirations and Resistances helps in identifying Tactical Moves and Developing systematic Action Plans. This chapter furthermore emphasizes the need to understand Investors’ Secision Criteria, which are derived from their Resistances, Aspirations, and Constraints and align the project with their goals and objectives. The chapter also introduces the concept of Investor Benchmarking based on the Investor Decision Criteria, which involves comparing the proposed project with other opportunities competing for the Investors’ resources. The Investor Benchmarking is a powerful and efficient way to verify the fit with the Investor’s guiding principles. Since it is based on the Investor Decision Criteria it also helps in presenting the project in a more compelling manner. Overall, this chapter provides valuable insights for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs in effectively navigating the complexities of project implementation.