Survive the Stakeholder Shenanigans
Photo by Giulia May on Unsplash
Software developers do not all recognize the position of stakeholder and I claim that is because they aren’t a crucial part of the software development process at all.
You give me some requirements and I deliver them, to an amazing quality level.
Yet stakeholders are a crucial part of the software development process whether software devs respect them or not. So how can we survive the onslaught that these vested interests can have on our software development process?
A Stakeholder
A stakeholder is people outside the scrum team who have an interest in the product developed by the team. This could be customers, project sponsors of various other people.
In my team, like in your team the stakeholder you deal with is probably the product owner.
And boy does the product owner cause issues by dumping work and deadlines on an Agile team.
This leads to what I term as…
The Great Feature Fiasco
A shiny new feature is coupled with a hard immovable deadline. This could be a marketing campaign or (worse) Christmas (due to the immovability of the festival).
The inexperienced think this is a great opportunity to get some work shipped. We’ll get it done people. We can do this!
My experience
Like many more experienced developers my experience is not really as I’ve described above.
Technical issues popped up, even as our project was heading to the final stretch. The threat for the launch was real.
The product owner reacted by saying missing the deadline was impossible so we needed to simply get it done (no matter the cost). Yet if we rush our code that could mean releasing a feature that is more bug than functionality.
Keep Calm and Prioritize like a Pro
The textbook answer for this type of problem is to prioritize, prioritize, and prioritize. That means we should act, and then deliver.
My experience
First, I took a deep breath and channelled my inner zen master. Panicking wasn’t going to solve anything. I had a chat with our Scrum Master. We needed to prioritize the tasks that would get us to the finish line without compromising on quality.
The plan? Shift my focus entirely to this project and let the less urgent tasks take a backseat.
I called a meeting with the Scrum Master and the Chapter Lead to get everyone on the same page. They agreed to cut down on non-essential meetings and let me dive headfirst into fixing the issues. With their blessing, I was ready to tackle the beast and get stuck into the code.
The Grand Finale
The team pulled it off. The feature was released on time, and it worked without the accompanying bugs.
Stakeholders were impressed with our work and we even had time to add the extra polish to our work and provide the customer experience we dreamed of delivering.
Crisis averted, and another successful project in the bag for The Secret Developer. Job done!
Lessons Learned
If you want to manage stakeholders you need to up your coding game. Here are the steps that I learned on the way.
Prioritize Ruthlessly
Focus on what’s crucial. Everything else can wait.
Collaborate and Conquer
Get your team’s buy-in and work together to tackle the problem.
Communicate Transparently
Keep stakeholders in the loop without causing unnecessary alarm.
Stay Flexible
Be ready to adjust plans on the fly. Rigidity is the enemy of progress.
Plan for Post-Launch Updates
Your first release doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should be solid.
Tales from the Coding Trenches
If you’ve ever dealt with stakeholders, you’ve probably got your own stories to tell.
I remember the time we desperately needed a feature implemented for our next release. Then we could run with a cut-down feature, and then we didn’t need the feature at all.
All in one day.
Sometimes, it’s about keeping a straight face while you secretly wish for a nice easy job herding cats. Stakeholder management is just this type of circus but with the right approach you can be the cat herder who keeps it under control
Conclusion
If you have a tricky relationship with a stakeholder let me know in the comments. If you haven’t write that as well, because the engagement helps out this blog and that is what I care about.