You're juggling conflicting stakeholder demands. How do you decide which features take priority?

In handling conflicting stakeholder demands in IT projects, clarity and collaboration are crucial. Start by mapping each stakeholder’s objectives and needs to uncover the true value behind their requests. Use collaborative workshops to discuss and align these demands with the project’s strategic goals. Emphasize the connection between specific features and strategic outcomes—“prioritizing this achieves that”—to ensure a shared understanding. This approach fosters transparency and prevents fragmented decisions, aligning everyone with the organization’s broader vision and ensuring a cohesive path forward.

In my experience as a lawyer, clarity of purpose is crucial when juggling conflicting stakeholder demands. Effective prioritization begins with a thorough understanding of the needs and expectations of all parties involved. Engaging in detailed discussions with stakeholders helps uncover the underlying business objectives behind each feature request, revealing their true value, which may not be immediately apparent. It's essential to align these demands with the strategic goals of the project and the organization. If everyone knows "if we do this, then we will achieve that," it fosters a collective understanding and a shared vision. However, if stakeholders operate in isolation, the entire organization suffers.

Conflicting stakeholder demands? Prioritize features with the biggest impact on your project's core goals (accuracy, user experience, etc.). Use the RICE framework (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) to score features, and leverage data analysis to identify impactful ones. Consider launching a minimum viable product (MVP) first. Finally, communicate your prioritization process with stakeholders, explaining trade-offs and remaining open to feedback. Focus on achieving the project's goals while addressing stakeholder needs.

Every demand from stakeholder should be analyzed to check what value in brings. Being data driven is the key. Avoid influence based on position or vocal folks.

After understanding the requirements, we need to assess how each feature aligns with the overall business objectives and strategic goals. Features that directly contribute to these goals should take precedence. Assessing the potential ROI for separately feature is also crucial, and those with the maximum ROI should be prioritized.

O impacto de uma demanda deve ser avaliado para entender o quão crítica ela é e se o negócio pode continuar operacional sem ela. Algumas demandas, embora valiosas, podem ter custos de desenvolvimento que as tornam menos atrativas. Avaliar o quão crítica é a demanda nos oferece insights valiosos que aprimoram nossa tomada de decisão.

Risk analysis is crucial in determining feature priority. First, we need to evaluate the risks associated with each feature, including technical, market, and operational risks. After reviewing all features, we should prioritize those that help mitigate significant risks or dependencies that could impact the project or business.

Risk analysis is a daily tracking endeavor. Everyday spend time to mitigate risk. When an event happens then risks were not access. The process is predictive than reactive. Risks can be very much people and competence centric or events not within our control. Risk assessment at the beginning of the project can change weekly. A dashboard tracker is important and impact of each an every risk needs to be documented. Risks with highest probability and impact needs to be solved first and then go down the list. The list will always be dynamic and most important is to be transparent and manage them through early escalation is critical.

Most conflicts among stakeholders are solved by comparing influence to authority. Basically, the bigger fish wins. But an alternative is to have those stakeholders try to resolve the conflict amongst themselves. Now, I recognize that's not always possible. But if they can talk it out and come to an agreement, it makes your job easier. In the event that a tie breaker is needed, make sure everyone agrees who gets to call the shot. Then, make sure all stakeholders sign off. The last thing you want is upset stakeholders caught off guard by a random tie breaker.

1. Use MoSCoW Method to categorize features into Must-Have, Should-Have, Could-Have, and Won’t-Have. 2. Use Kano Model to classify features based on their ability to satisfy customer needs and differentiate the product. 3. Use Weighted Scoring to assign weights to various criteria (e.g., business value, user impact, technical feasibility) and score each feature accordingly.

WSJF-Weighted Shortest Job First is used in Scaled Agile framework. The formula for WSJF is as follows: WSJF = CoD / Job Duration WSJF helps teams make informed decisions about which work items to focus on first, ensuring that the most valuable and time-sensitive work is addressed promptly. It depends on the company about deciding the criteria for priority

Keeping a stakeholder matrix helps to visualize the influence and interest of each stakeholder. This helps to prioritize each request.

"Reviewing prioritization and current sprint tasks is crucial for effective planning of the next sprint and activities. Priorities may shift from time to time, so it's essential to keep all stakeholders aligned with the overarching goals."

Consider which features provides high impact and value. Use WSJF if you can. There are multiple prioritization techniques like MoSCoW, KANO model, Value vs Timeline matrix.