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Ameen Abozaid
Englishالعربية
ARC-041

Stakeholder management

  • 5 Lessons
  • 3 h practice (estimate)
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On this page 9 topics

Overview

Topics

  • Business
  • engineering
  • security
  • operations
  • vendors

Learn first

3 h of practice (estimate)

Learning outcomes

  1. Map stakeholders (business, engineering, security, operations, vendors) by influence and interest.
  2. Tailor engagement and communication to each group.
  3. Resolve conflicting requirements with explicit trade-offs and decision owners.
  4. Keep stakeholders aligned through the solution lifecycle.

Lessons

  1. 01Stakeholder mapping
  2. 02Engagement plans
  3. 03Resolving conflicting requirements
  4. 04Keeping alignment over time
  5. 05Demo: mediating between store operations and e-commerce

Lab and exercises

Lab

ARC-041-LAB1 · Larkspur stakeholders

Outcomes: 1–4 · Time: ~3 h

  1. List at least ten Larkspur stakeholders across business, engineering, security, operations, vendors, and stores; place them on an influence/interest grid.
  2. Write an engagement plan: need from each, message, channel, frequency, owner.
  3. Role-play a recorded session (with a partner or assessor) resolving a conflict between e-commerce (speed) and security (controls): restate goals, list options, compare trade-offs.
  4. Document the outcome: trade-off accepted, decision owner, review date, and entry in the decision log.
  5. Describe how alignment will be kept through the next two phases.

Acceptance: conflict resolved with a documented trade-off and decision owner.

Exercises (case-based; five exercises)

IDOutcomeTask
ARC-041-EX011The sponsor lists three stakeholders: CFO, head of e-commerce, CIO. Add at least five missing Larkspur stakeholders and place all on an influence/interest grid.
ARC-041-EX022Write the engagement row (need, message, channel, frequency, owner) for the head of IT operations, who will inherit the platform.
ARC-041-EX032Explain how you would present the same design change to store managers and to the CISO.
ARC-041-EX043E-commerce wants to ship daily; security wants a manual review per release. Restate goals, offer three options, recommend one, and name the decision owner.
ARC-041-EX054A new head of store operations joins in month 7 and challenges an agreed decision. Describe how you handle it and what you update.
Show solutions
  • EX01 Add CISO, head of store operations, ERP team lead, payment vendor, legal/privacy, store managers, customer service lead; sponsor and CFO high influence; security and ERP lead high influence and often under-engaged; store managers high interest, lower influence.
  • EX02 Need: runbooks, monitoring, acceptance criteria early; message: run impact and handover plan; channel: fortnightly design forum plus one-to-one; frequency fortnightly; owner: the architect.
  • EX03 Store managers: what changes at the till and in their day, when, and who supports them. CISO: control changes, data flows, risk and evidence. Same facts, different framing and depth.
  • EX04 Goals: time to market versus protecting customer data and compliance. Options: manual review each release; automated checks with human review of risky changes; periodic review. Recommend the second; the decision owner is the accountable executive (e.g. CIO or product owner with the CISO's sign-off on controls); record in an ADR.
  • EX05 Brief the newcomer one-to-one, share the decision log with its rationale and trade-offs, reopen only if they bring new facts; update the stakeholder map and engagement plan.

All four outcomes are also covered by the lab acceptance and the quiz.

Workplace evidence: a stakeholder conflict you resolved on a real solution.

Quiz

Outcomes: O1 stakeholder mapping · O2 tailored engagement · O3 resolving conflicts · O4 keeping alignment.

A self-check for you: nothing is graded, saved or sent anywhere. Choose an answer, then check it. You can try again as often as you like.

  1. 1A CISO with power to block go-live but little day-to-day involvement sits in which place on the map?O1
  2. 2Your project plan lists only the sponsor and the e-commerce team. The main risk is:O1
  3. 3Which message suits the head of IT operations most?O2
  4. 4A skeptical, influential store operations head should be:O2
  5. 5E-commerce wants speed and security wants control. Your first step is to:O3
  6. 6Who decides a trade-off between two stakeholders?O3
  7. 7The best way to record a resolved conflict is:O3
  8. 8A decision is challenged months later by a new manager without new facts. You:O4
  9. 9Which practice best sustains alignment through delivery?O4
  10. 10You learn of a significant delay. You should:O4

Practical part

Stakeholder simulation on the Larkspur lab: a map, an engagement plan, and a recorded conflict resolution with a documented trade-off and decision owner. Pass: quiz at least 8/10, at least four of five exercises correct, and a lab with an explicit decision owner and recorded trade-off.

Common mistakes

Engaging only with the sponsor; avoiding conflicts until they block delivery.

Assessment

Stakeholder simulation.

Workplace evidence

A stakeholder conflict you resolved on a real solution.

Career relevance

Architects spend much of their time aligning people.

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