9 min read • Guide 740 of 877
Stakeholder Communication Best Practices
Stakeholders need visibility without micromanagement. GitScrum provides dashboards, reports, and status views that keep stakeholders informed while protecting team focus.
Stakeholder Needs
Understanding Stakeholders
STAKEHOLDER TYPES AND NEEDS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ EXECUTIVES: │
│ Need: High-level progress, risks, decisions needed │
│ Format: Brief, outcome-focused, visual │
│ Frequency: Monthly or milestone-based │
│ Time: 5 minutes max │
│ │
│ PRODUCT OWNERS: │
│ Need: Detailed progress, blockers, trade-off decisions │
│ Format: Collaborative, discussion-oriented │
│ Frequency: Daily or sprint ceremonies │
│ Time: As needed │
│ │
│ CLIENTS/CUSTOMERS: │
│ Need: Deliverable status, timeline, expectations │
│ Format: Professional, non-technical, reliable │
│ Frequency: Weekly or milestone-based │
│ Time: 10 minutes │
│ │
│ PARTNER TEAMS: │
│ Need: Dependencies, integration points, timelines │
│ Format: Technical enough, collaborative │
│ Frequency: Per dependency or weekly │
│ Time: Varies │
│ │
│ KEY INSIGHT: │
│ Different stakeholders need different communication │
│ One-size-fits-all doesn't work │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
What Stakeholders Care About
STAKEHOLDER PRIORITIES:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ THEY CARE ABOUT: │
│ │
│ 1. "Are we on track to hit the goal/deadline?" │
│ 2. "Are there any risks I should know about?" │
│ 3. "When will [specific thing] be ready?" │
│ 4. "Do you need anything from me?" │
│ 5. "Are there any decisions I need to make?" │
│ │
│ THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT: │
│ │
│ 1. Individual task status │
│ 2. Technical implementation details │
│ 3. Internal team discussions │
│ 4. Process mechanics │
│ 5. Tools you're using │
│ │
│ TRANSLATE FOR STAKEHOLDERS: │
│ │
│ TECHNICAL: │
│ "We're refactoring the authentication module" │
│ │
│ STAKEHOLDER: │
│ "We're improving login reliability" │
│ │
│ TECHNICAL: │
│ "We're blocked on the API rate limiting issue" │
│ │
│ STAKEHOLDER: │
│ "There's a risk to the timeline - here's what we need" │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Communication Cadence
Regular Updates
COMMUNICATION RHYTHM:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ SPRINT REVIEW (Every 2 weeks): │
│ Audience: All stakeholders │
│ Content: Demo completed work, progress, next sprint │
│ Format: Meeting + recording for absent │
│ → Primary touchpoint, don't skip │
│ │
│ WEEKLY STATUS (Every week): │
│ Audience: Key stakeholders │
│ Content: Quick summary, risks, help needed │
│ Format: Email or Slack update │
│ → Push info so they don't have to ask │
│ │
│ MILESTONE UPDATES (As reached): │
│ Audience: Executives, external stakeholders │
│ Content: Major progress points │
│ Format: Brief announcement │
│ → Celebrate wins, maintain confidence │
│ │
│ AD-HOC UPDATES (When needed): │
│ Audience: Affected stakeholders │
│ Content: Significant changes, blockers, decisions │
│ Format: Immediate, direct │
│ → No surprises, bad news travels fast │
│ │
│ DON'T: │
│ • Wait for stakeholders to ask │
│ • Hide problems until they're crises │
│ • Over-communicate (noise = ignored) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Status Report Format
EFFECTIVE STATUS UPDATE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ WEEKLY STATUS - Project Alpha │
│ Week of January 15, 2024 │
│ │
│ ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ │
│ │
│ SUMMARY: 🟢 On Track │
│ │
│ Sprint 24 progress: 60% complete (day 6 of 10) │
│ Sprint goal: "Users can complete checkout with Apple Pay" │
│ │
│ ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ │
│ │
│ COMPLETED THIS WEEK: │
│ ✅ Apple Pay integration working in dev │
│ ✅ Payment processing tests passing │
│ │
│ PLANNED NEXT WEEK: │
│ → Production deployment │
│ → Beta user testing │
│ │
│ ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ │
│ │
│ RISKS/BLOCKERS: │
│ ⚠️ Apple Pay certification pending (ETA: Wednesday) │
│ Mitigation: In contact with Apple, expediting │
│ │
│ ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ │
│ │
│ NEEDS FROM STAKEHOLDERS: │
│ • Decision on beta user criteria by Friday │
│ │
│ NEXT MILESTONE: │
│ 📅 Apple Pay launch: January 26 │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Sprint Review
Effective Demo
SPRINT REVIEW STRUCTURE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ TIME: 60 minutes │
│ │
│ OPENING (5 min): │
│ • Sprint goal reminder │
│ • What we committed to │
│ │
│ DEMO (30 min): │
│ • Show working software │
│ • User perspective, not developer perspective │
│ • Real scenarios, not "click here, click there" │
│ │
│ METRICS (5 min): │
│ • Velocity │
│ • Stories completed vs committed │
│ • Any relevant quality/performance metrics │
│ │
│ RISKS & BLOCKERS (5 min): │
│ • Current blockers │
│ • Upcoming risks │
│ • Help needed │
│ │
│ NEXT SPRINT PREVIEW (10 min): │
│ • Proposed goal │
│ • High-level plan │
│ • Dependencies on stakeholders │
│ │
│ FEEDBACK/QUESTIONS (5 min): │
│ • Stakeholder input │
│ • Priority discussions │
│ │
│ TIPS: │
│ • Practice the demo beforehand │
│ • Have backup plan if live demo fails │
│ • Record for absent stakeholders │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Handling Questions
STAKEHOLDER QUESTIONS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ "WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG?" │
│ │
│ Don't: Get defensive │
│ Do: Explain in terms they understand │
│ │
│ "We discovered complexity in [X] that required [Y]. │
│ Here's where we are now and when we expect to finish." │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ "CAN WE ADD THIS FEATURE?" │
│ │
│ Don't: Say yes without understanding impact │
│ Do: Explain trade-offs │
│ │
│ "We can add it. To do so this sprint, we'd need to │
│ drop [X]. Otherwise, we can prioritize it for next sprint."│
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ "WHEN WILL IT BE DONE?" │
│ │
│ Don't: Give false precision │
│ Do: Give ranges with confidence levels │
│ │
│ "Based on current velocity, we expect completion between │
│ [date A] and [date B]. Here's what could affect that." │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ "WHAT'S THE TEAM DOING?" │
│ │
│ Don't: List tasks │
│ Do: Describe outcomes │
│ │
│ "We're building the checkout experience. This sprint │
│ focuses on Apple Pay integration." │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Self-Service Information
Stakeholder Dashboard
GITSCRUM STAKEHOLDER VIEW:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Project Alpha - Stakeholder Dashboard │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ STATUS: 🟢 On Track │
│ │
│ CURRENT SPRINT: Sprint 24 │
│ Goal: "Users can complete checkout with Apple Pay" │
│ Progress: ████████████░░░░░░░░ 60% │
│ Days remaining: 4 │
│ │
│ ROADMAP PROGRESS: │
│ │
│ Q1 Milestones: │
│ ✅ Payment MVP (Jan 12) │
│ 🔄 Apple Pay (Jan 26 target) │
│ ⬜ Mobile launch (Feb 15 target) │
│ ⬜ International payments (Mar 1 target) │
│ │
│ RECENT COMPLETIONS: │
│ • Card payment processing (Sprint 22) │
│ • Payment refunds (Sprint 23) │
│ │
│ UPCOMING: │
│ • Apple Pay (This sprint) │
│ • Google Pay (Next sprint) │
│ │
│ RISKS: │
│ ⚠️ Apple Pay certification pending │
│ │
│ LAST UPDATED: 2 hours ago │
│ │
│ [View sprint details] [View roadmap] [Past reports] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Viewer Access
STAKEHOLDER ACCESS LEVELS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ VIEWER ROLE: │
│ │
│ CAN: │
│ ✅ View project board │
│ ✅ See sprint progress │
│ ✅ Read task details │
│ ✅ View dashboards and reports │
│ ✅ Add comments │
│ │
│ CANNOT: │
│ ❌ Edit tasks │
│ ❌ Move cards │
│ ❌ Manage sprints │
│ ❌ Change settings │
│ │
│ WHY GIVE VIEWER ACCESS: │
│ │
│ • Self-service information │
│ • Reduces "what's the status" questions │
│ • Builds trust through transparency │
│ • Stakeholders see effort and progress │
│ │
│ BOUNDARIES: │
│ │
│ • Viewing ≠ Managing │
│ • They can see, not drive │
│ • Questions go through defined channels │
│ • Priorities still set collaboratively, not reactively │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Difficult Conversations
Communicating Bad News
DELIVERING BAD NEWS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ PRINCIPLES: │
│ │
│ 1. EARLY: Don't wait until it's a crisis │
│ 2. DIRECT: Lead with the issue │
│ 3. CLEAR: No sugarcoating or burying │
│ 4. SOLUTIONS: Come with options │
│ 5. OWNERSHIP: Take responsibility │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ STRUCTURE: │
│ │
│ "I need to share a challenge with our timeline. │
│ │
│ The situation: │
│ [What happened - factual, brief] │
│ │
│ The impact: │
│ [What this means for the project] │
│ │
│ The options: │
│ Option A: [Approach + trade-offs] │
│ Option B: [Approach + trade-offs] │
│ Option C: [Approach + trade-offs] │
│ │
│ My recommendation: │
│ [What you think is best and why] │
│ │
│ What I need from you: │
│ [Decision, support, resources] │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ AVOID: │
│ • Blame │
│ • Excuses │
│ • Hiding │
│ • Promising to "try harder" │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘