Using Expert Stakeholders Wisely

A good article by Linda Bourne:

One group of stakeholders whose input is critical to most projects are experts -- subject matter experts, risk experts, quality experts. Project managers must know how to make effective use of these experts' knowledge.

Instead, project managers need to be more engaged and understand the basis of the expert's opinion. What makes sense to the expert may not make sense to you or may not be the optimum solution to your problem.

One technique you can use to make sure the expertise is useful and applied effectively is asking the expert to explain his or her ideas in simple language. Then dig into the assumptions, evidence and methodology used to reach his or her opinion.

Read full article at:
Using-expert-stakeholders-wisely.html