What I Learned about the Role of a Stakeholder from a Boudoir Shoot
If you know me, you know I love relating ideas about Agile and Scrum Project Management to real world scenarios. Recently I signed up for a raw portrait session with Elle Photography as part of The Body Project.
This experience gave me a chance to reflect on the role of a stakeholder. Essentially, a stakeholder is someone who has a want or a need for a thing. I wouldn’t have signed up if I didn’t want some photos. I also need some photos to kick off a project I’m working on to create a book about my bike adventures around the world so that when I’m 90, I can look back and say, “Oh my gosh! You did so many amazing things and were stunning in the process!”
A stakeholder is just somebody who goes to someone else and says, “I want X” or “I need Y.”
So, if you think about the stakeholders in your life, they might be customers, clients, vendors—anyone who is coming to you with wants and needs. For a coffee shop manager, one of their stakeholders might be the building owner who they rent their shop from – how they decorate or make changes to their location is dictated by the wants and needs of that landlord. For a website designer, one of their stakeholders might be an entrepreneur who is paying them to produce a beautiful new landing page – the entrepreneur saw value in bringing in an expert to create their want/need.
Similarly, I saw value in being a part of The Body Project to walk away with the photos that I wanted and needed. But what I learned through this process are some valuable insights on how to be a good stakeholder. And I’d love to share!
1: Come with a vision
To be a good stakeholder, you must come with a vision. Elle, my photographer, expressed gratitude for the vision I had going into the process. I was up front with her from the beginning, stating, “There are two things I really want out of this shoot: I want a photo that I can have printed and framed that can fill wall space in my bathroom. I also want a few photos I could use in my travel bike book.” I believe this allowed her as the “doer” to not only think about how she might make my vision a reality, but to ask the right questions along the way – “How big is the wall space you want to fill? Who is the audience for the book?” These probing questions really helped us drill down on what I truly wanted and needed. And because I already had the vision in mind, I had answers for her.
Later, she told me that in her two-hour sessions she usually shoots about 1,000 photos. In our one hour shoot she took over 700! It was easier for her to do her job because she already knew what she was going after. We weren’t building the runway together while she tried to land the plane.
Tip! Stakeholders who come with a vision allow the doers to see that vision too.
2: Come with an idea of how you'll use the end product
To be a good stakeholder, you must come with an idea of how you’ll use the end product. Creating a book, where images need to be small and detailed is very different than an image that’s going to be huge and blown up on a wall. I might not know how they’re different in terms of capturing and editing. But I know they’re very different applications.
Sharing how I planned to use the end product allowed the photographer to think about things like shading, zooming in versus zooming out, and color correcting from a more informed place. The way she approaches those things will be way more on track to my vision versus if she was just thinking generally.
Tip! Stakeholders who share how they’re going to use their end product cut down on rework.
3. Come with options and be open to how those options might play out
To be a good stakeholder, you must do a little prep work. A good Agile team will instigate this prep work by regularly going to their stakeholders for ideas and feedback. Elle was no different. She met with me about a week before our shoot to explain the timing of the session and that we would have time for 3-4 outfit changes within that hour we had together. She also advised me about what to avoid for clothing (patterns and loud color combinations) and ideas about props I could bring (meaningful items). As the stakeholder, this conversation helped me complete my prep work of choosing my outfits and props.
I selected my outfits and props, all with the mission of The Body Project in the back of my mind, “Come as you are. Embrace the real you.” I chose the things I normally wear and feel good about wearing. I wear biking gear. I wear skiing gear. I wear long tee shirts to bed and cowboy hats out on the town.
With Elle’s guidance beforehand, I was able to complete my stakeholder prep work and go into the shoot with options that would make me smile no matter what. Every piece of clothing and prop held meaning. So even though we didn’t end up using every single one, I knew whatever we did end up using would be special.
Tip! Stakeholders who prepare well can be more flexible and open.
4: Come with a fun attitude
During our shoot Elle played music and I had a blast getting lost in the melodies and dancing along when I felt moved to do so. Many of the photos Elle captured show a genuine smile or a full-on laugh.
To be a good stakeholder, you must be open to having fun! We are always going to have wants and needs, my friends. We may as well have a little fun along the way. Think about instances in your life right now where YOU are the stakeholder. How can you infuse a little fun into that relationship with the doer or visionary on the project. How can you enjoy the process that’s getting you to that end product? Whether that’s buying your new forever home or getting the lawn mowed at the home you’ve lived in 20 years.
Think big and small – you are likely a stakeholder in more people’s projects than you realize!
For me, doing a boudoir photo shoot has been on my bucket list for a decade! This has been a dream of mine for a really long time and stepping into the role of a good stakeholder helped facilitate the fulfillment of that dream. So, while this post is about how to be a good stakeholder, it’s also a reminder for those on the other side of the coin too.
When we’re on an Agile team, it can be easy to think of our stakeholders as the person who needs the “widget” so… here’s the “widget.” But you never know what’s actually behind that want or that need until you ask. Perhaps that “widget” has been a lifelong want or is a life-changing need.
Remember: every time you work with a stakeholder, you are turning someone’s dream into a reality.
P.S. Research shows that happy Scrum Teams secure better results for their stakeholders (and allow them to have a lot more fun along the way!) Read our post about How Scrum Masters Can Cultivate Happy Scrum Teams HERE.