If you are a new BA you might be wondering what a Stakeholder is.
A Stakeholder is anyone that is directly or indirectly impacted by a project. A stakeholder could range anyone from the tech lead to the business subject matter expert (SME).
Typically when you start a project you have to do a stakeholder analysis. A stakeholder analysis consists of understanding who your stake holders are. The stakeholder list is determined by the project manager yourself and the product owner. The goal is to create your own stakeholder analysis spreadsheet where you list the stakeholders.
The stakeholders will give you an understanding of who your actual subject matter experts are. Your subject matter experts are the ones that you will reach out to get your primary requirements. By creating your own spreadsheet of stakeholders you get a good understanding and grasp of who is the actual decision maker as well.
Once you have determined who your stake holders are, you proceed to the next steps it could be anywhere from contacting the stakeholders to schedule meetings or creating your requirements management plan.
Maintaining the stakeholder list is Important since the stakeholders may change throughout the course of your project. In that event you would want to get an understanding of the skill sets that may be missing or that may not be missing that a stakeholder may need to obtain to keep the project moving.
