Signs it is time to revisit stakeholder buy-in

We end up explaining this on discovery calls often enough that it deserved writing down. A few signals that stakeholder buy-in is due some attention.

Clear scope protects the client at least as much as it protects the agency. It is worth deciding this deliberately rather than inheriting whatever the last person set up.

The signals

• Nobody can say when it was last reviewed
• The answer depends on who you ask
• Late objections cost the most
• Involve the sceptics early rather than presenting to them

How to approach it

Frame decisions in their terms, not in design terms. In practice this is a scheduling problem more than a technical one. The teams that stay on top of it are the ones who put it on a calendar rather than a wish list.

The short version

Strategy work is mostly deciding what not to do, and writing it down so it stays decided. Three things worth confirming about stakeholder buy-in before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Frame decisions in their terms, not in design terms — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

If you want a second opinion on how yours is set up, ask.