>> New series 2025: Challenges in project work
Stakeholders provide important impetus for projects—but they also have expectations that are not always realistic. If these are identified and moderated at an early stage, they strengthen the project. If they are ignored or misjudged, they lead to frustration, mistrust, or pressure on the project team.
Unrealistic demands and expectations often manifest themselves in the following ways:
Such expectations jeopardize acceptance, decision-making, and project focus.
A well-prepared project kick-off meeting creates the basis for a common understanding: What is possible, what is desired, and where are the limits? Open discussions about feasibility and benefits help in this regard.
Non-goals make it clear what is explicitly not part of the project. This method avoids false expectations and protects the project team from hidden scope creep.
By developing realistic, pessimistic, and optimistic project scenarios, stakeholders can better assess what is and is not possible under certain conditions.
Who has a significant influence on the project? Who is only indirectly affected? The stakeholder map provides an overview and helps to plan communication measures and expectation management in a targeted manner, depending on influence and interest.
AI can help identify gaps in expectations, coordinate content, and prepare data-based arguments:
Identification of typical expectation conflicts from comparable projects
Creation of realistic scenarios with time and resource references
Argumentation aids based on empirical values and risk analyses
Clustering stakeholders according to influence and expectations
Formulation of fact-based communication messages
Please analyze typical conflicts of expectation between management, specialist departments, and the project team. What risks arise from excessive demands or incorrect priorities?
Create three realistic scenarios for the course of the project. Consider the best-case scenario, the realistic scenario, and the worst-case scenario. Describe the schedule, budget, and scope of services for each scenario. What assumptions form the basis of the scenarios?
Prepare a position paper for a selected stakeholder group on limiting the scope of the project. Use historical project data and empirical values on the performance of similar teams.
Prepare a stakeholder map with a matrix for influence and interest. What communication strategies result from this for the respective groups?
Formulate concise non-goals for a project to introduce an IT system. Which services or requirements should be deliberately excluded in order to keep the scope realistic?
Based on comparable projects, identify which performance promises have led to unrealistic expectations in the past. How can such situations be avoided in the future?
A project never starts in a vacuum; stakeholders bring their own requirements, ideas, and interests to the table. But not everything is feasible. Kick-offs with clear communication, non-goals, realistic scenarios, and active involvement make it possible to manage expectations—before they become a problem.
AI-supported analyses and arguments help to objectify decisions, focus communication, and secure acceptance at an early stage.
If you would like to learn more about challenges in project work, please take a look at the Expert Knowledge section of our website.
>> Contact
Your contact with us
Exchange ideas with our experts without any obligation.
Do you need practical tips on project, program and portfolio management?
Take advantage of our offer for a non-binding and free initial consultation with our experts. A direct and simple way to find out whether our view and approach is of interest to you.
>> simply contact us:
