Stakeholder Map on a Post-it

Keep investors, execs, and engineers aligned with one colour-coded sticky note

Your project is drowning in stakeholder chaos. The CEO wants faster results, investors want clearer metrics, engineers want technical specifications, and marketing wants user-friendly features. Everyone has opinions, priorities, and urgent requests.

Traditional stakeholder management involves complex matrices, detailed spreadsheets, and hour-long alignment meetings that leave everyone more confused than when they started.

Here's a radically simple alternative: map every stakeholder's core concern onto a single Post-it note using a color-coded system that fits in your pocket and keeps everyone aligned.

Why Complex Stakeholder Management Fails

Most stakeholder frameworks are designed for project managers, not for busy founders and team leads who need clarity. They require:

• Detailed analysis of influence vs interest matrices

• Regular updates across multiple documents

• Complex communication plans for different groups

• Meeting schedules that eat half your week

By the time you've mapped everyone's requirements, priorities have shifted and you're starting over.

The Post-it method works because it forces brutal prioritisation. If a stakeholder concern can't fit on a sticky note, it's probably too vague to be actionable anyway.

The Color-Coded System

Grab five different colored Post-its. Each color represents a stakeholder's primary concern:

• Red (Executives): Revenue, timeline, competitive advantage

• Blue (Investors): Metrics, milestones, risk mitigation
  Green (Engineers): Technical feasibility, resource requirements, architecture decisions

• Yellow (Users/Customers): Usability, value proposition, problem-solving

• Purple (Operations): Scalability, maintenance, integration requirements

One color per stakeholder group. One core concern per Post-it. Maximum 10 words.

The Single Post-it Rule

Each stakeholder group gets exactly one Post-it note with their primary concern for your project. Not their wish list, not their complete requirements, just the one thing that keeps them up at night about your initiative.

Examples of good Post-it concerns:

• Red (CEO): "Launch before Q3 to beat competitor X"

• Blue (Investor): "Monthly recurring revenue growth visible by month 3"

• Green (Engineering): "Must integrate with existing API without downtime"

• Yellow (Customer): "Reduces daily task time from 30 minutes to 5"

• Purple (Operations): "Handles 10x current user load without crashes"

Examples of bad Post-it concerns (too vague or complex):

• "Improve user experience and increase engagement while maintaining technical excellence"

• "Align with company values and strategic objectives"

• "Meet all regulatory requirements and industry best practices"

The Alignment Test

Once you have your five Post-it notes, run this simple test:

The Conflict Check: Do any Post-it concerns directly contradict each other? If yes, you need a stakeholder conversation before you can move forward.

The Resource Reality: Can you address all five concerns with your current timeline and budget? If no, which Post-it note represents the non-negotiable priority?

The Success Clarity: If you successfully addressed every Post-it concern, would all stakeholders consider the project a win? If no, you're missing a critical concern.

Using Your Post-it Map Daily

Stick your five Post-its somewhere visible. Every project decision gets filtered through this simple question: "Does this move us closer to solving the concerns on these five Post-its?"

Feature prioritization: New feature requests get evaluated against existing Post-it concerns. If a request doesn't connect to a sticky note, it goes on the backlog.

Timeline decisions: When choosing between fast delivery and perfect implementation, check your Post-its. If the red note (CEO) emphasizes speed over perfection, you have your answer.

Communication strategy: Each project update should address progress on each Post-it concern. Five colored dots in your status emails show progress at a glance.

Meeting focus: Stakeholder meetings become simpler. Address each Post-it concern with specific updates, blockers, or requests for input.

Advanced Post-it Tactics

The Rotation System: Every month, ask each stakeholder group if their Post-it concern has changed. Priorities shift, and your map should reflect reality.

The Dependency Chain: Draw lines between Post-it notes that depend on each other. Usually, technical concerns (green) must be solved before user concerns (yellow) can be addressed.

The Risk Overlay: Add a small dot to Post-it notes that represent the highest project risks. These concerns get extra attention and proactive communication.

The Success Metrics: Write one measurable outcome on the back of each Post-it. This becomes your project scorecard.

When Post-its Aren't Enough

The system works for most projects, but has limits:

Highly regulated industries: Compliance requirements often generate multiple non-negotiable concerns that won't fit the five-Post-it limit.

Large enterprise projects: When you have 15+ stakeholder groups with different concerns, you might need multiple Post-it maps or a hybrid approach.

Technical architecture projects: Complex technical dependencies might require traditional documentation alongside the Post-it map for clarity.

Crisis Communication with Post-its

When projects hit problems, your Post-it map becomes a crisis communication tool:

Triage decisions: Which stakeholder concerns can you still meet, and which ones are now at risk?

Stakeholder updates: Send photos of your Post-it map with progress updates on each concern. Visual communication cuts through confusion.

Resource reallocation: Show stakeholders how shifting resources affects their specific concerns. Trade-offs become crystal clear.

Building Your First Stakeholder Map

Pick your most complex current project. Identify your five key stakeholder groups (or fewer if you don't have five distinct groups).

Schedule 15-minute conversations with one representative from each group. Ask: "What's the one thing about this project that you care most about?" Write their answer on the appropriate colored Post-it.

Stick all Post-its in a visible location. Test every project decision against these five concerns for one week.

You'll immediately spot alignment gaps, communication opportunities, and decision-making shortcuts that were invisible before.

Most stakeholder management fails because it's too complex to maintain. The Post-it method succeeds because it's too simple to ignore. Five colors, five concerns, infinite clarity.