Best examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis in 2025

Examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis in software projects

When people search for examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis, they usually don’t want theory; they want to see how other teams actually categorize real stakeholders. So let’s start with a classic: a mid‑size B2B SaaS platform rolling out a major feature update.

In this scenario, the grid might look like this in practice:

• High power / High interest (Manage Closely)

  • Chief Product Officer – sets product strategy and can approve or kill scope.
  • VP of Engineering – controls technical resources and release timing.
  • Top 10 enterprise customers – pay a large share of revenue and are deeply invested in the roadmap.

• High power / Low interest (Keep Satisfied)

  • CFO – cares about budget, not feature details.
  • General Counsel – focused on risk and compliance, not UX decisions.
  • Board members – only interested in impact on growth and churn.

• Low power / High interest (Keep Informed)

  • Product managers – high interest in features, but limited formal power beyond their domain.
  • Customer success managers – very engaged, but not decision makers.
  • Power users at mid‑tier customer accounts.

• Low power / Low interest (Monitor)

  • Occasional users at small accounts.
  • Internal support staff from unrelated product lines.

This example of a power/interest grid shows why labels matter less than behavior. The CPO needs weekly touchpoints and early previews. The board only needs quarterly summaries and clear business metrics. Power users want detailed change logs and beta access, even though they can’t directly stop the project.

Power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis in digital transformation

Digital transformation programs are where the grid really earns its keep. Think of a company replacing a 15‑year‑old on‑premise ERP with a modern cloud platform. The stakeholder map becomes political very quickly.

A realistic example of power/interest grid use in this context might include:

• High power / High interest

  • CIO – accountable for delivery and integration.
  • COO – cares about process efficiency and operational disruption.
  • Head of Supply Chain – deeply affected by inventory, ordering, and logistics changes.

• High power / Low interest

  • CEO – wants outcomes, not details.
  • Head of HR – interested mainly in training impact and change fatigue.
  • External regulators – high power over compliance, but low day‑to‑day interest.

• Low power / High interest

  • Warehouse supervisors and planners.
  • Finance analysts who live inside the old system.
  • Key vendors who integrate through EDI or APIs.

• Low power / Low interest

  • Casual report consumers who rarely log into the system.
  • Contractors who will roll off before go‑live.

This is one of the best examples of how the grid shapes strategy. Warehouse supervisors are low power / high interest, but if they reject the new workflows, your shiny ERP fails in practice. Many successful transformation teams now treat this group almost like honorary high‑power stakeholders, inviting them into pilots and design reviews even though they don’t sit high on the org chart.

If you want a reality check on how often transformation efforts stumble due to stakeholder misalignment, the Harvard Business Review has repeatedly highlighted high failure rates for large change programs and the importance of stakeholder engagement (see: hbr.org). The power/interest grid is a simple way to keep that engagement intentional.

Cybersecurity project: examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis

Security programs in 2024–2025 are under intense scrutiny thanks to rising ransomware and data breach risks. A company rolling out multi‑factor authentication (MFA) and zero‑trust policies provides another clear example of power/interest grid thinking.

Here’s how stakeholders might fall:

• High power / High interest

  • CISO – owns security posture and risk reduction targets.
  • CIO – responsible for infrastructure and tooling.
  • Head of Legal/Compliance – deeply concerned about regulatory exposure.

• High power / Low interest

  • Sales VP – cares only if changes slow down deal cycles.
  • Marketing VP – focused on campaign execution, not access controls.
  • HR Director – concerned about employee friction, not specific policies.

• Low power / High interest

  • System administrators and network engineers.
  • Security analysts in the SOC.
  • Privacy officers and data stewards.

• Low power / Low interest

  • Occasional system users who log in once a month.
  • Temporary staff with limited system access.

The best examples of power/interest grid use in cybersecurity show a pattern: don’t underestimate low‑power, high‑interest technical staff. They are the ones who will quietly workaround policies if they’re unworkable. They also surface early warning signs. Regular working sessions with this group often prevent the kind of misconfiguration that later turns into a breach.

For current breach trends and why stakeholder alignment on security matters, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) provides ongoing guidance and incident updates at cisa.gov.

AI and data projects: modern examples of power/interest grid use

AI projects are where the older textbook examples of power/interest grids start to feel dated. In 2024–2025, data governance, ethics, and regulatory pressure have created new classes of stakeholders.

Consider a healthcare organization implementing an AI‑assisted clinical decision support tool. A realistic example of a power/interest grid might look like this:

• High power / High interest

  • Chief Medical Officer – responsible for clinical quality and safety.
  • Chief Data Officer – owns data strategy and data quality.
  • Compliance and Privacy Officer – focused on HIPAA and AI transparency.

• High power / Low interest

  • Hospital CEO – wants better outcomes and lower costs, but not model details.
  • CFO – primarily interested in ROI and reimbursement impacts.
  • IT Director – cares about integration, not clinical workflows.

• Low power / High interest

  • Frontline physicians and nurses using the tool.
  • Clinical informaticists configuring workflows.
  • Patient advocacy groups concerned about bias and safety.

• Low power / Low interest

  • Non‑clinical staff not involved in care decisions.
  • External vendors providing ancillary services.

This is one of the best examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis where interest is not optional. If frontline clinicians don’t trust the AI, they simply won’t use it. Studies from organizations like the National Institutes of Health highlight the importance of clinician trust and human factors when introducing decision support tools (nih.gov). Mapping these groups correctly on the grid helps you design training, pilots, and feedback loops that move people from skepticism to cautious adoption.

Product launch: examples include regulators, partners, and customers

Let’s move outside internal IT and look at a consumer app launch in a regulated space, like a fintech app offering small‑business loans.

Here, examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis often surprise teams that are used to thinking only about users and investors.

• High power / High interest

  • Head of Risk / Credit – shapes underwriting rules and risk appetite.
  • Chief Compliance Officer – monitors adherence to financial regulations.
  • Product Lead – accountable for adoption and conversion.

• High power / Low interest

  • Banking partners backing the loans – care about portfolio performance, not UI details.
  • External regulators – very powerful, but only deeply engaged when something looks off.
  • Executive leadership – tracking growth, NPS, and default rates.

• Low power / High interest

  • Small‑business customers using the app.
  • Customer support reps handling loan questions.
  • Third‑party data providers (credit bureaus, fraud tools) who want stable integrations.

• Low power / Low interest

  • Internal teams unrelated to the lending product.
  • Generic contractors working on shared services.

Here, the grid drives a very specific communication plan:

• Banking partners and regulators receive formal reports, risk dashboards, and compliance updates.
• Small‑business customers get transparent explanations of decisions, clear consent flows, and responsive support.
• Internal support staff receive playbooks and escalation paths, even though they don’t influence policy.

These kinds of real examples show how the grid goes beyond a static diagram. It directly shapes what you say, to whom, and how often.

Internal IT upgrade: quiet but high‑impact examples of power/interest grid use

Not every project is glamorous. An internal network upgrade or identity management overhaul can feel mundane, but it’s a perfect example of power/interest grid‑driven planning.

Imagine an organization migrating from a patchwork of legacy VPNs to a modern single sign‑on (SSO) platform.

• High power / High interest

  • Head of Infrastructure – owns the migration plan and uptime.
  • CISO – focused on security improvements and incident reduction.
  • Internal Audit – concerned with access controls and logging.

• High power / Low interest

  • Business unit leaders – only care if their teams are disrupted.
  • HR – interested in onboarding/offboarding efficiency, not specific protocols.
  • Finance leadership – watching cost and vendor contracts.

• Low power / High interest

  • IT help desk – on the front line of user issues.
  • Power users who rely on VPN for remote work.
  • Contractors with complex access needs.

• Low power / Low interest

  • Casual office users who only access email and one or two apps.
  • Short‑term interns.

Here, the best examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis show how to prevent outages and backlash:

• Help desk staff get early access, training, and scripts.
• Business leaders get clear timelines and risk scenarios.
• Casual users get simple, just‑in‑time instructions.

The grid becomes a sanity check: if your communication plan doesn’t match the power/interest pattern, you’re probably setting yourself up for noisy escalations.

How to adapt these examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis

Looking across these real examples, a few patterns emerge that you can reuse on your own project.

1. Power is not just job title
A mid‑level engineer who owns a critical integration can have more practical power than a senior manager who is only tangentially involved. When building your own grid, ask: Who can actually stop or materially delay this work? That’s power.

2. Interest changes over time
In many examples of power/interest grid use, stakeholders move across quadrants:

• A board member may shift from low interest to high interest after a public incident.
• Frontline users may start out indifferent, then become highly interested once pilots begin.
• Regulators may move from quiet oversight to intense scrutiny after a policy change.

Your grid should be a living artifact, not a one‑time workshop exercise.

3. Communication strategy flows directly from the grid
If your grid is accurate, the communication plan almost writes itself:

• High power / High interest – frequent, two‑way communication; early involvement in decisions; detailed information.
• High power / Low interest – concise summaries; focus on business risk, outcomes, and decisions required.
• Low power / High interest – transparent updates; opportunities to provide feedback; training and support.
• Low power / Low interest – light‑touch monitoring; broad announcements only when needed.

4. Use data to validate your grid
In 2024–2025, more teams are backing their grids with data:

• Survey results on stakeholder concerns and priorities.
• Metrics on usage, incident reports, or support tickets.
• Change readiness assessments and engagement analytics.

These signals help you refine which stakeholders truly have high interest and where you might be underestimating resistance.

5. Tie the grid to risk management
Every one of the best examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis ultimately connects to risk. Stakeholders in the high power / high interest quadrant often map directly to your top project risks if mismanaged. Document those links explicitly in your risk register.

For structured guidance on risk and stakeholder considerations in large programs, the Project Management Institute and leading universities like Harvard provide open articles and resources on project governance and change management (see pmi.org and hbs.edu).

FAQ: examples of power/interest grid questions teams ask

Q1. What is a simple example of a power/interest grid in a small software project?
Imagine a startup adding a new analytics dashboard. The high power / high interest group might be the CTO and lead engineer; high power / low interest could be investors who only care about metrics impact; low power / high interest would be beta customers and the support team; low power / low interest might be free‑tier users who rarely log in. That small scenario still benefits from the same thinking you see in larger examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis.

Q2. How many stakeholders should I include in my grid?
Include enough to cover every group that can materially affect success or be significantly affected by the outcome. Many of the best examples keep the grid readable by grouping similar stakeholders (for example, “enterprise customers” instead of listing every account) and then breaking out details in a separate stakeholder register.

Q3. Can a stakeholder move between quadrants over time?
Yes, and they often do. A regulator may move from low interest to high interest, or a business unit leader might become more powerful if the project scope shifts. Updating your grid at major milestones keeps it aligned with reality.

Q4. How do I handle stakeholders with conflicting interests in the same quadrant?
This shows up in many real examples of power/interest grid use. When two high‑power, high‑interest stakeholders disagree, you need clear escalation paths and decision rights. Document who is the final decision maker for each domain (security, UX, compliance, budget) and communicate that openly.

Q5. Where can I see more real examples of power/interest grid practice?
Look for case studies from reputable organizations and universities. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and other public agencies often publish project and digital service case studies at gsa.gov, and academic programs in project management at universities like Harvard share teaching cases that implicitly use power/interest thinking even when they don’t label it as such.

If you use these examples of power/interest grid examples for stakeholder analysis as templates rather than strict rules, you’ll end up with a grid that reflects your real politics, not a textbook fantasy. That’s where it starts to earn its place in every serious project kickoff and review.