Skip to main content

Politics and Stakeholder Management

5 min read

Eng Manager

AI can't run a 1:1. It can't sense that someone is disengaged. People work is 100% human.

Tech Lead

Technical excellence doesn't ship if stakeholders aren't aligned. You own the alignment. AI writes the code.

Cto

Board presentations, investor updates, exec alignment — no AI. Your job is human-to-human.

Politics and Stakeholder Management

TL;DR

  • AI can't read a room. It can't build trust. It can't negotiate.
  • The best technical solution fails if the wrong people are against it — or the right people aren't for it.
  • Your job: get humans to agree. AI helps with the output. You own the input.

"Politics" sounds dirty. It's really just: getting humans to agree so work can happen. AI has nothing to contribute there. You do.

What AI Can't Do

Read the Room

  • "Is the VP actually on board or just nodding?" — You sense it. AI can't.
  • "Should I push back now or wait?" — Timing. Relationship. You know. AI doesn't.
  • "Is this meeting going off the rails?" — You redirect. AI isn't in the meeting.

Build Trust

  • "Will they trust this recommendation?" — Trust is earned over time. AI has no history with your stakeholders. You do.
  • "Do I need to show my work?" — Some audiences need the proof. Some want the headline. You calibrate. AI gives one output.
  • "Have I overpromised?" — Relationship management. AI doesn't know what you said last quarter.

Negotiate and Broker

  • "Engineering wants 6 months. Product wants 6 weeks." — Someone has to broker. Compromise, scope reduction, phased delivery. AI can't sit in that negotiation.
  • "Two teams both want to own this." — Territory. You navigate. AI suggests a rational split. The org might not be rational.

Manage Up, Down, and Sideways

  • Up: Translate technical reality for execs. "We can't do that in 3 months" → "Here are the options and trade-offs." AI can draft the slide. You deliver it. You handle the pushback.
  • Down: Motivate, unblock, career conversations. 100% human.
  • Sideways: Peer alignment. "Will the platform team support this?" — You ask. You build the relationship. AI can't.

Why This Matters

Projects fail more often because of misalignment than because of bad code. The perfect architecture that no one agreed to is worthless. The messy architecture that everyone bought into ships. You're the one who gets the buy-in.

How to Use This as a Moat

  1. Own the stakeholder map. Who cares? Who can block? Who needs to be informed? Document it. AI can't. You can.
  2. Run the meetings. AI can draft agendas and summaries. It can't facilitate. It can't sense when to table something. You can.
  3. Be the translator. Technical → business. Business → technical. AI generates content. You adapt it for the audience. That's a skill.
  4. Build the relationship before you need it. When you need a favor, it's too late to build trust. AI can't do favors. You can.

Quick Check

'Engineering wants 6 months. Product wants 6 weeks.' Who brokers that?

Quick Check

Why do projects fail more often from misalignment than bad code?

Do This Next

  1. List 3 stakeholders for a project you care about. For each: What do they want? What would make them say no? AI doesn't know. You should.
  2. Identify one alignment gap in your current work. Two people want different things. Write down how you'd broker it. That's the human skill. Practice it.