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Skills application

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Design your monitoring system​

In this skills application, you will practice applying audience-centric communication, stakeholder negotiation and expectation management strategies to a real-world ML project scenario. The goal is to strengthen your ability to anticipate stakeholder priorities, communicate clearly and align conflicting interests.

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Context​

You are leading a project to develop a new fraud detection model. Your technical team reports that the model is performing well. However, the marketing director wants to add a new feature that will delay the project by two months, and theCFO is concerned about budget overruns. You now have a meeting scheduled with all three stakeholders (your technical team, the marketing director and the CFO).

Your challenge is to prepare and lead the meeting in a way that keeps the project aligned with business goals while addressing stakeholder concerns.

Success criteria​

To successfully complete the skills application, you must:

  • Draft a five-point agenda that anticipates the different priorities of each stakeholder.
  • Write opening remarks that explain the project’s status and value in clear, engaging language.
  • Draft a response to the marketing director’s request that balances acknowledgement, explanation of trade-offs and a negotiation strategy.
  • Provide a justification for your communication approach.

Instructions and materials​

Follow the instructions below to complete this skills application. Use the form to submit your answers.

1. Create the agenda​

  • Draft a five-point agenda for the stakeholder meeting.
  • Think about how to structure it so each stakeholder feels their concerns will be addressed.

2. Write your opening remarks​

  • Write three to five sentences to set the tone.
  • Tailor your language to resonate with all three audiences — business, technical and financial.

3. Respond to the marketing director​

Draft a brief response to the request for an additional feature. Be sure to:

  • Acknowledge the value of their idea.
  • Explain the trade-offs (time, cost and risk).
  • Propose an alternative or phased approach.

4. Justify your approach​

  • Write one or two paragraphs explaining how your communication strategy promotes alignment and project success.

Action item: Record your answers​

Use the form below to document your agenda, opening remarks, response, and justification.

Questions & Reflections​

1. Your five-point agenda:​

2. Opening remarks:​

3. Response to marketing director’s request:​

4. Approach justification:​