> Getting sign off from peers can be tricky when everyone is busy, but perhaps only a few reviewers are needed,
I think, you have kind of answered the question yourself. Personally, I like to group people into three categories : understand, accept and agree.
The agree group is the one that you need to get 100% on board. Typically, this is the group that provides you resources (time, money and employees). The accept group is the one that doesn't need to agree but needs to accept the decisions taken. That is, they need to accept the structure in place to make decisions and understand that they are important. The accept group typically are people who are fence sitters and close watchers. They like what they see but do not have to necessarily agree with everything. Finally, the understand group is the ones who do not agree or accept but just understand what's going on. Typically, these people can influence projects outside the working sphere but as long as they understand it; they would not be difficult.
The UK military (amongst others) map stakeholders into one of four categories: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. (RACI) [0]. Stakeholders tend to sit up and take notice if they think they might be Responsible let alone Accountable for something.
Note: the distinction between Responsible and Accountable is really important but not always understood. If a manager puts an untrained employee in charge of something, it is the manager who should be accountable when something bad happens, not the employee.
I do something similar and, depending on which group a given stakeholder falls into, determines how much effort I put into getting their input.
For those in the 'agree' group I plan ahead to ensure I can get time with them 'in person' to discuss and debate the proposal in real time.
For those in 'accept' I email/post the document and ask for comments/feedback by a specific, reasonable, deadline. If they're too busy to respond then they've forfeited any right to criticize, complain or block the proposal later on. If they provide feedback that I don't implement then I need to have good reasons why I'm not and share that with them.
The 'understand' group tends to be upper mgmt who trust me and, so long as I've gotten everyone in the 'agree' group onboard, will support the decision/proposal. This is typically done in a regular 'check in' or via email.
I think, you have kind of answered the question yourself. Personally, I like to group people into three categories : understand, accept and agree.
The agree group is the one that you need to get 100% on board. Typically, this is the group that provides you resources (time, money and employees). The accept group is the one that doesn't need to agree but needs to accept the decisions taken. That is, they need to accept the structure in place to make decisions and understand that they are important. The accept group typically are people who are fence sitters and close watchers. They like what they see but do not have to necessarily agree with everything. Finally, the understand group is the ones who do not agree or accept but just understand what's going on. Typically, these people can influence projects outside the working sphere but as long as they understand it; they would not be difficult.