How to deal with chaotic stakeholder who is high in pecking order? Consider you run a project where a key stakeholder is one of VPs. She is a typical hit-and-run type of person: she comes to a project team with half-baked idea, either refuses to discuss details because they're confidential or just throws some anecdote as a business story and expects everyone would start working on a project, whatever that might be. To make things worse from time to time she bypass project leaders and just tell people what they have to do, no matter how disconnected it is with any project plan which was prepared. Because of hierarchy she can't be ignored as the project team works under her. Also standard methods, e.g. trying to set some formal rules, don't work as she just ignore any arrangements she doesn't like. How to deal with that kind of person? How to bring some order to the project? Or maybe it's best option just to accept how the things look like?

That's a typical problem for C level. The CTO or even the CEO will have to deal with it, as that's exactly their function in the company: taking decisions about operations. Neither a stakeholder nor a VP has this power, so if they don't want the other stakeholders to fire them because the delays in projects cripple the company, they better address the problem.

Your role in the matter is simply to let them know what's happening, and let them do their very job.

And if they decide to let the VP do her thing, then there is nothing more **you** will be able to do!

Don't forget: your hierarchy is fixing your priorities, not this person. If you are stuck between your hierarchy's order and the VP's order, refer to the hierarchy and let them decide what to do. If the VP is unhappy with that, just say her to check it with the C level, as you are not allowed to change your priorities.