Design Management Group

Stakeholder analysis - lifecycle approach

A simple tool to encourage the design team to consider the needs of all people who may be influenced by design decisions, both within and without the organisation. This approach helps to focus attention on the needs of the critical stakeholders and a range of potential downstream issues.

Description

It is often difficult to identify who the critical stakeholders are, particularly in complex distribution chains where the end user may not be the same person as the person who specifies the requirement or sighs the purchase requisition. Furthermore, there may be tensions between the needs of different sets of stakeholders. It is thus beneficial to formally consider the different groups and types of stakeholders who will be influenced by the product design, throughout the product's lifecycle.

This lifecycle approach is also a useful way of capturing issues which may be relevant several years after the product has been sold, but demand consideration early in the design process. This simple analysis helps to focus attention on the complete package of outputs which must be generated in order to produce a saleable and supportable product.

General approach

Stages in product lifecycle

What are the basic stages in the product lifecycle, in order to get the product from production to the customer? How many different people are involved in the transition? What happens to the product after use, when disposal is required?

Internal stakeholders

How many different internal stakeholders are affected at each stage? Who are they?

External stakeholders

How many different external stakeholders are affected at each stage? Who are they? External stakeholders are the critical group and the normal focus of user research.

Basic needs of each stakeholder

Is it possible to identify or quantify the basic needs of each different stakeholder? If not, then there may be the need for some research