An Introduction to Stakeholder-Centered Design
Taking a systems approach to human-centered design
Human-centered design has been all the buzz for years now. It has transformed the way designers approach product and service development. But what it frequently translates to in practice is user-centered design, and it can leave out the other “humans” in the full ecosystem and lifecycle of a product or service.
As influential and important as user-centered design is, it’s only one piece of the puzzle of delivering transformative products and services. Even if users love your product, there may be other factors at play that keep it (and you) from being successful.
To resolve this, we need to apply another tool from our design & innovation toolkit: systems thinking. In systems thinking, we consider all entities as well as the relationships between them to create a comprehensive understanding of the bigger picture. Because of the typically complex behavior of systems, influencing one entity can have unexpected overall effects. Such places, where a small change could lead to a large shift in behavior, are referred to as leverage points.
Stakeholder-centered design is, therefore, the combination of human-centered design with systems thinking in order to identify and design for the highest impact humans — the most significant leverage points — in your product’s ecosystem. It’s the discipline of identifying the needs and interests of each stakeholder in the ecosystem and lifecycle of your product or service and then designing for the most influential one(s). This requires consideration not only of individual stakeholders but also of how stakeholders interact and influence one another.
Let’s zoom in on this and see how it looks in practice. Specifically, who’s a stakeholder?
I break stakeholders down into three groups:
- User: a person who uses or operates a product or service; the hands-on stakeholder
- Customer: a person or organization that buys a product or service; the transactional stakeholder
- Beneficiary: a person who derives benefit or advantage from a product or service; the value-receiving stakeholder
Note that a single person or organization may be any combination of the above.
This may seem like semantics, but these distinctions may be transformative for your product. Why? Because each stakeholder likely cares about and is influenced by different things. Therefore, you’ll need to tailor your design approach accordingly.
For a wonderfully illustrative example of these different stakeholders, let’s turn to an exciting arena, one where I have some personal experience: surgical robotics. Robotic surgery systems allow surgeons to perform extremely precise, minimally-invasive surgery by controlling surgical instruments attached to robot arms. Let’s take a look at the stakeholders involved.
Who are the users? Surgeons, who perform the core function of the system; Nurses, who interact with the robot directly to reposition arms, swap out instruments, and more; Technicians, who use both front and back-end features of the robot for maintenance and repair; Cleaners, who may need to manipulate the robot to fully clean it; Students, who use the system during training — just to name a few.
Who are the customers? Hospitals, who actually purchase the systems; Universities, who may purchase the systems for research or training purposes; Partners or 3rd party developers, who may need systems for R&D purposes — and more.
Who are the beneficiaries? Patients are the obvious first answer; Surgeons, whose work can become more successful and whose careers can be lengthened; Hospitals, who may serve more patients who are attracted to cutting edge medical care; Partners or 3rd party developers, who may develop and sell instruments or other accessories; Local economies, who may get citizens back on their feet sooner due to shorter recovery times — the list goes on.
You’ll notice, as I mentioned above, that some stakeholders show up in multiple categories.
When we begin to explore the different stakeholders and their respective interests and influences, we begin to see new opportunities for products, features, and marketing. Asking “How might we deliver the best possible maintenance and repair experience for technicians?” may have a surprising effect on demand for one product over another. Or asking “How might we clearly communicate the value of robotic surgery to a local economy?” could create interest in new ways.
As we dig into the many stakeholders involved, it becomes clear that success is not dependent on just one. Similarly, doing so helps us see that success can also depend on many different aspects of a product or service. You can apply stakeholder-centered design to any touchpoint from as broad as your entire company’s value proposition to as narrow as a single feature of a product, service, or message.
So far, we’ve focused a lot on the life of a product after a decision has been made to purchase it. But how might we apply stakeholder-centered design to the decision point? This is where the two overarching categories of stakeholders come in.
First, we have decision-makers — those who are solely or primarily responsible for the final decision to purchase or use a given product or service. No matter who else might play a role, it typically comes down to a small number of individuals (perhaps just one) who make the final call. Obviously, this is an important leverage point in your product’s success.
The second category is what I call influencers — those whose interests and voice have a significant impact on the final outcome (likely via the decision maker). These are people who have some influence on the final decision, and therefore must be accounted for.
Decision-makers and influencers may be any combination of users, customers, or beneficiaries. Considering my iPhone, I am the customer (I bought it), the primary user (I use it every day), and the primary beneficiary (it helps me do many many things). I’m also the decision-maker.
How to apply stakeholder-centered design
So what does this all look like in practice? In order to leverage this model for your product or service, follow these steps:
- First, list all the users, customers, and beneficiaries you can think of for your product or service. Some might be a stretch, and that’s encouraged — the more creative you get with your lists, the more new opportunities you have for new approaches.
- Next, for each stakeholder, ask “Is this person a key influencer?” In other words, does this person have some but not complete influence on the decision to purchase and/or use your product or service? Circle any key influencers.
- Then, for each stakeholder, ask “Is this person a key decision-maker?” That is, will this stakeholder make the final call? If a given stakeholder is a key decision-maker, highlight it.
- Next, for each stakeholder, ask “What do they care about? What unmet or undermet needs do they have?” At this point, your answers will likely be based on inference and assumption; be sure to test anything you write down here later on.
- Finally, for each stakeholder’s needs, ask “How might our product/service address those interests or needs?” Consider your existing product/service (if applicable) and use this as an opportunity to generate some new ideas.
(To get a PDF of a tool I use for this, email me at taylor@lightshed.co.)
Now you’ve got a list of stakeholders (probably some of which you hadn’t considered before), a sense of which ones are decision-makers, some inferences about what needs they have, and some new ideas to address those needs. Whether you choose to focus on the decision-makers (perhaps the biggest leverage point for you is getting to yes) or another stakeholder down the road (maybe your biggest opportunity is in optimizing user experience), you’ve got a rich new set of information and opportunities to inform your next steps.
Sometimes we can get caught up in designing what feels like the perfect solution for the stakeholder we’re focused on, whether that’s a user, a customer, or a beneficiary. We buckle our chinstraps and go full speed ahead. This can feel extremely productive and rewarding in the moment. But when we eventually pick up our heads and look around, sometimes we find out we’ve been driving toward a dead end and need to turn back.
I like to say that product development is a vector; it matters both how fast you’re going and in what direction. In designing transformative products and services, it doesn’t matter how fast you’re moving if you’re not moving in the right direction. You may design the perfect solution for a given stakeholder, but that stakeholder might not be a meaningful leverage point in your product’s ecosystem.
Stakeholder-centered design is a way to immunize yourself from the question, “Who are we forgetting?” It can help make sure you’re designing for the right person so you can have the greatest impact and the greatest success.
Want a PDF of the stakeholder-centered design worksheet that I’ve used with dozens of entrepreneurs and innovators across Silicon Valley? Shoot me an email at taylor@lightshed.co to get it.
And be sure to read more of my posts at www.lightshed.co/blog.
