Page 259 - The Design Thinking Playbook

EXPERT TIP

Involvement of all participants—
working with stakeholder maps

Since we are often far removed from the create-up mindset in large Just before the end of the design thinking cycle, it can be useful to take time again to draw up an imple-
organizations, it is all the more important to involve the relevant mentation strategy. And it is even better to expend some thought on it a lot earlier. Especially in tradi-
actors outside the company as well as the stakeholders within the tionally managed companies, a stakeholder map is very helpful for overcoming the many hurdles in such
company actively in the problem-solving process. The motto is: Turn organizations in the best possible way. A stakeholder map helps to identify the most important actors and
the parties affected into participants. If we get the relevant stake- their relationships with one another. They are our internal customers to whom we need to sell the project.
holders on board in the initial phases of the design process, they will The key questions we have to ask ourselves:
understand much better why a problem statement has changed, which
needs potential customers have, and what functions are important to • What are the current challenges from the CFO’s point of view?
a user. As soon as this understanding is given, all stakeholders will • How can the CMO best distinguish himself on account of our initiative?
usually help proactively to bring the solution to the market. We will • What does the product management board get from favoring our idea?
still sense resistance, but it will be far less than it would be were the • How does the idea fit the grand vision of the CEO?
stakeholders involved only late in the process. We have found the • How does the idea match the corporate strategy?
lean canvas approach to be a good way to do this (see Chapter 3.2). • Who is blocking the idea, and for what reasons?
Within the company, Marketing can be included in the development
of customer profiles, company strategists are closely involved in
working out the financial aspects of the business model, and product
managers see their responsibility in formulating an excellent value
proposition. Thus all participants can identify more strongly with the
development process when the solution is implemented later.

The procedure for creating a real stakeholder map is simple. We take a good two dozen game pieces. Piec-
es that already have a certain character work very well from our experience. The pieces of Lego “Fabuland”
are ideal. Then we need a large table that we cover with a sheet of paper. We put out Post-its and pens, a
couple of ribbons, Lego bricks, and strings. The latter are used to create and visualize connections between
the stakeholders. The discussion should be very open. In the end, the required measures are defined in
order to approach the individual stakeholders in a targeted way.
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