How we boost the divergent thinking?

Every user is very different from each other. It is also true that when we face a special topic, we have different stakeholders that are affected. In the mapping phase, we reduce the focus of action depending on the type of relationship that each stakeholder (interest group) has with the problem to be solved to prioritize and design solutions that really add value. If we designed a solution for all, we could end up not really solving anything al all and/or without giving them real value. The metaphor of household cleaner explains it very well, cleans everything but really “does not clean anything in depth”.

In many of our projects, we propose to use the Stakeholders Map tool at this point. We chose this tool because our goal is to focus on the exploration phase. We have to reduce and prioritize the stakeholders, with whom we will empathize, based on the impact they have on our project. You have to split the melon somewhere with the aim of digesting it and also be efficient with the resources we dedicate to the project in this first phase of mapping. This is agility, and agility also has to do with not dying due to human resource, time, or economic blockages. ‘Be short and cheap’.

STAKEHOLDERS MAPS

The stakeholders map or actors map is a tool that will help us define and prioritize our informants face to the investigation according to the relationship they have with our framework and our main user. Who and how does it relate to who and how?

Relationships are cataloged under different premises:

• There are direct and indirect relationships. In the first phases, we will prioritize the most direct relationships. The direct relations are always primary. The indirect ones would enter the framework of secondary, tertiary, etc. In the first explorations, we are interested in knowing, empathizing with the relationships that will inspire us when it comes to detecting opportunities, that is, the most direct relationships between our framework and our main user.
• There are functional, power, or monetary relations. Once we identify the persons or entities related to our framework, it is interesting to know what type of relationship exists between our main user and the rest of the stakeholders. This categorization helps us to understand what flows are like among all of us, which later will illuminate us in the construction of the complete experience.

There is not a masterful recipe that serves for everything. Practicing, we will learn to decide the “ingredients” to use at each moment. Therefore, we encourage you to discover many other tools available for this phase in the Community of Thinkers Co., where you will find how to use each template.