Overview: Stakeholder interviewing is a conversation between key stakeholders who own a vested interest in the product. Business executives, project managers, and team leads are included. These interviews will help guarantee that design of a product will be appropriate to achieve all business objectives and expectations set forth by the stakeholders, while being able to meet the needs of the users.

Terms to Know: Stakeholder: Anyone who could have a vested interest in the success of a product, either team members or otherwise. Alignment: When the goals of the stakeholders are taken into consideration and balanced through the design process. Design Requirements: Specific needs that will have to be met with a design; usually emerge from stakeholder interviews. Step-by-Step Process:Identification of Stakeholders: Identify powerful stakeholders, that is, those people able to influence or will be affected by the product. Highlight those whose input will be very important for the success of the project.Formulate Interview Questions: Writing down questions that delve into the goals, concerns, and expectations of the stakeholders. The key here would be to let the vision of the product and the constraints envisioned.Conduct interviews: That is, holding frank candid discussions with stakeholders by capturing their views. The recording sessions can be of great help later for analyses.Synthesize insights: The objective here is to analyze the interviews done, outline recurring themes and points of conflict. Go on to compare it with the findings of user research to ensure that business needs are taken into account along with the user's needs.

• Communicate Findings: Cascade the synthesized insights down to the wider team to help everyone understand the business context and prioritize.
• Use Findings to Inform Design: Balance the feedback of the stakeholders in design decisions to complement user needs so that the expectations met for the product.
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Additional Sources of Reading:

"The Stakeholder Management Toolkit" - Louise Worsley: Book filled with strategies on stakeholder management and interviewing.

Example: You are tasked with designing a new e-commerce site. From stakeholder interviews, it was determined that the business is pushing for quicker checkouts. If you weighed this against user research showing users want detailed product descriptions, the design would facilitate a fast checkout while still allowing users to make informed purchasing decisions.

Additional Resources:

Miro: an online space where you will be collaborating and visualizing data from stakeholder interviews. Learn more about it by visiting Miro.

Lucidchart: will be a diagramming tool that helps in mapping out stakeholder insights in relation to user needs. Click to Lucidchart.

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