Stakeholder Map

Who do we make this for?

Overview

Understanding who is involved in or influenced by a service is essential for human-centred design. The Stakeholder Map helps teams see the bigger picture—by mapping out the people, groups, and organisations that interact with or affect the service experience.

This visual tool supports planning for discovery research, communication, and later phases of co-design. It helps clarify who should be engaged when: whether during interviews, testing, feedback, or alignment.

The map uses three concentric circles:

• Centre: your end-users

• Middle: actors with direct interaction with users (e.g. front-line staff, help desk)

• Outer: actors with indirect influence (e.g. policymakers, IT teams, regulators)

Open in Google Slides

⏱️ Time: 30–45 minutes

👫 Participants: Core team (3–5 people), ideally with someone from service operations

🛠️ Materials: Stakeholder map template (printed or digital) or blank sheet (A3), markers, sticky notes

Input

Before completing this canvas, ensure you have completed the following step:

Service Challenge

Context

Use this tool during the early planning stage of your discovery research. It is especially useful after initially defining your service challenge, to help decide who you need to speak with and who should be involved later in the process.

Recipe

1

List down users and providers

Use service challenge canvas to list down users and providers involved in the service your team will focus on. Add more if you come up with any other stakeholders.

2

Map the ecosystem

• In the centre: write your end-users (specific groups, not just "the public")

• First ring: actors who interact directly with users (e.g. clerks, support staff, contractors)

• Outer ring: actors who influence the service but may not meet users (e.g. legal teams, procurement, other departments)

3

Add detail (optional)

• Use colours or labels to show roles (e.g. internal/external, high/low influence)

• You can also represent relationship strength (e.g. frequent vs rare contact)

4

Define engagement approach

Mark on the map:

• Who will you interview or observe during discovery

• Who should be informed regularly

• Who you will consult on early ideas

• Who needs to approve or support prototyping

Results

A shared visual reference of all key stakeholders related to your service. The map helps guide:

• Discovery research recruitment

• Communication and alignment strategies

• Planning for later co-design or prototyping steps

Tips

• Don’t stop at “the usual suspects”—include those who are often left out but may hold valuable insight.

• Consider both organisational structure and real-world influence—they’re not always the same.

• Be specific: “back office staff handling incomplete forms” is more useful than “internal team”.

• Revisit and update your map as your understanding evolves.

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Share Your Experience

We'd love to hear how you're using this tool! Please share your examples and feedback to inspire others and help improve the Booster. Submit your example today and be part of our community.