Aprende a hacer un mapa de actores o stakeholders. 👨 🏢 👩 🏤 👱¡De forma fácil y con ejemplos! 😀 🔝
Design Thinking in Spain: Understanding the Actor Map
What is an Actor Map?
- The actor map, or stakeholder map, is a design tool primarily used in the empathy phase of the design thinking process. It helps identify individuals and entities involved in a business or system.
- This tool visualizes relationships among various actors, enhancing understanding of how they interact within a system.
Structure of an Actor Map
- An actor map consists of four circles representing different categories:
- User: Central circle where the user is placed.
- Internal Actors: Closest circle to the center, containing those who interact directly with the user.
- External Actors: Second circle for those whose relationship with internal actors facilitates product/service delivery to users.
- Public Administrations: Entities that relate directly or indirectly to users through other actors.
Purpose of an Actor Map
- The actor map serves multiple purposes:
- Understanding Context: Helps identify all parties involved in a project/system and detect areas for improvement.
- Ecosystem Design: Aids in establishing relationships between entities within a project ecosystem.
- Reflection Tool: Encourages questions about users and their surroundings, broadening perspective during design processes.
Steps to Create an Actor Map
- Follow these steps for creating an actor map:
- Define the framework or challenge related to your design thinking process (e.g., improving customer experience).
- List all relevant actors associated with this framework/challenge on your template.
- Use guiding questions to ensure comprehensive listing (e.g., what do we need to meet user needs?).
Finalizing Your Actor Map
- After listing actors:
- Place each actor on post-it notes and position them on the map according to their influence level relative to the central user.
- Establish relationships using arrows between actors; label these connections for clarity regarding strength or relevance.
Example Application of an Actor Map
- An example will illustrate how various stakeholders operate within a coworking space context, identifying opportunities based on current conditions.
Mapping Stakeholder Relationships in a Coworking Space
Identifying Key Actors and Their Influence
- The first circle of influence includes the space manager, COO, and marketing manager due to their direct relationship with users.
- External services like cleaning and maintenance, along with social media experts, are placed in the second circle of influence.
- The third circle features the local government, which provides funding and contracts for services related to the coworking space.
Establishing Relationships Among Actors
- A strong relationship exists between the worker and the space manager, who greets them daily and shares updates about the coworking environment. This is indicated by an arrow on the map.
- Although both CEO and marketing director are influential, their connection to each other is minimal compared to their relationships with others; thus no arrows are drawn between them.
- The marketing manager has a close working relationship with both the space manager and CEO, as they oversee actions that impact user experience directly. Arrows indicate these connections.
Direct Interactions Between Other Stakeholders
- There is a direct link between SEO/social media experts and users since they create content that users engage with regularly (e.g., newsletters).
- The marketing manager hires SEO/social media experts for content generation; this relationship is also represented by an arrow on the map.
- Cleaning staff have a supervisory relationship with the space manager who oversees their work performance through established communication lines.
Collaboration With Local Government
- Continuous contact exists between the COO of the space and local government officials as they collaborate on projects and seek grants for operational support.
Visualizing Actor Maps Effectively
- A simplified actor map was created for clarity; however, larger frameworks may involve more actors depending on specific challenges or contexts faced by different spaces.
- Alternative methods such as using physical objects like LEGO can enhance understanding of stakeholder relationships by allowing dynamic representation within a three-dimensional format.