In Part 2, we discussed the identification of value for existing systems, where we have to reverse-engineer the function from the form and determine the design intent from possible use cases. In this chapter, we will find that identifying value for new systems is significantly more challenging.

Many transformative architectures arise out of new value propositions or serve as-yet-unidentified needs. Who knew they “needed” a Podcast of the Economist on their morning commute before Podcasts were invented? Who knew they “needed” key card readers for hotel rooms when keys were the dominant choice? The identification of value is difficult, because it blends the challenge of identifying the underlying needs of the user with the mental cage of previous designs.

Complex products (goods and services) serve stakeholders who often have differing needs. A new power station might focus on the power utility as the primary stakeholder, but the state government could be sheparding its development as an opportunity to demonstrate greener power, or the federal government could be funding it with the intent of increasing the grid’s redundancy. Although these three stakeholders all want to see the project ­implemented, their needs and priorities might conflict. Separately, the project may have stakeholders who were originally opposed and whose needs reflect potential hazards or mitigation strategies.

In addition to new value propositions and prioritizing multiple stakeholders, a hallmark challenge of complex systems is the indirect delivery of value. The power station does not interact directly with end users of the power, but it does interact with them through one or many utilities and intermediaries. The federal government may issue funding through intermediating agencies or the state government. Therefore, there are challenges in understanding not just which stakeholders are important but also how value is delivered to them. In this chapter, we focus on developing principles and methods for identifying and prioritizing these stakeholders and their associated needs in the context of complex systems.

We will introduce a running example in this chapter: the Hybrid Car, which captures many of the challenges associated with the development of complex systems. In Chapter 11 we will focus on identifying the needs and goals for the Hybrid Car, and in Chapter 12 we will develop several concepts to meet these goals.

We begin with the identification of the stakeholders for the system, then work toward a prioritization of their needs, and subsequently address the establishment of goals. The progression of logic in this chapter is summarized in the needs-to-goals framework shown in Figure 11.1. We first identify stakeholders and beneficiaries (Section 11.2) and then characterize their needs (Section 11.3). These needs are next interpreted as goals (Section 11.4) and then prioritized (Section 11.5). The chapter concludes with a case study involving stakeholder management.