Situating Needs and Requirements in a Multi-stakeholder Context

Abstract

This paper proposes a model aimed at representing the cognitive processes occurring in a design task while analysing needs and requirements with respect to the different stakeholders who might influence the purchase decision. The model builds on Gero’s situated FBS framework, by introducing two original elements: from the one hand, needs and requirements are explicitly represented, thus differentiating from the Function, Behaviour, Structure variables. On the other hand, the external world is split into several ones, each representing the reality of a different stakeholder. Thanks to this integration, the earliest stages of the design cycle can be investigated in details by observing, representing and analysing the designer’s behaviour through his elementary thinking processes. The ex-post analysis of a brainstorming session within an Italian company producing lines for bottling beverages clarifies the structure of the modelling approach and its benefits.