Before I book an interview, I want to know whose day-to-day the solution touches and whose sign-off it needs. "Who Matters the Most" in the American Airlines deck and "Who We Spoke To" in the Kraft Heinz deck make the same split: the people who will use the thing, and the people who decide whether it ships.
Two columns get you started: what each group does today, and what they need from a new solution. The American Airlines map gave each role a name and a short list of real tasks, like studying logbooks, filing PIREPs, and writing maintenance reports. Kraft Heinz split into internal factory roles and external distributor roles, because a factory-only solution would have missed half the workflow.
For each group, a useful stakeholder map answers three questions:
- What do they do today, in their own words rather than their job title?
- Which decision or approval do they hold that the project depends on?
- What would make them push back on a new tool, and what would only make them indifferent?