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Differences between Stakeholders and Users?

Last post 02:29 pm April 30, 2018 by Ian Mitchell
3 replies
11:46 am April 24, 2018

Hello, 

 

I know that User (End User) is a 'affected' type of stakeholder, but what are the differences between those two? What are their main tasks? Do they have any common responsibilities ?


02:42 pm April 29, 2018

Hi Sebastian,

As I see it you develop a product for people that are using the product. These would be your users, your end users. From these people you should get feedback to make sure that you deliver value to them.

Stakeholders as I see it are more internal focussed (in more corporate environments), like security, architecture, senior manager, but could also be regulators.

So, about responsibilities; a product owner in scrum has the responsibility to set priorities based on value. Cannot say how value could be defined in your context, but should certainly be defined based upon your users. Your stakeholders typically set boundaries or need to be informed. So do that as a product owner :)

 

 


01:12 pm April 30, 2018

Let's say that the product you are developing will store some personal user data. In this scenario, a person in your company who is responsible for data safety will likely become one of the stakeholders, even though he might not be a user of your product.


02:29 pm April 30, 2018

A stakeholder is anyone who is significantly impacted by the product. This includes not only customers and users, but Development Team members as well, and even people with no awareness of the product but who may nonetheless be affected by it.

For example the dependents of people with bank accounts are stakeholders in the bank’s IT infrastructure, though they may be completely unaware of its existence. A good PO will represent and balance all stakeholder interests.


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