Storytime, Audience to Authors: Enhancing Stakeholder Engagement

Abstract

This paper is largely aimed at Public Agencies, such as Infrastructure and Transit authorities.The creation and development of projects at these agencies impacts multiple layers of stakeholders, who, in the collective experience of the authors, are often not involved in the project until the middle or end of the development phase or not until they have to use the system. These neglected end users and influencers of the system do not have a timely voice -they are effectively excluded. This paper advocates for the early engagement of all defined stakeholders; the obvious and the unconventional, both internal and external to the agency. This paper does not provide a detailed ConOps process but rather defines what a ConOps is, why it is necessary, and at what stage in the project should one be developed. The principal conversation herein focuses on how to determine who the audience is for the system of interest (SOI) and ways to engage them. The paper describes a holistic approach to the creation and development of a ConOps deliverable by engaging the audience, who become stakeholders and effectively, authors. This paper concludes with a case study encompassing the discussion.