A facilitator method for upstream design activities with diverse stakeholders

The paper presents a method that can be used for the elicitation and specification of requirements and high level design. It supports stakeholder based modeling, rapid feasibility feed back to marketing, and the interpersonal dynamics that are necessary to develop a product. The method centers on the role of the facilitator, an independent agent whose purpose is to build the Integrated System Model (ISM). The ISM is the result of merging the independent system views from all stakeholders at any given abstraction level. Formulation of this method was based on the real world experience of developing a complex, high technology medical product with critical time to market pressures. It has proven to be a practical approach to the evolution of requirements definition and provides a necessary link to the marketing aspect of a product.