Operating Space

An area of analysis during the customer/problem discovery process; defined by business-, industry-, and workflow-based inquiries within an "Operating Space" before moving on to the "Solution Space".

What is it?

The Operating Space is the area that focuses on the surrounding industry, work, or cultural environment which might formalize or structure expectations, high- and low-order stakeholders, and mandatory processes.

Research Questions

Some questions to ask during the exploration of this space might include:

What stakeholders are involved in the ecosystem and how do we define their roles structurally or professionally?

What expected results typically come from [action X]

What implications do certain relationships have, either between stakeholders or entities?

Sample

Click here to download a sample that breaks down the "event management" ecosystem for university / institutional customers, which identified problems & symptoms

Operating-Space Activities

This space often overlaps with discovery activities found in the Problem Space, but differ in terms of perspective. Instead of uncovering potential problems, the insight and understanding of the surrounding operating environment allows for proper validation of the potential problems discovered in the Problem Space.

In addition to those activities found in the Problem Space the following activities may be explored:

• Competitor Analysis

• Platform Expectations from Segmented Markets

• Evolving Industry Patterns and Trends