One of the most difficult parts of any product designer's job is presenting his or her work to product development stakeholders and then gathering feedback so that the design can be adjusted to meet the requirements of the stakeholders.

So... who are these stakeholders anyway and why do they have requirements that need to be met?
Well, there is the 'who' that implements the product design review and there are the other 'who' that participate in the product design review... and ultimately develop the product.

These people are called stakeholders because they have a collective responsibility and a stake in ensuring that the eventual product is meaningful and can be supported in the targeted markets, is profitable to the firm, can be produced economically, and is safe.

Usually, a product manager, project manager or company 'champion' is responsible for the ultimate success of the product. It is this person who must guide an overall view of the product's lifecycle and who needs to manage the product design review (and advisedly, the entire development project). This person also MUST have the authority to gather the stakeholders and pertinent resources to complete the design review.

The other stakeholders are a group of people (including the designers) who represent different departments within - or associated with - the firm, and who have the responsibility to develop, produce, market and support the product. Also, reviewers outside the firm, including prospective users may be involved. The group review provides a more objective and all-encompassing point-of-view regarding features, uses, presentation, requirements, solutions, etc. and... may even generate new ideas worth considering.

Following are examples of stakeholders (domestic and international, if required) which should be involved in the design review.

1. Project manager (responsible for the project's success)
2. Product designer / Usability specialist (responsible for the product design, user interaction and UI documentation)
3. Corporate business representative (responsible for the business input)
4. Company financial representative (responsible for financial input, support and financial documentation)
5. Engineers / developers (responsible for architecture, technical design, component selection, product implementation, documentation, verification and technical documentation)
6. Quality / reliability engineer (responsible for product durability and production quality and appropriate documentation)
7. Legal representative (responsible for legal and IP aspects and legal documentation)
8. Service and installation representative (responsible for customer support, repair, upgrades, user training and service documentation)
9. Production, supply chain and shipping representative (responsible for producing and delivering the product and production documentation)
10. Marketing and sales representative - representing targeted users, beneficiaries, distributors, dealers, VADs, etc. - (responsible for finding, proselytizing and maintaining customer relations and user documentation)