Skip to the lesson
AI FluentBuilding Responsibly: Design Thinking with AI lesson

This lesson is being checked by experts. How we check lessons

Step 2 of 8Explainer7 min

Four design questions

Before writing any code, answer four questions:

  1. Who is this for? Name real users. “Everyone” is not an answer.
  2. Who could it harm? Include people who never use it.
  3. What data does it need? Collect only what the job requires.
  4. What happens when it is wrong? Who notices, and how do they fix it?

Question 2 is where a stakeholder map helps. Start with the people in the middle and work outward.

Four nested rings showing stakeholders of a product, from direct users in the center to operators, bystanders, and society on the outside.

Here is a worked example. The product is an AI tool that summarizes school board meetings for students who can’t attend.

  • Who is it for? High school students who want to follow board decisions about their school.
  • Who could it harm? Board members, if a summary misquotes them. Students, if they act on a wrong summary. Parents and teachers, the bystanders who never chose the tool.
  • What data does it need? Only the public meeting recordings. No student data at all.
  • What happens when it is wrong? Each summary links to the exact moment in the recording. There is a “report an error” button, and a person reviews summaries before posting.

Notice how the answers to question 4 turn into features. That is the point. Design questions become design decisions.