Identify Actors and Actions

List who interacts with the system and the concrete actions each actor takes. Verbs expose workflows; role names alone do not.

Frame

The question

Who does what?

Do this

  • Include people, scheduled jobs, administrators, and external systems.
  • Use specific verbs such as “places an order,” not broad labels such as “manages orders.”
  • Mark the action without which the product has no reason to exist.

Example

  • Customer: browse products, add to basket, place order. Store owner: add products, change stock. Payment provider: confirm or reject payment.

Ask next

  • ?Which actor owns the core action?
  • ?Which actor was missing from the original request?
  • ?Where does one actor hand work to another?
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