Start with building shared understanding

As a designer, your role is to bring everyone on the same page and unite over one common goal. 

• First, interview stakeholders to understand what and why we are trying to achieve for the business and on what timeframe. Check their expectations regarding look and feel, functionality, and target audience. 
• Interviewing dev and support teams it’s also a good idea to get more insight into what are problem areas.
• But your primary target is users.