It’s a great step when companies start to care about the user and consider them even during business conversations. However, humans are quite complex. To generalize all potential participants of the product as “user” whitewashes our many intricacies.
Personas help separate participants by general participation patterns, sometime spilling outside of the digital realm, into the real world. Giving a name to the various personas helps the team focus on who the feature is being designed for and avoid wild goose chases.
Scenarios document the persona's goal that will be able to accomplish with the product. They are usually written as a paragraph with enough contextual detail to give the task meaning, but avoid specifying the actual solution.
Research BasedUser research, market research, business requirements all feed into the development of personas. Relevant skill sets can be mapped along with life attributes.
Guerilla StyleUnfortunately, proper research is not always possible. In these cases, any available knowledge of users plus quick informal studies can be done within a couple of days. These sketchy personas still help guide conversations and expectations.
Upstream, DownstreamPersonas are great tools for communicating with the entire team. It helps drive convergence with business and also gives development context for a proper technical design.
