User Personas
Personas are representations of clusters of users with similar needs, goals, and behaviours. A persona is a single individual that represents a group.
Introduction
User Personas are fictional characters that have a name and picture; relevant characteristics such as a role, activities, behaviours, and attitudes; and a goal, which is the problem that has to be addressed or the benefit that should be provided.
User personas will help communicate and synthesise user research findings. They help a team connect with and better understand the end user of their product as well as to remind the team of the motives and reasons why users want it.
This exercise can be done before any user research has been conducted as a way to think about which users to approach. Alternatively, it could be done after user research as a way to synthesise the research that has been done.
Required Materials
We provide a template for Product Managers to use in generating a user persona.
Workflow
Product Managers should give a name for their user.
Including a picture of the user will help the Product Manager to visualise and make real their user.
They should include a descriptor which makes clear what is unique about this user.
Asking Product Managers to give a quote from the perspective of their user will help them get into the frame of mind of the person.
The next section asks 'Who is it?' - this encourages the Product Manager to consider the demographic their user is from. Thinking about profession, age, and location are useful ways to realise the user.
The Product Managers should fill in the user's goals and their attitude. This will encourage thought about motivations as well as points of view.
The final section asks the Product Manager to think of the user's behaviours - what do they do? This includes how they might use the site or service as well as how they make decisions or what products they might use already.
Prompts
Who are they? Where are they from?
What are their goals and motivations?
What are their frustrations? How are they feeling?
What are their aspirations?
Things they like/don’t like
Technology - apps and social networks they might use
Collaboration
This exercise would usually be conducted by a Product Manager independently or with other members of their organisation. The reason behind this is that they are the experts about their user group. However, we found that when groups of Product Managers read their personas to one another, there was an ability to empathise with the user of another Product Manager. Outsiders are able to offer insights into areas that have been missed out or misrepresentations in the persona.
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