Personas

Description

Personas establish a shared understanding of existing and future stakeholders, their needs, priorities and expectations. They're collaboratively explored and generated using a series of questions to create archetypes. Personas reveal insights about stakeholders which inform priorities and project approach. Persona activities should, where possible, be informed by research.

Value

  • Personas create a more concrete understanding of stakeholders
  • They support and validate business decisions
  • The outcomes help reduce the risks inherent in making assumptions based solely on an organisational perspective
  • Persona activities are revealing, thought-provoking and fun to do.

Further Reading

The power of the persona - a case study exploring how 'the use of personas significantly improved corporate cohesiveness, focus and decision making at every level'. 

Some early origins - Jung's Psychological Types

More on archetypes