Chapter 4: Turn notes into decisions, lesson 2 of 7

Make personas that change decisions

Most personas change nothing. Build one from what people do, not who they are. Trace every line to a real person, so it can settle a design argument.

By 4 min read, 15 min of exercises

Warm-up

From last time. Can someone check each claim by going back to the notes?

  1. Three of the five managers are owed money: Anna, Ken and Dana.

    Right, it's a claim you can check. It names the people. You can go back to each one's notes.

    Not quite. It's a claim you can check. It names the people. You can go back to each one's notes.

  2. Office managers hate collecting money.

    Right, it's a claim you can't check. Which managers? Ray collects nothing, and Sara doesn't mind.

    Not quite. It's a claim you can't check. Which managers? Ray collects nothing, and Sara doesn't mind.

  3. Anna is $157 short this month.

    Right, it's a claim you can check. It's a number from her notebook.

    Not quite. It's a claim you can check. It's a number from her notebook.

Last time, you found the pattern: three of five managers struggle to get paid back. Now Peter, the head of sales, wants a persona for his team. By the next morning, his team has made one.

Think first

The sales team’s persona card: Office Olivia. 34. Office manager at a tech company with 20 to 50 staff. Busy. Loves team spirit. Wants an easy way to order lunch.

Which decision could this persona help the team make?

You

Which of these is closest to your answer?

Shirish

Look at the last line: wants an easy way to order lunch. Who said that? None of the five managers did.

So does the card help decide, or does it just repeat Peter’s idea?

Shirish

Would you invite by age and job title? Ken isn’t an office manager, and he orders every other week.

What would you need to know about an office, to invite it?

Shirish

That’s my answer too. Nothing on the card is wrong, exactly. But nothing on it could settle an argument.

What would a persona need to say, to change a decision?

You

What this means

A persona is only worth keeping if it changes a decision. I asked myself this about my own team’s personas. My answer was:

Deleting them won’t make a difference in my organisation.

We decided from talking to customers, and from numbers, instead. So what would a persona need, to be worth keeping?

Group people by what they do

Olivia is built on who people are: age, job title, company size. The five managers don’t split that way. They split by who pays for lunch, and how the money comes back.

Practice

Put each person in the group that matches what their office does.

  1. Anna pays for 11 colleagues, and keeps a notebook of who owes her.

    Right, it's one person pays and chases. One person pays, then chases everyone for the money.

    Not quite. It's one person pays and chases. One person pays, then chases everyone for the money.

  2. Ken's office takes turns ordering, and settles on a shared sheet at month end.

    Right, it's take turns, and settle monthly. Whoever orders that week pays. They settle up monthly.

    Not quite. It's take turns, and settle monthly. Whoever orders that week pays. They settle up monthly.

  3. Ray's bank pays for lunch. He needs one tax invoice a day.

    Right, it's the company pays. Nobody owes anyone. His problem is paperwork.

    Not quite. It's the company pays. Nobody owes anyone. His problem is paperwork.

  4. Sara sends each person a payment request, and they pay within the hour.

    Right, it's each person pays by request. She already solved the money.

    Not quite. It's each person pays by request. She already solved the money.

  5. Dana paid for 12 and kept a notebook, until she stopped in August.

    Right, it's one person pays and chases. Same group as Anna. She gave up because of it.

    Not quite. It's one person pays and chases. Same group as Anna. She gave up because of it.

Groups like these are behavioural segments: people grouped by what they do, not who they are. Now watch what they can decide.

Think first

Ryan Brooks, the product manager, wants to test a design. A link where each person pays for their own meal within 30 minutes. Only paid meals get ordered. It runs in a few offices for a week.

Which kinds of office should the test invite?

You

Pick the answer closest to yours.

Shirish

Picture Ray’s bank. Thirty staff would be asked to pay for a lunch their company pays for.

Would the test fail there because the link is bad, or because it doesn’t fit?

Shirish

Yes. For both, each person paying for themselves means nobody is owed anything. Even Ken’s month end has nothing left to settle.

And Sara’s kind of office? How could it still be useful?

Shirish

Big, but the company pays. The link solves a problem Ray doesn’t have.

Which offices have the problem the link solves?

You

What this means

The segments decided who gets invited. Anna’s, Dana’s and Ken’s kinds of office. Not Ray’s, where the link would break how the bank works. Sara’s office makes a good comparison, because her money is already solved.

That’s a decision Olivia could never have made.

A persona that can decide something

So build the persona from a segment. Use the three layers from chapter 1, and put a source after every line. Here’s the first group, the managers who pay and chase.

The office banker: pays for the team, then chases the money

Frustration

What goes wrong for them today

Chasing colleagues for money all week. Anna is $157 short this month. Dana has lost count.

Motivation

What gets them to finish the task

Getting the order in by eleven, so lunch comes at one. (Anna)

Aspiration

Why they come back

A team that eats lunch together. Anna started the team lunch. Dana says she misses it.

Every line leads back to a person. And it can settle an argument. Someone proposes a faster menu. Does it help the office banker? Not much: ordering takes Anna ten minutes. Someone proposes a pay link. Does it? Yes, it’s her biggest frustration.

I learned this the same way, years ago, on an education product.

Shirishfrom my own work

The Career Changer

Early in my career, I created personas full of demographic details and lifestyle preferences. They were fun to look at. They told us nothing about how to design better experiences.

Then we rebuilt our personas around motivations, frustrations and aspirations. One was the Career Changer: someone who left a stable job to learn design. Their frustration: not knowing if they’re making progress.

Someone would propose a feature. We’d ask: does this address the Career Changer’s frustration? And we’d have an actual answer.

Words from this lesson

Behavioural segment
A group of people defined by what they do, not who they are. In this lessonOne person pays and chases. Take turns. The company pays.
Persona
A short picture of one segment, used to make decisions. Every line leads back to real people. In this lessonThe office banker: pays for the team, then chases the money.

Back to your first answer

Your first answer

Your answer

Your answer will show here after you write one at the top of this page.

You've read the lesson. Would you change your answer?
Good. Which part of this lesson backs your answer?

Your bet: where should the map have the most detail?

Your bet

Mia wants to map one office banker’s lunch day, from the menu to the money. Her time is short, so the map can’t show everything.

Which part of the day should the map show in the most detail? Make your bet, and say how sure you are.

Your guess
How sure are you?

You'll find the answer in Lesson 4.3: Map today's journey to find what to fix.

Try this during the week: find a persona your team has, or one online. For each line, ask: which decision could this change? Cross out the lines that change nothing.

Sources

  • Alan Cooper, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, 1999. Personas began as a tool for design decisions, built on goals.
  • Indi Young, Describing Personas, 2016. On thinking styles instead of demographics.
  • The Career Changer is from my own work. Tiffin and its people are made up for this course.
Portrait of Shirish Shikhrakar

Written by

Shirish Shikhrakar

Shirish is a Google-certified UX designer and UX engineer based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He started as a software developer, moved into product design for Silicon Valley startups, and has taught UX foundations to hundreds of designers since 2019.

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