2 When and why to use personas
Personas enable project managers and service planners to see their project or service through the eyes of users and beneficiaries. There are great benefits to this:
- bringing focus to the planning process
personas can help you identify and define your target audience or group
- building empathy between users and planners/managers
help planners/managers to see how things look and feel from the perspectives of the user
- encouraging consensus building
ensure shared vision and a buy-in into the project/service development process
- creating efficiency
personas help decision makers to make key decisions early in the design process to avoid wasting money and time later.
Activity 1
Check your understanding
a.
Personas are only used once a project is live, as a way to understand how users are engaging with it.
b.
Personas can be used to inform or influence project, business or service development at any stage of its life cycle.
The correct answer is b.
Discussion
Although a persona can be used to represent a group of users and how they are engaging with a project, based on real data about those users, this is not the only possible use for personas. They are suitable for informing and influencing decisions at any point in a project. However, they are particularly useful for informing and influencing decisions before a commitment is made to a cause of action.
1 What are personas?