Personas: How Many Are Enough?
Personas provide a great way to focus your efforts on a specific type of customer. Which is why I was taken aback when a colleague proudly told me that he had provided 37 personas to his team. Focus. That's the point. Personas are descriptions of archetypical customers - they represent the common attributes of a large number of people. They can provide reference points for everyone involved in the planning and development process. Well-developed personas enable a software developer to say "Harry wouldn't be able to use that feature" or an marketer to say "Elaine needs to be able to justify purchasing the product to her manager." Personas should be a constant reminder of who the target customers are. For this to happen, Product Management has to create personas that are vivid and few . Vivid personas provide insight into the customer's problems and motivations; they can begin to convey the kind of gut-level connection that you get when you visit ...