No flames from me Tamara: I think you have very eloquently explained the importance of how implementing the persona process in a company that has not embraced a User Centered design culture can help with the communication process between the various departments and can reduce the "us vs them" thought process. I am thinking along the lines of business units..."throwing it over to the fence" to the "tech department (read business system analysts and developers). It definitely serves as a "language of communication".
Helen On Nov 27, 2007 6:04 PM, Tamara Adlin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I still think this discussion is missing a super-critical point. > Personas are not just about design. Personas are about focus. It's > great if a company has time and money to do full, data-driven > personas. That takes time and planning and a lot of work (see > ginormous book I wrote with Pruitt). All the stuff in there is based > on almost a hundred practitioners' experiences. And guess what? most > of the time i do *no* data collection as you guys would define it. > NONE. that's right, none. Why? because most companies are so out of > whack when it comes to good design and simply talking to each other > that the most powerful thing they can do is smooth the communication > between the execs, marketing, design, and dev. > > All of these people have tons of 'data' in their heads. of course > it's warped and full of wrong assumptions. But given no time, and a > good idea for a product (i know, i know, how do you know it's a good > idea, but c'mon. they all have ideas. we're there to help them take > action on the ideas in smart, well-designed ways), the best possible > solution, with the most startling results, is to create ad-hoc personas. > > Again, why? because the process (not the final product of the > 'persona documents' or whatever--but the *process*) gets everyone > aligned. I think that the only assumptions that can hurt a product > (if you are going to build a product based on assumptions, which, > face it, most companies do...and many of them are successful...i > agree with Robert on this) are the assumptions you don't know about. > > If you can get the execs and stakeholders in a room and force them to > get their assumptions out on the table, several things happen: > 1. they realize they are not on the coveted 'same page' > 2. they realize that they have not thought about user goals > 3. they realize that goals tend to 'straddle' other ways of > categorizing users, and thinking about goals is actually easier than > what they've been doing so far > 4. they 'suddenly' realize they've been thinking about their product > in the 'wrong way' (inevitable) > 5. they are able to agree on a basic set of ad-hoc personas based on > goals--very quickly, i might add. > 6. they are able, when FORCED, to prioritize those personas based on > business objectives (it's all about business at this point.) > > and, hey presto, suddenly they have seen the light. if we have time > for data collection for validation, great. if not, several delightful > things still end up happening: > 1. the execs clarify (often after changing!) their business > objectives in terms of target user groups > 2. the rest of the company suddenly has a snowball's chance of > understanding what the heck the execs want them to do. > 3. the design and dev can get started knowing that, if the execs > change their minds, they can use the ad hoc personas to understand > what's going on (hey, you guys prioritized Suzie, right? well these > new ideas are all for Marvin, right? So does that mean you've changed > your mind about how important Suzie is?) > 4. they're willing to do real data stuff next time. > > So i see this all totally differently. To me, when i work with > companies, much to my surprise, the personas are a business strategy > tool, a means of prioritizing focus across the org, and a shared > language. Mazlov's pyramid--if you don't have these things, I think > your design is pretty much doomed, no matter what other tools you > use. And, btw, this is why I don't think it *ever* works to build > personas as a consultant and throw them over the wall into a client > org--yes, even if there is a major champion in the client org. > > Let the flames commence. > > > --Tamara > > design twice, build once Tamara Adlin adlin, inc. > [EMAIL PROTECTED] 206.779.1776 > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
