You told us you want to know more about the process we use to build custom software. You got it. Follow along as we build our new Huddle Helper app. This is the 3rd post in that series. You can read the 2nd post here.
Huddle Helper is an app we’re building to recognize our coworkers when they go above and beyond.
During our discovery process, we discussed the current process and the jobs associated with giving out a hamburger. Once we identified the jobs that people have, we talked about the people who perform those jobs. We then created personas based on interviews
and personal experience (since we also participate in the process).
What are personas?
Personas are a compilation of research resulting in a detailed description of a group of like users that people can relate to.
More than just a description of the common attributes of a bunch of people, though, a persona tells their story. To tell this story well, it’s important to ask actual users relevant questions.
How do you create personas?
The best way to create personas is to interview and/or observe people. Ideally, the interviews are done in person, but they can be done via Skype or by phone. When you interview someone in person, it allows you to more easily pick up on the interviewee’s
body language, which can lead to questions you may not have planned on asking.
For the Huddle Helper, we identified two user groups:
- Employees who give and/or receive hamburgers
- The person who tallies all of the hamburgers at the end of the year and awards the trophy
And then we asked them questions similar to the following:
- What is your age, gender, occupation (and other demographic information)?
- What is your comfort level with technology?
- What are your needs and wants as it pertains to giving and receiving recognition?
- What are your pain points as it pertains to giving and receiving recognition?
Once we had this information, we grouped the feedback into different categories. Through this process, we discovered some common themes, which is great because these themes are what we based the persona on.
The two personas we created based on the identified user groups and their responses to our questions were:
What value do personas bring?
Personas create empathy. They help user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) designers understand what a particular user group has experienced and how that group might interact with the system being designed for them.
In addition, personas help us further understand the process each user group goes through when they perform actions related to the subject at hand. Product owners, developers, and quality assurance testers can use personas to better understand different
attributes of the user group. Depending on the users, the solution developed for them may be highly stylized or quite simple.
Conclusion
Personas take your project to the next level because they focus on people. You’re able to better relate to those who will use and/or buy your app. And your users get something that’s tailored to their needs.