Persona Guide for Product Research
The following is an example of a persona research guide I would publish for my team to keep us aligned on how to use them effectively.
Use this guide when conducting user research to ensure consistent user classification across our platform.
When studying our users, it’s important to understand who they are and the specific context in which they’re using our platform. This guide helps standardize how we classify and analyze user behavior and needs.
Personas provide a high-level understanding of our key audiences.
| Persona | We call them | Market Segments | Key Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Application Developers | App Devs | - Supply Chain, Digital | - Environmental nuance, Complexity of day 2 operations |
| Service Provider Platform Developers | Service Providers or Platform Devs | - Us* as Infra, Network Engineering, Data Engineering | - Complexity at Scale, Complexity in need (e.g., stateful, root access) |
| Other | (Growing audience) | - Analysts in Cyber Security, Data Scientists & ML Engineers, Executives / Leadership | - Gaps in expected experience, Increasingly, our UX expertise |
Understanding Personas in Our Work
TL;DR we serve customers with competing needs, so spend time with real users whenever possible.
Personas help us frame the needs of different user groups and align our decision-making. They serve as a guiding lens to ensure our roadmaps and priorities reflect the realities of those we serve.
This document outlines key personas, market segments, and attributes that influence our product decisions.
Caveat
Personas help us stay conceptually aligned, but it’s crucial to remain focused on real users.
- ✅ Do: Prioritize a mix of features for both App Developers and Platform Developers so all users feel represented in our roadmap
- ❌ Don’t: Prioritize a feature for “a persona” – prioritize based on real users need and business outcomes
- ✅ Do: Find paths to build for all personas by extension rather than building all possible experiences for everyone
- ❌ Don’t: Build a feature for all personas without testing that it works for all personas and their many market segments
Clarifying Terminology: Market Segments vs. Persona Cohorts vs. Attributes
- Market Segments: Defined by industry or organizational role (e.g., Business Application Developers vs. Service Provider Platform Developers). These segments help group personas by business function but do not define specific user behavior.
- Persona Cohorts: Groups of users with shared behavioral patterns and needs within a market segment. These cohorts help us tailor our product approach based on real usage challenges.
- Intersectional Attributes: The underlying dimensions that shape user experience and complexity, cutting across all segments and cohorts.
By keeping this structure in mind, we ensure our decision-making is rooted in real user behavior, not assumptions about personas. Always validate assumptions through direct user research.
Related Resources: For information on which team members are responsible for user research across products, see the Product Practice Champions section in Areas of Responsibility.
This is an entry in my digital garden. See what else is growing here.