The Lean User Persona

Template
 Lean Persona Best Practices
1. If possible, draw from existing user research. If you lack research, conduct 5
user interviews (1 hour each).Otherwise, your personas arent as persuasive to
stakeholders.

2. Dont focus on a persons likes and dislikes. Their tasks, behaviors, and goals
are much more actionable to a product team.

3. Create a new persona only when you see significant differences in behaviors.
Too many personas leads to convoluted design. Most products are well-served
with 3-5 personas (7 max).

4. If your end-user doesnt purchase your product, create a separate set of buyer
personas.

5. Leave out extraneous personal information if its unrelated to the problem. For
example, if you design enterprise software, no need to mention the persons
favorite TV shows.

6. Lean personas are living documents. Ask for feedback from all stakeholders,
then iterate. Test your prototype, then iterate based on new user insights.

7. Circulate your persona with anyone who touches product. The value lies in
collaborative insights, not the document tacked on a wall.
 Facts
Judy, Director of UX
- Recently joined a global bank
- 8 years of UX experience
- Focuses on enterprise products
- Leads a team of 10 designers
Tasks & Behavior
Stays up to date with UX best practices
Creates an overall vision, then dives into select projects
Holds 1-hour weekly 1:1s with direct reports
Holds up to 8 daily meetings (70% of work day)
Sets OKRs and tracks progress for all direct reports
Resolves issues between designers, devs, stakeholders
Holds weekly department design critique
Pain Points
Legacy systems prevent innovation
No standard design process leads to chaos
Difficult to attract talent amidst competition
Lack of buy-in for UX leads to resourcing problems
Waterfall process prevents collaboration
Lack of visibility into remote designers projects
Goals
Create a consistent UX across suite of 5 products
Transform culture from engineering to design-driven
Ensure happiness and job satisfaction of designers
Deliver great products on schedule
Meet monthly business metrics set by VP Product
Establish herself as UX thought leader in company
 Recommended Free E-books

1. The Guide to UX Design Process & Documentation

2. UX Design Process Best Practices

3. The Guide to Agile UX Design Sprints

4. Practical User Research for Enterprise UX

5. The Guide to Usability Testing