[Sigia-l] Personas vs Business Needs?

[Ziya Oz]

Jonathan Baker-Bates:

> How do you use personas?

Only when I want to look hip. :-)

Substitute "personas" with "usage patterns" (either field-observed or
conjectured) you'd arrive at an unpretentious design practice. Reduced to
its essence, not all potential usage patterns can be within the business
scope of a design. Usage patterns are at least a level of abstraction above
a collection of features.

For example, many Microsoft apps, like Office, are a flat, horizontal
aggregation of features. Indeed, features are the app. Many Apple apps, on
the other hand, are vertically focused along certain usage patterns, at the
expense of "missing" many features. If users fit one of those small set of
usage patterns they are generally very happy with Apple apps. If they don't,
like gearheads, they'll end up incessantly complaining about various
"missing" features.

I don't believe in designing by feature matrices. Users don't forage for
features, they try to accomplish their goals. Feature matrices can easily
lead to unfocused app design. (Microsoft has admitted that the vast majority
of help calls it gets is about feature requests that are *already* in the
app.) 

I design workflows. When I start I don't think about features. I literally
try to discern flows of interaction, getting things done, moving from input
to outcome, etc. Those give me usage patterns, and the discipline to
streamline the design.

----
Ziya

"Innovate as a last resort."