ISG Playbook
APIs
User Personas Need to Evolve
Reading Time 6 Mins
UX designers often create user personas that are aesthetically pleasing but contain irrelevant details, diminishing their usefulness for teams. Furthermore, these personas often lack important contextual information and user behaviors that highlight the challenges and frustrations faced by users. Without these critical details, personas become mere deliverables, failing to fulfill their intended purpose of bridging the gap between design teams and the people they aim to assist. What personas truly require is relevance, a quality that is often sacrificed in the pursuit of simplicity and speed.
Why rethink personas?
According to Alan Cooper's book "About Face," designers and teams often mistakenly use "user profile" interchangeably with "user persona," although the two concepts differ significantly. While a profile is a high-level description of a user avatar, a persona is rooted in real users and derived from user research and observations. Personas offer a precise framework for understanding and communicating user behavior, thoughts, goals, and motivations. They serve as a gateway to comprehend user behavior and foster inclusivity and equity in product and service design.
What’s wrong with personas
Internet examples of user personas often prioritize visual appeal over effective communication of content. While aesthetics are important, overly simplified personas offer limited value to UX teams, leading to doubts about their usefulness. The confusion and problems associated with personas go beyond simplicity and misunderstanding. Unclear purposes for creating personas can divert focus to visuals rather than information. While personas can serve as deliverables, they are primarily intended to foster empathy among design teams and provide insights to team members who didn't directly engage in user research. They should be self-explanatory and enable interaction designers to grasp user needs even without direct involvement in the initial research.
Surface at best, stereotypical at worst
Many user personas overly emphasize demographic details, leading to shallow understandings and the potential for biased stereotypes based on gender, ethnicity, age, and economic status. Stereotypes perpetuate surface-level assumptions that simplify the social world but hinder problem-solving for UX teams. To truly understand users, practitioners must delve beneath the surface, recognizing that behaviors are context-dependent and not limited to specific generations or ethnic groups. Furthermore, personas that lack value are often disregarded in subsequent design stages, whereas effective personas inform user flows, relevant features, and interactions, enabling teams to address specific user needs and preferences and drive decision-making.
How User Personas Should Evolve – 5 Steps
Opportunity | Action & Improvement |
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| 1) Inclusive behaviors over exclusionary demographics | To enhance the value of user personas, they should focus on relevance, fostering empathy, and understanding user context. Storytelling and detailed descriptions should take precedence over visual elements that can lead to stereotypes. An updated persona framework should prioritize inclusive behaviors, attitudes and user context, while avoiding irrelevant details. Demographic information can impede unbiased judgments, especially when target user groups encompass diverse categories. Instead of shaping personas based on appearance, grouping users by behaviors promotes inclusivity, equity, and guards against assumptions and stereotypes. |
| 2) Contextual Behaviors | Providing context is a way development teams can include storytelling in their personas. The persona should answer these four questions:
The answers to these questions should come from user research and can be paired with a customer journey map to help fully understand the need. |
3) Multiple Photos | To avoid reinforcing stereotypes and excluding certain groups, design teams should utilize multiple photos instead of relying on a single image to represent a persona. By showcasing users in the context of using the product or engaging in relevant tasks, teams can combat unconscious biases and encourage a broader perspective that transcends age, gender, and ethnicity, particularly when personas exhibit behaviors that encompass diverse demographic groups. |
4) General vs Specific | To prevent misunderstandings and overgeneralizations, UX teams should prioritize specificity when addressing pain points. Rather than using vague terms like "time," it is crucial to delve into the specific nature of the user's pain. This includes exploring and expressing the symptoms of insufficient time, lack of time management tools, lack of focus, or excessive distractions. By providing clear and detailed descriptions of the user's challenges, teams can avoid leaving room for individual interpretations that may result in misconceptions. |
5) Test personas by “walking in their shoes” | Finally, test the effectiveness of the persona by attempting to walk in their shoes. Not everyone on the development team will have been involved in the user research, and the persona is a proxy for communicating these learnings. Teams should ask themselves these questions in order to determine the effectiveness of a persona.
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Synopsis
The serious need for user personas to evolve in the field of UX design is highlighted by some common issues with personas, such as containing irrelevant details, lacking important contextual information and user behaviors, and prioritizing visual appeal over effective communication with an overemphasis on demographics that create stereotypes and generalizations. The key emphasis and importance of relevance, inclusivity, and earnestly understanding the user context in persona development is critical. The five-steps for process improvement, include focusing on inclusive behaviors, providing contextual behaviors, build storytelling descriptions, along with using multiple photos, prioritizing specific symptoms of pains-points, and then with your team, testing the personas' effectiveness under pointed conditions that builds empathy for users.
HOWARD MONTGOMERY
Howard is a practicing agnostic Human-Centered Design Thinking expert who thrives across the consumer experience continuum of products, services, digital, brand, strategy, and environments. He has led, collaborated and consulted with multiple Fortune 100 companies: Ford Motor, Unilever, BMW, The Home Depot, Steelcase, P&G and LG Electronics across diverse business sectors; building products, automotive, consumer, food and healthcare. He holds 48 International Patents and has been the recipient of over 25 international awards including IDEA Awards, iF Award and Good Design Award, and multiple publications of his work. He has taught at several schools in the USA and UK. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Kingston University, London, UK and master’s degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, USA, both in Design.
Generating AI Personas – Competitive Analysis
Reading Time 8 mins
Personas are an integral part of the HCD UX development process to understand the idiosyncrasies and emotional state of our consumers and users to help build empathy for their challenges and lifestyle while reinforcing the very reason UX exists as a discipline.
Making Personas of your consumers and users can be a taxing yet creative exercise that can require extensive knowledge, understanding and research. In recent months, there has been a growing trend towards using AI language models like ChatGPT to generate personas quickly and easily. While AI technology can offer many benefits in UX research, what is clear Personas are only as good as the people who help create them, even then, they have the potential to be flawed and biased.
Personas are not just a collection of demographic data and personality traits; they are meant to capture the unique behaviors, motivations, and pain points of real users. Without direct input from users, personas are just assumptions and stereotypes that do not reflect the reality of user needs and expectations.
To help start your persona-generating process this article provides a short and insightful competitive analysis of the pros and cons of four free AI Persona generating platforms. Using the HCD COE Enterprise Personas, the Healthcare Office Manager, as our ‘control persona’ we are looking for help on creating all the criteria of a persona including Personal details, Role and Responsibilities, Motivations, Challenges, Opportunities and Technology skills. The quick summation is that AI Personas results are not totally compelling or comprehensively informative that you fully understand the values of your users or stakeholders, however, some results are an extremely efficient turn-around to jump-start and share with your team, creating a basic framework in which to build and iterate further.
AI Persona Criteria
- Persona criteria – covers all the boxes as mentioned above to fully understand your customer/user type.
- Depth of narrative – written content is informative and meaningful to the customer/user type
- Visual appearance – helpful representation of the character of the customer/user type
- Overall Score – Accumulated scores are used as recommendations
Scoring Criteria
1- Poor | Addresses criteria in a very inadequate way. |
2- Unsatisfactory | Addresses criteria in a non-specific or unsatisfactory way |
3- Satisfactory | Addresses criteria adequately. |
4- Good | Addresses criteria in a substantial way |
5- Excellent | Addresses criteria in an outstanding way |
a) ChatGPT PlaygroundIs an alternate free platform within ChatGPT using the same user sign-in. There is no limit of word characters to the question you ask. A very self-directed initiative, relying heavily on the user's input. Note that all knowledge discontinues after 2021. | https://platform.openai.com/playground |
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Result Example User Input: Can you create a healthcare office manager persona? ChatGPT Playground response below: Name: Sheila Tierney Age: 45 Job Title: Healthcare Office Manager Work Experience: Sheila has worked in the healthcare industry for 15 years, starting out as an administrative assistant and then managing an office for a local hospital for the past 5 years. Personality: Sheila is a highly organized and efficient person. She is detail-oriented and meticulous in her work. She is a people-person who knows how to keep an office running smoothly and collaborates well with other staff members. Likes/Dislikes: Sheila loves being able to help others and make everyone's jobs easier. She also likes discovering new ways to make her job easier as well. However, she does not like when others forget to follow procedures or do not follow through on their tasks. Personal Life: Outside of work, Sheila loves to hike, camp, and explore nature. She also volunteers with her friends at various community charities. Goals: Sheila's main goal is to become a more organized and efficient office manager. She hopes to create a positive work environment so that all her staff members can feel supported. |
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b) User PersonaThis is a free, simple and no sign-on required persona-building platform. You have to enter a maximum 25-character description. Using our Healthcare Office Manager narrative: ‘verifies patient insurance coverage, obtains preauthorization’s and referrals, schedules patient appointments, coordinates the patient intake process and provides administrative support.’ A self-generated document can then be downloaded and used fairly quickly. | https://userpersona.dev/ |
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Result Example
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c) Board of InnovationIs a free, no sign-up required AI, coined the AI Toolbox for Innovators. The site has multiple AI tools; How Might We Statements, Brainstorm Bubby to Interview script. This site packs a lot of punch for AI tools that cover a diverse need set. Typed in Healthcare Office Manager as our control to the AI box and was provided with two well-crafted options of personas that included technology in the makeup. | https://ai.boardofinnovation.com/ |
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Result Examples User Input: Target audience; Healthcare Office Manager User Archetypes for Healthcare Office Managers Archetype 1: Overwhelmed Ophelia Demographic: Female, age 35-50, works at a small to medium-sized healthcare facility. Goals: Ophelia's primary goal is to keep the healthcare facility running smoothly. She wants to provide excellent care to patients and ensure that staff have the resources they need to do their jobs effectively. Challenges: Ophelia feels overwhelmed by the amount of administrative work she has to do. She struggles to keep up with paperwork, scheduling, and billing, which leads to stress and burnout. She also finds it difficult to navigate the complex regulations and requirements of the healthcare industry. Values: Ophelia values teamwork, communication, and organization. She believes that a well-run healthcare facility is essential for providing quality care to patients. Technology: Ophelia uses electronic health records (EHRs) and other healthcare software to manage patient information, scheduling, and billing. She is comfortable with technology but can become frustrated when systems don't work as expected.
Archetype 2: Strategic Simon Demographic: Male, age 40-55, works at a large healthcare organization. Goals: Simon's primary goal is to streamline operations and improve efficiency at the healthcare organization. He wants to reduce costs, increase revenue, and improve patient outcomes. Challenges: Simon faces many challenges, including resistance to change from staff, budget constraints, and regulatory compliance issues. He also struggles to balance short-term goals with long-term strategic planning. Values: Simon values data-driven decision-making, innovation, and collaboration. He believes that technology can play a key role in improving healthcare outcomes. Technology: Simon is comfortable with a wide range of technology, from EHRs and patient portals to data analytics and artificial intelligence. He is always looking for new ways to use technology to improve healthcare operations. |
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d) HubspotProvides a multitude of tools for creative thinking, office management, and media tools for businesses alike. Hubspot’s AI Persona resource is a free, no sign-up required platform with multiple language options. As the user, you input most of the content through a series of seven multi-choice and open-text questions as listed below. This then generates a persona that you can download. The example below reflects the finished product. This platform allows for a limited variability of persona and relies heavily on your input. | https://www.hubspot.com/resources/tool https://www.hubspot.com/make-my-persona?persona=-NYyCrrZWo_WY1AawUKG |
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User Input Questions: Step 1/7: Create Your Avatar - Pick an image & create a name Step 2/7: Their Demographic Traits - Two slide option answers Step 3/7: Their Business - Dropdown option and slide option answers Step 4/7: Their Career - Three questions for the open text box. Step 5/7: The Characteristics of Their Job - Multiple choice and open text box. Step 6/7: How They Work - 12 tick box options and open text box. Step 7/7: Their Consumption Habits - Two open-choice questions. Result Example
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HOWARD MONTGOMERY
Howard is a practicing agnostic Human-Centered Design Thinking expert who thrives across the consumer experience continuum of products, services, digital, brand, strategy, and environments. He has led, collaborated and consulted with multiple Fortune 100 companies: Ford Motor, Unilever, BMW, The Home Depot, Steelcase, P&G and LG Electronics across diverse business sectors; building products, automotive, consumer, food and healthcare. He holds 48 International Patents and has been the recipient of over 25 international awards including IDEA Awards, iF Award and Good Design Award, and multiple publications of his work. He has taught at several schools in the USA and UK. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Kingston University, London, UK and master’s degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, USA, both in Design.
Large health insurers and other companies are especially keen on doctors’ groups that care for patients in private Medicare plans.
Reading Time 4 mins
Healthcare Industry Acquisitions
The shortage of primary care doctors in the US is worsening, despite their critical role in healthcare. These doctors work in a field that is low-paid and often overlooked. They are burdened with heavy workloads, seeing up to 30 patients per day, addressing various medical issues such as diagnosing strep infections and managing chronic conditions like diabetes.
Multibillion-dollar corporations, particularly large health insurers like CVS Health and Amazon, are acquiring primary care practices. CVS Health spent around $11 billion to purchase Oak Street Health, a rapidly growing chain of primary care centers across 21 states. Amazon also made a bold move by acquiring One Medical, another major doctors' group, for nearly $4 billion. These corporations are attracted to primary care practices because, despite their lowly status, primary care doctors oversee a large patient base, which brings business and profits to expanding hospital systems, health insurers, and pharmacy companies.
The corporate consumption of medical care keeps growing. Walgreens Boots Alliance, one of the largest U.S. pharmacy operations, spent $5 billion for a majority stake in VillageMD, a primary care group, and teamed with Cigna to buy another medical group for nearly $9 billion. And short of an outright purchase, UnitedHealth is partnering with Walmart to offer care to older patients.
The privatization of Medicare and the financial opportunities it presents, with the federal government paying private insurers $400 billion annually, is a significant factor driving the acquisition of primary care practices by multibillion-dollar corporations. The consolidation of medical care is rapidly increasing, leaving patients in the hands of a diminishing number of large companies or hospital groups that control various aspects of healthcare. With nearly 70% of all doctors now employed by hospitals or corporations, many physicians feel a loss of autonomy and limited time to spend with patients. This trend raises concerns about the quality of patient care and the doctor-patient relationship.
The Challenges & Affects
The continued consolidation of medical care through the acquisition of doctor practices by corporations raises concerns about prioritizing profits over patient welfare and increasing healthcare costs. Companies argue that these arrangements promote value-based care, with flat fees incentivizing preventive measures and reducing unnecessary procedures. However, the personal doctor-patient relationship may be compromised as parent companies dictate service limitations. The acquisitions may also violate state laws against corporate medicine, and critics warn of potential harm to patients through complex systems and limited access to care. While proponents argue that these deals bring needed funds and improvements, skeptics caution against the shift towards profit-driven healthcare.
- Potential prioritization of profits over patient welfare
- Increased healthcare costs
- Erosion of the personal doctor-patient relationship
- Violation of state laws against corporate medicine
- Potential harm to patients due to complex systems and limited access to care
- Shift towards profit-driven healthcare models
What could CMS do?
CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) can take several steps to navigate the key concerns of corporate acquisitions of doctor practices:
- Enhanced oversight and regulation: CMS strengthens rules to prioritize patient welfare in corporate acquisitions.
- Antitrust scrutiny: CMS collaborates with FTC to prevent monopolistic practices and protect competition.
- Preserving doctor-patient relationship: CMS develops guidelines to safeguard quality care and patient autonomy.
- Promoting value-based care: CMS encourages payment models based on outcomes and patient satisfaction.
- Collaboration with state authorities: CMS works with states to uphold laws against corporate interference in patient care.
- Consumer education and transparency: CMS empowers patients with information about corporate-owned practices and their impact on care.
- Collaboration with stakeholders: CMS engages healthcare professionals, advocacy groups, and patients to gather input and inform policies.
Resources:
CVS Health Acquisitions: https://www.cvshealth.com/news/company-news/cvs-health-reports-first-quarter-2023-results.html
Amazon Acquirers One Medical: https://press.aboutamazon.com/2022/7/amazon-and-one-medical-sign-an-agreement-for-amazon-to-acquire-one-medical
Covid Impact on Physician Practices: https://www.physiciansadvocacyinstitute.org/Portals/0/assets/docs/Revised-6-8-21_PAI-Physician-Employment-Study-2021-FINAL.pdf?ver=K6dyoekRSC_c59U8QD1V-A%3d%3d
Walgreens Boots Alliance: https://news.walgreens.com/press-center/walgreens-boots-alliance-makes-52-billion-investment-in-villagemd-to-deliver-value-based-primary-care-to-communities-across-america.htm
HOWARD MONTGOMERY
Howard is a practicing agnostic Human-Centered Design Thinking expert who thrives across the consumer experience continuum of products, services, digital, brand, strategy, and environments. He has led, collaborated and consulted with multiple Fortune 100 companies: Ford Motor, Unilever, BMW, The Home Depot, Steelcase, P&G and LG Electronics across diverse business sectors; building products, automotive, consumer, food and healthcare. He holds 48 International Patents and has been the recipient of over 25 international awards including IDEA Awards, iF Award and Good Design Award, and multiple publications of his work. He has taught at several schools in the USA and UK. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Kingston University, London, UK and master’s degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, USA, both in Design.
Continuously Improve Your Website by Using Customer Feedback and Web Analytics: An IRS Case Study
Read Time: 2 min
All Americans experience challenges while filing tax returns and using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Free File platform is no exception.
Join the CCSQ HCD Community of Practice on Thursday, June 29, for Continuously Improve Your Website by Using Customer Feedback and Web Analytics: An IRS Case Study. Kira Prin and Sam Chapman from the IRS will share how they collect user feedback and use web analytics to improve IRS Free File, one of the IRS’s most widely used applications.
During the session, we’ll explore how to:
- Design a user feedback survey,
- Continuously monitor, analyze, and utilize user feedback and web analytics to make better decisions,
- Make the case for changes to managers and others who may not have analytics expertise,
- Turn actionable data into insights and make enhancements to your website and digital services, and
- Ensure your team has the key skills in place to do this type of work.
Sam Chapman - User Experience Lead for IRS.gov and Public User Portal apps
Sam Chapman has been with the IRS since 2021 working with the User Experience and Design team in Online Services. He is the User Experience lead for IRS.gov and Public User Portal apps, with the primary focus on methods for User Experience research. Sam has had over 25 years of experience as a Human Factors and Usability expert, working for several companies like IBM, HP, Staples, and Circuit City, as well as several consulting positions with various Federal agencies. Sam is an avid Fly angler and kayaker. Sam has three grown children, and he lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia with his wife.
Kira Prin – IRS.gov Product Manager
Kira Prin has been working with the Online Services team at the IRS since 2017. She started as the Digital UX Lead for multiple application redesign projects, and now she’s the Product Manager for the IRS.gov website and the senior tech advisor for the IRS.gov Content Strategy Branch Chief. Her passion and focus are to inform design, content updates and strategic initiatives through user research and analytics. Before starting her federal government career, Kira was in the nonprofit world as a Webmaster and Marketing Specialist. She lives with her husband and 2 dogs in the Northern Virginia area.
The presentation slides and recording will be available following the session on Confluence.
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When: Thursday, June 29, 1 PM ET
Where: Zoom; Meeting ID: 161 261 2949; Passcode: 631411
AMY CASTELLANI
Amy is a Communications Specialist supporting the CCSQ Human-Centered Design Center of Excellence (HCD CoE). Amy combines her communications skills and growing knowledge of HCD to help the team promote the usage of HCD best practices throughout the CCSQ community. In 2018, Amy earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management from Goucher College, where she concentrated on marketing and communications.
Read Time: 1 min
On June 14, 2023, Digital.gov will host the 2023 Government UX Summit (10-4pm ET). This is a great opportunity for government employees and government contractors to hear from user experience (UX) and human-centered design practitioners focused on delivering great digital experiences across the federal government. It is hosted by the Digital.gov and the User Experience Community of Practice.
The day includes the following sessions:
10:05-10:45 am ET: Inclusive civic design: Engaging diverse communities to improve the early career experience (Office of Personnel Management)
11:00-11:45 am ET: Lessons from the NIH All of Us Research Program: Making DNA information more accessible (The National Institutes of Health)
1:00-1:45 pm ET: Accessibility research in action: VA’s Health and Benefits mobile app (Department of Veterans Affairs)
2:00-2:45 pm ET: Designing metaphors, designing collaboration (18F, General Services Administration)
2:00-2:45 pm ET: Simplifying user experiences for complex content at USAGov (General Services Administration)
3:00-3:45 pm ET: Reconsidering the consent form: the least user-friendly aspect of UX research (Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Interior, Department of Labor)
The summit is virtual. There will be a short break after each session, and for an hour at noon, Eastern. Reserve your virtual seat today!
ROB FAY
Rob currently leads the CCSQ Human-Centered Design Center of Excellence (HCD CoE). The HCD CoE is an organization that impacts the way the CCSQ delivers policy, products and services to its customers. Through the provision of education, support and resources, he promotes the continued implementation and usage of HCD best practices and seeks to fulfill the charge of OMB Circular A-11 Section 280 (i.e., “Managing Customer Experience and Service Delivery”). For over 20 years Rob has focused on making products and services delightful and easy to use by leading research and design initiatives at government agencies like CMS, NIH, and USPTO and commercial organizations including Blackboard and Allegis Group. Rob holds a Master of Information Management and a Master of Science in Marriage & Family Therapy from the University of Maryland, College Park.