{"id":5983,"date":"2017-02-09T13:09:33","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T13:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=5983"},"modified":"2017-02-09T13:11:34","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T13:11:34","slug":"replacing-personas-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/replacing-personas-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"Replacing Personas With Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read the Persona*<\/span> (please see notes<\/a> below) below and then learn what your brain does.<\/p>\n

Alan is a 30 year old white male living in New York. 6 months ago, he got married in Miami Florida. It was a big event where lots of friends and family attended.
\n
\nHe graduated from University with an MFA degree, but was also always into engineering and has begun writing software programs when he was very young.
\n
\nHe\u2019s really into fashion, his mother was a fashion stylist, and doesn\u2019t mind spending money on designer clothes. He doesn\u2019t buy clothes too often because he chooses to only buy pieces he really likes and thinks is a good color & fit for him.
\n
\nSome of his hobbies include tennis, playing flamenco guitar and reading.
\n
\nAlan is someone who needed a tux for wedding and just bought one at a Sandro<\/a> store.
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The tux Alan bought..sort of<\/p><\/div><\/center><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The above story of someone buying a product (a new tux) is in the format of a persona. Now\u2026 for everyone who read this persona, 1 of 3 things happened. Their brain either:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Instantly assembled the bits into a story explaining why Alan bought this particular tux -adding in whatever parts it felt were missing.<\/li>\n
  2. Made an attempt to create a story, but just gave up: probably because it\u2019s tired or just don\u2019t care enough to figure it out.<\/li>\n
  3. Consciously decided to make an effort to understand the story, slowed down, and downshifted into a more critical mode of thinking; however, since the information is too sparse to make sense\u2014 it goes back to #1 or #2.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Your brain did one of the above scenarios because it took in these somewhat disconnected facts and then was left with a result: Alan bought the tux.<\/em> However\u2026 it was unsatisfied- it was left thinking:<\/p>\n

    \u2018How did these attributes lead to this particular purchase?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

    Because personas focus on creating a story made up of a customer\u2019s attributes, instead of a story that explains a purchase, personas leave the brain in a unsatisfied state. To fix this, in just a split second, the brain decides to make up it\u2019s own story about why Alan bought a particular Tux.<\/p>\n

    <\/div>
    <\/svg><\/div>

    \"As each team member reads a persona, they will subconsciously fill it with their own assumptions\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

    The reason why the brain work like this, has to do with cognitive biases<\/a>; specifically, a phenomenon Daniel Kahneman calls What You See Is All There Is (WYSIATI)<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Want more? Download a free PDF book about JTBD or buy it in paperback & kindle<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

    The above story is an abbreviated Persona<\/a>\u2026 and the gap filling WYSIATI<\/em> effect it has is not what the inventors of Personas intended. Because of this, Personas have destructive effects on an organization. As each team member reads a persona, they will subconsciously fill it with their own assumptions which differ from everyone else.<\/p>\n

    The way to mitigate these unintended effects is to replace Personas<\/em> with models that enable cohesive stories. These models are called Characters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    Personas, Missing Gaps & The Team<\/h2>\n
    \"Watch<\/a>

    Watch out! You\u2019re about to read a persona! Don\u2019t try to figure anything out\u2026everything you need to know is in there\u2026trust me\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n

    Over the years, many people have recognized that Personas can cause more problems than they solve. To fix this, designers began making Personas bigger and more rich. Some Personas can be 1-2 typed pages which meticulously describe attributes of these imaginary customers.<\/p>\n

    Yet, no amount of colorful attributes can fill the gaps our brains will automatically fill when reading Personas. These missing gaps are the causalities which drove the customer to consume a particular product<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    <\/div>
    <\/svg><\/div>

    \"When reading a Persona, the brain craves a story that ties everything together.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

    When reading a Persona, the brain craves a story that ties everything together. If the story lacks causality, it will struggle to create that story, and will eventually just make up it\u2019s own causalities\u2014 the WYSIATI effect.<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/a>

    The brain works to tie what it takes in so it can create a story \u2014 but usually just makes things up \u2018cause it\u2019s lazy\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n

    The brain acts this way because it\u2019s hungry for causal stories which neatly explain why <\/em>things happen. If it feels there are any missing gaps, it will subconsciously fill those gaps with it\u2019s own assumptions. Our brains have evolved this way to keep us safe; if something that looks like a predator suddenly jumps out at us, our brain would rather quickly assume we are in danger rather then slowly evaluate the situation.<\/p>\n

    The problem with this behavior for organizations and teams is: as each member of a team starts subconsciously creating their own reason why customers are ( or not ) consuming a product, the team will fragment. Even worse, they will be fragmented and not even know it.<\/p>\n

    There is hope. There is one important thing that Personas do which make them helpful: They enable a way for a team to quickly reference what has been learned about customers. However, everything else about Personas needs to go.<\/p>\n

    The answer is to take the good, a way for a team to quickly reference insights about a customer, and to add what\u2019s needed: causality**.<\/span><\/p>\n

    To get the brain to accept a story which explains why a consumer bought a product, it needs information presented in a particular way. The best way to deliver this information is to explain a customer\u2019s anxieties, motivations, purchase-progress events, <\/strong>and purchase-progress situations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    When combined, they form what I call Characters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    The Customer Becomes A Character<\/h2>\n

    \"1EE6HU7rB5cwtlNj5FIIMVg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s consider the above scenario when Alan ( I ) bought a new tuxedo. Everything in that story was true (I did just buy a tux); however, your brain knew something was off. It recognized that it didn\u2019t make sense for these attributes to suddenly compel me to buy that tux\u2026 and it also picked up some information in there that just seemed like noise\u2014 such as the part about Flamenco guitar playing.<\/p>\n

    <\/div>
    <\/svg><\/div>

    \"What would make sense for the brain is a believable story\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

    What would<\/em> make sense for the brain is a believable story which explains that purchase. This is what we can use Characters for.<\/p>\n

    A Character is someone who:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Has anxieties & motivations.<\/li>\n
    2. Experiences purchase-progress events.<\/li>\n
    3. Encounters purchase-progress situations.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Let\u2019s use my story of a tuxedo purchase to create a Character, beginning with anxieties & motivations.<\/p>\n

      Anxieties & Motivations<\/h2>\n

      Here are some of my anxieties and motivations regarding a tuxedo purchase:<\/p>\n

      I had been considering buying a tuxedo for years. Some reasons I hadn\u2019t bought one in the past are:
      \n
      \nI don\u2019t wear black and most tuxedos for sale are black.
      \n
      \nI had only been to a few formal events over the years.
      \n
      \nI didn\u2019t want to waste money.
      \n
      \nEven though I hated the look and fit of rented tuxedos, I just would feel guilty about buying something I didn\u2019t need.
      \n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

      \"1b3GBb4-raGb74kqZMSBqyw\"<\/a><\/p>\n

      If you\u2019re familiar with the Jobs To Be Done concept, you\u2019ll recognize those as some forces which pull and push consumers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      <\/div>
      <\/svg><\/div>

      \"Customers\u2019 anxieties & motivations are discovered through interviewing them.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

      Customers\u2019 anxieties & motivations are discovered through interviewing them. How to uncover them is beyond the scope of this article. A good place to start would be to learn about the progress making forces diagram<\/a>, this udemy course<\/a> as well as some techniques explained by David Wu.<\/a><\/p>\n

      With some anxieties and motivations defined, let\u2019s move to Purchase-Progress Events<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      Purchase-Progress Events<\/h2>\n

      \"1-scxtj3oyawdrkwgdc8qutw\"<\/a><\/p>\n

      While your Characters are going about their life with their motivations and anxieties, they are going to experience particular events which will pull them toward a purchase. These are Purchase-Progress Events<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      Here are the Purchase-Progress Events<\/em> I experienced:<\/p>\n

      Lately, male celebrities and actors in movies have been wearing more alternative tuxedos\u2014 most notably created by Tom Ford. This has had a ripple effect within the fashion industry and mainstream culture. Now, alternative styles and colors for tuxedos are more socially acceptable.
      \n
      \nLeading up to the purchase, I saw advertisements for the latest James Bond movie. In this movie James Bond, famous for being dapper and wearing tuxes, wears a non traditional midnight blue tux. He also looks more like me (blond hair & blue eyes) than previous James Bonds (who all had dark hair and dark eyes).
      \n
      \nI recently read an article in GQ magazine on how to buy a tux. The article also showed contemporary models and actors wearing tuxedos in more casual ways\u2014 usually a tux jacket with jeans and a button up shirt.
      \n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

      So far, I\u2019ve been experiencing Purchase-Progress Events <\/em>through the lens of my anxieties and motivations. On their own, these aren\u2019t enough to lead to a purchase. What will tip the scales will be the Purchase-Progress Situation(<\/em>s) I encounter.<\/p>\n

      Purchase-Progress Situations<\/h2>\n

      \"\"<\/p>\n

      Purchase-Progress Events <\/em>are passive. They are things which the customer sees, hears, or has happen to them. At some point, all customers who end up making a purchase did so because they experienced one or more Purchase-Progress Situations.<\/em><\/p>\n

      <\/div>
      <\/svg><\/div>

      \"Characters persist throughout your product\u2019s lifecycle. They are places which solutions fit into.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

      Here are the ones I encountered:<\/p>\n

      I had just got married and I met a lot of people. I learned that some of these people had their own weddings coming up and they were inviting me. This meant I would need to wear a tux at least 2 times over the coming year.
      \n
      \nWhile walking down the street, I walked by a       Sandro store<\/a> and saw a midnight blue tuxedo on sale for a limited time. After a quick calculation, I realized that buying the discounted tux would cost about the same as renting a tux twice.
      \n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

      In both cases, I had to make a decision:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. I have to use a tux in the future, will I buy or rent it?<\/li>\n
      2. The sale is for a limited time, will I buy now or choose to ignore the discount?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Characters For Your\u00a0Product<\/h2>\n

        As you begin interviewing more and more customers, you\u2019ll begin to hear them:<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Describing the same anxieties & motivations.<\/li>\n
        2. Describing similar purchase progress events.<\/li>\n
        3. Encountering similar purchase progress situations.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          <\/div>
          <\/svg><\/div>

          \"Characters evolve from a series of interviews\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

          As an example, lets assume that Sandro <\/em>interviewed customers and found that many of them expressed the same motivations, anxiety and situations I did. We\u2019ll use this as a basis for a Character.<\/p>\n