Understand
Proto-persona
A quick persona built from what the team already believes, written down so the beliefs can be tested with research.
- Time30 to 45 minutes
- People3 to 8 people
- Steps4
What it's for
Teams act on assumptions about their users whether they write them down or not. A proto-persona makes those assumptions visible and shared, so the team can see where it disagrees and decide what to check first.
It is a hypothesis, not research. Label it that way, and replace it once you have talked to real people.
How to run it
Sketch and name them5 min
Give the persona a name, a rough sketch and the context they're in.
Add behaviour and needs10 min
What they do and what they are trying to achieve.
Add frustrations8 min
What gets in their way today.
Mark the riskiest guesses7 min3 votes each
Vote on the beliefs you're least sure of. Those are the first research questions.
Tips
- Make one persona per real difference in behaviour, not per job title.
- If the team can't agree on a note, that's a research question, not a debate to win.
Where it comes from
Proto-personas were described by Jeff Gothelf, who wrote about them in Lean UX (2013, with Josh Seiden) as assumption-based personas to be validated.
Pairs well with
Empathy map
A shared picture of one type of person: what they say, think, do and feel, built from research rather than guesses.
Assumption map
Place every assumption behind a plan by how important it is and how much evidence you have, to find what to test first.
Hypothesis statement
Write an idea as a testable belief: what we'll build, for whom, the outcome we expect, and the signal that will show we were right.