As a ServiceNow consultant, I often find myself facilitating workshops to define business and functional requirements. These sessions are crucial for aligning stakeholders and ensuring that everyone is on the same page. However, a challenge can arise when introducing personas, especially when they are based on standard templates like those provided by ServiceNow. This article explores the differences between personas and job descriptions and offers insights on how to effectively use them in workshops.
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The tension between personas and job descriptions
During a recent workshop, I noticed a palpable tension when presenting personas. The attendees, hearing the persona detailed descriptions, quickly began to internally, and maybe unconsciously, map these personas to their own job roles. This led to a sense of unease as they questioned whether they had the right skills or if their jobs were at risk. The root of this issue lies in the misunderstanding between personas and job descriptions.
This issue becomes more apparent if the persona role name is the same as the job description name. But in full transparency, I also probably did not do a good job clearing that up when introducing the personas.
Personas can be very powerful to create empathy towards a fictional user. Research shows that we tend to connect easier with individuals (even fictional) than with groups. However, if not positioned properly as a tool, personas can lead to unexpected reactions from the audience, especially in the context of a process/requirement definition workshop.
Personas vs. job descriptions
Most of you will find it obvious to differentiate between a job description and a persona. But maybe stating the obvious might still help to address the concern discussed by this article.
Personas are fictional characters created to represent different user types that might use a service, product, or feature. They are based on user research and include details about the user’s background, goals, and challenges. Personas help teams understand the needs and behaviors of their users, guiding design and development decisions.
Job descriptions, on the other hand, are formal documents that outline the responsibilities, qualifications, and expectations for a specific role within an organization. They are used for hiring, performance evaluations, and defining career paths. They are abstract by essence and don't discuss real-life experience: it's kind of hard to relate to them at the emotional level.
When discussing personas in process workshops, those two typical misunderstandings can get in the way and derail the discussion:
- Mapping personas to current roles: when attendees hear about personas, they often think of them as job descriptions. This can lead to confusion and anxiety as they try to align the persona with their own job, fearing discrepancies in skills or responsibilities.
- Skill mismatch concerns: the detailed nature of personas can make attendees worry about their own competencies, especially if the persona’s description does not match their daily activities.
Ideas for better using personas and avoiding confusion
Using some of the below ideas could help with removing the confusion and making sure personas are used as a tool and not a way of redefining people's scope.
- Clarify the purpose: always explain that personas are fictional and are meant to represent typical users, not actual job roles within the organization. Emphasize that they are tools for understanding user needs and behaviors.
- Customize personas: instead of using standard pre-written ServiceNow personas, develop customer-specific ones that reflect the unique characteristics of the organization. This approach is more inclusive and reduces the risk of creating unnecessary friction.
- Involve stakeholders: if time permits, engage workshop participants in the creation of personas. This collaborative approach ensures that the personas are relevant and accurately reflect the organization’s context.
- Separate discussions: clearly distinguish between discussions about personas and job descriptions. This helps prevent the conflation of the two and reduces anxiety among attendees.
Conclusion
Using personas in workshops can be incredibly valuable for understanding user needs and guiding project decisions. However, it’s essential to communicate their purpose clearly and differentiate them from job descriptions. By developing customized personas and involving stakeholders in the process, you can create a more inclusive and productive workshop environment, minimizing misunderstandings and fostering collaboration.
And you, did you come across similar confusion between personas, roles and job descriptions? Did it affect the outcome of your workshops? How did you address it?
Thanks for reading.
