Persona analysis is a technique used for understanding the whole picture and the context of the effort. This is a use centered design technique from a user perspective:
Although these use fictional characters that demonstrate how this character interacts with a product, the technique does provide a deeper understanding into the key stakeholders than one would typically get.
They are often used in agile practices.
The data elements that the analyst should look for are basic demographic data points such as:
Age
Gender
Profession
Goals
Personal Attitudes
Motivators: (What motivates the user to use the products, e.g. are they motivated to use amazon because of the cheap products?)
Triggers: (What triggers the user to use the product?)
Day in a life: (Write a narrative of a day in a life of the user)
Image: (Include an image – a cut out from a magazine)
By using the technique, they give you the ability to group the requirements based off similar sets of users. Some of the disadvantages are that persona’s are based on fictional characters and could tend to make using unrealistic characters.
