Agile user stories attempt to cast product requirements in terms of value delivered to the user, but they often fall short of understanding who the user really is. This presentation demonstrates how to use personas to make Agile user stories more effective by grounding them in solid user research.

1. Building
be1er
products
by
humanizing
Agile
user
stories
Will
Sansbury
Interac=on
designer
@willsansbury

2. Drop the torches and pitchforks! Skinning
I’m talking about putting skin on. your users
Moving from this… …to this
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3. Skinning
Fair warning your users
If you think “scrum” is:
 Something you scrub off your tub
 Easily cleared up with a round of antibiotics
 Usually encountered on the rugby pitch
 That weird thing the developers do
… then this isn’t the right session for you.
arn more?
Want to le
ike Cohn
Go og le “M
goat.”
mo untain
pro mise.
It’s SFW—I
@willsansbury

4. Skinning
User stories your users
As a user, I want to be
able to save phone
numbers of my family
and friends so that I
don’t have to remember
them to make a call.
@willsansbury

5. Skinning
User stories your users
The actor is
the person
As a user, I want to be or class of people
able to save phone who benefit from
numbers of my family the requirement
being satisfied
and friends so that I
don’t have to remember
them to make a call.
@willsansbury

6. Skinning
User stories your users
As a user, I want to be The action is
able to save phone what the actor
wants or needs
numbers of my family to be able
and friends so that I to do
don’t have to remember
them to make a call.
@willsansbury

7. Skinning
User stories your users
As a user, I want to be
able to save phone
numbers of my family
and friends so that I The value is
don’t have to remember what the actor gains,
in real-world terms,
them to make a call. if the requirement
is satisfied
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8. Skinning
Easy, right? your users
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9. Skinning
Easy, right? your users
But which design
is the most successful?
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10. User is a nice enough guy, Skinning
but he’s a little one-dimensional. your users
User is too
easy to satisfy.
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11. Skinning
Your real users are live in 3D. your users
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12. Skinning
Your real users are live in 3D. your users
But you can’t really design
for all of them, can you?
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13. Skinning
your users
Honestly, no.
But you can do better.
A whole lot better.
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14. Your users have more in Skinning
common than your product. your users
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15. Your users have more in Skinning
common than your product. your users
rly
Elde
Music lo vers
Heavy Unicorn!
email users @willsansbury

16. Personas make the Skinning
commonalities apparent. your users
 “[A persona is] a precise descriptive model of the user,
what he wishes to accomplish, and why.”
Cooper & Reimann, About Face 2.0
 “Personas are typically amalgams of multiple people
who share similar goals, motivations, and behaviors.
The difference between each persona must be based on
these deep characteristics: what people do (actions or
projected actions) and why they do them (goals and
motivations).”
Saffer, Designing for Interactions yone?
0 1, an
p hy 1 ic for ms,
Ph iloso n
Plato sers
T hink o ur u rs.
r y
but fo d of chai
ins tea
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17. Right now, Skinning
your users
you’re thinking,
“Dude.
We’re Agile.
That sounds like
Big Design Up Front.”
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18. Developing personas Skinning
can take some time. your users
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19. Skinning
That’s why we go guerilla. your users
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20. Skinning
your users
Don’t worry yourself
with perfection.
You’re seeking
actionable insights,
not publishable data.
f like
ind o
It’s k s and
hors eshoe des.
ena
ha nd gr
@willsansbury

21. But remember,
persona non data Skinning
is persona non grata. your users
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22. To see patterns in users, Skinning
you have to see users. your users
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23. To see patterns in users, Skinning
you have to see users. your users
Forget everything you think you know.
Open your eyes and observe.
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24. Spend significant time Skinning
with your users in their world. your users
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25. Spend significant time Skinning
with your users in their world. your users
Watch. Listen. Learn.
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26. But before you go, Skinning
do your homework. your users
 Prepare a list of topics you want to learn about
 Practice phrasing questions in a way that doesn’t suggest
an answer
 When in doubt, fall back on open-ended questions or
requests
 Please explain to me what you’re doing right now.
 Why do you prefer to do it that way?
 Tell me more about…
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27. Skinning
Record everything. your users
Pocket-sized notebook Small, versatile camera
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28. Analyze each session before Skinning
your memories get distorted. your users
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29. Skinning
Keep listening. your users
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30. Skinning
Keep listening. your users
When you’re no longer hearing surprises,
you’ve done enough research.
Plan for twenty interviews, but be flexible.
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31. Skinning
Look for patterns in your data. your users
Name
Martha
Jack
Emily
Sarah
Arnold
Age
79
years
old
24
years
old
17
years
old
45
years
old
85
years
old
"I
hate
this
thing.
"I
can't
live
without
"My
phone
is
my
"My
phone
makes
"I
don't
know
how
Quote
My
daughter
my
iPhone."
whole
life."
me
feel
secure."
to
use
it!"
bought
it
for
me."
A,tude
toward
Intense
dislike
Intensely
likes
Intensely
likes
Likes
Dislikes
cell
phones
Frequency
of
20-­‐30
per
day
50-­‐75
per
day
5-­‐10
per
day
Once
per
day
Once
per
week
making
calls
Frequency
of
Never
100-­‐150
per
day
200-­‐300
per
day
>
5
per
day
Never
sending
texts
@willsansbury

32. Weave the common Skinning
threads together. your users
Elizabeth Barrister
82 years old
s a stay-at-
Elizabeth spent her adult life a
w, she is proud
home mother and wife. No
ma.”
of being a “grr-grand
ng the Great
Hav ing come of age duri
urceful and
Depress ion, Elizabeth is reso
om any
hone spunky. Sh e doesn’t shy away fr
Why she got a cell p t afraid to try to
Safety while travelin
g cha llenges, and she’s no
not as
learn new things—though she’s
ll phone
How she uses her ce quick a study as she
once was.
ntacts
Ca lling a select set of co @willsansbury
(friends and family)

33. Skinning
You’re not Robin Hood. your users
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34. Skinning
You’re not Robin Hood. your users
You have a limited number of arrows.
How many targets will you aim for?
a lot
umb er is ig ht
The n an yo u m e
th fiv
lower Three to
.
think rks well.
wo
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35. Need more than 5 or 6? Skinning
You have a bigger problem. your users
Personas are not things you make. Personas are
discovered.
We typically find that a product will have an informative
suite of five or six personas, and we’ll design for one or
two.
If you find there are more than that, it means that you T h is
co ul
yo u d
don't have an appropriate focus for your product, which is have mean
mar m
a very useful thing to learn. pro d keta ore
uct ble
than i deas
Paraphrased from Alan Cooper in the UXpod Podcast, December 2006 orig yo u
in
http://www.infodesign.com.au/uxpod/alancooper tho u ally
g ht!
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36. You have your personas. Skinning
Now tell their stories. your users
 Print large-scale posters of the personas and post them
in the team area
 Speak of personas as often as possible; always steer
requirements and design discussions back to your
personas
 When you overhear your team members arguing about
what one of the personas would prefer, skip out early
and celebrate with a margarita
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37. Skinning
Kill User. your users
As a user, Elizabeth,
I want to be able to save
phone numbers of my
family and friends so
that I don’t have to
remember them to make
a call.
@willsansbury

38. With a clear idea of who you’re
satisfying, the questions of what Skinning
and how take on new meaning. your users
The Jitterbug moves
phonebook maintenance
to a website, where
Elizabeth’s accessibility
needs are easily met.
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39. The difference between
User and Elizabeth Skinning
is too important to ignore. your users
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40. DANGER ZONE #1
We have a customer on the team, Skinning
so we don’t need personas. Right? your users
r
Yo u mer
o
cus t
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41. DANGER ZONE #2
Our marketing already put Skinning
together some personas. your users
 Personas capture information about behaviors and
motivations
 Marketing is concerned with the behaviors and
motivations of about buyers, not users
 Optimizing design for the buyer results in short-term
sales, but long-term dissatisfaction
BUY ER ≠ US ER
@willsansbury

42. By casting personas Skinning
your users
as the actors in user stories,
Agile product owners
can better express requirements,
better prioritize backlogs,
and better evaluate design
approaches.
And , ultimately,
build better pro ducts.
@willsansbury

43. Skinning
Thank you! Any questions? your users
Will Sansbury
Interaction designer
willsansbury.com
w@willsansbury.com
@willsansbury
@willsansbury

44. Skinning
Photo credits your users
Thanks to the following Flickr users for releasing some of
the photos used in this presentation under a Creative
Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
 beggs  Paul Watson
 Aresjoberg  Creative Tools
 William Hook  Galapagos
 Johan Larsson  Editor B
 Ckaroly  TheMarque
 US Army Africa
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