Persona
Planner

Persona Planner is a method for identifying WHO we need to learn about and HOW we can learn about them. The result is a User Centered Learning plan that will guide us in uncovering important data and discoveries.

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When would you use Persona Planner?

Persona planning can be used at the outset of the empathy and insights stage. By creating an initial persona plan it provides deeper understanding of the stakeholders and their personas that you are trying to solve for. Building an enhanced persona plan can also be done after user interviews and research has been conducted. The findings will inform your target customer profiles and enable you to develop more user centered solutions.

Here’s where Persona Planner can be a difference maker:

Your team needs help in building a profile of your core customer audiences
You need to gain a deep understanding of your target users’ behaviors, needs, goals, and challenges
You need to develop a deeper understanding of your target customers in order to create products, services, or content that resonate with your customers

How does Personal Planner work?

1
Diverge on the WHO by creating an expansive list of users/stakeholders
2
For each group of target users you identified, give a reason WHY you feel they would be important to learn about.
3
Select one subject (The WHO) for each of the three categories
4
Diverge on the HOW you will learn about each of the subjects
5
Converge on 2-3 research options for each of your users.

Download the full Persona Planner guide

Get access to instructions, templates, a case study, and more

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Deliberate Innovation Persona Planner Tool Guide

Top Persona Planner Tips

Don’t be afraid to go outside of your office and talk to people!
Define clear responsibilities for who is doing what to execute the plan
Go Outside of Your Personal Experience: We bring our own experience and bias when researching. Try to consciously focus on other people so you can plan to learn about them.
Diversity of Perspective: Building your plan on HOW you will research will be greatly augmented when you invite other colleagues/team members to brainstorm with you for each category.
Meta-Research: Search out examples of how other people have researched about your subjects. Sometimes the most creative research method doesn’t need to be your own.
Create Some Collisions!: The best way to learn is to create situations in which you “collide” with other humans. Don’t be afraid to go outside of your office and talk/observe people!

Additional Empathy & Insights Articles & Resources

A man and woman waving at each other on the Subway as one of them holds onto the grab bar and the other walks away

When Customer Experience Can be the Difference Between Life and Death

On a frigid November evening, I ascended the steep steps at the 7th Avenue subway station in midtown Manhattan.

A sketch of a hand putting a slip of paper through a slit into a box

The Curiosity Box: A Solution to the Recurring Cycle of Ennui

“Shut off your devices!” I had reached my boiling point. My 10-year-old son was blithely staring at his phone, while simultaneously playing on his Xbox....