Better Living Through Software - Personas
Better Living Through Software - Personas: "At Microsoft, we sometimes use 'personas' when designing features and writing specs.
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There is some controversy internally about how useful personas are. Real people always trump imaginary people, so personas become less useful when ready access to customers is available. And it is questionable how successful a product can be without ready access to customers, personas or not. And personas can easily become caricatures or stereotypes that don't really accurately represent anyone. It is a lot easier to do personas wrong than it is to use them in a way that adds value."
# Nov 5, 2004