Assumptions are the saboteur of a great persona. Regardless of the type of ‘data’ it should be a data-informed process.
When developing personas, think about experiences of racism and discrimination, orientation and knowledge of product/service, continuity in care, strength of relationships with others, agency, mistrust of services and providers, etc.
- Personas are only as good as the pool of ‘data’ they are constructed from. Who gets to participate in persona construction?
- Move beyond physical ’markers of diversity’ to include embodied experiences (markers of ‘positionality’ and ‘oppression’) as well.
- Personas should not be purely imaginary constructs based on stereotypes.
- Persona development is a time-intensive resource. Additional resources are needed to incorporate the views of historically underserved populations.