Persona

To define your users and understand their needs on a deep level.

Steps: 5
Last edited: Sep 26, 2026
Created by: Nova

About this process

This method is ideal to understand user needs on a deep level. You will create a useful persona that will help you to develop products and solutions tailored to a specific audience.

The process in detail

5 steps

1
Persona
2
Jobs To Be Done Statement.
3
Their real desire and the pain in the way
4
The value they'd actually pay attention to (their words, not yours)
5
The one transformation to lead with

Read the full text

1. Persona

This will be your Persona board.

You may choose to group notes on the board into similar sections such as:

🧐Background 🌎Demographic 🔥Goals ❤️Motivations 🥶Frustrations/Fears 👏Skills

You will know when you have enough information when you feel like you know this person. You should be able to imagine their beliefs, passions, aspirations, fears, hobbies, etc.

Continue finding information until you feel like the personality of your persona is fully-formed and feels as real as a close friend.

Write down a name for this 'Persona' or use the most common name that comes up in your customer files. This will help your team to have empathy for the customer as if it were a real person.

You may also choose to have more in-depth interviews to flesh out your Persona, and to choose a stock photo for your Persona.

Work on the whiteboardPersona Board

2. Jobs To Be Done Statement.

Turn it into a Jobs To Be Done Statement.

Use this template by to create your statement: When I [Context] but [barrier] help me [goal] so I [outcome].

Going through this process, you will likely have a lots of different 'jobs' that you could target. Focus on the jobs with the highest impact using this matrix: Saturated jobs, High opportunity, Low opportunity and open Jobs

3. Their real desire and the pain in the way

People don't buy what you sell — they buy a better version of their situation. So before anything else, get honest about what they really want, underneath the surface ask.

Push past the obvious. If they say they want "a non-alcoholic beer," that's the product, not the desire. The desire might be to be part of the moment without the hangover, or to not feel like the odd one out holding a water. Keep asking "and why does that matter to them?" until you hit something emotional, not functional.

Then name the pain that's blocking it — the friction, the fear, the frustration they live with right now. The sharper you can describe the pain in a way that makes them nod and say "yes, exactly that," the more your offer will feel made for them.

•What do they actually want their life/work to look like?

•What's standing in the way today — and how does that feel?

•If you described their frustration back to them, would they say "how did you know"?

4. The value they'd actually pay attention to (their words, not yours)

Here's the trap almost everyone falls into: describing value the way you see it — your features, your cleverness, your effort. But your audience only cares about value they can feel in their terms.

So translate. Take what you offer and run it through one question: "so what does that get me?" A feature is "brewed with a special process." The value is "tastes like the real thing, so you don't feel like you're settling." Notice the difference — one is about you, the other is about their experience.

The test is language. Use the words they would use at a kitchen table, not the words from your pitch deck. If you've ever read reviews, support tickets, or heard how they describe the problem to a friend — steal that language. When your message sounds like their own thoughts, it slips past the skepticism.

•Take each thing you offer and finish the sentence: "…which means you get ___."

•Would your audience actually use these words, or are they yours?

•What would make them stop scrolling and think "that's for me"?

5. The one transformation to lead with

Don’t focus on basic demographics (age, title, location). Focus on outcomes and friction—what is the specific "job" your user is trying to get done, and how miserable or easy is it for them right now?

When evaluating each job or pain point, ask yourself two questions: Market Demand (Y-Axis): How frequently does this problem happen, and how urgent is it for your user to solve? Unmet Need / Gap (X-Axis): How poorly are existing tools or workarounds solving this today?

How to Position Your Findings

•High Opportunities (High Demand · High Gap): This is your goldmine. Build here first. It’s a urgent problem with weak existing solutions.

•Saturated Jobs (High Demand · Low Gap): Red ocean. People want this, but everyone is already solving it well. You’ll waste effort unless you have a radical differentiator.

•Open Opportunities (Low Demand · High Gap): Potential niche or future trend. High friction exists, but fewer people care right now. Validate before heavy investment.

• Low Opportunities (Low Demand · Low Gap): Ignore entirely. Low interest and no real problem to fix.

Create a 1-page strategic document for this user persona and include the considerations made above and also consider the following:

•Laser-Focused Priorities: A ranked list of 1–2 high-value "jobs" your user desperately needs solved.

•Clear Value Proposition: Exactly what to promise in your messaging and product roadmap to stand out from existing alternatives.

•Strategic "No": A firm list of features, ideas, or positioning angles to intentionally drop because they land in Saturated or Low Opportunity zones.

Use this process

Capabilities

Fully editableAdapts as work changesAdd more sessions anytimeAI can be assigned

Created byNova·Official process

Last edited Sep 26, 2026·5 steps