user personas,
post-merger unification.

user personas,
post-merger unification.

from 8 to 1, and 44 to 9.

from 8 to 1, and 44 to 9.

Eptura is the culmination of eight competitor businesses being merged into one. Ours, Condeco, made up the largest of these entities.

Eptura is the culmination of eight competitor businesses being merged into one. Ours, Condeco, made up the largest of these entities.

At Condeco, I was the owner of our carefully crafted user personas, which were based on long-term user research efforts.

At Eptura, I continued my ownership of our personas, their creation and their ongoing usage. But first, I've had to unify the 44 personas I collated from across the merged entities in to one cohesive set. We ended up with nine.

Persona Selection

With eight entities come eight product lines.

With eight entities come eight product lines.

Broadly speaking, many of the 44 personas covered similar over-arching user stories, but there were still plenty of discrepancies to resolve. I looked closely at how they all relate to our product lines and streamlined them down to a set of nine personas that cover the vast majority of our user journeys.

Broadly speaking, many of the 44 personas covered similar over-arching user stories, but there were still plenty of discrepancies to resolve. I looked closely at how they all relate to our product lines and streamlined them down to a set of nine personas that cover the vast majority of our user journeys.

They were chosen by the types of work roles they have, and were categorised by Stakeholders, Admins and End Users. They were given labels for whether they're likely to work in Enterprise or SME environments.

They were chosen by the types of work roles they have, and were categorised by Stakeholders, Admins and End Users. They were given labels for whether they're likely to work in Enterprise or SME environments.

Persona details

I've seen the practice of User Personas have different results. Sometimes they get picked up and passed around a lot, sometimes they collect dust. The difference is in the quality of the content.

I've seen the practice of User Personas have different results. Sometimes they get picked up and passed around a lot, sometimes they collect dust. The difference is in the quality of the content.

While restructuring, rewriting and unifying the content across all personas, I kept a laser-tight focus on content that's specifically relevant to our product solutions. I omitted details like age, hobbies, family life and personal life aspirations.

While restructuring, rewriting and unifying the content across all personas, I kept a laser-tight focus on content that's specifically relevant to our product solutions. I omitted details like age, hobbies, family life and personal life aspirations.

The content specifies Role Responsibilities, Goals, Behaviours & Patterns, Pain Points and Workplace Expectations. New additions underneath, that proved to be hugely popular, were Worklife Qualities and Frequent Collaborators.

The content specifies Role Responsibilities, Goals, Behaviours & Patterns, Pain Points and Workplace Expectations. New additions underneath, that proved to be hugely popular, were Worklife Qualities and Frequent Collaborators.

visitor variants

One of our entities deals exclusively with the visitor experience.

One of our entities deals exclusively with the visitor experience.

I made variants of a few selected personas, to help detail the requirements needed from the visitor management side of our platforms.

I made variants of a few selected personas, to help detail the requirements needed from the visitor management side of our platforms.

They detailed Visiting Habits, Goals, Behaviours & Patterns, Pain Points, Visiting Expectations and Visitor Qualities.

They detailed Visiting Habits, Goals, Behaviours & Patterns, Pain Points, Visiting Expectations and Visitor Qualities.

© 2024 Richard Gouw

© 2024 Richard Gouw