Agent skill

prd-v04-persona-definition

Synthesize behavioral personas from prior stage evidence for journey mapping and marketing during PRD v0.4 User Journeys. Triggers on requests to define personas, create user profiles, identify target users, or when user asks "who are our users?", "define personas", "user profiles", "target users", "persona creation", "who uses this product?". Consumes CFD- (v0.1-v0.3), BR- (targeting from v0.3 Moat), FEA- (v0.3 Feature Value Planning). Outputs PER- entries with behavioral profiles and feature relationships. Feeds v0.4 User Journey Mapping.

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npx add-skill https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/tree/main/skills/data/prd-v04-persona-definition

SKILL.md

Persona Definition

Position in workflow: v0.3 Feature Value Planning → v0.4 Persona Definition → v0.4 User Journey Mapping

Personas are not demographic profiles—they are behavioral models synthesized from evidence. Every persona must trace back to CFD- research, BR- targeting rules, and FEA- features they care about.

Core Constraint

Maximum 5 personas. Most products need 1-2.

If you have more than 3, you're likely over-segmenting by demographics instead of behavior. Consolidate ruthlessly.

Persona Types

Type Definition When to Create
Primary Core user, drives most revenue Always (at least 1)
Secondary Important but not primary buyer If distinct needs exist
Negative Who we explicitly exclude If exclusion is strategic
Aspirational Future target, not current focus Only for roadmap planning

Rule: Primary personas must link to primary revenue KPI-. If a persona doesn't influence revenue, question whether it's truly primary.

Evidence Requirements

Every persona field must link to prior stage evidence:

Persona Field Must Link To Source Stage
Goals CFD- value hypothesis v0.1 User Value Articulation
Frustrations CFD- pain points v0.1 Problem Framing
Decision Factors CFD- competitive research v0.2 Competitive Landscape
Key Features FEA- entries v0.3 Feature Value Planning
Pricing Sensitivity BR- pricing rules v0.3 Pricing Model
Acquisition Channel BR- targeting rules v0.3 Moat Definition

No link = No claim. If you can't cite evidence, the attribute is assumption, not fact.

Synthesis Process

  1. Pull USER TYPE from v0.1 Problem Framing (CFD-)

    • These are your candidate personas
  2. Pull SEGMENTS from v0.2 Market Definition (CFD-, BR-)

    • How is the market divided? Which segments are we targeting?
  3. Pull TARGETING RULES from v0.3 Moat Definition (BR-)

    • New-to-category vs. Switchers? Trigger moments?
  4. Synthesize behavioral patterns from all CFD- evidence

    • What goals unite this segment?
    • What frustrations are consistent?
  5. Map FEA- features to each persona

    • Which features matter most to each?
    • This informs journey mapping
  6. Create PER- entries with full traceability

PER- Output Template

PER-XXX: [Persona Name]
Source IDs: [CFD-XXX, CFD-YYY, BR-ZZZ that inform this persona]
Type: [Primary | Secondary | Negative | Aspirational]
Segment: [From v0.2 market segment]

Demographics:
  Role: [Job title / function]
  Context: [Company size, industry, team structure]
  Technical Level: [Novice | Intermediate | Expert]

Behavioral Profile:
  Goals: [What they're trying to achieve — link to CFD- value]
  Frustrations: [Current pain points — link to CFD- pain]
  Decision Factors: [What influences their choices — link to CFD- research]
  Current Workflow: [How they solve this today]

Product Relationship:
  Primary Value: [CFD- value hypothesis they care about most]
  Key Features: [FEA-XXX, FEA-YYY most relevant to them]
  Pricing Sensitivity: [From BR- pricing rules]
  Acquisition Channel: [How they'll find us — from BR- targeting]

Marketing Hook: [One-sentence pitch for this persona]

Example PER- entry:

PER-001: The Overwhelmed Ops Manager
Source IDs: CFD-003 (pain: manual tracking), CFD-012 (value: automation), BR-041 (target: switchers at renewal)
Type: Primary
Segment: SMB SaaS companies (10-50 employees)

Demographics:
  Role: Operations Manager / Head of Ops
  Context: Growing startup, wearing multiple hats, no dedicated tools budget
  Technical Level: Intermediate (comfortable with SaaS, not a developer)

Behavioral Profile:
  Goals: Reduce time spent on manual reporting (CFD-012)
  Frustrations: Current tools require too much setup (CFD-003)
  Decision Factors: Ease of use > feature count, must show ROI to CEO (CFD-025)
  Current Workflow: Spreadsheets + manual data entry + weekly report compilation

Product Relationship:
  Primary Value: CFD-012 ("Save 5 hours/week on reporting")
  Key Features: FEA-001 (auto-sync), FEA-003 (one-click reports), FEA-007 (dashboard)
  Pricing Sensitivity: BR-030 (SMB tier ≤$50/mo)
  Acquisition Channel: BR-041 (target at contract renewal of competing tools)

Marketing Hook: "Stop building reports. Start using them."

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Anti-Pattern Signal Fix
Persona explosion >5 personas Consolidate by behavior, not demographics
Fictional personas No CFD- links Every attribute needs evidence
Demographic-only "25-35 year old male" Focus on behaviors and goals
All personas are primary "Everyone is important" Rank by revenue potential
Copy-paste from competitors Generic descriptions Ground in YOUR research
Features without personas Personas created but no FEA- links Map features to who cares

Quality Gates

Before proceeding to User Journey Mapping:

  • Maximum 5 personas (ideally 1-3)
  • At least one Primary persona defined
  • Every persona has CFD- evidence links
  • Key Features mapped from FEA- entries
  • Acquisition Channel specified from BR- targeting
  • Marketing Hook is specific and testable

Downstream Connections

PER- entries feed into:

Consumer What It Uses Example
v0.4 User Journey Mapping Each UJ- references a PER- UJ-001 is for PER-001
v0.4 Screen Flow Definition Persona context shapes UI SCR-001 optimized for PER-001 tech level
v0.9 GTM Marketing messaging per persona Campaign targeting PER-002 segment
Sales Enablement Persona-specific pitches Discovery questions per PER-

Detailed References

  • Persona creation examples: See references/examples.md
  • PER- entry template: See assets/per.md

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