{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
    "content" : "news",
    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "From Taste-Testers to Explorers: Developing Personas for Open Opportunities |Digital.gov",
    "description": "From Taste-Testers to Explorers: Developing Personas for Open Opportunities",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/08/from-taste-testers-to-explorers-developing-personas-for-open-opportunities/index.json","item" : [
    {"kicker" : "Open Opportunities","title" :"From Taste-Testers to Explorers: Developing Personas for Open Opportunities","deck" : "","summary" : "Being customer-focused means doing the gumshoe work of research and rounds of analysis to find gold by understanding user goals. For the task-based innovation network, Open Opportunities for DigitalGov, that meant developing personas in order to overcome our own biases and learn about the different motivations of our participants. In this article, we’ll talk about","date" : "2014-12-08T09:00:00-05:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"awichman" : "Ashley Wichman","lnelson" : "Lisa Nelson"},"topics" : {
        
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy",
            "professional-development" : "Professional development",
            "research" : "Research"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2014-12-08-from-taste-testers-to-explorers-developing-personas-for-open-opportunities.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2014/12/2014-12-08-from-taste-testers-to-explorers-developing-personas-for-open-opportunities.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/12/2014-12-08-from-taste-testers-to-explorers-developing-personas-for-open-opportunities.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/12/2014-12-08-from-taste-testers-to-explorers-developing-personas-for-open-opportunities.md","slug" : "from-taste-testers-to-explorers-developing-personas-for-open-opportunities","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/08/from-taste-testers-to-explorers-developing-personas-for-open-opportunities/","aliases" : {"0" : "/2014/12/08/from-taste-testers-to-explorers-developing-personas-for-open-opportunities.md"},"content" :"\u003cp\u003eBeing customer-focused means doing the gumshoe work of research and rounds of analysis to find gold by understanding user goals. For the task-based innovation network, \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/open-opportunities/\"\u003eOpen Opportunities for DigitalGov\u003c/a\u003e, that meant developing personas in order to overcome our own biases and learn about the different motivations of our participants. In this article, we’ll talk about how we created our personas and how we plan to use them to meet both innovators’ and program needs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"creating-the-personas\"\u003eCreating the personas\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe began developing our Open Opportunities personas by carefully examining each of our users to gather data on their behaviors and attitudes. We then grouped them with others who had similar needs and characteristics, and from there we were able to get a picture of the people who use our program and why they participate.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"refining-and-iterating\"\u003eRefining and iterating\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe personas evolved as our viewpoint evolved: At first, we focused on why users are attracted to Open Opportunities. As we refined our personas, we pivoted, asking, “What is it about the people who are participating? What motivations do they have in common?” That change in focus opened the door to a more meaningful, engaging experience because we knew them better.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEarly iterations of persona categories featured creative “food focused” metaphors including ‘Speed Eaters’—people who jumped in and immediately started doing tasks—and ‘Taste-Testers’—those who did only one task and had not signed up for additional projects.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we honed in on the user experience of Open Opportunities participants, we were able to condense the 6 personas we started with into four key audience segments. These four groups don’t represent all our audience needs, but embody the needs of the most active user groups.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"grid-row grid-gap\"\u003e\n  \u003cdiv class=\"tablet:grid-col-4 first\"\u003e\n    \u003cstrong\u003eEXPLORERS\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/12/300-x-300-Personas-Smiling-mature-businessman-with-laptop-and-coffee-cup-Wavebreakmedia-Ltd-Lightwavemedia-Thinkstock-479684299.jpg\"\n    alt=\"A smiling, mature businessman with laptop and coffee cup.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n  \u003cdiv class=\"tablet:grid-col-8 tablet:margin-top-5\"\u003e\n    \u003cstrong\u003e\u0026#8220;This sounds interesting and I want to explore new things.\u0026#8221;\u003c/strong\u003e They have joined the network. Some may still be thinking about participating, some may have completed a task or two. Many explorers join in here, get their feet wet and never leave the group. They know about the program and may become evangelists. You will also find honey bees, careerists and activists in the explorer group waiting to be found.\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"grid-row grid-gap\"\u003e\n  \u003cdiv class=\"tablet:grid-col-4 first\"\u003e\n    \u003cstrong\u003eHONEY BEES\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/12/300-x-300-Personas-Cute-Young-Woman-Using-Laptop-Oko_SwanOmurphy-iStock-Thinkstock-494712461.jpg\"\n    alt=\"A young woman uses a laptop computer.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n  \u003cdiv class=\"tablet:grid-col-8 tablet:margin-top-5\"\u003e\n    \u003cstrong\u003e\u0026#8220;Whenever I have time, I like to work on something outside of my day-to-day job that can be completed quickly. It keeps me energized.\u0026#8221;\u003c/strong\u003e Honey bees buzz in and out. They may not have the time or interest to immerse themselves in something outside their regular job, or they may not have agency approval to work on long term tasks but they take an opportunity whenever they can.\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"grid-row grid-gap\"\u003e\n  \u003cdiv class=\"tablet:grid-col-4 first\"\u003e\n    \u003cstrong\u003eCAREERISTS\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/12/300-x-300-Personas-Positive-man-on-computer-VladimirFLoyd-iStock-Thinkstock-483133993.jpg\"\n    alt=\"A young man looks pleased using a laptop computer.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n  \u003cdiv class=\"tablet:grid-col-8 tablet:margin-top-5\"\u003e\n    \u003cstrong\u003e\u0026#8220;I want to learn new skills, connect with others doing innovative things and build my resume.\u0026#8221;\u003c/strong\u003e They are looking for professional development opportunities and networking to advance or change the direction of their career.\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"grid-row grid-gap\"\u003e\n  \u003cdiv class=\"tablet:grid-col-4 first\"\u003e\n    \u003cstrong\u003eACTIVISTS\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/12/300-x-300-Personas-Yes-Nenad-Aksic-iStock-Thinkstock-168513466.jpg\"\n    alt=\"A very happy woman using a laptop computer.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n  \u003cdiv class=\"tablet:grid-col-8 tablet:margin-top-5\"\u003e\n    \u003cstrong\u003e\u0026#8220;I want to change the way government works.\u0026#8221;\u003c/strong\u003e They want to build a culture of collaboration, innovation and knowledge sharing. These feds are passionate about the work they are doing and believe they can make government better.\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough people primarily fit into one persona or another, there is some overlap. For example, some people start as Explorers or Honeybees, try a few tasks, and settle in as Careerists or Activists.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"next-steps\"\u003eNext steps\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe will use the personas to identify opportunities and align our strategy with customer expectations. Here are two examples of how we are currently helping users meet their professional development goals. Two Careerists expressed interest in building skills using GitHub and WordPress. We were able to help them meet those professional goals by matching them with these Open Opportunities:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://gsablogs.gsa.gov/dsic/2014/06/30/become-a-github-analytics-expert/\"\u003eBecome a Github analytics expert\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://gsablogs.gsa.gov/dsic/2014/04/24/develop-a-readiness-checklist-sites-usa-gov/\"\u003eDevelop a Sites.USA.gov readiness checklist\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition, we have several Activists who have done two or more six-month stints, working on projects they are passionate about.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the program matures and new data becomes available, we will continue to improve the personas and encourage others within our organization to consider how they design their programs to meet users’ needs.\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}