Digital Dissect David Thorpe

Listen/watch, Episode 2 of the Digital Dissect Podcast where Dave interviews James Hamilton from PixelTree. James discusses the problems with modern product design and how his team are doing their best to overcome these issues with a fixed method that they take all their clients through. James was inspired by "Sprint" by James Knapp but found that, as ideal as this method sounds ,in the real world there was always changes that needed to be made.
They also discuss working with other teams within the tech industry to make sure that clients get the best service throughout. By allowing teams to specialise in specific services it always means the best minds are on the job but bridging teams can sometimes be tricky. James believes the benefits out way the difficulties that specialising and working alongside other businesses brings.

Traditional user personas are created around the board table with marketers and stakeholders holding long, painstaking meetings discussing every aspect of who they "believe" their ideal customers are.
 
You’ve likely had the sneaking suspicion that these processes aren’t the best way to get to know your users. 
 
To be more successful in designing robust digital products we should work from our user motivations and how they coincide with our products rather than spending hours fleshing out full user persona's.