Who Uses Personas in Requirements Engineering: The Practitioners' Perspective

TL;DR

This study empirically analyzes how personas are used in requirements engineering through 26 interviews and a survey of 203 practitioners. It reveals substantial variation in usage across company sizes and project types, with large organizations adopting personas more than startups or government projects, and highlights gaps in coverage of human aspects. The authors identify practical challenges—particularly limited expertise, time and cost, and data privacy—and offer actionable guidance, including training, cross-functional collaboration, and data-driven tooling. The work also outlines directions for future research, such as evaluating data-driven persona platforms and extending persona practices to evolving domains like VR, to improve requirement quality and user-centered design in practice.

Abstract

Personas are commonly used in software projects to gain a better understanding of end-users' needs. However, there is a limited understanding of their usage and effectiveness in practice. This paper presents the results of a two-step investigation, comprising interviews with 26 software developers, UI/UX designers, business analysts and product managers and a survey of 203 practitioners, aimed at shedding light on the current practices, methods and challenges of using personas in software development. Our findings reveal variations in the frequency and effectiveness of personas across different software projects and IT companies, the challenges practitioners face when using personas and the reasons for not using them at all. Furthermore, we investigate the coverage of human aspects in personas, often assumed to be a key feature of persona descriptions. Contrary to the general perception, our study shows that human aspects are often ignored for various reasons in personas or requirements engineering in general. Our study provides actionable insights for practitioners to overcome challenges in using personas during requirements engineering stages, and we identify areas for future research.

Figures (7)

• Figure 1: Survey Respondents' Demographics.
• Figure 2: Scaled rates of persona usage in different companies and job roles.
• Figure 3: Scaled rates of persona usage in different departments.
• Figure 4: Scaled rates about personas in different types of software projects.
• Figure 5: Scaled rates about human aspects in personas.