Personas, Participatory Design and Product Development: An Infrastructure for Engagement
http://www.research.microsoft.com/research/coet/Grudin/Personas/Grudin-Pruitt.doc

Grudin, Jonathan and John Pruitt
Microsoft
2002

Abstract:

The design of commercial products that are intended to serve millions of people has been a challenge for collaborative approaches. The creation and use of fictional users, concrete representations commonly referred to as 'personas', is a relatively new interaction design technique. It is not without problems and can be used inappropriately, but based on experience and analysis it has extraordinary potential. Not only can it be a powerful tool for true participation in design, it also forces designers to consider social and political aspects of design that otherwise often go unexamined.