nicholai-work-2026/.claude/skills/ux-ideator/references/personas.md

User Personas for ooIDE

Table of Contents

1. Primary Personas
2. Journey Maps
3. Empathy Mapping
4. Pain Point Identification

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Primary Personas

1. The Solo Developer

Profile: Individual developer working on personal or freelance projects

Goals:

• Ship features faster with AI assistance
• Learn best practices from agent guidance
• Reduce context-switching between tools

Frustrations:

• MCP configuration overhead
• Losing context between sessions
• AI responses that don't understand their codebase

Delights:

• Agent remembers previous conversations
• Code suggestions that match project style
• Feeling like a productive team of one

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2. The Tech Lead

Profile: Senior developer coordinating work across team members

Goals:

• Maintain architectural consistency
• Onboard new team members efficiently
• Track progress across multiple workstreams

Frustrations:

• Misaligned implementations
• Repeated explanations of patterns
• Difficulty seeing team progress at glance

Delights:

• Agents enforce established patterns
• Visual representation of team activity
• Shared memory that persists across sessions

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3. The New User

Profile: First-time user exploring ooIDE capabilities

Goals:

• Understand what the tool can do
• Complete first successful interaction
• Build confidence with AI collaboration

Frustrations:

• Overwhelming features on first load
• Unclear where to start
• Fear of "breaking something"

Delights:

• Guided onboarding experience
• Quick wins within first 5 minutes
• Discovery of unexpected capabilities

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4. The Product Builder

Profile: Non-technical or semi-technical user building products

Goals:

• Translate ideas into working features
• Understand technical tradeoffs
• Communicate effectively with agents

Frustrations:

• Technical jargon without explanation
• Not knowing what to ask for
• Losing track of project decisions

Delights:

• Agents speak in accessible language
• Visual representation of progress
• Decision history explains "why"

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Journey Maps

First Session Journey

Discovery → Installation → First Launch → Orientation → First Interaction → First Win → Return
    │            │              │              │               │              │         │
    ▼            ▼              ▼              ▼               ▼              ▼         ▼
 "What is    "How do I    "Where do I    "Who are      "Did that      "It works!" "I want to
  this?"     set up?"      start?"      these agents?"  work?"                     continue"

Critical Moments:

• First Launch: Must not overwhelm
• First Interaction: Must feel responsive
• First Win: Must happen within 5 minutes

Returning User Journey

Return → Context Recall → Continue Work → Hit Blocker → Get Help → Resolve → Ship
   │           │               │              │            │          │       │
   ▼           ▼               ▼              ▼            ▼          ▼       ▼
"Where    "Oh, it       "Let me       "This isn't   "Can Mary   "That    "Done!"
was I?"   remembers!"    continue"     working"      help?"     worked!"

Critical Moments:

• Context Recall: Memory must be visible
• Hit Blocker: Help must be accessible
• Resolve: Solution must feel earned

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Empathy Mapping

Template for Each Persona

         ╭─────────────────────────────────╮
         │           THINKS                │
         │  What occupies their mind?      │
         │  What worries them?             │
         │  What aspirations do they have? │
         ├─────────────────────────────────┤
    ╭────┤           SEES                  ├────╮
    │    │  What does their environment    │    │
    │    │  look like? What do they        │    │
    │    │  observe others doing?          │    │
    ├────┼─────────────────────────────────┼────┤
    │    │           DOES                  │    │
    │    │  What actions do they take?     │    │
    │    │  What behaviors can we observe? │    │
    ├────┼─────────────────────────────────┼────┤
    │    │           FEELS                 │    │
    │    │  What emotions drive them?      │    │
    │    │  What fears hold them back?     │    │
    ╰────┴─────────────────────────────────┴────╯

Empathy Questions for Feature Ideation

1. "If I were [persona], how would this make me feel?"
2. "What would [persona] expect to happen next?"
3. "What might confuse [persona] about this?"
4. "How would [persona] describe this to a friend?"
5. "What would make [persona] want to come back?"

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Pain Point Identification

Pain Point Categories

Category	Description	Signal Phrases
Process	Workflow inefficiencies	"Too many steps", "Why can't I just..."
Knowledge	Missing information	"Where do I find...", "I don't know how to..."
Technical	System limitations	"It doesn't work when...", "I wish it could..."
Emotional	Frustration/anxiety	"I'm worried about...", "It's stressful when..."

Severity Assessment

Critical (Blocks completion)

• User cannot complete primary task
• No workaround exists
• Causes data loss or errors

Major (Causes significant friction)

• User must find workaround
• Multiple steps for simple action
• Creates confusion or errors

Minor (Annoyance)

• User notices but continues
• Cosmetic or preference issue
• Improvement would be nice

Converting Pain Points to Features

Pain Point → Root Cause → Solution Options → Delight Opportunity
    │            │              │                    │
    ▼            ▼              ▼                    ▼
"I can't     Multiple     1. Unify in one      Add personality
find where   locations    2. Better search     to search results
things are"  for info     3. Contextual nav    with agent hints