User Characters are the actors of user stories. They include personas and extreme characters.
Description
User characters help to visualize the users of a system. They are closely related to roles, but model real or imagined users that may map to multiple roles.
Properties
The document type user character provides the following properties:
Type
The type of the user character.
| Type | Description |
|---|
| user role | A user that holds one or more roles. |
| persona | An imaginary user with detailed background. |
| extreme character | A very exaggerated persona to help to improve user stories. |
Roles
The
roles the user character , persona, or extreme character holds.
Actor Type
The actor type defines how the user character is mainly acting with the system. The information is used to separate the primary (main) user characters ("Primary") from those that are only used in stories that support the system, but not fulfil its main goal. If the user character cares for the system, it is called ''Secondary'', if it provides additional functionality, it is called ''Supporting''.
Image URL
Add a reference to an image for a role or persona to. The URL to an image may be a plain URL or a link that points to an image.
Typically the URL is used to fetch the image and render it using the Display Document Property As Image Macro.
Sections
Description
The description of the user character.
Background
Describe the background of the user character in some detail. Sketch out some facts to visualize the context the character lives in. This may include some demographic information.
Needs
List the needs you assume the user character has from a brainstorming session. This may lead to hypotheses that have to be worked on later.
Suggested Solutions
From a brainstorming session add possible solutions to the needs your product may provide or be involved with. Again, these points may not to be taken as granted, but used as a tool to visualize the character.
Subordinate User Characters
User characters may be grouped in hierarchies.
Notes
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References
For a document the references section contains pointers to resources that prove the statements of the document.
Often these proofs are not easily distinguishable from further information. In this case you may want to skip the reference section in favour for the resource list.
Resources
The resources section provides references to further information to the topic of the document.
This may be information on the internet provided by the resource or information in the team's information systems. Anything the reader of the resource might want to know, may be listed here.
