Milestone 3: Personas and Scenarios

Roles

Parent seeking Parent: This parent is looking for other moms for close friendships. They are most likely to treat the app like a dating site.

Parent Seeking Friends for Kids: This parent wants friends for their kids to socialize with, They want to find playdates mostly to occupy the time and are less concerned with lasting relationships

Anti-Persona: The salesperson or the serial dating parent: This parent is someone who we want to avoid and guard against.  They are using the site inappropriately for inappropriate reasons, whether to advertise themselves or to find trysts.

Most of the interview participants were primarily interested in forming long term lasting close relationships with other parents where compatibility was high but some were just interested in finding kids close to the same age for their kids to hang out with.  

Primary Persona: Parent Seeking Parent

play moms.jpg

Name: Ruby Jonette

Age: 32

Occupation: Stay at home mom

Role:

Parent seeking Parent Primary Persona

Behavioral variables:

Activities: Looking for moms to have a close friendship with, willing to meet at parks, uses texted based conversations frequently.

Use Environment: Uses at primarily at home and uses friend finding feature including compatibility profile.  Very concerned with security.

Aptitudes: Friendly and outgoing

Attitudes: To be good friends you have to have similar parenting beliefs. To just be acquaintances I don't think matters as much. We need to have something in common to start, and sometimes kids the same age are not enough. Personalities have to work together and being exclusive or keeping people put doesn't help. I don't need everything in common but I need to like the person and the person needs to try and it in an effort to the friendship. It can't be one-sided.  I also want to be sure that the person I am talking to is actually another mom and is safe.

Frustrations: I've met lots of mommies who it just is impossible to hang out with because they are so vocal about their mompinions or so judgey - it's easiest to just find compatible people who hold the same values.

Demographics: Male or Female, 20-50, middle class income or above, married or divorced with 1-4 children at least 1 under age 5.

Skills: I am pretty tech savvy.  My phone is my connection to the world and so I am pretty knowledgeable about apps and how to use my phone effectively.

Motivation: I need my list to save me time so I don't have to be in the store to long with the kids.  I need an app that helps me keep track of what I have bought at home so I don't repeat buy.  My app should help me organize my list by grocery section.

Relevant Interactions: My husband likes it when he has things in common with the other dads so I'd like to be able to match him too.

Alternatives to App: Facebook groups Big Tent

Goals: I hope to make lifelong friends

Primary Persona: Seeking Friends for Kids

Name: Shiro Hunter

Age: 35

Occupation: Tech worker, divorced,

Role: Parent Seeking Friends for Kids, Primary Persona

Behavioral variables:

Activities: Looking for play date to occupy kids not really interested in close friendship, willing to meet at parks, uses texted based conversations frequently.

Use Environment: Uses at primarily at the park and uses location features to meet with people already at the park.

Aptitudes: Not as concerned with security, very good at playing with kids.

Attitudes: I don't think you need to be that compatible, just need to find friendly, honest decent parents I can trust to be around my kids, as long as the other parent is open minded and follows the "live and let live" philosophy we'll be ok.

Frustrations: As parents it can be very difficult to meet other parents, especially as a man, it's frustrating when moms are too afraid to talk to me or think I have ulterior motives. 

Demographics: Male or Female, 20-50, middle class income or above, married or divorced with 1-4 children at least 1 under age 5.

Skills: Tech savvy and good with kids

Motivation: I need to be able to find play dates for my kids, especially on the weekends but I don't have a lot of time to socialize so I really want something that will introduce me to safe and reliable people without much extra effort on my part. 

Relevant Interactions: I would love to just find people already at the place I am to hang out with and let my kids have someone to run around with.

Alternatives to App: None

Goals: I hope to find people whose kids get along with mine.

Scenario

Problem Statement: It is difficult to find and set up play dates with decent parents. 

Vision Statement: I want an app on my phone that can help me make friends with outer parents but in more ways than just using Facebook.

Scenario Script

  1. When getting ready to go out with the kids Ruby scans her app, she looks at some of her personality matches and checks their schedule.

  2. She sees that one of her matches is usually at the library for an open class.  She packs the kids up and drives over to the library.

  3. When she arrives at the library she realizes that it's a school holiday and it's closed!

  4. She pulls out her phone and checks the location sharing, what luck there is another parent who happens to be at the park!

  5. She sends out a greeting text and pings her location to see if the other parent wants to meet.

  6. The other parent pings back and invites her over to the picnic area where they are having snacks.

  7. They meet and introduce themselves, the kids hit it off and run over to the play ground, the parents chat. 

  8. Since they both passed the background check they watch each others littlest children while they take the big ones to the potty.

  9. As Ruby gets ready to leave she rates her new friends compatibility as high and they agree to meet again.