Target group analysis in software engineering is often underestimated. Although we now formulate good user stories or use cases in many projects, there is usually no consideration of user motivation – also from a psychological perspective. And only when applications are a perfect fit for users will they be used willingly and effectively.
It’s not just about how old, what gender, what environment, income, etc. our users are, but also about their understanding of values and personality traits. A few examples:
– “𝗔𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿” are constantly looking for challenges. They want to be challenged within their application and be able to discover things.
– “𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗿” need contact with other users. If they are isolated, they lose their motivation and work less well.
– “𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻” want to help. They draw their motivation from supporting other users in solving their problems.
– “𝗗𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗿” are users who will specifically search for errors in your application and try to break it.
The better you know your users, the better you can tailor your application or parts of it to these users!
For example, do you have If you have philanthropists in your user group, you should definitely create an editable FAQ board, because then these users will do the work for you and will also be happy about it. With destroyers, you must pay extreme attention to the quality of your application (more than usual), as willful destruction may be involved. Socializers need opportunities to interact with other users and Achievers need gamification elements.
Of course, there are many other personality traits that can be used to analyze users – but let me ask you again: do you know your users? … and optimize your applications accordingly?
My tip: include a target group session in the requirements engineering process. User stories can then be expanded, optimized or specialized so that in the end there is the “perfect match” between user and application!