User profile canvas v.2.0

Overview

The user profile canvas helps teams dive into what a user does and understand the user's context around those decisions. The canvas leverages jobs0to-be-done theory to reveal rich detail about the user's physical as well as psychological context. It's straightforward and easy to use and can help understand users for any type of product or system.

Expected outcomes

• the user's primary goal or job-to-be-done
• a list of job pains the user wishes to solve or avoid
• a list of job gains the user achieves
• a list of tasks and contexts that the user tries to accomplish

Prerequisites

• a list of users to explore (If you don't have a list of users run the user target/bullseye canvas. If you have more than 3-5 users to map, prioritize first.)
• Optional: if you've identified their job-to-be-done, you can start with that already identified

When to Use / When to Substitute

Best used when

• Kicking off any new project or initiative. Teams make lots of assumptions about their users. It's worth 30-minutes to make sure everyone agrees on what your users are trying to do and why.
• Firming up personas mid-way through a project. The profile canvas is so quick, it's great to introduce in the middle of projects that started without the benefit of clear user models.

Not recommended when

• The team already has well-established personas. Instead of running a new user modeling exercise, iterate on the personas you have with new information you've learned.
• You're creating a simple app. For simple apps, it's enough to know the tasks the user needs to do, and you don't need all the context. In these cases, skip the cnvas and just brainstorm the list of tasks your users have.

Substitute activities

• Empathy map — Use when you need to understand more about the user's context (thinking, seeing, feeling, etc.) than you do about their job-to-be-done.

Variations

• Task led: Often you have a good idea about what tasks are at play. Pre-generate the tasks and contexts. Use your session to validate and add any missing tasks before shifting to cover pains, gains, and goal/job-to-be-done. Saves about 10 minutes.
• Job-to-be-done led: Rather than determine the job-to-be-done during the activity, identify the jobs-to-be-done first and use that to frame the discussion around tasks, contexts, pains, and gains.

Setup, templates, and downloads

Templates and downloads

Download User profile canvas templates and facilitation guide

user-profile-canvas.pptx (90.19 kB). Last modified 06/27/20

Download

In-person supplies

• Sticky notes (one pad per participant, ideally square format)
• Markers (one per participant — thick enough to read from a distance)
• A large wall, whiteboard, or butcher paper for collecting sticky notes with the canvas sketched out
• Printed or projected facilitation slides from the User Profile Canvas deck (slides 3–8)

Remote supplies

• Mural, Miro, or FigJam board with the User Profile Canvas template
• Video call with screen sharing enabled
• The User Profile Canvas facilitation deck for screen sharing (slides 3–8)

Room / environment setup

• In-person: Arrange seating in cabaret style (small groups around tables) facing a shared wall or board. Post the User Profile Canvas on the wall before participants arrive, or...
• In-person: Arrange participants in a semi-circle around the wall or easel where the User Profile Canvas has been posted.
• Remote: Pre-load the digital whiteboard with the User Profile canvas. Test screen sharing. Have the facilitation slides ready in a separate window.

Facilitator prep checklist

Prep time 30 minutes

• Review the full facilitation deck (slides 1–8) to internalize the flow
• Set up the canvas (physical wall or digital board) with three zones: task area, pains area, and gains area (above these have space for the user's name and goal/job-to-be-done)
• If pre-collecting tasks or jobs-to-be-done, gather inputs and place them on the board
• Test all technology: projector, screen share, digital whiteboard access for participants

Step 1: Generate tasks and contexts

10 minutes

Frame

Explain you will work together to list tasks, so you generate a list of user stories and scenarios that help the team understand and optimize functionality for the contexts where the user performs the tasks.

Script

"Let's list each of the user's tasks and its context, so we can understand what the user is trying to accomplish."

Facilitate

• Ask everyone what the user does.
• Participants work together to generate a list of tasks and contexts.
• Each task should follow the format [task] + [context].
• Context should include where, when, what device, how often, and with whom.
• Mix discussion and brainstorming to generate tasks and contexts all together as a group.

Finish

Once the team has identified and grouped the tasks, you're ready to analyze them and understand their core goals: "Now that we've explored what they will do, let's talk abut the user's core goal."

Tips & Prompts

• If participants generate a goal instead of a task, redirect. "That sounds more like a goal. What does the user do to accomplish that goal?"
• Probe for additional tasks from the system's perspective: "What else does the system need to help users do?"
• Probe for related tasks that happen before or after:
  • Does the user do anything to prepare for the task?
  • Does the user need any information or material before the complete these tasks?
  • How does the user know when to do the task?
  • If the task is ongoing, how does the user stay on track?
  • How do they know to adjust or change what they're doing?
  • Do they do anything once the task is done?
• Capture pains, gains, and goals as they come up. Discussion will range. Capture these as they come up and refocus back on tasks.

Step 2: Analyze tasks to identify the user's goal or job-to-be-done

10 minutes

Frame

You will work all together to analyze the collected tasks and identify the user's goal or goals. The goals will help the team design for pains and gains that determine the quality of the experience. To do this, you will ask why the user does a task until you arrive at the underlying goal.

Script

"Let's figure out why the user does these tasks. What is the user really trying to accomplish? What is their goal? We will work all together to analyze these tasks.

Facilitate

• Choose a task or group of tasks, and ask, "why does the user do this?"
• Ask why again until you arrive at the user's core goal.
• The team will choose what the right goal will be.
• Often you find the right goal because you ask why too many times and need to return to a previous level.

Finish

With the user's goal clearly identified, the team now has a clear way to evaluate user pains and gains. Pains are always easier to generate, so start there. "Now that we've identified the user goal we think is most important, let's look at the pain points and issues that hamper the user as they move toward their goal."

Tips & Prompts

{3–4 bullets, in this rough order:}

• There is no "right" goal. There is only the goals the team decides to solve for through consensus.

Step 3: Generate user pain points

10 minutes

Frame

Generate the user's pain points, barriers, and risks to reveal constraints that influence the user's behavior and decisions. Work all together to develop the list of user pains.

Script

Let's talk about user pain points and barriers, so we can look for ways to improve the user's experience.

Facilitate

• Ask everyone, "What do users hate about doing these tasks? What do they find most annoying?"
• As the team generates pains, capture them on the left side of the user profile canvas.
• What barriers prevent the user from completing a task?
• What makes a task annoying?
• What negative side effects or undesirable outcomes occur when they complete the task?

Finish

With a list of pain points, it's time to shift the discussion to user gains: "Now that we understand the user's pains, let's talk about what users like."

Tips & Prompts

{3–4 bullets, in this rough order:}

• Probe for barriers, anything that prevents users from completing tasks or achieving goals.
• Probe for annoyances, anything that frustrates the user.
• Probe for negative side effects that describe undesirable outcomes that happen when they complete a task.

Step 4: Generate user gains

10 minutes

Expected outcomes and unexpected moments of delight provide a clear roadmap of highlights your product can aim for. At the most basic level, users have specific expectations about any interaction. Understand these expectations to ensure your team creates the right experience.

Frame

In this activity, you will work all together to list the user's expected and unexpected gains. Like the user's pains, gains reveal constraints that influence the user's behavior and decisions.

Script

"Let's talk about what the user gains, so we can make sure the experience meets their expectations."

Facilitate

• For each user, capture the expected outcomes, valuable features, and moments of delight the user can experience.
• Place pains at right to represent what the user wants to move towards.
• What gain is required for the task to be successful?
• What outcomes would make the experience even better for users?
• How might we make the experience even better? What would delight the user?

Finish

Working through these four topics, you've completed the user profile canvas and have a list of user tasks, pains, and gains that you can use to create a user model like a persona.

Tips & Prompts

• Probe for required and expected gains: "What expectations do users have when completing these tasks? What gains are required for them to be successful?"
• Probe for desired gains, outocmes that make the experience better, like icing on a cake.
• Probe for unexpected gains that represent those moments of unexpected delight. Ask, "How might we make the experience even better?"

What to Do Next

Share outputs with participants

Within 24 hours of the session, share a summary with all participants that includes the uxer profile canvas with the lists of tasks+context, pains, gains, and the user's overall goal. This serves as a record of what the group decided and makes it easy for participants to share alignment with stakeholders who weren't in the room.

Use the outputs as a low-fidelity persona

You don't have to go off and make a pretty persona document. The completed user profile canvas acts as a use rmodel you can share with the team and consult whenever you need to tailor the product or system to your users.

Craft a persona document

Though you can document the user model as a persona. If you need a more consumable way to deliver the information in the user profile canvas, craft a persona document.

Use the outputs to explore needs and preferences using a user attribute grid

The data collected for the user profile canvas feeds directly into the user attribute grid. Populate the attribute grid with the tasks, contexts, pains, and gains you identified for your users to kickstart your analysis.

Learn more

The following resources provide more information about using this method.

Facilitation tips and instructions

Austin Govella provides detailed instructions and facilitation tips for the User Profile Canvas in chapter 11 of his book, Collaborative Product Design. You can view chapter 11 online via O’Reilly’s Safari Books.