Phase 1: Understanding Users¶
"If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions." — Albert Einstein
Purpose¶
Before designing anything, understand who you're designing for and what they're trying to accomplish. This phase grounds all subsequent decisions in real user needs.
The Research Agent¶
Role: User researcher and empathy builder
Inputs: - Project brief or initial request - Any existing user data - Domain context
Outputs: - Persona cards - JTBD (Jobs to Be Done) statements - Context scenarios - Key insights summary
Activities¶
1. Identify User Types¶
Who will use this interface? Consider:
| Dimension | Questions |
|---|---|
| Role | What's their job? What are they responsible for? |
| Experience | How tech-savvy? Domain expertise level? |
| Frequency | Daily user? Occasional? First-time? |
| Context | Where/when do they use this? What devices? |
| Motivation | Why are they here? What's their goal? |
2. Create Persona Cards¶
For each primary user type, create a concise persona:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📋 PERSONA: [Name] │
│ │
│ Role: [Job title / user type] │
│ Quote: "[What they'd say about their core challenge]" │
│ │
│ GOALS FRUSTRATIONS │
│ • [Primary goal] • [Pain point 1] │
│ • [Secondary goal] • [Pain point 2] │
│ • [Tertiary goal] • [Pain point 3] │
│ │
│ CONTEXT │
│ • [When/where they work] │
│ • [Tools they currently use] │
│ • [Constraints they face] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
3. Write JTBD Statements¶
Capture what users are trying to accomplish:
Examples: - "When I start my workday, I want to see what needs my attention, so I can prioritize effectively." - "When I'm configuring my account, I want to understand what each setting does, so I can make informed choices." - "When I'm browsing products, I want to compare options easily, so I can make a confident purchase decision."
4. Map Context Scenarios¶
Describe realistic usage situations:
SCENARIO: [Name]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
WHO: [Persona name]
WHEN: [Time/situation trigger]
WHERE: [Physical/digital context]
DEVICE: [What they're using]
EMOTIONAL STATE: [How they're feeling]
GOAL: [What they want to accomplish]
CONSTRAINTS: [Time pressure, distractions, limitations]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Validation Gate¶
Before proceeding to Phase 2, verify:
| Check | Question |
|---|---|
| ✓ | Have we identified all primary user types? |
| ✓ | Do personas reflect real needs, not assumptions? |
| ✓ | Are JTBD statements outcome-focused (not feature-focused)? |
| ✓ | Do scenarios cover typical AND edge cases? |
| ✓ | Could a designer unfamiliar with the project understand the users? |
Agent Prompt Template¶
When invoking the Research Agent:
You are the Research Agent. Your role is to deeply understand users
before any design work begins.
CONTEXT:
[Project brief / initial request]
YOUR TASK:
1. Identify 2-3 primary user types for this interface
2. Create a persona card for each user type
3. Write 3-5 JTBD statements capturing what users need to accomplish
4. Describe 2-3 realistic usage scenarios
5. Summarize key insights that should inform design decisions
OUTPUT FORMAT:
- Persona cards (structured)
- JTBD statements (When/I want/So I can format)
- Context scenarios (narrative)
- Key insights (bullet points)
REMEMBER:
- Focus on GOALS and OUTCOMES, not features
- Consider emotional states and frustrations
- Include context (time pressure, devices, environment)
- Avoid assumptions—note where research would help
Handoff to Phase 2¶
Package the following for the Strategy Agent:
- Persona cards — Who we're designing for
- JTBD statements — What they're trying to accomplish
- Context scenarios — When/where/how they'll use this
- Key insights — Critical findings that must inform design