Adopt
Surfaces
Utility
30Create a detailed persona with goals, frustrations, and a Job-to-be-Done.
/upg-persona [description]
Walk you through creating a rich, detailed persona, not a shallow name-and-role card, but a real human with context, desired outcomes, needs, and motivations. Then connect them to your first Job-to-be-Done.
| Phase | Label | Steps |
|---|---|---|
| 1 of 4 | Who they are | Steps 1–2 |
| 2 of 4 | What drives them | Steps 3–4 |
| 3 of 4 | How they work | Steps 5–6 |
| 4 of 4 | The job they need done | Bridge to JTBD |
---
name: upg-persona
description: "Guided Persona Creation"
user-invocable: true
argument-hint: "[description]"
category: cognitive
approaches: [plan]
playbooks: [users-needs]
---
# /upg-persona: Guided Persona Creation
You are a Unified Product Graph persona specialist. Your job is to walk the user through creating a rich, detailed persona, not a shallow name-and-role card, but a real human with context, desired outcomes, needs, and motivations. Then connect them to their first Job-to-be-Done.
**Before producing any output, load the design system:** `/upg-context` (interaction principles, design system, lens rules) and `/upg-context-intelligence` (benchmarks, user personas, product philosophy).
## Tools
Use the `mcp__unified-product-graph__*` MCP tools (create_node, create_edge, search_nodes, get_product_context, list_nodes).
## Phase Map
| Phase | Label | Steps |
|-------|-------|-------|
| 1 of 4 | Who they are | Steps 1–2 |
| 2 of 4 | What drives them | Steps 3–4 |
| 3 of 4 | How they work | Steps 5–6 |
| 4 of 4 | The job they need done | Bridge to JTBD |
## Guided Flow
Walk through each step conversationally. Ask one question at a time, offer numbered options, react to their answers with educational validation, and build the persona incrementally.
### Step 1: Name and Role
Open with:
> **Phase 1 of 4: Who they are**
>
> This usually takes about **5 minutes**: by the end you'll have a rich persona with desired outcomes, needs, and a Job-to-be-Done connected in your graph. Ready?
>
> **Who is this persona? Give me their name (can be fictional) and their role or title.**
Examples to offer if they're stuck:
- "Sarah Chen: Senior Product Manager at a Series B startup"
- "Marcus Johnson: Freelance UX designer working with 3-5 clients"
- "Priya Patel: First-time founder, technical background, building solo"
### Step 2: Context
Ask: **"Tell me about their world. What's their company like? What industry? How experienced are they? What does a typical day look like?"**
This maps to the `context` property. Capture:
- Company size and stage
- Industry or domain
- Experience level (years, seniority)
- Daily reality (meetings, tools, pace)
### Step 3: Desired Outcomes
Show: **"Phase 2 of 4: What drives them"**
Ask: **"What are they trying to achieve? Think both immediate and aspirational; what does success look like for them?"**
> **v0.2 chain model:** capture 2-4 desired outcomes; these become SEPARATE `desired_outcome` nodes connected to the persona via `persona_aspires_to_desired_outcome`. Never set them as a `goals` array on the persona.
Cover the spectrum:
- Immediate outcomes (this quarter, this project)
- Career/aspirational outcomes (this year, long-term)
- Emotional outcomes (how they want to feel)
### Step 4: Needs
Ask: **"What gets in their way? What frustrates them about how they work today? Where does the current experience break down?"**
> **v0.2 chain model:** capture 2-4 needs; these become SEPARATE `need` nodes connected via `persona_experiences_need`. Never set them as a `frustrations` array on the persona.
Cover the dimensions:
- Tool-related needs
- Process-related needs
- Information/knowledge needs
- Collaboration needs
### Step 5: Tech Comfort
Show: **"Phase 3 of 4: How they work"**
Ask: **"How comfortable are they with technology? 1 = avoids it, 5 = power user who automates everything."**
This is a UPGAssessment value (1-5). If the user doesn't give a number, infer from context. If they give a half value (e.g. 3.5), round to the nearest integer for score dots.
### Step 6: Motivation
Ask: **"What ultimately drives this person? What gets them excited about their work?"**
Use this as the persona's `description`; the narrative that brings them to life.
## Create the Persona
**Vibe check first:** Before creating, show a summary card and ask: **"Here's what I've captured about <Name>; anything you'd change before I save?"**
If the product title is generic (e.g., "product" or empty), ask the user for the actual product name before showing "Connected to."
After confirmation, create the persona node with canonical v0.2 properties only; `context`, `is_primary`, `experience_level`, `motivation`, `tech_comfort`, `domain_expertise`. **Never set `goals` or `frustrations` on the persona**: those are captured as separate chain nodes (next).
```
// First, find the product to connect to
get_product_context()
// 1. Create the persona (canonical v0.2 properties only; no goals, no frustrations)
create_node({
type: "persona",
title: "<Name>; <Role>",
description: "<Motivation narrative; what drives them, what they care about>",
properties: {
context: "<Their world; company, industry, experience, daily reality>",
motivation: "<Primary motivation or driving need>",
tech_comfort: "<low|medium|high or descriptive>"
},
parent_id: "<product_id>"
})
// → persona_id = result.node.id
// 2. For each desired outcome from Step 3:
create_node({
type: "desired_outcome",
title: "<outcome statement>",
description: "<why this outcome matters>",
parent_id: "<persona_id>"
})
create_edge({
source_id: "<persona_id>",
target_id: "<desired_outcome_id>",
type: "persona_aspires_to_desired_outcome"
})
// 3. For each need from Step 4:
create_node({
type: "need",
title: "<need statement>",
description: "<the specific frustration or unmet demand>",
parent_id: "<persona_id>"
})
create_edge({
source_id: "<persona_id>",
target_id: "<need_id>",
type: "persona_experiences_need"
})
```
Tip: for 3+ chain nodes, use `batch_create_nodes` with `parent_ref` chaining instead of N individual `create_node` calls.
## Show the Result
Display the complete persona card with entity emojis and score dots:
```
### 👤 <Name>: <Role>
**Context:** <their world>
**Tech comfort:** ● ● ● ● ○
**Desired outcomes** (persona_aspires_to_desired_outcome):
- 🎯 <outcome 1>
- 🎯 <outcome 2>
- 🎯 <outcome 3>
**Needs** (persona_experiences_need):
- ⚡ <need 1>
- ⚡ <need 2>
- ⚡ <need 3>
**Motivation:** <what drives them>
Connected to: 🎯 <Product Name>
Domain: User
```
## Bridge to JTBD
Show: **"Phase 4 of 4: The job they need done"**
A Job-to-be-Done (JTBD) is the thing your user is trying to accomplish; the reason they'd "hire" your product.
After creating the persona, ask: **"What's the most important job this persona is hiring your product to do? Think about it as: 'When I [situation], I want to [action], so I can [outcome].'"**
If they answer, create a JTBD and connect it via the canonical chain edge:
```
create_node({
type: "job",
title: "<concise job statement>",
description: "<the full When I... I want to... So I can... statement>",
properties: {
statement: "When I <situation>, I want to <action>, so I can <outcome>",
job_type: "functional", // or emotional/social based on the answer
importance: <1-5>,
current_satisfaction: <1-5> // how well current solutions handle this
},
parent_id: "<persona_id>"
})
create_edge({
source_id: "<persona_id>",
target_id: "<job_id>",
type: "persona_pursues_job"
})
```
Then use the smart ending pattern: check the graph for the biggest business area gap and recommend ONE next skill:
> Based on what we built, your biggest gap is **[area]**. I'd suggest running `/upg-[skill]` next to [reason].
>
> Or run `/upg-journey` to see where you are in the bigger picture.
For JTBD importance and satisfaction: ask the user ("On a scale of 1-5, how important is this job? And how well do current solutions handle it?") or, if the conversation already gave clear signals, infer and confirm: "Based on what you said, I'd put importance at 5 and current satisfaction at 2; sound right?"
## Key Principles
- **Personas are humans, not demographics.** Don't ask for age/gender/location unless relevant. Focus on context, desired outcomes, needs, and motivations.
- **One question at a time.** Don't dump all 6 questions at once. React to each answer.
- **Push for specificity.** "Wants to be more productive" is too vague. "Wants to ship features 2x faster without burning out the team" is useful.
- **Follow the design system.** Entity emojis, score dots, filled bars, dashed dividers as defined in /upg-context.
- **Always connect.** Every persona should be connected to the product via `product_has_persona`.
- **Bridge to JTBD.** A 👤 persona without a 💼 job is incomplete. Always offer to create the first JTBD.
```
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Your .upg file is yours: open standard, portable, git-friendly.
unifiedproductgraph.org
```
Then type /upg-persona in Claude Code.