When writing these personas for the Tsunami profile I wanted to highlight a few key constituents of "Drupal the product" as it stands today. As much as Drupal is perceived a tool for developers the silent majority of Drupal users are end users. End users are those who consume Drupal: web editors, bloggers, some one creating an account on a Drupal site, the non-profit installing Drupal in a day and so on. When end users choose Drupal they do so because of its strong social features. They also know that Drupal is powerful and flexible, future proofing their site.
We need to look at how we are meeting the needs of these users to pinpoint where improvement is needed. A product should try and anticipate the needs of its audience. Thinking pragmatically, Drupal core already has module such as forum, blog, tracker and aggregator so meeting the needs of a typical community site is an achievable goal.
Other personas are also included. Test driving a pre-configured product should make a positive impression on a first time site builder, showcasing what Drupal can do. This would be a positive outcome but is mostly a byproduct of focusing on end users. We also need to take into account seasoned developers and the diverse use cases of "Drupal the framework". These users will not use Tsunami. The primary concern here will be ensuring that any changes to Drupal core to facilitate Tsunami does not negatively impact other use cases.
Personas
This is a first draft (and a wiki): feedback and changes are encouraged!
Tom, Site builder
Tom works for a non-profit with limited resources. He tends to wear many hats, one of which includes creating the organization's website and managing its online presence. He installed Drupal on the recommendation of a friend. It is important to Tom that he can get going quickly with features such as blogging, news updates and an information request form. Over time Mark see's his organization wanting to expand its website, adding online community features and a way to donate online.
Suzy, Content editor, web admin
Suzy is the editor of "Ponies Daily", an online magazine built on Drupal. She logs in daily to create new content, moderate comments and forum discussions. She also tweets and want's to bring these tweets back into the site. From time to time Suzy change site settings such and administers user accounts. Suzy's magazine has guest bloggers who have permission to post blog posts and news but who can not edit other people's posts or change system configuration. While Suzy is a web native, she doesn't want to be bothered with HTML. She would like an easy way to format content and insert photos and YouTube videos into her blog posts. It is essential that these features are available to her guest bloggers.
It is important to Suzy that Drupal is easy to use but is still powerful enough to support an active community and a lightweight editorial workflow. She doesn't actively try to optimise her site for SEO but she does want her content to rank highly if it is relevant.
Martin, End user logging into community site
Martin loves Ponies and logs into "Ponies Daily". He wants a site that is quick to load and is user friendly. He has registered for an account so that he can participate in the forums. As one of the more active community members Martin is considering applying to be a forum moderator or a contributor to the blog. He also thinks Pony Daily should add a photo gallery feature where user's can upload and comment on photos of each-other's ponies.
Tarun, Web developer new to Drupal
Tarun works for a web agency and is working on his first Drupal project. He's heard that Drupal has a steep learning curve but in the end it is worth the trouble. Tarun downloaded Drupal for the first time and installed the standard profile (it was the recommended default). He's started to look at the source code and configuration to see how standard is built. Since he's looking at Drupal core Tarun assumes that the standard profile follows best practices within the Drupal community. He's now started to download additional modules to extend Drupal to meet his client's needs.
Jane, Experienced Drupal developer (anti-persona)
Jane works for a large development shop. She typically work with a team of 5 or more on websites for government agencies and major brands. Jane build sites based on wireframes created by the team's information architect and the recommendations of a user experience consultant. The team cares about small details; they don't want Drupal to make decisions for them. The development team starts from scratch with the expert profile or develops project specific installation profiles. The sites that Jane builds regularly have over a million visitors per a week and can experience spikes of traffic well beyond that. It is important to Jane that Drupal is as performant as possible and has solid, consistent APIs.