---
name: pressure-test-personas
description: Use to validate a feature against real users — build a persona dossier and walk that specific person through the journey to find where it breaks for THEM.
---
# Pressure-test the personas

A persona you invented or never tested against the work is **decoration**. Build real dossiers (see
`knowledge/persona-dossier-format.md`), then **walk the actual person through this initiative's
journey** and find where it breaks — for *this* person, not an average user. Re-run when the shape
shifts.

- Distinguish the **ICP** (the market you're for) from a **persona** (a concrete person in it). A
  persona outside the ICP means the ICP or the persona is wrong.
- Be honest about evidence: before real users a persona is a *hypothesis* grounded in the founder's
  knowledge — label it, and let the first real users correct it.
- The acceptance lens it implies: *"where would THIS person get stuck or churn?"* — not "do the parts
  function?"