When I read “If Chins could Kill” by Bruce Campbell, one of the things I found out was his lust for Red Food Coloring and Karo Syrup. It’s in several of the chapters and is a great metaphor for simulating those things that are too distasteful to actually work with in real life.
Architecture is a lot like that. I was on a conference call with a group internally that was discussing personas – you’ve seen them. This is where the infamous Mort and Elvis come from. We like to simulate people and classify them a lot. But the truth is, each person defies the models and molds. Each of us doesn’t quite fit the stereotypes that we come up with. So remember that the next time you create your next architecture on the 70/20/10 rule and the persona model. Think of your users, not just the people you want your users to be.
