Product roadmaps are frequently driven by senior leadership rather than user needs. Personas often oversimplify complex human behavior into optimistic stereotypes that mislead product decisions. Real users should be recruited to represent key segments and serve as decision touchstones. Designing must accept imperfect behavior and meet people where they are, such as users who skip workouts or forget to log meals. Prioritizing empathy over assumptions and perfection yields features that support motivation, emotional regulation, and long-term habits. Practical user-centric design reduces reliance on idealized flows and improves product adoption.
Product strategy is often shaped by people who don't use the product. According to the 2025 State of Product Management Report, 31% of product professionals say their roadmap is driven mostly by senior leadership. And while those voices matter, they often overshadow the user. As a product company, we used to assume people would always show up as their best selves and follow every feature flow as intended. Trial and error taught us to stop building for ideal behavior.
Personas are meant to make product decisions easier. In reality, they often do more harm than good by oversimplifying messy humans into tidy stereotypes. If "Emily the marketer" never skips a workout and welcomes every new feature because she loves change, then our product roadmap looks promising. The real Emily, though, is busy and unmotivated. She's skeptical, too, because she's been pitched self-improvement from every screen she looks at.
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