user-personas▌
phuryn/pm-skills · updated Apr 8, 2026
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Create detailed, actionable user personas from research data that capture the true diversity of your user base. This skill generates research-backed personas with jobs-to-be-done, pain points, desired outcomes, and unexpected behavioral insights to guide product decisions.
User Personas
Purpose
Create detailed, actionable user personas from research data that capture the true diversity of your user base. This skill generates research-backed personas with jobs-to-be-done, pain points, desired outcomes, and unexpected behavioral insights to guide product decisions.
Instructions
You are an experienced product researcher specializing in persona development and user research synthesis.
Input
Your task is to create 3 refined user personas for $ARGUMENTS.
If the user provides CSV, Excel, survey responses, interview transcripts, or other research data files, read and analyze them directly using available tools. Extract key patterns, demographics, motivations, and behaviors.
Analysis Steps (Think Step by Step)
- Data Collection: Read and review all provided research data and documents
- Pattern Recognition: Identify recurring characteristics, goals, pain points, and behaviors across users
- Segmentation: Group similar users into distinct personas based on shared motivations and jobs-to-be-done
- Enrichment: For each persona, synthesize data into a coherent profile
- Validation: Cross-reference insights to ensure personas are grounded in actual research findings
Output Structure
For each of the 3 personas, provide:
Persona Name & Demographics
- Age range, role/title, company size (if B2B), key characteristics
Primary Job-to-be-Done
- The core outcome the persona is trying to achieve
- Context and frequency of the job
Top 3 Pain Points
- Specific challenges or obstacles preventing job completion
- Impact and severity of each pain
Top 3 Desired Gains
- Benefits, outcomes, or solutions the persona seeks
- How they measure success
One Unexpected Insight
- A counterintuitive behavioral pattern or motivation derived from the data
- Why this matters for product decisions
Product Fit Assessment
- How $ARGUMENTS addresses (or could address) this persona's needs
- Potential friction points or unmet needs
Best Practices
- Ground all insights in actual data; avoid assumptions
- Use direct quotes from research when available
- Identify behavioral patterns, not just demographic categories
- Make personas distinct and non-overlapping where possible
- Flag any data gaps or areas requiring additional research
Further Reading
How to use user-personas on Cursor
AI-first code editor with Composer
Prerequisites
Before installing skills in Cursor, ensure your development environment meets these requirements:
- ›Cursor installed and configured on your development machine
- ›Node.js version 16.0+ with npm package manager (verify with
node --version) - ›Active project directory or workspace where you want to add user-personas
Execute installation command
Execute the skills CLI command in your project's root directory to begin installation:
The skills CLI fetches user-personas from GitHub repository phuryn/pm-skills and configures it for Cursor.
Select Cursor when prompted
The CLI will show a list of available agents. Use arrow keys to navigate and space to select Cursor:
Verify installation
Confirm successful installation by checking the skill directory location:
Reload or restart Cursor to activate user-personas. Access the skill through slash commands (e.g., /user-personas) or your agent's skill management interface.
Security & Verification Notice
We perform automated surface-level scans (Gen AI Scanner, Socket, Snyk) during installation. These checks detect common vulnerabilities but do not guarantee complete security. Always review skill source code and verify the publisher's reputation before production use.
Skills execute code in your development environment. Always verify the publisher's identity, review recent commits, and test in isolated environments before production deployment.
List & Monetize Your Skill
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Use Cases▌
User Story & Requirements Generation
Create detailed user stories, acceptance criteria, and feature specs
Example
Generate user stories for 'password reset feature' with acceptance criteria, edge cases, and test scenarios
Reduce spec writing time by 50%, ensure comprehensive coverage
Competitive Analysis
Research competitors, compare features, identify gaps
Example
Analyze 5 competitor products, create feature comparison matrix, suggest differentiation opportunities
Complete competitive research in 2 hours instead of 2 days
Roadmap Prioritization
Evaluate features using frameworks (RICE, ICE, Kano) and create prioritized backlogs
Example
Score 20 feature ideas using RICE framework, generate prioritized roadmap with rationale
Make data-driven prioritization decisions faster
Stakeholder Communication
Draft PRDs, status updates, and stakeholder presentations
Example
Create executive summary of Q3 roadmap, monthly progress report, feature launch announcement
Save 3-5 hours/week on communication overhead
Implementation Guide▌
Prerequisites
- ›Claude Desktop or compatible AI client
- ›Access to product documentation and roadmap tools (Jira, Notion, etc.)
- ›Understanding of product management frameworks (RICE, Jobs-to-be-Done, etc.)
- ›Stakeholder contact information and communication channels
Time Estimate
30-60 minutes to see productivity improvements
Installation Steps
- 1.Install product management skill
- 2.Start with user story generation for known feature
- 3.Progress to competitive analysis: research 2-3 competitors
- 4.Use for roadmap prioritization: apply RICE/ICE scoring
- 5.Draft stakeholder communications and refine based on feedback
- 6.Build template library for recurring PM tasks
- 7.Share effective prompts with product team
Common Pitfalls
- ⚠Not validating competitive research—verify facts before sharing
- ⚠Accepting user stories without involving engineering team
- ⚠Over-relying on frameworks without qualitative judgment
- ⚠Not customizing outputs to company culture and communication style
- ⚠Skipping stakeholder validation of generated requirements
Best Practices▌
✓ Do
- +Validate research and competitive analysis with real data
- +Collaborate with engineering when generating technical requirements
- +Customize frameworks and templates to your company context
- +Use skill for first drafts, refine with stakeholder input
- +Document successful prompt patterns for PM tasks
- +Combine AI efficiency with human judgment and intuition
✗ Don't
- −Don't publish competitive analysis without fact-checking
- −Don't finalize user stories without engineering review
- −Don't make prioritization decisions solely on AI scoring
- −Don't skip customer validation of generated requirements
- −Don't ignore company-specific context and culture
💡 Pro Tips
- ★Provide context: company goals, constraints, customer feedback
- ★Ask for alternatives: 'Show 3 ways to prioritize this roadmap'
- ★Request stakeholder-specific formatting: 'Executive summary vs. engineering spec'
- ★Use skill for 70% generation + 30% customization to company needs
When to Use This▌
✓ Use When
Use for user story writing, competitive research, roadmap prioritization, stakeholder communication, and PRD drafting. Best for reducing repetitive documentation and research work.
✗ Avoid When
Avoid for strategic product vision (requires deep customer empathy), pricing decisions (needs market and financial expertise), or when face-to-face customer discovery is more valuable than speed.
Learning Path▌
- 1Basic: user stories, feature specs, status updates
- 2Intermediate: competitive analysis, prioritization frameworks, PRDs
- 3Advanced: product strategy, go-to-market planning, OKR setting
- 4Expert: product vision, market positioning, business model innovation
Discussion
Product Hunt–style comments (not star reviews)- No comments yet — start the thread.
Ratings
4.5★★★★★71 reviews- ★★★★★Anaya Khanna· Dec 28, 2024
We added user-personas from the explainx registry; install was straightforward and the SKILL.md answered most questions upfront.
- ★★★★★Ganesh Mohane· Dec 20, 2024
user-personas has been reliable in day-to-day use. Documentation quality is above average for community skills.
- ★★★★★Kwame Sharma· Dec 16, 2024
We added user-personas from the explainx registry; install was straightforward and the SKILL.md answered most questions upfront.
- ★★★★★Yusuf Abebe· Dec 12, 2024
Keeps context tight: user-personas is the kind of skill you can hand to a new teammate without a long onboarding doc.
- ★★★★★Anaya Tandon· Nov 19, 2024
user-personas fits our agent workflows well — practical, well scoped, and easy to wire into existing repos.
- ★★★★★Anaya Verma· Nov 15, 2024
user-personas reduced setup friction for our internal harness; good balance of opinion and flexibility.
- ★★★★★Rahul Santra· Nov 11, 2024
Keeps context tight: user-personas is the kind of skill you can hand to a new teammate without a long onboarding doc.
- ★★★★★Benjamin Ramirez· Nov 7, 2024
user-personas fits our agent workflows well — practical, well scoped, and easy to wire into existing repos.
- ★★★★★Anika Chen· Nov 7, 2024
user-personas is among the better-maintained entries we tried; worth keeping pinned for repeat workflows.
- ★★★★★Anika Malhotra· Nov 3, 2024
user-personas has been reliable in day-to-day use. Documentation quality is above average for community skills.
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