Technical writing audience Persona Michail

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Michail Seremenko

Background

• age: 35
• Geography: Moscow, suburbs
• Languages:
  • Russian
  • English
    • learned through study/courses
    • strong reading skills - upper intermediate
    • speaking/listening skills - intermediate
    • strong technical vocabulary
• Education:
  • BS - MSU
  • BA - Computer Science - Lenmanov
• Family:
  • Wife (of 6 years) - 35 - Olga
  • Son - 5 - Ivan
• Stomach problems related to coffee, cigarette, alcohol intake. Treats with Zantac.

Role & Tasks

• Operator - MGS
  • monitors
  • reacts to alarms
  • bugs tasks --> sends bugs

• Works as part of a team of 3 with Sergei & Igor
  • Sergei: his arch nemesis. Is always stealing his pens. He, in turn, is always closing the elevator door on him.
  • Igor: his work buddy. They have lunch daily in the canteen; also go out for vodka after work. Thus, the Zantac.

Daily activities

• reads emails
• monitoring
• troubleshooting
• parameter adjustment
• reads documents
• calls TAC when necessary

Environment

desk

• hot desking - completely unpersonalized
• PC - technical - no internet - runs XP
• phone

wider environment

• white board/cork board on wall
• dirty industrial carpet with bugs. Has not been cleaned for at least half a decade.
• coffee tea available. No food allowed.
• open floor plan
• cigarettes must be smoked outside (in the cold)

co-workers

• boss: people person. works 9-5. no technical experience
• all male environment
• no secretary/assistant
• no visitors allowed

scheduling

• 1 day on, two days off
  • as a result, Michail generally feels sleepy, often can't read documents properly. Often "rests" on the job.

Relationship to Product/Documentation

Likes

• chunks of information/searching
• fast/obvious
• steps to fix things
• Russian language (with English)

Dislikes

• paper versions (soporific)
• things that are slow, lengthy
• discussion
• ENG - it makes him feel dumb
• changes, surprises
• outdated documentation

He will always call TAC first. Then try the CD help file, because it is easier to access small specific chunks of information. When absolutely necessary, as a last resort (or as a pillow) he will attempt the paper version.

Interests (in no particular order)

• dog, "Larka," collie
• reading SciFi, In Russian
• action movies
• playing video games on his PC
• going to the gym
• porno
• his girlfriend

sports

• watches TV at the pub
• impulsively & drunkenly bets on his favorite teams
• cries when he loses

hobbies

• working on his car
• listening to English music - Moby in particular
• drinking vodka and beer
• drinking vodka and beer while smoking
• eating sweets

goals

work

• make Sergei look bad
• avoid too much work
• avoid surprises at work
• get better hours, an easier job
• earn more money
• gain more prestige, but avoid management responsibilities
• work efficiently, then relax
• be indispensable, important, irreplaceable
• appear to be an expert

general

• not looking/feeling stupid
• have power (but not necessarily responsibility)
• move to the center/have a bigger flat/better furniture
• have a better car
• increased social status
• have good food at home
• Likes éntrees better than the main course