Stranger than Fiction
So I went to see Stranger than Fiction, which is of course wonderful. I particularly enjoyed the scene in which Harold Crick, a fictional character, meets his author. The look on Emma Thompson's face is perfect as she beholds her creation in real life, commenting on his hair and his eyes. What was previously an abstraction is now solidly real and standing in front of her.
Sound familiar? I am sufficiently geeky that I thought about personas, of course. Unless we bring our users to life in a way that is detailed and memorable and physical, they almost always remain a distant abstraction. Find someone to role-play a persona during a meeting. Hire an actor to be a persona willing to be interviewed by the team - or better yet, pay a real customer to do so. Send email messages to the team from your personas. Find the best ways to make your users come to life, and then make them real.