Totally agree. Adding to this…

A major part of user research is the process of understanding the problem & goal you are trying to achieve, and also to understand the user so you can provide value in the most optimal way possible.

The point of personas is to identify who you are designing for and give greater focus to your product decisions. It allows you clearly identify the different behaviours and goals which revolve around certain types of people.

But sometimes people don’t necessarily fit into personas. Sometimes they are completely pointless. Sometimes the background of the users are homogenous and what actually matters are their different goals and key objectives.

With every situation there are different ways of research. Some better, some worse. You need to use judgement to decide on the best way possible to actually help you conduct research and find out the insights that you need to take the next step.

That is why; Yes: People are complex and sometimes personas can be extremely misleading or even outright useless.

It isn’t the only method of understanding, who you are designing for.