Product Vision 101
How to set a product vision that guides teams instead of being forgotten
Do you know what you’re fighting for?
Can you picture what success looks like?
Can team members say no to what distracts them from landing where they envision?
If you struggle to answer yes to the above questions, you probably lack a compelling product vision. No worries, you’re not alone. Most teams I worked with had no product vision or something nobody cared about.
Let’s take this episode of Untrapping Product Teams to walk you out of this trap. Here’s what you can expect from this episode:
Free: Overview of product vision (5 minutes reading)
Premium: In-depth understanding of how to deploy a product vision that matters (15 minutes reading)
Let’s rock it!
Why Should You Bother About a Product Vision?
What’s your definition of Product Vision? Let’s take a few definitions:
ProductPlan: A product vision, or product vision statement, describes the overarching long-term mission of your product. Vision statements are aspirational and communicate concisely where the product hopes to go and what it hopes to achieve in the long term.
Scrum: The Product Vision describes the purpose of a Product. A good Product Vision expresses the value the product should deliver and to whom that value is delivered. It is effective when people connect with the vision emotionally and practically. When a Product Vision is both aspirational and actionable, it inspires creativity within the Scrum Team, allowing them to collaboratively work with Stakeholders on how they might work toward the vision.
Both above have similarities and show the importance of a product vision, but they don’t tell you how to create.
My take on product vision is simple: Teams can collaborate more smoothly with a compelling vision. Without it, they will invest more time than necessary discussing what to work on instead of working on something that matters.
The question is, how should you craft a valuable vision?
Let me try simplifying it for you.
Product Vision Key Attributes
A few attributes must be present in whatever format you choose to create your product vision. Here they are:
🎯 Customer-focused: Describe how your product meets the needs and delights your customers.
🔮 Future: Envision the future state your product aspires to achieve.
🚀 Differentiation: Define what sets your product apart from others.
🌟 Ambition: Express the impact and success your product aims for.
The above helps you craft a product vision with the necessary attributes to enable teams to focus on what truly matters. If one of the above is absent, teams will quickly derail.
The format you use for your product vision isn’t the most important. What truly matters is establishing the alignment with everyone involved to craft a compelling vision.
I like using a variation of Geoffrey Moore’s pitch elevator from his book “Crossing the Chasm.” The reason I like it is because it’s simple and direct. Here’s what it looks like:
For target customer who statement of need or opportunity, the product name is a product category that key benefit, reason to buy. Unlike primary competitive alternative) our product statement of primary differentiation.
Let’s take Microsoft Surface as an example.
For the business user who needs to be productive in the office and on the go, the Surface is a convertible tablet that is easy to carry and gives you full computing productivity no matter where you are. Unlike laptops, Surface serves your on-the-go needs without carrying an extra device.
This template has the required elements to provide guidance, but it’s still considerably long and grasps the core.
My tip is to leave only the punch line of it because that’s memorable. For example: “The Surface is a convertible tablet that is easy to carry and gives you full computing productivity no matter where you are.” With this, you can make decisions during your day and connect your activities to getting you closer to the product vision, and whatever distracts you from it, you can drop it.
I have prepared two templates to simplify how you create it. They are free, and you can immediately use them for your benefit:
Crafting a Product Vision
The product vision isn’t about the statement of your craft but the clarity on where you want to land. That’s significant work. Let me help you with a few steps to get there.
Exchange with high-level management or the product sponsor and strive to understand their vision and the why. Show curiosity and learn what matters to them as much as possible.
Talk to customers and observe how the product helps them. If it’s B2B, understand why they chose your product over the competition.
Look at the available options in the market and clarify what makes yours unique.
Come up with a draft and invite key business stakeholders to sharpen it with you.
Iterate a couple of times, but not more than that.
Now let’s take each step and dig into them:
1. Exchange with high-level management
Many times in my career, I noticed the vision existed but wasn’t transported to everyone. In start-ups and scale-ups, the founders often know where they want to land but do not communicate that properly and frequently enough. That’s a bit harder in bigger organizations, but we will address it.