Week 18 - Pitfalls of Vision, Strategy, and Roadmaps
Quote
“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” – Reid Garrett Hoffman, Entrepreneur
💯 Framework // Concept // Mental Model
Vision, Strategy, and roadmaps are the three main components of any successful product. All three should coexist and should be done in the right way otherwise there are high chances the product would fall apart or would not maximize the value it provides to the customer. Let's see what are the pitfalls of each of these and how not to develop them.
Vision - Purpose
Vision should be timeless and not connected to technology trends, Make it as easy as possible so that every person in the company works towards the mission which would be broken down by individual teams based on their competence and capacity. Make sure the vision is not short-term, Disconnecting vision from time and trends is essential to creating a long-term goal.
Microsoft in 1992 " Putting a PC in every home"
Disney" Make people Happy"
Apollo Program " Put a man on the moon"
Pitfalls
Vision too big and difficult to understand
No Vision
Having a set of features
Employees are not familiar with the vision of the company or the product
Strategy
Strategy gives rise to specific product goals which could be things that must be accomplished over the next year, for example, growing revenue, reducing churn, and improving customer satisfaction. Product strategy is about how to attain the vision.
Pitfalls
Failure to focus
Making it too complex
Developing a wish list
Roadmap
A product roadmap is a plan of action for how a product or solution will evolve over time and I see #Roadmaps falling apart when people start putting concrete dates and treating it as a set of features rather than themes or customer problems.
"Be stubborn on vision, flexible on details" ~ Jeff Bezos
Pitfalls
Roadmap communicates features rather than value
Roadmaps are unrealistic
Roadmaps are static
Roadmaps have no vision or strategy
Principals
Principals on how we build products can be key drivers of building great products.
Think big but start small
Ship to learn
Start from a blank sheet of paper
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