🎯 Week 23 - How to Write and Communicate an Effective Product Vision
Quote
"A product vision is the anchor that keeps a product team working on the right thing. Without a clear vision, teams will wander aimlessly, trying one thing after another without any sense of priority or direction" - Marty Cagan, Silicon Valley Product Group
💯 Framework // Concept // Mental Model
Introduction
A product vision is a long-term view of what you want to achieve with your product. It is a guiding light that helps you make decisions about what features to build, what priorities to set, and what direction to take your product in.
Keep reading to learn more about how to write and communicate an effective product vision!
What is a product vision?
A product vision is a long-term view of what you want to achieve with your product. It should set the direction and define the why, what, and how of the product. The product vision should be customer-centric and should focus on how you can solve your customer’s pain points in a unique and differentiated way.
The vision should also be ambitious and realistic, looking 3-5 years out into the future. The product vision should be created by the product team and should reflect the collective views and opinions of all stakeholders.
It is also important to involve customers in the product vision, as they can provide valuable insights into what they need and how they want to use the product. Once the vision is developed, it should be frequently reviewed and iterated to ensure that it still aligns with customer needs and the needs of the business.
⁉️ Why is a product vision important?
A product vision is a critical part of product management, as it sets the direction for the product and informs all of the decisions that need to be made along the way.
An effective product vision ensures that everyone involved is working towards the same end goal. It is also a great way to motivate the team and keep everyone focused on the big picture.
Having a clear product vision also helps to establish criteria for prioritizing features and deciding which initiatives to pursue.
For example, if you know that the product vision is to solve customer pain points in a unique and differentiated way, then that can inform decisions on which features to prioritize and which ones to deprioritize.
Without a clear product vision, it can be not easy to assess if a particular feature is a right fit for the product and the customer.
🏆 What makes a great product vision?
🎯 Align with companies vision**:** The vision should align with the overall mission and values of the company.
🚀 Aspirational: The vision should be a big and bold idea that aims to challenge the status quo
😎 Customer-focused: The vision should be centered around the needs and wants of the target customers.
✌️ Concise: The vision should be easy to understand and communicate to others
📜 Well-documented: Creating your vision is an important first step, but it's also critical to document it and share it with your product team. Make sure everyone understands the vision and knows how to help make it a reality. Write it down, share it, and make sure everyone on the team is familiar with it.
🗼Inspirational: It should inspire the team to work towards a common goal.
How to write an effective product vision
The process of writing an effective product vision involves understanding the company's mission and values, identifying the target customer, researching the market, defining the problem the product will solve, and formulating a clear, concise, and inspirational vision. Follow the 5-step process mentioned below
Understand the company's mission and values
Understand your target market
Start with the product purpose and define your product's unique value proposition
Formulate the vision
Communicating your product vision
1. Understand the company's mission and values
The product vision should align with the overall mission and values of the company. This will help ensure that the product vision is consistent with the company's overall direction and strategy.
2. Understand your target market
The first step in creating a product vision is to understand your target market. This includes understanding the demographics, pain points, and needs of your target market. It's important to conduct market research to identify the key features and functionality that your target market is looking for in a product. By understanding your target market, you will be able to create a product vision that meets their needs and addresses their pain points.
3. Start with the product purpose and define your product's unique value proposition
Your product's story starts with understanding its purpose. This can be boiled down to three questions:
Why does your product exist?
How will you achieve your why?
What is your product?
Source: https://www.mural.co/blog/product-vision
Once you understand your purpose, the next step is to define your product's unique value proposition (UVP). The UVP is a statement that clearly communicates the unique benefits and value of your product. It should be specific and differentiated from the competition, and should answer the question "Why should someone buy our product?"
In order to create an impactful value proposition, it's important to be specific and collaborate with relevant stakeholders. You might have many reasons for why your product exists, but narrowing it down to the most essential points will help you create a stronger value proposition.
For example, consider you are building a new productivity app for working professionals that allows them to easily manage their tasks and projects in one place. The UVP for this app could be: "Our app helps busy professionals streamline their work and increase productivity by consolidating task management, project management, and collaboration tools into one intuitive platform."
4. Formulate the vision
With these resources in hand, your team can define your product vision. You can use this simple, concise format to tell a compelling product story that resonates with your audience.
There's no one-size-fits-all format for a product vision, but there are tried-and-true templates you can use as a jumping-off point.
Here are some examples of the templates
We believe (in) a [noun: world, time, state, etc.] where [persona] can [verb: do, make, offer, etc.], for/by/with [benefit/goal].
To [verb: empower, unlock, enable, create, etc.] [persona] to [benefit, goal, future state].
Our vision is to [verb: build, design, provide], the [goal, future state], to [verb: help, enable, make it easier to...] [persona].
Lets take the same example of the previous step
The vision statement could be something like
“Empower busy professionals to be more productive through intuitive platforms”
Here are some examples of product vision
Microsoft in 1992 " Putting a PC in every home"
Disney" Make people Happy"
Apollo Program " Put a man on the moon"
5. Communicating your product vision
Once your product vision is established, it’s time to communicate it with the rest of your team. It is important that everyone is on the same page in order to ensure that the product is successful.
The product vision should be communicated in a way that resonates with the team and motivates them to take action. It should be easy to understand and include key points such as customer needs, goals, and objectives.
It is also important to articulate how the product vision supports the company’s overall mission and why it’s important to achieve it.
Conclusion
By following these steps, you can create a clear and effective product vision that will guide the development of your product and help ensure its success.
It's also important to note that a product vision is not a static document, but should be continuously reviewed and updated as needed. As you gather feedback from your target market, or as your product evolves, you may need to adjust your vision to align with changing needs or goals.
Source
📚 Book
Strategize: Product Strategy and Product Roadmap Practices for the Digital Age
🎧 Youtube
😎 Meme
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