Creating a Product Vision
Creating a product vision involves defining a long-term goal for the product that aligns with the overall business strategy and addresses the needs and expectations of the target market. It serves as a guiding star for all product development efforts, providing a clear direction and purpose.
Purpose
The purpose of a product vision is to inspire and align the development team and stakeholders around a common goal, ensuring that every effort contributes to a coherent end result that delivers value to both the business and its customers.
- Alignment: Ensures that every member of the team understands the ultimate goal of the product and how their work contributes to achieving it.
- Motivation: Inspires the team and stakeholders by providing a clear and compelling picture of the future.
- Guidance: Offers a reference point for making strategic decisions and prioritising features or initiatives.
- Recruitment: Attracts top talent by showcasing an exciting and ambitious vision for the product.
Context
Industry Context
A lot of products are a collection of features rather than a coherent solution to a customer problem. This is because features come from a range of different stakeholders, who have different perspectives and priorities. The impact of this is that the product is often complicated to use and does not deliver a clear value proposition to the customer.
ZeroBlockers Context
Product Teams do not build the product or even define the features to be built. They set the direction and outcomes, which are then executed by Stream Teams. Therefore the product vision is essential for aligning the efforts of multiple Stream Teams and ensuring that they are all working towards a common goal.
Methods
| Method | Description | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Journey Mapping | Map the customer journey to identify customer needs and pain points. This is critical because your product vision needs to be customer-centric rather than business-centric. | Informs the vision by ensuring it focuses on delivering value to the customer. |
| Crafting the Product Vision | Collaboratively define the product vision with input from key stakeholders, ensuring alignment with business goals and customer needs. | Ensures buy-in and alignment across the organisation. |
Anti-patterns
- Vision by Committee: Diluting the product vision by trying to accommodate too many perspectives, resulting in a lack of clarity and focus.
- Internally Focused Vision: A vision that solely focuses on internal features or technical aspects overlooks the customer value proposition.
- Misalignment with Business Goals: Developing a product vision that is not aligned with the broader business objectives, risking strategic dissonance.
