What is a Product Vision?

Product vision

Lean and Agile are help us with iteration and feedback loops to develop products faster. However, it is not enough to know how to move, we must also understand where we are going.

A clear product vision provides that direction. It defines the final destination, offers orientation, and keeps the team focused on what truly matters. Progress is measured by how much closer we get to this destination.

In other words, your product is the means to create change. The vision articulates the aspirational change the product will bring to the world.

Product strategy

Product strategy connects the product vision with actionable steps. While the vision defines the destination, strategy outlines how you will get there. It translates the why and what of the vision into the how: the choices, priorities, and paths your team will take to move towards that vision.

Product and Organization

The product vision targets the vision of one specific product.

Multiple product visions, each aligned with the organization’s core purpose, collectively contribute to and advance the broader organizational vision. This ensures that every product’s impact supports the company’s ultimate aspiration. While every product must have a vision it does not mean that any high lever vision cannot be used overarching for subsequent products.

Below are examples of organizations’ visions:

Example how the organization’s vision and the product vision can be connected:

Characteristics of a vision

Following Radhika Dutt, a good vision

1. is centered on the problem you want to solve in the world
2. is a tangible end state you can visualize
3. is meaningful to you and the people you intend to impact.

(Cf. Dutt:2011, “The characteristics of a good vision”)

With regards to the motivation a vision will create, Roman Pichler highlights the following qualities:

• Inspiring: the vision creates a meaningful purpose for everyone in making the product
• Shared: the vision units people, operates as true north star
• Ethical: the vision creates a product that does not cause any harm to people and the planet
• Concise: the vision can be easily communicated, understood and remembered
• Ambitious: the vision is inspirational and a grand destination
• Enduring: the vision does not describe the solution but rather the change it will create

(Cf. Pichler 2022:35f)

And of course, a vision must also be plausible.

Craft a vision statement

Below some examples how you can craft your vision statement:

Radhika Dutt: Radical Product Thinking

Situation

The vision should be about the impact you want to have in the world.

• Who? Who are the affected people?
• What? What is the situation today?

Problem

• Why? What are the consequences if the status quo remains?

Vision

The vision is about the future the product will bring about for them. Think about the end state you want to achieve for the affected people. The end state must be tangible and visualizable.

Not only will the vision explain the customers why our product exists, it inspires and aligns also the people that work on the product. It must help people to internalize it and make it their own dream.

• When? When do you know the problem has been resolved? What is the desired end state?
• How? How does your product fit into the solution?

Geoffrey Moore: Value Proposition Template