The definition of “product vision” goes way beyond just defining what it is. A product’s vision also illustrates the product’s intent and what it aims to solve.
The definition of “product vision” goes way beyond just defining what it is. A product’s vision also illustrates the product’s intent and what it aims to solve. Without product vision, an organization will have a difficult time maintaining its team and keeping them on track.
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Product Vision: 101 Explained
Product Vision aims to stack development teams and stakeholders all in the same place. It is indeed a powerful tool that strategically converts itself into a weapon to instruct people about the true value of what a product endures.
For all of that to fall in place, it is important for a company to develop its own product vision. In order to do so, the company understands the needs of the end customer. A brilliant product vision can be summed up when the customers are known, their needs are being read, the threats are being identified, and the plan to create a remarkable impact in the market is ready.
Without product vision, an organization will have a difficult time maintaining its team and keeping them on track.
Furthermore, a product vision lays the foundation for other huge elements, including product strategy, execution & product launch, backlog & planning, and product development roadmap. When the product vision is exemplary, it will automatically row the boat to align the processes for all the aforementioned elements.
This brings us to the next set of questions, what are the valid pieces of information one can retain from product vision?
What are the components of Product Vision?
The maximum benefit of product vision is gathered when the team members start working on a new product or are brainstorming over an existing product. Here’s the primary information that is mandatory for a product vision to have.
- A product vision is bound to have a certain time constraint. However, sometimes referring to it as timeless works well too.
- Customers are the backbone of any organization/company and define the existence of the company. Regardless of the market serving B2B or B2C, it should aim at serving the purpose of the end consumer well enough.
- Having a product vision that is attractive also makes it very appropriate. Whether you are the boss or an employee, the vision should compel you to pitch it to others.
- The goal of the product vision should showcase the motivation. The motivation should have answers to the why’s.
Digging Deep - 7 Qualities of a great product vision
A compelling product vision should be weaved together to display the finest qualities. Below are the top seven qualities that are mandated for product vision.
1. Crisp & Concise
How often do you remember something that is absolutely hard to entertain? A product vision that is crisp, concise, and accurate is easy to be interpreted and understand. Ideally, it is best to have a statement or a slogan that explicitly screams about the vision. For instance, a product that makes travelling easy can carry the tagline “on the get-go.“
Sometimes, it is helpful to use a product vision board that clearly illustrates the visions, target audience, and business goals.
2. Aspiring
Product visions help big or small teams to understand what they are working on and why. The stakeholders, developers, testers, and product managers can extract the essence from an inspiring product vision. With the assistance of a product vision, it becomes easy to identify the efforts required to drive positive changes.
Moreover, a product vision also adds all the more to the reason why one should be working on a certain product. As someone who is solely devoted to the product, you can narrow down the reasons to grasp if the investment is worth your energy, effort, and time.
3. Abiding
A product vision should never, I repeat, never outline the product description. Alternatively, you can try to bring out the motive of change that the product is streamlined to project or the impact it will hold.
A vision that isn’t working well with a product can go on and on for a longer duration than it is supposed to. Change the approach to magnify the product vision’s stability instead of coiling around the product strategy.
4. Stable
There are plenty of factors involved that can infect the product vision. There should be ample room for small improvements considering there is no major impact on the value propositions of the product. Creating random or unnecessary changes in the vision could lead down to project failure and deviation.
5. Ethical
Having an ethical perspective on a product vision benefits users and customers directly. Additionally, it also is beneficial in the long run to avoid any diverse effects on people and the planet. This could be tons of factors like affecting the mental health of human beings, providing misinformation, and inflicting violence.
Also, an ethical product has no part to play in degrading the environmental or climatic conditions. The product’s development, creations, use of hardware, etc., do not damage the environment in any way. Ethical products are very significant in describing the basic intent of a product. The logic should be to serve the end consumers instead of pulling out the benefits for you.
6. Shared
The best thing about a shared product vision is that it unites people. It helps in creating a flow that incorporates collaboration by all means. The product team, developers, and other members of a project can have a shared product vision that supports the goal and helps in achieving it.
The failure to do so might be a turmoil for driving individuals to align towards the common goal and to follow a strategy that bows to the product vision. Thus, to make sure the product vision is shared across the members of the team, it is ideal to have a collaborative online or offline workshop.
7. Linked to company goals
A product vision is often distinguished from a company’s vision at the product level. However, the chance of your product vision to do better in the outside market is possible only with the company’s goal.
It becomes easy to sell products if the company is supporting the chain of the product vision to prosper.
Conclusion
Product vision works best when they aren’t copied. It is important to have a vision where everyone can pitch in, believe in, and works at it continuously.
Photo by João Rabelo from Pexels
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