3 ingredients of a strong product vision
Your product vision serves as the foundation for your entire product strategy. It helps keep your team aligned and focused on the big picture in addition to helping them make decisions aligned with the overarching purpose of the product.
Let’s take a look at what makes a good product vision. 👀
User-centricity
To help us figure out what a good vision looks like, it’s helpful to look at a less successful vision as a point of comparison.
So, let’s imagine a fitness app with the following vision:
1️⃣ “To be the leading fitness app in the market.”
It doesn’t tell you much, right? For example, “leading” in what sense? And how will the product help the app become “leading” in the first place? This vision is way too light on the details, and to be blunt, it’s just not very visionary. Let’s compare it with the following vision for the same app:
2️⃣ “To empower individuals to lead healthier lives by providing a personalized and accessible fitness experience that adapts to their unique goals and preferences.”
In comparison, this vision is specific, emphasizing empowerment, personalization, and accessibility. It resonates with the user’s desire for a tailored fitness journey, setting a clear direction for the product. So, it’s more tangible in terms of the goal as it relates to the user and the benefit it aims to deliver, i.e. it’s user-centric.
Simplicity
What do you think about the following example as a vision for a B2B project management tool:
1️⃣ “To revolutionize project management for all businesses.”
Is it simple? Kind of. It’s short and concise, but it’s pretty vague. We’re not giving any concrete details about how the “revolution” is going to look, so it’s up for interpretation. So, it’s important not to conflate simplicity with ambiguity for the sake of brevity.
Compare that with the following:
2️⃣ “To simplify project collaboration for teams worldwide by offering an intuitive, all-in-one project management solution that enhances productivity and fosters seamless communication.”
More concrete? Check. Describes how that revolutionary aspect will be achieved? Yes, without going into more details. Making it clear what the benefit to the user is? Also check. And accomplishes that while remaining simple (and still pretty concise)? 100%.
Future-facing
Let’s consider a virtual reality gaming platform. Starting with a less successful vision again, we have:
1️⃣ “To create a successful VR gaming platform.”
In addition to the previous critiques we’ve applied to the bad visions, this one isn’t forward-looking at all. It doesn’t speak to any kind of change or positive disruption or innovation. A vision is something to work towards, so a focus on the future is an essential requirement.
Check out this vision instead:
2️⃣ “Transforming the future of entertainment by pioneering a VR gaming ecosystem that transports players into immersive, interactive worlds, redefining the gaming experience.”
This vision is clearly forward-looking, embracing the potential of VR technology and positioning the product as a pioneer in shaping the future of gaming. You don’t necessarily need to directly reference “the future”, but it can be helpful when it comes to helping you frame your vision.
So friends, now we’ve got a basic idea of what a good product vision looks like. Check out this piece from ProdPad for lots of examples of successful visions.
In the meantime, share any examples of product visions you’ve come across and your thoughts on what makes them successful! 🌟
