What Is A Product Vision Statement?

Introduction

A product vision is a concise statement that describes the overall direction and long-term goals of a product. A product vision provides your team with an encompassing view of what they are working on and why, and helps guide development. It is also the starting point for setting objectives, defining features, and creating product roadmaps. A product vision is helpful when starting work on a new product or updating an existing product.

A product vision statement should:

• Be actionable
• Be inspirational
• Fit with corporate goals
• Include guidelines

The Elements Of A Product Vision

A great product vision's purpose is to provide a clear direction for the product team, create alignment between product, marketing, and engineering teams, and establish a shared understanding of the product’s future. Anyone who is working on creating the product should participate in developing the product vision statement to ensure everyone understands the product's goals. 

A great product vision answers these questions:

• What will the product do?
• Who is the product for?
• Why does the project exist?

How can you tell if you have a great product vision? Measure it against these 3 traits:

Shared

The entire team understands and shares in the vision.

Succinct

Stated concisely and quickly understood. If your product vision can be communicated on a 30-second elevator ride, then it’s probably succinct enough.

Emergent

Grows and evolves as more is learned about the product.

Create Your Product Vision Statement

Creating your own product vision can be a difficult and daunting task. The first step to creating a product vision is to identify the problem that you are trying to solve. Once you have identified the problem, you can begin to develop the vision. Start by crafting a statement that describes your product’s long-term goals. Then, create a list of objectives that will help you achieve those goals. Finally, create a timeline for achieving those objectives.

Here's an easy-to-use template to create a product vision statement of your own:

For [target customer] who [statement of need or opportunity], the [product name] is a [product category] that [key benefit, reason to buy].

In Summary

The goal of the product vision is to have each team member understand the purpose and importance of the product the team is building.

There needs to be a balance as well. You want an overall product vision, but you also want interim chapters as work progresses over the life of the product. With a great product vision, you can be sure that your product team is headed in the right direction.