Introduction to product vision with examples

Product managers are the ones responsible for the success of the product; therefore, they create, manage and own the product vision. The product team needs to have a clear vision of where to take the product in order to be fully committed. A product vision describes the future state of a product in a long-term and what problems it tries to resolve or what ambitions it tries to fulfill.

Why important?

Having new ideas for your product is great, but it is not enough. What you need is a vision that guides everyone in the team to creating and managing a successful product. Steve Jobs said:

If you are woking on something exciting that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.

A product vision gives you a bigger picture of what you are working on and why, acts as the product's true north in the ever-changing world, and facilitates effective collaboration. In other words, it improves your strategic decision making throughout the development process; for instance prioritizing features and helps you align teams and stakeholders across the company. Your vision would motivate people and connect them to the product.

Develop your vision.

As your vision is the ultimate reason for creating the product, it should be short and clear so that everyone can easily understand and recite: other artifacts including a product strategy, a business model, a product backlog, and a marketing plan will provide the necessary details. Good examples of product vision are the following:

• Google - To provide access to the world’s information with one click.
• Instagram - To capture and share the world's moments.
• LinkedIn - To connect the world’s professionals and make them more productive and successful.

Having an awesome product vision is not easy. You need to collaborate with your stakeholders, team and customers to develop it and take iterations with them to improve your vision. Don't try to get it right the first time, make it better over time.

Share your vision.

Even if you come up with an awesome product vision in your mind, it is still useless. To leverage the vision as the product's true north, the product vision must be shared. People could have their own vision as they like if it is not well shared, which leads to miscommunication or going in different directions eventually. It is so important to know why you are doing the things you do. Putting a product vision artifact such as a product vision board on Wiki is one option so that everyone can access and confirm it easily anytime.