Why product vision is critical, but not enough
You can't just provide the vision, you must define the path to get there
Everyone likes to talk about how important it is to have product vision. We talk about it as if it’s a mythical skill - some have it and some don’t, and you need it to level up and become an “executive”.
The thing is, having product vision is obviously critical, but it’s definitely not the only thing that matters. Think about how many founders change their vision (#pivot) as the market and times change. Now over two years into my own founding journey, I’ve come to realize that although having product vision is important, it’s not enough.
Two main reasons why I believe this to be true: First, product vision is often poorly applied in practice, leading to detrimental results. Second, product vision needs to be executed on, and it’s the micro-decisions that add up to real outcomes, not the two sentences on your investor slide deck.
Part 1: Product Vision is often poorly applied in practice, leading to detrimental results
Here’s what I mean:
“Product vision” that is too vague is completely useless when it comes to execution. Think about how many SaaS websites claim to do the exact same thing (like drive more revenue). It’s a nice tagline for your website (that’s even arguable), but completely useless for your team.
“Product vision” that is too prescriptive results in a feature bonanza where every conversation is a roadmap conversation, and none of the features tie together. Instead, your product looks like a checklist of features passed down by execs rather than a cohesive solution.
And if you’ve worked at a tech company, you know exactly what I mean. Vague product visions are tough, because you have to figure out how to turn a vague statement into an actual product, that somehow never matches exactly what you were expecting when you wrote the vision statement. Prescriptive product visions are dangerous, because you either become too reactive to customers (build the features they want), or too pedantic about the feature set on your roadmap despite customer feedback.
It might almost feel like there is no answer!
I must confess that I haven’t found the magic bullet, but here are the key components that I think need to make up truly great product vision:
Must be based on a unique insight / learning
Must be solving a clearly defined problem
Must have an opinionated solution
Must be specific enough to be used to define the product surface area
Must be vague enough to not constrain UX / UI
Must incorporate market dynamics and timing (the answer to “why now”)
Must address not just product, but GTM as well
The ultimate measure of the success of your product vision is if your team can make consistent decisions based on that vision, which leads me to part 2.
Part 2: It’s all in the execution
People say this all the time, and I deeply believe it to be true. Again, I present how much overlap you can see within the SaaS world with various solutions appearing to share similar visions.
That’s why the actual execution matters. What does your solution actually look like, what does it do, and how do you deliver it to customers? The decisions you make on what to do with your limited time and the order in which you do them is the difference between winning and losing.
Being able to turn product vision into tangible decisions matters not just for the big decisions, but also the daily micro-decisions you have to make.
Big decisions matter a lot because it usually takes longer to understand whether or not the decision was right or not, so it’s risky! For example, let’s say that you want to build a completely new product area because that’s what people are asking for. That’s often a 1-3 month process. Yes, you can validate on the way, but validation is an art and you never truly know until you see something through.
Micro-decisions matter a lot because the combination of micro-decisions adds up to a big decision. One of the things I’ve noticed to be most dangerous is “strategic drift” and micro-decisions are the most susceptible to this. What I mean is, let’s say you have a product vision, but as you’re building things, you get distracted by customer requests, you build a UX flow that doesn’t resonate with your customer, you prioritize building new features instead of doubling down on what’s working. If you’re not careful, you’ll spend 3 months working on a variety of things that take you off the trajectory you wanted to be on. You want 1+1=3, not 1+1=1.5.
The first step to solving this problem is to simply… care
So obviously, again, there is no silver bullet. But I think most critical for startup founders (or PMs looking to level up), is to simply recognize the problem and CARE. Realize that defining a product vision isn’t just a great looking slide deck. Product vision must be tied to an actionable execution plan, and your team must be able to execute on that plan. This is the first step towards having a healthier relationship with “product vision”.
I’d love your thoughts on how you think about this - DM me on LinkedIn!