How to tell if your product vision is working?
That surely sounds like an oxymoron. A vision is about the future and so, how can you even tell if it is working in the present?
That surely sounds like an oxymoron. A vision is about the future and so, how can you even tell if it is working in the present?
My assertion is that you can tell — if and only if, you listen to the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle feedback that you are already getting by putting your vision and product out there. Here are a few ways I have found out for myself :
Are you closing deals?
Some of you may already have raised eyebrows reading this. Isn’t vision supposed to be about the long term and deals about the short term?
It is true that the vision should encompass a future that is well beyond your current offering — however, especially in enterprise software, customers don’t just buy what you have today. They buy your roadmap and sign up to go on this wonderful journey with you to the destination defined by your vision.
I use the term “deals” as a metaphor to include everything from product sales, funding from VCs, hiring your team, and so on.
If your vision is big, bold, and inspiring, you will be able to close deals today, tomorrow, and the day after.
Does it resonate with your target persona?
You get to know this by asking your current and prospective customers for feedback. It amazes to see how many companies miss the opportunity to actively solicit customer feedback on their vision before getting wedded to it.
Early evangelist customers can be particularly open to critiquing it. I recall sitting in a customer meeting, where the company founder was pitching a vision as part of a product presentation. At the end of the meeting, the customer provided some unsolicited feedback on the vision — he felt that the vision did not align with the company’s strengths and he didn’t feel confident that they could pull it off.
I am not advocating that you make the vision universally likable. At a very minimum, your vision calls for unwavering support from your base — whatever you have defined that to be.
How often has your team said “No” to things based on the vision?
The more “No”s, the better the vision. A fundamental purpose of the vision is to help you focus. As any solid product manager knows, having too many priorities implies having no priorities at all. A diffuse product vision is worse than having any vision at all. It is a license to be in reactive mode and say “Yes” to most everything.
While there are many compelling vision statements out there, a more verbose version that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook provided a few years ago sums up how important it is for the vision to enable you to say “No”.
How much autonomy does your vision offer your team?
If your team is able to make day-to-day decisions on features, product plans, customer communications, partnerships, marketing tactics without requiring approvals and discussions, you most definitely have a vision that has set your team on auto-pilot.
Autonomy has been described as one of the three most important factors driving intrinsic motivation for modern-day employees in Dan Pink’s famous TED talk. Autonomy helps unleash creativity and energy as no salary or stock option can. Vision helps direct that collectively in the same direction.
Does your vision change with your strategy?
If vision is a fantastic destination, then a strategy is the route on the map to get there.
Your route (strategy) to the destination (vision) might change depending on traffic, weather, the kind of vehicle you can afford, and so on (resources, market conditions). In fact, you should have room in your vision to allow for the strategy to be adapted as needed. The other way around is not ideal. If you change your destination from Mars to Minneapolis, you just lost a whole bunch of employees, customers, funding, and goodwill.
Is your vision perceived to be achievable?
If your vision is to get to the top of Everest, your plan needs to include the supplies, logistics, physical training, finances, and myriad other necessities. Without a plan, no one will take your Everest expedition seriously.
Likewise, it is bad enough to have customers think your vision is some hyperbole but it would be catastrophic if your employees also think so.
Having a sound strategy makes your vision achievable. The strategy takes into account where the product is today and what it takes to get it to the promised vision given universal laws of physics, available resources, and the evolving market conditions.
At the same time, a focused, inspiring, and enduring vision is necessary to sustain any strategy through the natural ebb and flow of life.
In summary, good vision and strategy reinforce each other. That’s how you can tell they are working well for you.