The best product managers harness vision. Vision is the lifeblood of exceptional product leadership. Vision ignites the human imagination; it communicates "true north" and catalyzes momentum when progress seems elusive. But vision must also stand upon a foundation of empathy, insight, and pragmatism to gain traction.
Transforming vision into reality by being a great story teller is the very essence of being a great product leader. - Product Girl
Effective product visions are inspiring yet grounded, ambitious yet attainable. They point toward the horizon and offer a clear path for teams to follow. Product managers must craft compelling visions that spark passion to give form to abstract ideas. In order to do this effectively you will need to be a great story teller. Visions that resonate through vivid story telling and bold ideas give direction when the way forward seems uncertain.
Crafting an Inspiring Product Vision
The most inspiring visions are created through team collaboration, even if the initial ideation begins with you. My personal creative process often starts in silence - I've found time alone in nature, whether in a library or park, clears my mind to start forming new ideas. With some preliminary ideas in hand, I'll bring together stakeholders for an intensive half-day or full-day workshop. This session focuses on aligning our thinking, exploring possibilities, and building off each other's perspectives.
So how do you create an inspiring product vision? Where do you begin? What questions should you ask?
The best visions are often found when you think about the perfect user experience and work backwards to see where there could be constraints/landmines - Product Girl
Here are some of the best questions to ask when creating a product vision:
- What does the 'ideal situation' look like for the customer
- How does this vision align with your company's core values and purpose?
- How can the vision create room for growth?
- Where do we see our customers struggling? How can we solve for it?
- In a perfect situation what would the customer want?
- What is currently trending in the market? Where will it be in 3, 5 or 10 years?
- Who is not using the product? Why not? What do we need to do to win them over?
- How can we imagine breakthrough experiences that redefine what's possible?
- What emerging technologies or market shifts could shape our product's future?
- What unmet customer needs present the biggest opportunities?
- What gets our team excited about the future potential?
- Why does our vision matter and how does it make lives better?
- What are the important outcomes we want to achieve for customers?
- How will the world look different if we achieve this vision?
- What bold, inspirational description captures the future we envision?
- What would the customer want if there weren't any technical constraints?
Asking vision-oriented questions focused on the future, customer needs, company purpose, and inspirational outcomes will help to shape a strong vision.
Understand the landscape
Doing thorough extensive market research is crucial for creating a useful product vision. This involves really understanding the market, competitors, and customers. Read industry reports, news, and trends to identify openings and possibilities. Talk to experts to get their perspectives and insights from the field. Compare competitors in detail - analyze their position, features, technology, pros and cons. Map out every step of the customer journey when using your product or your competitors' products. Look carefully to find areas of difficulty, confusion or frustration - these are pain points to improve. Walk in the customer's shoes to experience their process firsthand. Like an artist studies a landscape before painting it, product managers need to dive deep into the market situation. Understanding the landscape creates a vision that thoughtfully guides the product direction.
Be an Advocate for User and Data Insight
Rather than making assumptions, truly understand your target users' wants and needs. Conduct user research to uncover what motivates them emotionally and inspires action. Ask probing questions in focus groups to find out what would excite them about your vision. Identify where your user and business needs align. Then, shape your vision and messaging around real user insights that indicate, "I have to have this!" When users feel genuinely heard and understood, they are more likely to engage with your product on an emotional level. I talk more about this in user insight and data insight.
💁♀️ Tip: When crafting a vision you MUST be an advocate for your audience.
Rather than leading with product capabilities, build empathy by demonstrating you profoundly understand your audience's frustrations first. Visions become more credible and compelling when the proposed solutions directly connect to real users. Don't develop a vision in a vacuum - do the diligence to deeply grasp your audience's struggles firsthand. Take time to empathize and gather genuine feedback to understand where they are coming from. Ground your thinking in the user's reality. This allows you to craft a vision that resonates at a deeper human level. When people can see that your ideas directly map to needs they actually experience, it increases belief and engagement. Lean on those audience insights to showcase how your product's benefits specifically target real-world pain points. Let your vision highlight how thoroughly knowing the "who" has allowed you to develop focused solutions for the "what."
Leverage user research and data to uncover real needs and pinpoint struggles. When you illustrate their pain points in an authentic, humanized way, audiences feel seen and validated. The product's benefits will resonate as more meaningful because they address real-world needs the audience connects with emotionally. Now their hearts are open to hear how your product uniquely solves those exact problems.
💁♀️ Tip: Credibility increases when solutions directly tie to audience insights.
Become a Great Story Teller
Bringing a vision to life requires more than ideas - it's about motivating people to take action. People need to get behind your idea. Effective product managers connect with people on an emotional level. They tell compelling stories that capture hearts, not just minds. These stories articulate how the vision fulfills a shared need in a way people are passionate about. This inspiration fuels momentum to get them to buy into what you are offering.
Think about a commercial or an ad that pops up on your social media. What ad or commercial has inspired you and why? What gets you to make a purchase and say 'I have to have this.'
These ads or commercials usually start with an emotional story about how terrible things are and then highlights a specific consumer frustration or need. This helps develop empathy for the audience's pain points before introducing how the product uniquely solves those problems or fills that need better than alternatives. The amazing capabilities and benefits of the product can come across as more meaningful and credible after the audience feels understood in their struggles.
By being a great story teller when it comes to portraying your vision you will get people hooked on the problem and the benefits your product has to offer.
Look in your backyard
When developing a compelling product vision, it can be valuable to look for inspiration in existing products and offerings that are already aligned with your company's strategic direction. Rather than defaulting to entirely new ideas, identify if there are opportunities to evolve, enhance, or expand current products or features. Analyze how users interact with these existing solutions, along with their pain points and unmet needs.
Small but impactful enhancements to current experiences demonstrate you can execute quickly on identified market needs. This practical approach leverages what is already working while addressing clearly defined gaps. Achieving fast wins in this way can help accelerate career growth and move you into a leadership position faster.
Also, don't be afraid to look outside your immediate area of expertise when developing a product vision. If you identify an innovative product or feature that intrigues you, but may fall outside your domain, go for it because this gives you an opportunity to showcase strategic thinking. Analyze that external product and propose how certain aspects could be adapted or integrated to deliver value for your company's specific customers. Exploring different spaces outside your regular scope can reveal more opportunities for better user experiences and product capabilities.
Demonstrating how you can take concepts from other domains and derive compelling new products or features for your business needs shows versatility. It highlights you can find inspiration from diverse sources and that you do not limit ideas strictly to what you already know.
Final Words 📖
A compelling product vision acts like a guiding star – pointing teams toward the horizon while lighting a path they can follow. An effective product vision brings clarity amid ambiguity. Crafting an effective vision requires asking vision oriented questions, thoroughly researching the market landscape, advocating for users' needs, and telling inspiring stories. Uncover hidden opportunities, even in your own backyard. Set ambitious yet achievable goals, mapping a clear pathway forward.
A strong vision provides direction, motivates action, and fulfills real human needs. It inspires hearts and minds with big dreams while empowering teams to progress step-by-step. The most unifying visions feel both ambitious and achievable. Keep your vision fixed on shaping better realities for people and rally teams around visions they can believe in and they can help make real.
Next Steps 🚀
- Product Management Guide: How to Develop a Product Vision
- What is Product Vision
- How to Define a Product Vision (With Examples)