Why You Need A Product Vision

Why You Need a Product Vision

As the old saying goes…

If you don’t know where you’re going, then any path will do.

I’m a firm believer in Simon Sinek’s Start With Why for any project that you begin. It’s super important for product creation because it’s going to take you a considerable amount of time and energy to execute. And, naturally along the way a host of glowing opportunities will pop up to try to disrupt your thinking and distract you from completing your task – particularly when you’re going through what Seth Godin calls ‘The Dip’.

So, having a clear vision is important for your focus and staying on track. It’s also important for your decision making along the way. For example, if you’re writing a book you want a reference point to know what chapters to include and which ones to leave out. Without this strong ‘why’ you can flounder like a fish out of water and waste valuable time.

How to Write Your Product Vision

There’s two parts to creating your product vision. The first one is the bigger context of your business. And, the other is the specific vision for your product.

Your Business Vision

Write at least 100 words to describe how you would like your business and your life to be in 5 years. You might like to consider:

• What does your business look like?
• Earnings
• Profit
• Staff
• Products
• Services
• Experiences
• Brand/Reputation
• Location
• Hours worked
• Type of work

Your Product Vision

[Tweet “This is the secret to creating powerful and profitable products.”]

Now, What is your product vision? Write at least 100 words to describe the product you’d like to create and, importantly, how people will use it and respond to it. You might like to consider:

• What is the product?
• What emotions does it inspire in you?
• What emotions does it inspire in others?
• What do people do with it?
• How does it help someone live a better life?
• If it’s a physical product, what does it feel like to hold? Is it heavy? Smooth? Hard?
• How and when do people use it?
• Where will you see it? In a book store? On someone’s wall? Will they be wearing it?
• Anything else that’s particular about your product.

Product Creation

These are two of the exercises we do before we start our Product Creation course. They set the context for all the product design work that follows. Once you have your visions, make a display out of them so you can easily see what you’re aspiring too. For instance, post them on your noticeboard, blu-tac them to your fridge or stick them in a picture frame. Refer back to as your guide for making the biggest decisions about your product.

I’d love to see some of your visions. Add a comment and a photo below or post them to our Facebook page.