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Writer's pictureNabeel Ansar

Understanding Product Vision


Let’s borrow a definition from Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingerman’s:

"A vision is a picture of the success of a project at a particular time in the future. A vision is not a mission statement. We see [the vision] as being akin to the North Star, a never-ending piece of work that we commit to going after for life. It also isn’t a strategic plan—which is the map to where we want to go. A vision is the actual destination. It’s a vivid description of what “success” looks and feels like for us—what we are able to achieve, and the effect it has on our staff."


For Zingerman’s, an effective vision needs to be:

  • Inspiring All who help to implement it should feel inspired.

  • Strategically sound That is, you have a decent shot at making it happen.

  • Documented You need to write your vision down to make it work.

  • Communicated Not only do you have to document your vision, but you have to tell people about it too.

Visions are tricky. Their purpose is to rally a group of people around a common goal. This is hard to do in a concise way, and many times you end up with some boilerplate buzzwordy statement that does not resonate with anyone


A good vision needs to be Focused, Emotional, Practical, and Pervasive.


Crafting a vision with Elevator Pitch


FOR .. (target audience) WHO .. (need, wants) (product name) IS A .. (market segment) THAT .. (one key benefit) UNLIKE .. (competition or current situation) OUR PRODUCT .. (competitive advantage)


Visioning with Scrum

Sprint Planning offers an excellent opportunity to remind your team of the vision. Kicking off with a reminder of the vision and how the top of the Product Backlog fits into it is a must. This also helps the Scrum Team come up with a more effective Sprint Goal. The Sprint Review is an opportunity to reinforce the vision not just with your team, but with your stakeholders.

The Sprint Retrospective is your opportunity to inquire about the effectiveness of your vision communications. Consider asking the following questions in the retrospective:

  • Is everybody on the team comfortable with the vision?

  • Is our vision still relevant?

  • Which actions from the last Sprint reflect the vision? Which do not?

  • Do our stakeholders understand the vision? Which ones do not?

  • What are some ways to improve our vision communication?

That is it for this article. I hope you found this article useful, if you need any help please email me at info@nabeelansar.com


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👋 Thanks for reading, See you next time

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