As a product manager, you have a vision for your product that guides your decisions and actions. But you also have to consider the goals and expectations of your stakeholders, such as customers, users, executives, investors, and partners. How do you match your product vision to your stakeholder goals and create alignment and buy-in? Here are some tips to help you.
The first step is to identify and understand who your stakeholders are, what they care about, and how they measure success. You can use various tools and methods to map out your stakeholder landscape, such as stakeholder analysis, personas, empathy maps, and interviews. The goal is to gain insights into their needs, pain points, motivations, and preferences, as well as their level of influence and interest in your product.
Understanding your audience - internal and external constituents (including defectors) is paramount to start your foundational framework, i.e. developing refrigerator to Eskimos is less of priority and not appealing than developing heating material.
The next step is to communicate your product vision clearly and compellingly to your stakeholders. Your product vision is a concise statement that describes the purpose, value proposition, and target audience of your product. It should answer the questions: Why does your product exist? What problem does it solve? Who does it serve? How does it differentiate from the competition? You can use various formats and channels to share your vision, such as vision boards, elevator pitches, presentations, and newsletters.
Solving a problem and finding a problem to be solved are two inherently separate mindset. If the problem is not big or prevalent enough, there might not be ROI to develop a solution. And if the problem hasn't been or cannot be solved within the test of time, it's becoming point of no return to find a solution. In essence, use practicality in justifying or validating the worthiness of the product vision and goal.
The third step is to align your product vision with your stakeholder goals and agree on the objectives and outcomes that you want to achieve. You can use frameworks and tools such as OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), and roadmaps to define and track your product goals and metrics. You should also involve your stakeholders in the prioritization and validation process, and explain how your product features and initiatives support their goals and outcomes.
The fourth step is to manage your stakeholder expectations and feedback throughout the product development cycle. You should set clear and realistic expectations about the scope, timeline, and resources of your product, and communicate any changes or risks that may affect them. You should also collect and incorporate feedback from your stakeholders regularly, and demonstrate how their input influences your product decisions and direction. You can use tools and methods such as surveys, user testing, demos, and beta testing to gather and act on feedback.
The fifth step is to build trust and relationships with your stakeholders by being transparent, honest, and respectful. You should establish and maintain regular communication and collaboration with your stakeholders, and keep them informed and engaged with your product progress and challenges. You should also acknowledge and appreciate their contributions and achievements, and celebrate your product successes and learnings together. You can use tools and methods such as newsletters, blogs, podcasts, webinars, and events to build rapport and recognition with your stakeholders.
The sixth step is to adapt and evolve your product vision and stakeholder goals as your product and market conditions change. You should monitor and measure your product performance and impact, and evaluate how well it aligns with your stakeholder goals and expectations. You should also solicit and analyze feedback from your stakeholders, and identify any gaps or opportunities for improvement. You should then update and refine your product vision and goals accordingly, and communicate the changes and rationale to your stakeholders.
Adapting and Evolving product vision is key because we live in a world of uncertainty. Product Vision can be discussed once in every quarter to see if product team & stakeholders are aligned with what’s there. Discuss if one or two features can move down, which can wait because we want to introduce something more important on priority.