Revolutionary Product Vision

Products that revolutionise an industry, transform customer behaviour or redefine a category are almost never the result of random ramblings of directionless teams. They are the results of a visionary mindset that is set to imagine a new world of new possibilities, by starting with the end goals and outcomes in mind.?

Whilst there are many contenders for a product category that has fundamentally changed our human environment, the motor car has arguably had one of the biggest impacts on our landscape and the way we live. Henry Ford, who revolutionalised the category had a simple vision, in his own memoirs he notes "I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for using the simplest designs with modern engineering”. Put more succinctly his vision was to manufacture the universal car. Mass-produced, affordable, simple to operate and durable.?

And Ford succeeded! He not only revolutionized the car category, but he also had a profound effect on revolutionising manufacturing methodologies.????

A hundred years later Tesla cars vision under Elon Musk has been “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transport” - and whilst market capitalization is not always the most representative of immediate impact, as of recent times, Tesla’s market cap was greater than Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW, Honda, Ford and others combined! Clearly, a vision executed masterfully will have the entire market shifting, as all other manufacturers have now shifted to following Tesla’s examples by building electric cars.?

In both of these examples the company strategy, metrics, and culture were all driven by these clear and compelling visions.

Creating a compelling product vision

Start with the ultimate destination in mind. Vision statements need to inspire and communicate where the product is going. They should paint a picture of the end goal and the very high-level outcome that the product will accomplish.?

A revolutionary vision must be bold and ambitious. It should be clear and simple but remain vague enough to be interpreted. Focus on the ultimate change you want to create in your industry and the outcomes you want for your customers.??

Here are the three key steps of the process to create a new vision :?

1. Articulate your product’s ultimate future outcomes?

Imagine your product five, ten or twenty years from today. The outcomes you envision - your dream for the future, for the product, for the customer, and perhaps even for the world.?

Take some time to ask clarifying questions;?

• What ultimate problems does the product intend to solve??
• Who are the customers, and which industry??
• What are the changes the product can deliver to individuals, for the industry, and for customers??
• How will things be different when the vision becomes reality??
• What keywords describe the type of product and outcome we want??

2. Make it specific to your product and focus on your customers?

A vision that could apply to any product and anyone is rarely going to set the world on fire or help your organisation rally. Be specific about where it is that you’re heading and avoid generic language which could describe any product.?

Here’s a bad example from a real company “Product X aim is to provide the highest level of user satisfaction through the easiest user experience and the most compelling features.” Oh dear! This is not a vision, it says nothing about the company’s ultimate goals, the ethos, and the customer and it could apply to almost any product!?

3. Make it as succinct and as easy to articulate as possible

A meandering, highly detailed vision statement, which tries to cover every single permutation of what the outcomes might be may seem like a good outcome. It really isn’t. This usually happens when you have a committee trying to input into the vision, with every person adding another ‘and’, and nobody being brave enough to cut things because it feels like a loss. But the vision ends up clunky, wordy, and loses real focus.

And it's really that simple! Go set the world on fire.