Why do we focus on the details over the big picture?

We all know that Product Vision is essential and important.

But very few people wake up in the morning and think, I need to fix my Product Vision.

To dive into this dichotomy, I spoke with Jeff Lash. Jeff leads a portfolio of subscription-based products for Forrester that combine:

• Content:? e.g. Forrester Research Reports
• Technology: a platform where people can access the reports, as well as data, interactive tools, certification courses, etc.
• Services – e.g. access to their analysts

Prior to this role, Jeff was a Research Director and analyst at Forrester, where he worked with many product management leaders and their teams to help them establish their product vision.? ?

The challenge with Product Vision

Jeff has worked with a lot of clients on their product vision.? ?

But he can’t ever really recall a client who led with “Our product vision is the biggest problem we have.? We need your help.”

In some cases, clients realized that their product managers were too tactical and just looked at the next sprint or the next release.? And through the course of conversations, the client would come to realize that they needed their people to think bigger.? And product vision is a great tool to do that.

Other people come in and say, “We need help writing user stories” or “ We need help with business cases” or “We need help with [insert tactical product deliverable here].” What they really need is help with product vision, but they don't know that because they're so focused on just keeping their heads above water and the machine going.

Other people come in and ask for help prioritization.? But, when he really digs into why it is so difficult to prioritize, it often comes back to not having a strong Product Vision. ?It’s really hard to prioritize when any direction to go in could be good.?

So why don’t people instinctively look to the Product Vision??

Jeff points out that a couple of possibilities exist for why people look at the tactical instead of the big picture:

• Urgent day to day work of keeping the machine running:? The daily onslaught of being a product manager can take up 110% of your time.?
• Long-lived product:? Some product people have inherited a product that existed before their time.? In these cases, it might seem easiest to just jump in and continue to do what has always been done.
• Not externalized from their heads:? Some product managers understand who their product is for and what problems they are trying to solve in the back of their heads, but may not have written it down and externalized their thinking so others can see.? Part of the main purpose of a product vision is to get the whole team and the broader stakeholder group involved and engaged.? And while it’s good to have a Product Vision in your head, it’s not useful unless others knows it.? It’s essential to get that knowledge shared among a broader group of people so that the engine can run smoother.

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