Without a Compelling Product Vision, Teams Become Feature Factories
Lacking clear direction, teams will act like dogs chasing their?tails.
For many years I struggled with prioritization. Several business people wanted their wishes to come true. Many used their power of influence to get a slice of the cake. Unfortunately, this story often ends the same ugly way. It’s an endless dogfight based on opinions that lead nowhere but to disaster.
All the companies I joined had a different approach to prioritization. Yet, the results were very alike. We built dozens of useless features. We continuously missed our goals. But why did it happen?
Without a clear direction, teams are like dogs chasing their tails.
One sentence can dramatically change this dreadful scenario. However, many teams ignore it. They fall into the build trap pitfall. It’s a deadly loop: prioritize, build, and ship. But don’t panic. A Compelling Product Vision can put us on a successful path. We have a way out of this nightmare.
Why Do Teams Ignore The Product?Vision?
It’s easier to say yes than no. Without conflicts, we cannot define a crystal clear direction. People have different opinions and perspectives. To focus on what matters the most, we have to be ready to face criticism.
It’s impossible to please everyone. But many companies prefer to avoid conflict. Instead of crafting a Product Vision and saying “No” to ideas that don’t align, most keep trying to please everyone. This scenario is an easy path to failure. Don’t take it.
“If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader, sell ice cream” — Steve?Jobs
The Scrum framework doesn’t have any direct mention of the Product Vision. But it mentions that the increment is a step toward the Product Goal. Yet, it doesn’t give details of how you should make that possible.
The Importance of Product Management
The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value. That’s how the Scrum Guide defines this accountability. But how this happens will vary widely. In other words, have fun, my friend. You’re on your own.
The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team. How this is done may vary widely across organizations, Scrum Teams, and individuals.
— The Scrum Guide , Nov 2020
I love working with Scrum. It’s a simple and powerful framework. Teams become more collaborative, and the work becomes smoother. But Scrum mainly focuses on the team and the execution. It is impossible to be successful with Scrum alone. A Product Owner cannot succeed without a vast knowledge of Product Management.
When I had my first contact with Scrum, I didn’t believe teams could thrive only by doing Scrum. I think I was right. Scrum alone isn’t enough to build successful products. We need to connect to more disciplines. Scrum helps us organize our work so that we can focus on what is essential.
However, Scrum puts much pressure on the Product Owner. This person is responsible for setting a direction for the Development Team to maximize the value. Thus, knowledge and experience in the field of Product Management are vital. With that, the Product Owner will achieve good results.
Product Owner is a role you play on a Scrum team. Product Manager is the job.
If you take your Scrum team away, if you take Scrum away as a process for your organization, you are still a Product Manager. Product Management and Scrum work together well, but Product Management is not dependent on Scrum. It can and should exist with any framework or process.
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From my experience, many Product Owners need more Product Management expertise to set a Product Vision. In this case, I included myself. I often needed help crafting a Product Vision, which led teams to build useless features. After failing, I learned. Now, I can only see myself working with a Product Vision.
The Absence of Product Vision Transforms Teams in Feature Factories
In 2017 I was part of an e-commerce company. One specific event always annoyed me — the quarterly roadmap planning. I felt like we were running in circles. Everything was about opinions and wishes. Something was missing. We forgot to align with a long-term vision, which we didn’t have.
We prioritized improving the product detail page, search, and referral program during our roadmap discussions. They have no connection to each other. Worse than that, we defined the roadmap based on the best guesses of the executives. We focused on the output instead of the outcome.
The referral program was successful. We brought a new acquisition channel cheaper than the others. But, the other features delivered at the end of the quarter brought no impact at all. We could have used the time better. We could have solved a real problem instead of shipping features.
Until we have a compelling Product Vision, everything can become relevant. Yet, disaster is inevitably on the way.
The Power of a Compelling Product?Vision
An excellent Product Vision allows teams to focus on what matters the most. The teams know why they are building the product. The team can say no to everything, which will not help them to get closer to the vision. Discussions shift from wishes to how to reach the vision.
So what is a Product Vision? It’s a simple sentence capable of fostering collaboration and guaranteeing focus. My favorite definition is:
The product vision communicates why you are building something and what the value proposition is for the customer. This simple statement describes the problem the user is trying to solve and the capabilities it enables them to solve.
— Melissa Perri , Escaping the Build Trap:?: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value
Crafting a Product Vision will take some time because it requires intensively collaborating with the customers, team, and stakeholders. This simple sentence is vital to building something meaningful. Thus, we need to craft it mindfully. A Compelling Product Vision has the following characteristics:
Product Owners can craft the Product Vision in many different ways. I think the format itself doesn’t matter. However, it is crucial to have the characteristics I mentioned. Such characteristics allow the team to benefit as expected from the Product Vision.
If you are curious to get some options on how to craft the Product Vision, I have some suggested reading for you:
Final Thoughts
For years I’ve searched for techniques on how to prioritize better and how to handle multiple stakeholders. I concluded that methods may be helpful but won’t address the root cause. Yet, a Product Vision will address the right problem: alignment.
Without a clear vision to achieve, everything can be discussed. As Product Owners, we end up frustrated because we have pressure from everywhere to build everything. If we don’t know where we want to go, every road will take us there.
AI Strategy @ BMW Group
1 年David, thanks for the article. I agree that Product Vision is essential for rallying everyone around a common goal and future. What I found though is that a product vision allows prioritization mostly on a high level. But when you have a set of potential features and all of them align with the vision, it's the product strategy that provides the guidelines. How do you think about that?
Product Leader | Creating value together
1 年Not only vision could help, but also Product Principles. I like this concept, it can help to define the constraints on your decisions made ;)
Senior Technical Leader/Architect
1 年Agree with Product Vision, but isn't it also important that the work prioritization is around problems to solve, not solutions to build?
AI Product Strategist
1 年A compelling product vision is a clear and concise statement that outlines the future direction and purpose of a product. Inspiring and motivating team members to work towards a common goal. One way to create a compelling product vision Identify the problem that the product is trying to solve: Start by understanding the pain points and needs of your target audience. This will help you to focus on the key problem that the product is trying to solve. Define the product's unique value proposition: What makes your product different from others in the market? How does it solve the problem in a unique and better way? Articulate the desired outcome: What will the world look like after the product has been successful? What will the product enable people to do that they couldn't do before? Set clear goals and metrics: What are the specific goals and metrics that will help you to measure the success of the product? This could include things like customer satisfaction, revenue, or adoption rate. Communicate the vision: Share the vision with your team and stakeholders, and make sure it is clear, concise, and inspiring. Encourage feedback and collaboration to ensure that the vision is aligned with the needs and goals of the product.
CPO | B2B Product Manager with 15+ years of experience in IT Consulting | Program and Delivery management | Scrum and SAFe practice | R&D | Business & Data Analysis | Marketing and Products Strategy| Telegram -@elenayeks
1 年I likes V2MOM framework for product vision (Vision of company, Values, Methods, Obsticles, Measures). It's clear enough, easy understandale and could be put in one picture. But it's a matter of taste. The main thing is to have thoughts for the framework ??