Mastering Product Success: Unveiling the Power of Product Vision, Roadmaps, and Goals
Today we wrap up the three part series on creating your strategy stack.
Part 3 brings together the Product specific Vision, Roadmap and Goals.
Product Vision puts a company’s Vision and Mission into action
The Product Vision ensures the Roadmap reflects the priorities which matter the most to the company’s customers and to the company. The Vision is brought to life in the Now / Next / Later roadmap, which is supported by Product Goals.
To establish the Product Vision, I recommend taking time as a Product team to reflect both on the past and on the future.
What have you achieved over the last year? What ground has been covered? Is there work you had hoped to accomplish but didn’t?
What is the vision for the future you want to create? How can you empower the Product team and cross functional stakeholders to think big?
Not every Product team in every company has a vision. If your company has one product, the company vision can serve as the Product team’s vision as well. If your organization has a number of different products, for example a product portfolio, I recommend each product establishes its own vision. Why?
Bringing together cross functional stakeholders to help define the product vision creates shared context and reinforces the importance of transparency.
Aligning on a vision clearly demystifies the reason for creating the product in a manner which is easy to communicate, understand and repeat.
Unsure where to start? Roman Pichler has an excellent template.
Here are some tips to keep in mind as you go through the exercise:
Every product vision derives from the the organization’s vision.
It is the job of the working group that is responsible for the product to consider and apply the organization’s vision.
Together the working group can bring the organization’s vision to life in the form of the product’s vision.
When outlining a product vision, keep in mind the following principles:
Fall in love with the problem, never the solution.
Think bigger and bolder, the vision needs to be inspiring.
Be rigid in vision, but flexible in how you bring it to life.
The vision is an exercise in constant evangelization.
As the product lead, you may find yourself responsible for rallying the rest of your working group or team to define the vision. No worries. You can start off with an icebreaker before diving into the vision template.
Have the team consider the envisioned future, e.g. 3 year audacious goal
Take that audacious goal and have each team member brainstorm a vivid description of what it will be like to achieve the goal.
Swap vivid descriptions and have each person provide an extra layer of vibrancy, engagement and specificity on top of the description of what it will be like to achieve the audacious goal.
Some may find translating the vision from words into pictures is helpful as doing so creates an image that people can carry around in their heads.
Let roadmapping be your guide
Once you have the Product Vision, the next step is to create a Roadmap which sets you down the path of bringing the Product Vision to life. Despite the practicality of taking this step, I’ve come across many teams that hate roadmapping. You’ve met the people. They cringe or send out a distress signal saying ‘no more’.
I’m here to tell your roadmapping doesn’t have to suck. Instead build on your product sense as a product leader and your team’s knowledge of what will bring the most value to your customers and your company. If you take a step back, it’s likely you already have this insight already. A roadmap helps you to share your knowledge with the organization and with your customers.
Myth 1: Roadmaps do not change
We are going to be right - and we are going to be wrong. Instead of waiting six months or a year to find out where and by how much, reduce your planning window. The aim is to focus your efforts on the upcoming quarter (aka Now). Then acknowledge you are going to flex and pivot along the way as learnings come in for the second quarter (Next) and third quarter (Later).
As Janna Bastow of ProdPad shares, rather than treating a roadmap as a static plan, it should be a dynamic tool for iteration. This approach enables product teams to avoid investing in the wrong features and sets teams up to adapt to changing circumstances.
Myth 2: Roadmap prep takes a lot of time
Along with a decrease in the roadmap horizon, we also want to effectively manage the amount of time and effort that goes into roadmap planning. How? By revisiting your roadmap every quarter, the lift is lighter. Each quarter you look back and reflect on three things:
Evidence (qualitative and quantitative data) collected along the way
Progress that was (or was not) made
Real-world changes that occurred (new technology, legislation, competition, etc).
Then divide and conquer the preparation. Data Science, Product Design, and/or UX can help with the evidence analysis. Product Marketing and/or Marketing can contribute real world changes. Together with Product Operations, Product Management and Engineering reflects on the progress.
Don’t have these roles? That’s fine. Assign responsibilities to your respective stakeholders based on their contributions and/or areas of expertise. Not enough people? Conduct a retrospective (start, stop, continue, other) and use the results to inform your next quarter roadmap.
Myth 3: You need Product Plans and Product Roadmaps
I’ve found using both creates confusion. And, you know from prior posts that I’m all about eliminating confusion and complexity.
Product Roadmaps cover the following:
Focuses on projects
Details the “what”
Spans only a few months
Shows specific activities (projects, epics)
Communicates features and enhancements for the next release or two
Product Plans cover the following:
Focuses on initiatives —> There will be purists, but I’ve found projects to be sufficient and when described initiatives tend to be very close to projects in meaning.
Communicates the “why” —> To bring along your team, include the context (why) in your roadmap planning.
Might cover a year or more —> The world is going to change, focus on the next three quarters.
Serves as a high level visual summary for stakeholders —> Your roadmap can do this as well.
Contains only strategic-level insight (major product themes and goals) —> Which can be conveyed effectively with your roadmap and goals as well.
Myth 4: Roadmaps are fictional
Take a look back at Myth 1. If you focus on what you know, aka the upcoming quarter, the roadmap should be pretty solid as aspects of the work are already underway (or should be for delivery to occur).
Go back to the company portion of the Strategy Stack and your product team Vision. The insight will help you to prioritize the list of projects. Doing so collaboratively with your cross functional team members helps reinforce shared commitment and helps to determine if the priorities feel right or if any adjustments are needed. The goal is to be realistic for the upcoming quarter to ensure resources are designated to the prioritized projects.
We’ve gone through the myths. Now what is a roadmap really?
As implied above, my recommendation is to follow a Now - Next - Later approach. Why?
You focus more on periods of time and intention vs. specific dates.
Work is broken down into “chunks” which helps to define what you need to do and in what order over time.
Each quarter you can easily reorganize or re-assess your roadmap without tossing everything out or starting over.
It can apply to many different types of product development efforts, which makes the framework easier to understand and execute against.
While many equate a product roadmap with a simple list of features, timelines, and build instructions, this approach falls short.
Instead, imagine a roadmap as a GPS for your product's journey. It not only guides you towards your destination (what to build) and maps out the route (how to build it), but also helps you understand the "why" behind your product's existence. This clarity ensures everyone involved is aligned on the journey (provides context) and working towards common goals (supports transparency). Ultimately, a roadmap transcends mere features and timelines, serving as a powerful asset to call upon both up and down the food chain, to execs and team members, as you steer your product team towards success.
Saving the best for last - Goals
Goals, and the associated metrics that indicate if a goal has been achieved, should focus on outcomes - not outputs.
Creating goals is collaborative exercise. If you, as the Product Lead, say do this goal… you will likely hear some grumbling in the background or learn of it through the whisper network. Instead treat identifying a manageable number of goals - 3 to 5 per quarter - as an opportunity to obtain buy in on the go forward approach.
Keeping the principles outlined above in mind, the objective is to define goals which reflect ‘where do you want to go’. The data points (KPIs) explain how do I know if I am getting from point A to point B, e.g. how do I know if I am on the right path.
For each goal, settle on between two to three measurable, unambiguous, time-bound key results or KPIs. By definition, completion of all key results equates to the attainment of the goal.
The primary reason for limiting the goals and KPIs is to maintain focus. It is also a lot easier to remember and repeat a small number of goals and KPIs than a list of thirteen.
What does a well written goal look like?
Similar principles apply as those mentioned previously for writing company goals. In addition to applying SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound), here are a few other points to keep in mind.
Clear and concise: Easy for everyone to understand, without ambiguity.
Outcome-oriented: Focused on the desired impact, not specific features.
Actionable: Provides a clear direction for the team to follow.
Motivational: Inspiring and exciting for the team to work towards.
Aligned with company’s strategy: Contributes to the overall goals of the company.
Example: Increase monthly active users by 20% within the next quarter by improving the onboarding experience and addressing new user pain points.
Doing a 180 on the bullets above, badly written goals reflect the following characteristics:
Vague and unclear: Difficult to understand what the goal is trying to achieve.
Feature-focused: More concerned with specific features than the desired outcome.
Unmeasurable: No way to track progress or determine success.
Unrealistic: Setting unrealistic expectations for the team.
Not motivating: Lacking a clear purpose or sense of direction.
Not aligned with the company strategy: Does not contribute to the overall goals of the company.
Example: Make the product better.
When product team goals are written well they ensure that everyone on the team - the entire cross functional team, not just the PM - knows what success looks like and are aligned in their efforts to get there.
Well written goals prevent misunderstandings where team members might have different interpretations of what success means. In either Lenny’s newsletter or podcast there was a reference made to comparing goals to a burrito. An effective goal has everyone visualizing the same ingredients inside a burrito. A badly defined goal has folks imaging a whole range of different fillings inside a burrito.
As a product leader, it’s your role to help your team come together, with cross functional stakeholders, to clearly define and communicate goals which the entire team understands, can rally around, and enable all involved to work towards the same objectives. And, when achieved, everyone should know it. Not just by the celebration but by the clarity in the goal and path to get there.
Smile. Have some fun. Celebrate your Strategy Stack learning. And, if you forgot it all, no worries. Here’s a quick recap.
Part 1 focuses on the company Mission, North Star, and Vision. The Mission represents the company's purpose and values, the North Star is a critical metric for aligning priorities, and the Vision evolves over time, guiding the organization's future aspirations. These elements serve as the foundation for strategic planning and decision-making in an organization.
Part 2 covers company Strategy and Goals (plus Key Results). A great business strategy not only guides how to make an impact, but also highlights why the organization is uniquely positioned to do so. An effective strategy should be concise and easy to recall, with a focus on a small number of key areas that align with the organization's Mission, Vision, and Strategy. The four components of an organization's strategy include Customers (ideal customer profile), Business (type of business and unique characteristics), Competitors (acknowledging and differentiating from competitors), and Macro (considering external factors like technology and industry trends).
And, today we wrapped up the final installment. A Product Vision translates a company's Vision and Mission into actionable steps and ensures alignment with customer priorities and company objectives through the Product Roadmap, supported by Product Goals. To establish a Product Roadmap, apply a Now (this quarter), Next (upcoming quarter), Later (two quarters out) approach. Reflect on past achievements and future aspirations to promote transparency and clarity. Well-defined Product Goals should focus on outcomes, be motivating, and aligning with the company's strategy, fostering collaboration and clarity among team members.
It’s a lot to consider - but you’ve got this. And, don’t forget your team and cross functional stakeholders are there to help you too!