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Mind the Product

mission statement

Deep dive: Crafting your product vision and mission

Podcast

Connecting fans to creators at Spotify (Dariusz Dziuk, Product Lead, Spotify)

B2B product management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

Building Product Teams

Business Strategy

Data Driven Product Management

Digital Transformation

Diversity and Inclusion

Minimum Viable Product

OKRs

Prioritisation

Product Design

Product Research

Product Development Process

Product Ethics

Product Discovery

Product Leadership

Product Management Career

Product Strategy

Stakeholder Management

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How Google makes AI work at Enterprise scale – Miku Jha (Director, AI/ML and Generative AI, Google Cloud)

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Building your own user experience and software stack: This week’s product news

Yohay Etsion is a skilled product executive with an extensive background in various leadership positions, including General Manager and VP Product positions at NICE and Cognyte. Throughout his career, Yohay has taken on numerous executive roles, proving his ability to inspire teams, manage large-scale projects, and drive growth for businesses in the tech industry.
What truly sets Yohay apart, though, is his innate talent for making a point and his passion for teaching and mentoring others. As an executive and product coach, he has made a significant impact on the careers of countless professionals, guiding them to develop their skills and reach their full potential.

Yohay is not only an accomplished leader in his field, but also a generous mentor, empowering others to succeed in their own careers. His unique ability to break down complex concepts and communicate them clearly, combined with his extensive experience and expertise, make him an invaluable resource for anyone looking to grow and excel in the world of product management.

Whether it's through one-on-one coaching or group workshops, Yohay's dedication to helping others shines through, making him an inspiring and motivating figure for aspiring product managers and executives alike.

Yohay Etsion

<p><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/inspiring-teams-product-vision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A product vision</a> is the compass that guides your product&#8217;s journey, providing a succinct declaration of its purpose, direction, and significance. It serves as the focal point that aligns your team, inspires stakeholders, and defines your product&#8217;s unique value, ensuring a clear and purposeful path to success.</p>
<p>A product vision is a critical element of any fruitful product organization, containing succinct declaration that details the objectives and course of the product. Acting as an <span style="font-weight: bold;">inspirational </span>road map, it holds together the team behind shared aspirations while further introducing stakeholders to <span style="font-weight: bold;">the value your products provide</span>. We will be examining how to construct an effective product vision, outlining trade-offs involved and providing case studies from successful visions already in place.</p>
<h2>Considerations for building a product vision</h2>
<p>Crafting an effective product vision isn&#8217;t just about being clear and concise; it&#8217;s also about inspiring people. If you want to make the most of your product vision, there are a few key considerations that will help get you started. Let&#8217;s dive into them now!</p>
<h3>Customer-centricity</h3>
<p>Establishing a customer-focused product vision is essential for providing maximum value to the user. It should be geared towards addressing a particular problem or meeting an individual need, while also emphasizing how it stands out from competitors and what unique benefits it brings to customers. When you place users at the center of your product objectives, you will ensure that they feel connected and understood by your products in meaningful ways.</p>
<h3>Market awareness</h3>
<p>By staying on top of the ever-changing market, not only can the product organization develop a deep understanding of trends and consumer behavior but also construct an ambitious vision that remains relevant. With knowledge about the competitive landscape too, this visionary perspective stays ahead of its time. Informed by these vital market insights, your product team will ensure success for years to come.</p>
<h3>Business strategy</h3>
<p>To maximize the benefit of their product, the organization should ensure that its vision is in harmony with its overall business strategy. The product organization can collaborate closely with other teams such as product marketing, value realization, and business development to guarantee this alignment exists. When the product team works towards achieving the same goals as those set out by senior leadership then they are able to create products which unlock genuine and sustainable value for both customers and shareholders alike.</p>
<h3>Scalability</h3>
<p>With a scalable product vision, businesses can stay on top of market trends or customer demands. This enables the product organization to develop an adaptive strategy for their products that is continuously updated and modified as their offerings evolve. By constructing a flexible long-term plan, companies can ensure they remain viable over time by staying ahead of the competition in terms of innovation and relevance.</p>
<h2>Trade-offs in building a product vision</h2>
<p>Crafting a product vision is an intricate balancing act between various components. Let&#8217;s examine some of these trade-offs further.</p>
<h3>Customer-centricity vs. business strategy</h3>
<p>Crafting the ideal product vision necessitates a balancing act between customer-centric priorities and corporate strategies. Although the ultimate goal should always be to put customers first, keeping in mind the long-term goals of your business is equally important. There may even be times when private objectives clash with those of your patrons – demanding that you make calculated compromises so as to satisfy both parties while still remaining true to yourself.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s say a company desires to grow into a new area that necessitates certain features. In such an instance, the product organization may need to modify their vision of the product in order to make sure it meets the demands of this market segment while still providing customers with value.</p>
<h3>Market awareness vs. scalability</h3>
<p>When creating a product vision, it is essential to strike the perfect balance between recognition of market knowledge and scalability. The plan should be based on up-to-date trends and observations; yet still possess flexibility for changes in customer needs or marketplace alterations. In some cases, you may have to sacrifice an element of market insight so that your product vision can adjust as time passes by.</p>
<p>For instance, if a product organization is trying to develop something for an untapped market segment, they might have to use assumptions about the market until they can collect more data. This strategy may not provide optimal insights into that particular market, yet it allows their product vision to be malleable and easily adaptable as the environment shifts.</p>
<h3>Business strategy vs. scalability</h3>
<p>Crafting an effective product vision requires careful consideration of the balance between business strategy and scalability. The vision needs to be in line with your corporate objectives while also allowing for flexibility when customer preferences or market conditions shift. It may occasionally prove necessary to make hard decisions that prioritize one over the other, but having a scalable product vision is essential if you want your company&#8217;s success to extend over time.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s say a business has the ambition to expand into an unexplored market. In order for them to succeed, their product team must make decisions that allow their products to be adjusted as needed and still offer value to customers. Striving towards this goal without compromising on quality is key in achieving success for the long-term.</p>
<h2>Additional considerations</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">How to communicate and iterate on a product vision within a product organization</span></p>
<p>Establishing a product vision is just the start of an ongoing journey. The real test lies in communicating that same vision to all members within the product organization &#8211; and doing so successfully! Follow these best practices for successful dissemination and iteration of your product&#8217;s purpose:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Start with a clear and concise product vision statement</span>: Crafting a succinct yet impactful product vision statement is essential for effectively conveying your objectives to your team. Make sure it motivates them to take action and can be remembered easily. Your mission should be straightforward, so everyone can stay focused on reaching the same goals together!</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Break down the vision into achievable goals</span>: Constructing a product vision can be daunting, however, you can simplify the process by breaking it down into achievable objectives. Your targets should be distinct and quantifiable while aligning with your overarching product vision statement. By chipping away at these attainable goals in succession, you&#8217;ll soon realize your ambitious destination!</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Foster a culture of open communication</span>: In order to reach your product vision, it&#8217;s essential that everyone is communicating openly. Make sure you foster an environment where team members can easily exchange their insights, reflections and worries around the product vision. This will help to identify any potential problems early on and make sure all stakeholders are aligned with one another.</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conduct regular check-ins</span>: Assuring that everyone on your team is striving towards the same goals can be attained by routinely connecting with them. It will also help to recognize any problems or barriers that need to be resolved.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Best practices for ensuring that the product vision is aligned with customer needs and desires</h3>
<p>To guarantee that your product meets customer needs and desires, you must thoroughly comprehend their wants and woes. Here are the top strategies for achieving this harmony:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conduct customer research</span>: Truly understanding your <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/the-power-of-user-centered-design-putting-your-customers-first/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">customers</a>&#8216; wants and needs is essential for success. Utilizing customer research can help you identify their struggles, motivations, and habits. To get a comprehensive look into what matters most to them, launch interviews, surveys, and usability tests ASAP!</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Define your target audience</span>: Unveiling your ideal customers is fundamental to creating a product vision that resonates with them. To do so, create personas of who they are: their demographics, behavior patterns, and motivations. This way you can better understand your target audience and speak directly to them through the products you create.</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Create user stories</span>: User stories are a clear, concise way to capture the nuances of your customers&#8217; needs and desires. They tell an interactive story outlining each customer&#8217;s journey with your product &#8212; detailing their struggles along the path while demonstrating what they hope to achieve in the end.</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Test your product</span>: Testing your product with genuine customers is the most reliable way to make sure that it meets their expectations. With usability tests and customer feedback, you can verify that what you envision for your product aligns precisely with user needs and desires.</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Monitor user behavior</span>: Track user activity to distinguish where your product aspirations may not be in harmony with customer requirements and preferences. Use analytics technology to observe how people use the product, detect any issues, and make decisions backed by data.</li>
</ul>
<h3>The impact of external factors, such as changes in technology or market conditions, on a product vision</h3>
<p>Your product vision can be disrupted by external elements like technological shifts or market fluctuations. Here are some strategies to help manage the effects of these outside forces on your product vision:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stay up-to-date with market trends</span>: Stay abreast of ever-changing market trends and developments that could affect your product strategy. Regularly monitor the activities of your competitors, while keeping an eye out for promising new technologies and industry patterns.</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conduct regular reviews of your product vision</span>: Frequently assess your product vision to ensure that it is pertinent and consistent with the current market. Modify your product vision as essential in order to adapt to any fluctuations in the marketplace.</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Be open to new ideas</span>: Embrace novel concepts that can help you adjust to market fluctuations for optimal success.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Collaboration within the product organization</h2>
<p>The development of a product vision necessitates the collective effort from stakeholders across the entire product organization. Let&#8217;s examine each role and how its respective team contributes to this process of building an impactful, long-term vision.</p>
<p>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">VP Product</span> is <span style="font-weight: bold;">accountable </span>for the product vision and roadmap. They work closely with other functions, such as marketing, value realization, and business development, to ensure that the product vision aligns with the company&#8217;s overall business strategy.</p>
<p>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Directors of Product Management</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Principal product managers</span> are pivotal in the product vision development, spearheading the roadmap to guarantee that it is consistent with both corporate strategy and customer needs.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Senior and Established Product Managers</span> are essential in developing a successful product vision by offering their expertise on customer requirements, as well as market trends. They play a key role in forming the strategic roadmap for the company&#8217;s direction and long-term plans.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Junior product managers</span> engage in strategic processes with occasional help. They may contribute to the product vision creation process by providing input on customer needs or market tends.</p>
<p>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Director of Product Marketing and Product Marketing Managers</span> are in charge of forming go-to-market strategies as well as overseeing aspects connected with marketing a successful product and can thus contribute also to the creation process. They then team up with the VP Product and the team to involved to make sure that the product vision reaches all key stakeholders accurately.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">CI </span>is the source of customer knowledge and market investigation. By joining forces with other platforms, they make sure that the product development plan has a strong focus on customers&#8217; wants and needs, as well as emerging trends in the marketplace.</p>
<h2>How to incorporate feedback from customers and other stakeholders into the product vision</h2>
<p>Gathering and incorporating feedback from stakeholders and customers is essential in crafting a successful product vision. By paying attention to the opinions of your target audience, you can guarantee that your product fits their needs and wants. To ensure maximum success for your product vision, here are some best practices to take into consideration:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Collect feedback from multiple sources</span>: Rather than trusting solely in customer reviews, it is important to draw insights from a wide range of sources, such as salespeople, marketers, and those working in customer service. Additionally consulting with industry experts and analysts will help you get an all-around view on market trends and the perception of your customers’ needs. Reaching out beyond the confines of what customers directly tell us can be extremely advantageous when making decisions that affect our entire organization.</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Analyze feedback and prioritize action items</span>: After you have gathered customer <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/getting-fast-feedback-a-quick-guide-for-product-managers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">feedback</a>, take the time to review it and spot recurring patterns that can be used to enhance your product. When deciding which action items should take precedence, think about both how they will affect your customers&#8217; experience as well as their contribution towards achieving your company&#8217;s goals.</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Continuously seek feedback</span>: It&#8217;s essential to continuously source feedback from customers and stakeholders with regards to your product vision in order to stay on top of trends and remain competitive. Make it a habit to embrace input, so that you can deliver the most up-to-date experience for those using the products or services you offer.</li>
</ul>
<p>As a business owner, you want to ensure that your product is tailored and created specifically for the needs of your target audience. By gathering feedback from both customers and stakeholders, you can create an optimal vision that fulfills their desires and leads to customer satisfaction &#8211; which will ultimately drive greater success for your business!</p>
<p>To construct an effective product vision and ensure success for your organization, communication between teams as well as iteration aligning with customer requirements should be prioritized. Stay flexible to external changes and regularly update the process in order to remain competitive. Lastly, leadership endorsement combined with proper communication are essential factors that ultimately determine the success of the product. If you prioritize these elements while following best practices, then a successful product vision is within reach!</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Defining a purposeful and motivating product vision is essential to constructing and managing an efficient product-oriented organization. This vision will monitor the design of the roadmap, production agenda, and conditions necessary for the ultimate fulfilment of customer expectations while still adhering to the company’s overarching marketing aims.</p>
<p>Product teams often face a dilemma when creating product visions &#8211; balancing customer-focused needs with business objectives, gauging the market&#8217;s understanding of their product while focusing on building strong relationships with customers, and making sure that scalability does not suffer due to short-term gains in business strategy.</p>
<p>Generating a successful product vision necessitates the harmonious collaboration amongst roles within the product organization, which is spearheaded by the VP Product. The number of individuals taking part in this endeavor and their levels according to each individual&#8217;s experience and expertise can differ drastically.</p>

Creating a clear direction for your product

Yohay Etsion

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