Product vision is not company vision: five differences
Company vision is the mission statement. Product vision describes what life gets to be like for your customers when the best version of your product exists. Here are five ways they differ.
I still come across folks who confuse company vision with product vision.
Think of it this way: company vision is the mission statement. Product vision describes what life gets to be like for your customers when the best version of your products exists.
When I was a first-time founder I knew we had to write a company vision, but that's where we stopped. Without any product vision, we were just throwing you-know-what at the wall. One customer's "it'd be great if" became our next day's backlog, right before the next shiny object. With no direction, even I got tired of chasing my ideas.
I see the same thing when founders first come to me. Even Heads of Product skip the product vision, or else they misunderstand what goes into it.
Here are five ways in which product vision is different from company vision.
Time horizon
- Company vision is a bet on legacy, looking 10+ years ahead.
- Product vision maps 3-5 years (1-2 years if just starting out). Refresh it when the last one comes true.
Main character
- Company vision stars the company: what we stand for, and how we want to be known.
- Product vision: the customer is the hero. Their struggles, their aspirations, their transformation.
Purpose
- Company vision answers: "Why do we exist?"
- Product vision describes in rich detail: "How will life look and feel transformed for our customers?"
How it's used
- Company vision defines the market, and the part of their world we focus on.
- Product vision informs product strategy: what we build and what we don't.
Language
- Company vision talks about us: "We believe...", "Our mission is..."
- Product vision talks about them: "Families will finally...", "Designers will be able to..."
If your product vision mentions your company, you're probably telling your story, not your customer's.
Both are essential. But they're not the same. Now you've got language for both, so write the one that's missing.
Related: Storytell your Product Vision with a storyboard.
This post originally appeared on LinkedIn.