Do you have a vision for your product?

I'm working on redesigning an existing product, and for me, setting the vision and identifying the project goals are the two most important things that you need before you can start.  I've done this a few time, and I've found a few helpful resources for doing both of these- take a look!


The vision drives the entire project, and should address the following:

• Who is your target audience?
• What is the need the product addresses?
• State the name of the product
• What's the compelling need to buy, or key benefit
• What's your key differentiator?
• How is it different from your competitors?

There are many good examples of product vision statements.  I'm going to use Apple and Amazon:

• Apple
• "We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that's not changing. We are constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot. And frankly, we don't settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we're wrong and the courage to change. And I think regardless of who is in what job those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well.
• Amazon.com
• "Our [Amazon's] vision is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online."

Here are a few useful sites that could help:

• Roadmap Product Vision Statement
• Framing your Product Vision

Until next time...