3. Checklist - How to Build a Product Vision

Define the Company's Strategic Objectives
- Clarify your company's overarching goals and mission.
Understand User Problems and Needs
- Create Empathy Maps: Step into your users' shoes to understand what they think, feel, say, and do.
- Develop Personas: Build detailed profiles that represent your target users' characteristics, behaviors, and needs.
Conduct a SWOT Analysis
- Identify your product's:
  - Strengths: Internal positive factors.
  - Weaknesses: Internal negative factors (limit to the top three to prioritize).
  - Opportunities: External positive factors.
  - Threats: External negative factors.
- Prioritize items in each quadrant to focus on what matters most.
Gain Thorough Market Knowledge
- Study direct and indirect competitors.
- Identify potential market disruptions.
- Analyze market growth trends and user adoption patterns.
Combine Insights to Formulate the Product Vision
- Integrate company objectives, user insights, SWOT analysis, and market knowledge to draft your vision.
Use a Product Vision Template
- Product Name: Specify the name of your product.
- Purpose: Articulate why the product exists and what objectives it aims to achieve.
- Target Audience: Describe who will use the product using personas and empathy maps.
- Problems or Needs: Outline the problems the product will solve and how it meets user needs better than existing alternatives.
- Pillars: Identify the main pillars or values that will guide the product.
- Strategy: Based on your SWOT analysis, outline the prioritized actions to implement the vision.
Develop a Strategy to Implement the Vision
- Prioritize actions to address key weaknesses and opportunities identified in the SWOT analysis.
- Decide which aspects to focus on first to make meaningful progress.
Communicate the Vision
- Share the product vision with all stakeholders and team members.
- Ensure everyone understands and aligns with the vision and strategy.
Review and Adapt Regularly
- Reassess your vision and strategy annually or when significant events occur (e.g., market shifts, new competitors, economic changes).
- Adjust your plans to keep the product relevant and competitive.
Monitor Progress and Outcomes
- Set measurable goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with your vision.
- Regularly track progress and make data-driven decisions to refine your strategy.