Transcript
Transcript: Creating Effective Product Visions: Avoiding Common Mistakes
[00:00:00 Text appears on screen: Creating Effective Product Visions]
Narrator: Welcome. Today we'll be discussing product vision.
[00:00:04 Text appears on screen: Today's Topics: What our product vision is not/What happens when our product vision statement is missing/Examples]
Narrator: We will discuss what our product vision is not, what happens when our product vision statement is missing, and some examples of good product vision statements.
[00:00:14 Text appears on screen : Product Vision: helps inform a product team's execution]
Narrator: As we've learned already, a product vision helps inform a product team's execution. But working within the government, chances are that your product team sits within a larger agency or office or division,
[00:00:30 Text appears on screen: Product team's work is informed by: Regulation, Policy, Other language]
Narrator: which means there are also going to be regulations, policy and other language informing the work of your team.
[00:00:40 Text appears on screen: You cannot backward engineer your product vision statement from language provided by the policy or regulation]
Narrator: However, you cannot backward engineer your product vision statement from that preexisting language provided by the policy or regulation that guides your team's work.
[00:00:50 Text appears on screen: Modernized Product or Service]
Narrator: For a product or service to be modernized, it actually has to be translated from its origin story into a service oriented or customer oriented mindset.
Product managers on a product team establish and protect project scope and what gets built. Which means it is important for product managers to be empowered enough to say no and to have the space to do so. That way, the product team has a clear definition of what is on their plate and what is off.
Let's take a look at what happens when a product vision is missing.
[00:01:26 A line appears with the word "Defined" on the left side and "Conceptual" on the right side. That line moves vertically to the left side of the screen and an upside down triangle appears beside it. The word "Possibilities" is written at the top of the triangle. The text "Product vision" and appears beside to upper part of the triangle.]
Narrator: On a range from the most defined to the most conceptual tasks that our product team has to take on, a product vision will be the most conceptual task, providing the widest range of possibilities for what the future product or service will look like.
[00:01:43 The text "Where we're trying to go" appears under "product vision" and disappears.]
Narrator: A product vision defines where the team is trying to go.
[00:01:43 The text "specific tasks" appears beside to lower part of the triangle.]
Narrator: The most defined task that a product team will take on are the specific tasks that might be used by Jira or other sorts of product management software,
[00:01:54 The text "How we will get there" appears over "specific tasks" and disappears.]
Narrator: defining the features and specific elements that are being built out of that service or product. Now, looking at the entire range of tasks that our product team is working on
[00:02:06 The text "product vision, product strategy" appears beside to upper part of the triangle. The text "product metrics/objectives, epics" appears beside to middle part of the triangle. The text "themes, stories, specific tasks" appears beside to lower part of the triangle.]
Narrator: - from a product vision definition, product strategy, setting metrics and objectives, writing your epics, your themes, your stories, and ultimately working on those specific tasks- all of the other items that our product team must work on are all going to be informed by that product vision, by the definition of where you're trying to go. In other words, without a clear understanding of what the product vision is, it's incredibly difficult for your team to be able to communicate and work on all the other items below the product vision, going down to the most detailed of tasks.
The product vision is the foundation for a product strategy roadmap, your team's backlog of work and metrics. Without that product vision, it's nearly impossible to determine if your product is moving in the right direction. It's almost like holding a map without having a compass.
Now let's look at some examples of good product vision statements. One example is from the California Child Welfare Services Team. They wrote, 'We're coming up with software that helps social workers find great places for kids to go when their parents can't take care of them.' In this product vision example, you can see they're very clear about who is affected: the kids. They're clear about what the problem is: their parents can't take care of them. They are clear about how they are trying to help: we're coming up with software that helps social workers. And they're clear about the ultimate outcome: social workers find great places for kids to go. All of these four elements help ensure that your product vision statement is clear and creates that alignment for your product team.
Now let's look at an example from the Government of Canada Job Bank. They wrote, 'Connecting the majority of employment insurance claimants with suitable jobs, in an early, targeted and efficient manner." Who's affected? Employment insurance claimants. What is the problem? Suitable jobs. How are they helping? By providing support in an early, targeted and efficient manner. And what's the ultimate outcome? Connecting claimants with suitable jobs.
[00:04:31 Text appears on screen: Product vision: Who is affected, employment insurance claimants; What the problem is, suitable jobs; How they are trying to help, by providing support in an early, targeted and efficient manner; The ultimate outcome, connecting claimants with suitable jobs.]
Narrator: Once again, we can see how the job bank addressed all four elements of a successful product vision statement, therefore, providing clear alignment for their product team towards their ultimate North Star.
Thank you for joining me on this module to learn more about product vision.
[00:04:52 The CSPS animated logo appears onscreen. Text on screen: canada.ca/school.]
[00:04:58 The Government of Canada wordmark appears.]
