Strategy
Product vision board
The vision, the group you are serving, the need behind it, what the product actually is, and the business goals it pays back, each in its own box. Closes with the assumption that would sink the board if it turned out to be false.
What it is
A vision board holds the argument for a product on one page. Who it is for, the problem it solves, what it needs to be, and what the business gets back. Roman Pichler published the format, and its value is that it puts the business case beside the customer problem so neither can be discussed on its own.
It is deliberately broad. A vision board is not a plan and will not help you choose between two roadmaps, because a good vision supports several. It is for the moment before that, when a team needs to agree what it is building and for whom.
The hardest box is the needs box. Most teams fill it with features they intend to build. A need is what the person is trying to get done, and it should still be true after you change your mind about every feature in the product.
When to use it
- A new product or a significant new area is starting and nobody has written down what it is for.
- Team members give different answers when asked who the product is for.
- You are preparing a business case and want the customer problem stated before the numbers.
- A product has drifted and you want one page saying what it was meant to be.
What is in it
- Vision
- Target group
- Needs
- Product
- Business goals
- The assumption that would sink this
The template
Owner [name] / Agreed with [names] / Date [date] / Review on [date twelve months out]
Vision
One sentence on the change you want to see in the world, written so it would still be true if you built it a different way. No product name, no feature, no number.
For example, small finance teams close their books without a single evening of manual reconciliation.
Target group
Who this is for, specifically enough that you could go and find ten of them this week. A segment, a role, a situation. Name who it is not for in the same box, because that is the half people skip.
- Primary group [role, company size, situation]
- Also served [role]
- Not for [group, and the reason]
Needs
The problem this group has today, in their words rather than yours. What they do instead right now, and what that costs them in time, money or risk.
For example, they export three systems into a spreadsheet on the last working day of the month and spend two evenings matching rows by hand.
Product
What the thing actually is, in three to five lines. The two or three properties that make it work for the group above, and the reason those properties are hard for anyone to copy.
- It is [category of thing]
- It does [the one job it does better than the alternative the group uses today]
- It is built on [the asset, data or integration that makes that possible]
Business goals
How the organisation benefits, with a number and a date on each line. Revenue, retention, cost to serve, market entry.
| Goal | Measure | Where we are | Where we need to be | By |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grow into finance teams under 50 staff | Paying accounts in that segment | 140 | 500 | Dec 2026 |
| Reduce cost to serve | Support contacts per account per month | 1.8 | 1.0 | Jun 2026 |
The assumption that would sink this
Name the one belief that, if it turned out to be false, would make the whole board wrong. Then say what evidence you have for it today and what would test it properly.
For example, we believe teams of this size will connect their bank feed to a tool they have used for under a month, and the only evidence we have is that larger teams do it in week three.
The last box is the one that earns the page. A vision board with no stated assumption reads as agreement, and it will be quoted for a year by people who never examined it.
Questions people ask
- How is this different from a product strategy?
- A vision says where you are going and who for. A strategy says how you will win and what you will not do. The vision changes rarely, the strategy changes as the market does.
- Should the vision have a date?
- No. A vision that expires is a goal. Keep the Product Goal for the thing you are working towards now and let the vision sit above it.
- Can a product have more than one vision board?
- One product, one board. Needing two usually means you have two products or two segments, and saying that plainly is more useful than a second board.
- How often should it be revisited?
- Read it at the start of each quarter and change it only when something you assumed turns out to be wrong. A vision rewritten every quarter was never a vision.