{"id":6156,"date":"2019-03-15T12:36:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T12:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/?p=6156"},"modified":"2025-01-13T16:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T16:27:12","slug":"product-vision-validation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/","title":{"rendered":"Product Vision Validation is Important. Validating it, even more so"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Product vision and company vision often end up being the same, particularly in companies with single products. But they are different. Product vision is where the product is going to go in order to deliver value to the users. Company vision is where the company is going to go in order to deliver the product and bring success to the team.

It is important, even for young companies, to have separate company and product visions so they know where both will be going. Richard Banfield, editor of Fresh Tilled Soil<\/a>, goes into more detail about this importance here<\/a>.

But a product vision isn\u2019t static. You iterate on the product vision continuously as you learn more about the problems you\u2019re solving and your customers.

We often tend to set and forget it, leaving our product vision to languish as we race off to deliver it. However, a product vision needs to adapt and change over time.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Product
Shoot for the moon!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Why? Because environments change, users change, opportunities change, and technologies change. Your product vision rests on assumptions about all four of these items: if you don’t adapt your vision to these changing assumptions, then your product will fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shock Therapy Won\u2019t Work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many product vision re-orientations come from a shock rather than a more measured and considered series of changes. A shock may be something like a failed product launch, or sudden customer churn as another similar product comes onto the market, or low renewal levels.

A shock often leads to a rapid scramble as product managers and executives try to determine what has gone wrong and how things need to change. In this scramble, errors are made and you\u2019re not guaranteed to come out the other side with a better product vision. It may even be that the product vision doesn\u2019t need to change, but that also can get lost in the scramble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continual Review is Key<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instead of waiting for the shock, you can use continuous product discovery<\/a>\u00a0to continually monitor and adapt as things change. Combined with effective use of metrics and objectives you can continually review your product vision and your product strategy to address changing realities when things aren\u2019t working.

By using continuous product strategy, you are continually reviewing all the problems and feedback that previously you’ve parked because they were outside your product vision and strategy. You should look for any trends in these parked problems.

A growing set of parked problems doesn’t necessarily mean that your product vision or strategy is wrong. It could just mean that potentially there are complementary products that could be designed to solve those problems.

You need to combine information from continuous product discovery with the metrics and objectives derived from your product vision and strategy. If you\u2019re not achieving your objectives and your metrics aren’t good, and there are a lot of parked problems, then something is wrong. Try making a small change to your strategy and if your objectives and metrics improve then it is likely your previous strategy was not suitable for achieving your product vision validation.

If you change your strategy and nothing happens, it may be that your vision is not achievable. Now you need to delve into the specifics of the problems highlighted in the continuous product discovery to craft your new product vision, product strategy, objectives and metrics. If you\u2019ve stuck to a continuous product strategy then this should be a tweak rather than a wholesale junking of everything. Sometimes, however, you may have to start again from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tweaking the Vision<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prior to founding ProdPad, I was Head of Product for a startup called PeerIndex, a social media analytics platform which is now part of BrandWatch. PeerIndex started out as Viewsflow. Viewsflow was a way of receiving a personalised newsletter each day, based on what was shared by topical influencers on Twitter, for example Fred Wilson on venture capital. To do this we had to create a way of ranking people\u2019s influence \/ expertise by proxy in a range of topics. While we gained some traction with the concept of Viewsflow, we found that people were only really interested in their own influence ranking. Our continual review of the customer feedback led us to review the vision and strategy of Viewsflow, which then led to a new vision and strategy encompassed in PeerIndex.

This pivot wasn\u2019t rushed, but rather driven by our ongoing (weekly) review of customer feedback which raised the issue. This led to us taking a step back and reviewing all the customer feedback and behaviour, which then resulted in the change in the vision and strategy for the product.

It is this type of analysis and the continued interaction between what you learn from continuous product discovery, your metrics and objectives that will help you determine whether you need to change your product vision, change your product strategy or continue as you are.

Continuous product discovery can help you to identify problems with your product vision validation and strategy, and is also a powerful tool for validating that you are doing the right thing and that your vision is achievable. If the problems surfaced by continuous product discovery lie along your path to your product vision, then you are headed in the right direction.

How do you differentiate between product objectives and company objectives? Find out in the next in this series of blog posts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Product vision and company vision often end up being the same, particularly in companies with single products. But they are different. Product vision is where the product is going to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[189],"pp_uni_tag":[],"class_list":["post-6156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-product-leadership","tag-product-vision"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nProduct Vision Validation is Important | ProdPad<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Continuous product discovery can help you to identify problems with your product vision validation and strategy and a powerful tool\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your Product Vision is Important. Validating it, even more so.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Using product discovery to determine and validate product vision. This is the first in a series exploring product best practices. Read more now.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ProdPad\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ProdPad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-15T12:36:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-13T16:27:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/moonshot-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1868\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Simon Cast\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Your Product Vision is Important. Validating it, even more so.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Using product discovery to determine and validate product vision. This is the first in a series exploring product best practices. Read more now.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@simoncast\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@prodpad\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Simon Cast\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Product Vision Validation is Important | ProdPad","description":"Continuous product discovery can help you to identify problems with your product vision validation and strategy and a powerful tool","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Your Product Vision is Important. Validating it, even more so.","og_description":"Using product discovery to determine and validate product vision. This is the first in a series exploring product best practices. Read more now.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/","og_site_name":"ProdPad","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ProdPad\/","article_published_time":"2019-03-15T12:36:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-13T16:27:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1868,"height":1300,"url":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/moonshot-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Simon Cast","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Your Product Vision is Important. Validating it, even more so.","twitter_description":"Using product discovery to determine and validate product vision. This is the first in a series exploring product best practices. Read more now.","twitter_creator":"@simoncast","twitter_site":"@prodpad","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Simon Cast","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/"},"author":{"name":"Simon Cast","@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fb8e77f557f688abba0e1c783d4a811e"},"headline":"Product Vision Validation is Important. Validating it, even more so","datePublished":"2019-03-15T12:36:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-13T16:27:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/"},"wordCount":920,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/moonshot-1.png","keywords":["product vision"],"articleSection":["Product Leadership"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/","name":"Product Vision Validation is Important | ProdPad","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/moonshot-1.png","datePublished":"2019-03-15T12:36:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-13T16:27:12+00:00","description":"Continuous product discovery can help you to identify problems with your product vision validation and strategy and a powerful tool","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/moonshot-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/moonshot-1.png","width":1868,"height":1300,"caption":"Shoot for the moon!"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/product-vision-validation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Latest Blogs","item":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/category\/latest-blogs\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Product Leadership","item":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/category\/latest-blogs\/product-leadership\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Product Vision Validation is Important. Validating it, even more so"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/","name":"ProdPad","description":"Product Management Software","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/#organization","name":"ProdPad","url":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/blue-full.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/blue-full.png","width":2050,"height":400,"caption":"ProdPad"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ProdPad\/","https:\/\/x.com\/prodpad","https:\/\/instagram.com\/prodpad","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/prodpad\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCXHOx5Ed-6sHPujypIlhdMA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fb8e77f557f688abba0e1c783d4a811e","name":"Simon Cast","description":"Simon Cast is a product expert and Co-founder of ProdPad - building great product management software, and of Mind the Product, a global community of product managers. He has 14 years experience in building products, ranging from satellite control software to online social capital tools, and also spent time in the Australian Army. In 2010, he co-founded ProductCamp London with Janna, and he now organizes ProductTank events and the Mind the Product Conference.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/simoncast"],"url":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/author\/simon-cast\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6156"},{"taxonomy":"pp_uni_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pp_uni_tag?post=6156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}