Canvas your way to product vision
By: Merissa Silk
Tags: Workshop, Product Management, Brainstorming, User Experience, Product Strategy

The Product Vision Workshop

To illustrate how to run this workshop, we’re going to follow an idea about a new news app concept. Imagine you’re asked to solve this problem: “Help our readers engage with news in a more transparent way.”

The product vision canvas and accompanying workshop will help you get started.

Start your workshop off by defining the problem space. You’ll want to agree on a single problem to solve before moving along to the other prompts. For some teams, defining the problem will be the most difficult part of the canvas. When companies are used to spending time in the solutions space, they may be less comfortable exploring and identifying problems to solve.

Following through with our news app example, these are two examples that are NOT problem statements:

Make people read news with different viewpoints.

Give people access to diverse content.

These are solutions and not problems. A problem statement is not a solution phrased another way. The more specific your problem statement, the better.

And here’s one example that IS a problem statement:

Casual newsreaders who typically read whatever appears in their social feeds are not proactive enough to seek out diverse sources.

Stanford’s d. School says that a good problem statement:

Provides focus and frames the problem

Inspires your team

Informs criteria for evaluating competing ideas

Empowers your team to make independent decisions

Prevents you from creating concepts that are all things to all people

I don’t recommend templated formats for problem statements, vision statements, etc., but if you get stuck here are two templates you can try:

I am (persona) trying to (complete X JTBD) but (X is in persona’s way) because (reason), which makes me feel (emotion).

(Persona) needs a way to (solve X need) because (pain point).

If your team is struggling to identify and align on a single problem, then more research or discussions may be needed. You can continue with the workshop if you have several options for problem statements, but it’s important to align on one clear problem before beginning implementation.

Once your problem is defined, consider your audience. The aim is to identify a single group or a maximum of 2 groups who will be using your product to solve the defined problem. These groups are typically different to segments or roles but could align with persons.

If you don’t define the problem and users upfront, you risk building the wrong solution.

Now consider what those users need from your product. What are their pains or Jobs to be Done? I like to encourage my team to write on their stickies using “I statements” to build empathy with the users.

Prompt #4, features, is usually the most fun part of the workshop because it creates a wild flurry of stickies. I’ve found that this prompt is the easiest for teams, especially when they’re more used to being in solutions mode. Ask your team, what are some features or services that would solve the users’ needs?

Keep in mind that what’s defined here doesn’t translate 1–1 onto your roadmap. These features are the starting point for prototyping and research that would typically be done as part of a discovery phase.

Once you’ve identified features, the unique value proposition is next. Try to come up with maximum 2-3 UVPs which will shape your future go-to-market plans.

Ask your team:

What makes your product special?

How is your product better than what users are already doing?

Why should they use your product?

Why should they pay for it?

Now jump ahead to the future — what metrics should you track to know that your product or feature is successful? What is the expected value for the user, for the business?

And then look at success from another angle — what would happy users say about your product? Similar to the needs brainstorm, I like to write these as quotes from the point of view of the user.

Once the main prompts of the board are filled in, it’s time to come up with your experience principles. Experience principles, sometimes called design principles, reflect your product’s core values and priorities.

Ideally, your experience principles would be based on research and incorporate what the team has already learned about users’ needs and wants. They should also reflect an understanding of the business needs and brand positioning.

Why do we need experience principles?

Experience principles help teams align, make decisions, and focus. You can use your Experience Principles to support your decision-making and reduce misunderstandings within your team and with stakeholders.

Following along with our news app idea, here are some example Experience Principles. Like the needs and quotes, I like to phrase these from the user’s point of view, to continue to build empathy.

Example experience principles:

Make it open, unbiased, and non-judgemental

Make it part of my routine

Help me see the other side

I recommend coming up with 3 experience principles for your product. More than that will be too hard to remember and will become overwhelming to use to make decisions within your team.

It’s ok to start with one set of principles and then refine or adjust when more information is available, for example, following user research.

And last, it’s time for your product vision statement. A good product vision is both aspirational and actionable. It should describe the why behind your product and illustrate the value your product brings to your users.

Alongside the experience principles, a clear product vision statement will help you and your team make decisions, focus, prioritize, and work towards your goals.

You can use a templated approach for your product vision statement. But, I would advocate for something shorter and therefore easier to remember, like this one: “Our vision is to burst filter bubbles with equal, unbiased access to news.” A great vision statement can be recalled by every member of your extended team.

It’s ok if your vision statement isn’t perfect on the first try. Like the experience principles, the vision statement can be refined as your team begins to work on defining and delivering the product experience.

Further reading about writing product vision statements: