The first tool I want to present is the product vision. It will guide several decisions.

Product vision is what the product will be like in the future.

Defining, communicating, and revising the product vision is the most critical responsibility of someone leading a digital transformation. Without a product vision, working on any other aspect is challenging.

Recalling the definition of product management from the chapter on Digital Transformation, a product must simultaneously meet the strategic objectives the product owner has for it and address the problems and needs of its users. These are the two elements you need to create your product vision. Therefore, the first step to building your product vision is to understand the objectives the product owner has for it.

For example, a bank may want to reduce the need for in-person branch services with an internet banking system. A clinical analysis and imaging laboratory may want to decrease operational handling and result delivery costs with an online results consultation system.

Conversely, you need to understand your customer’s problems and needs. Continuing the examples, what does a bank customer seek to resolve when visiting a branch? Which of these problems could be solved without a visit to the branch? What do a clinical analysis laboratory customer and their doctor need from the examination results? How can this be offered digitally?

There are several very interesting tools to help gain this understanding:

• Empathy Map: a visual tool that encourages putting oneself in the customer’s shoes to understand various aspects when encountering a specific problem or wanting a certain need fulfilled. What does the customer see, hear, say, do, think, and feel when facing this problem or need? What are their pains? And what are the gains expected when this problem is solved or needs met?
• Persona: A persona represents a group of users with similar behavior, attitudes, and motivations in terms of purchase decisions, use of technologies or products, lifestyle, etc. Personas are used to know and understand customers and users of products and services, bring the user into focus, and make decisions more human and less abstract.
• Patron: a downside of personas is that they are static and can quickly become outdated. At Conta Azul, our design team took an extra step and created the concept of a patron. Once the persona was defined, we searched our customer base for a customer who closely matched the persona and called this customer the patron. It is a personification of the persona. The advantage over the persona is that it constantly adapts to circumstances as a living entity. So, if we had any doubts, we could call or visit the patron and ask them directly. The name comes from the Harry Potter book series.
• Research: research can be quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative research is conducted with many people, usually in a more massified way, and conclusions are drawn based on the number of responses. Qualitative research involves in-depth interviews to understand the person’s problem or need.
• Observation: a specific form of research where we observe our customer’s behavior. A very cool source of inspiration is observing what your customer does 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after using your product. Often, they gather information from somewhere to input into your product and, after using it, take the information generated by your product and use it elsewhere. This could be an interesting opportunity to expand your product’s scope. A great book to help having more productive conversations with customers and potential customers to understand their problems and needs is “The Mom Test: How to talk to customers and learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you” by Rob Fitzpatrick (2019).

With these elements in hand, you are ready to create the product vision, which is nothing more than making these elements clear. Simple, right? It would be something like this:

(Software owner name) decided to have this software for (goals of the software owner). This software is used by (description of the people who will use the software), who, when using this software, hopes to solve (problem or need that the user expects to solve) in a better way than (existing alternatives).

(Include more information about the problem or need, with context and motivation to see it resolved).

Please do not copy and paste this text! Create your own product vision, which does not necessarily need all these elements. It also does not have to be a text; it can be a presentation or a video. It’s worth remembering that the product vision represents what the product will be. It should guide all decisions regarding it.

Note that, to write this vision, it is important to know the existing alternatives (something you will identify when understanding your clients’ problems and needs) and your clients’ motivation when seeking the solution to have their problems solved and their needs met. You will identify your direct and indirect competitors during this understanding of existing alternatives. Identifying competitors is part of market analysis, a necessary tool to help us on the way to the product vision — we will see more about this topic in the next chapter, Product Strategy.

Digital transformation and product culture

This article is another excerpt from my newest book “Digital transformation and product culture: How to put technology at the center of your company’s strategy“, which I will also make available here on the blog. So far, I have already published here:

• About the book
• Part 1: Concepts
  • Chapter 1: The so-called digital transformation – Project and Product
  • Chapter 2: Uncertainty and digital transformation
  • Chapter 3: Types of company
  • Chapter 4: Type of company vs digital maturity
  • Chapter 5: Business models
  • Chapter 6: Agile, digital and product culture
• Part 2: Principles
  • Chapter 7: Deliver early and often – Measuring and managing the productivity – Case study: Dasa Group – Case study: Itaú Unibanco
  • Chapter 8: Focus on the problem – O Famoso Discovery de Produto – Why the “business demands => IT implements” model does not work – Case study: Magazine Luiza
  • Chapter 9: Result delivery – Outsource or internal team? – Case study: Centauro
  • Chapter 10: Ecosystem mindset
• Part 3: Tools
  • Chapter 11: Product Vision

Workshops, coaching, and advisory services

I’ve been helping companies and their leaders (CPOs, heads of product, CTOs, CEOs, tech founders, and heads of digital transformation) bridge the gap between business and technology through workshops, coaching, and advisory services on product management and digital transformation.

Digital Product Management Books

Do you work with digital products? Do you want to know more about managing a digital product to increase its chances of success, solve its user’s problems, and achieve the company objectives? Check out my Digital Product Management books, where I share what I learned during my 30+ years of experience in creating and managing digital products:

• Digital transformation and product culture: How to put technology at the center of your company’s strategy
• Leading Product Development: The art and science of managing product teams
• Product Management: How to increase the chances of success of your digital product
• Startup Guide: How startups and established companies can create profitable digital products