| name | product-vision |
| description | Write the Product Vision document -- the durable 5-10 year narrative above the north-star metric -- using Pichler's Vision Board, Moore's elevator pitch, Raskin's strategic narrative, Cagan's 10-year framing, and Amazon Working Backwards.
|
| license | MIT + Commons Clause |
| metadata | {"version":"1.0.1","author":"borghei","category":"project-management","domain":"pm-execution","updated":"2026-06-15T00:00:00.000Z","tech-stack":"product-vision, strategic-narrative, working-backwards, vision-board"} |
Product Vision Expert
Overview
The Product Vision is the narrative that sits above the north-star metric -- the answer to "where are we going and why" that aligns engineers, designers, marketers, executives, and customers around a single point on the horizon. Without a vision, teams optimize local metrics; with a vision, teams optimize toward a shared destination.
A vision is not a mission, not a strategy, not a roadmap. A mission says why the company exists. A strategy says how it will win. A roadmap says what ships next quarter. A vision says where the product will be in 5-10 years -- specific enough to inspire engineering decisions today, ambitious enough to outlast any current technology or market condition. This skill produces the vision document across four canonical formats -- Roman Pichler's Product Vision Board (one-page diagnostic), Geoffrey Moore's elevator pitch (single-sentence positioning from Crossing the Chasm), Andy Raskin's strategic narrative (5-act story arc), and Marty Cagan's 10-year horizon -- plus an Amazon Working Backwards press release and a review checklist for testing whether a vision actually works.
Core Capabilities
- Pichler Vision Board -- one-page, five-block canvas (vision, audience, needs, product, business goals)
- Moore elevator pitch -- single-sentence positioning statement that forces specificity
- Raskin strategic narrative -- 5-act story arc for pitches, board, all-hands, fundraising
- Cagan 10-year horizon -- long-form vision for multi-year architecture and senior hiring
- Vision Review Checklist -- score inspiring / concrete / durable / differentiated / memorable
When to Use
- New product launch. Articulate the destination before committing engineering quarters.
- Major pivot. Direction has shifted and the old vision no longer fits. Reset.
- Strategy reset. Annual or pre-funding-round refresh of the long-term direction.
- Stakeholder misalignment. Engineering, design, and exec are pulling in different directions; re-articulating the vision surfaces the disagreement.
- Hiring at scale. You need a vision compelling enough that prospective hires can decide whether to join. Vague visions repel strong talent.
Quick Start
- Gather inputs: customer interviews, JTBD hierarchy, value proposition canvas, competitive landscape.
- Pick a starting format -- new product: Pichler Board; reset: Raskin narrative; multi-year: Cagan 10-year.
- Draft, then translate into a second format -- a vision that survives translation is sharp.
- Run the Vision Review Checklist; rewrite anything scoring under 3 of 5.
- Test with 3 internal audiences and 2 customers; publish as the first link in onboarding and the cover of strategy decks; revisit annually.
References
Load the reference that matches the task -- keep this file lean and pull detail on demand:
- references/vision-playbook.md -- the operational playbook: the layer comparison (mission/vision/strategy/roadmap), all four framework templates in detail, the Amazon Working Backwards note, the full Vision Review Checklist, the end-to-end Reconcile worked example, the drafting workflow, troubleshooting, and success criteria. Read this when drafting or reviewing a vision.
- references/vision-frameworks-guide.md -- the framework theory (Pichler, Moore, Raskin, Cagan, Amazon) with block-by-block guidance and "choosing a framework" advice. Read this when you need the reasoning behind each format.
- references/red-flags.md -- 10 vision anti-patterns (vision = mission, 12-month vision, vision without a customer, vision as roadmap) with symptoms and fixes. Read this when stress-testing a draft.
Templates live in assets/: vision_board_template.md, narrative_vision_template.md, elevator_pitch_template.md, vision_review_checklist.md.
Scope & Limitations
In scope: vision drafting across 4 frameworks (Pichler, Moore, Raskin, Cagan); the Vision Review Checklist; worked examples and templates; translation between formats; integration with downstream artifacts (NSM, OKRs, roadmap, PRDs).
Out of scope: mission statement writing; strategy document construction (c-level-advisor/); brand positioning and messaging (marketing/); Working Backwards PR/FAQ (execution/prfaq/); NSM definition (execution/north-star-metric/); OKR drafting (execution/brainstorm-okrs/).
Caveats: a vision is not a marketing document (marketing language belongs in messaging); a vision that is never used is worse than no vision; the 10-year horizon is uncomfortable for execution-minded teams -- the discomfort is the point; a vision can be wrong -- commit, build, and update on evidence.
Integration Points
| Integration | Direction | What Flows |
|---|
discovery/value-proposition-canvas/ | Receives from | Customer Profile (jobs, pains, gains) feeds Pichler Board "Needs" block |
discovery/jtbd-workshop/ | Receives from | Job hierarchy and top outcomes inform the vision's customer + outcome |
discovery/customer-interview-script/ | Receives from | Verbatim customer language sharpens vision phrasing |
execution/north-star-metric/ | Feeds into | The NSM derives from the vision -- the vision's outcome becomes the NSM input metric tree root |
execution/outcome-roadmap/ | Feeds into | The roadmap delivers the vision; every roadmap theme should trace back |
execution/brainstorm-okrs/ | Feeds into | OKRs serve the vision -- each quarterly objective should advance one vision pillar |
execution/prfaq/ | Complementary | Working Backwards PR is one expression of the vision; the FAQ stress-tests it |
execution/create-prd/ | Feeds into | PRDs explicitly reference the vision in Section 3 (Background) |
execution/roadmap-communication/ | Feeds into | Vision is the opening frame of every exec/customer roadmap presentation |
c-level-advisor/cto-advisor/ | Bidirectional | CTO uses vision to drive architecture bets; vision is informed by tech feasibility |