I usually roll my eyes when people talk about "product vision". It sounds abstract and wishy-washy.

And yet in researching Kill the HiPPO I've found that it to be a critical part of choosing the right features to build in your product. Just as importantly, it helps you identify what features not to build.

Consider Ulysses, the writing app, profiled in Kill the HiPPO.

Who is Ulysses for?

Is it a writing app for everyone? No, that's too broad. This doesn't help at all with deciding what features to include.

The Ulysses team decided that their product vision was for it to be for professional writers - for people who are writing books and articles to earn their living.

With this concrete, well-defined product vision, the Ulysses team can say "no" to at least 90% of all feature requests and product ideas without any further consideration. That's because these features are not what professional writers need.

Having a strong vision makes it easier to say no to the things you should be saying no to.

In a recent Bluesky post, Jason Cohen, founder of WP Engine, wrote:

Part of the answer is to have a strong vision for your product. Know exactly what you are building, who it is for, and how it differs from competitors. Make sure everyone in your team knows the strong vision.

This helps to identify the things you shouldn't be building in your product. A strong vision is not all you need to make all product decisions, of course. But it will help you eliminate many options.

Problems with product vision

What if you have a strong product vision, but customers are relentlessly asking for something that doesn't match with that vision?

There are 2 cases where this might happen:

Problem 1: your marketing conflicts with your vision

You are giving potential customers the idea that your product is something that doesn't match your vision. People are asking for these features because they expect your product to be what your marketing is telling them.

Your marketing needs to be improved to match your vision.

This can also be an internal marketing problem: you are not communicating clearly to your team the vision for your product.

Problem 2: your product vision is incorrect

What you thought you wanted to build is not what people want. The product vision needs to be changed.

I don't advocate for changing your vision often or on a whim. It should only do this after much contemplation and discussion. But sometimes you do need to change that vision.

Do I still roll my eyes when I hear people speak of product vision?

No. I now realise it is important to have a clear vision, and to articulate it often, to your team and to your customers.

If you don't have a strong product vision, you'll build the wrong features.

If you don't state it clearly to yourself, to your team, and to your customers, then you'll spend too much time fielding requests for things you won't build.

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