What kind of metrics do you use to track your product vision? Is it necessary?

Question

Sriram Iyer · Accepted Answer

Metrics are absolutely necessary when building your vision board. As you think of metrics, think of what will really define success? And how will we as a team measure success? Here are a few examples of key questions teams try to answer as they think of crafting metrics for their vision canvas -

1. What KPIs will you use to define success?

2. What are your product goals and outcomes?

3. What are your quality goals and outcomes? (Performance and Stability goals for example)

4. How will you measure progress toward these goals?

5. How will you communicate progress towards these goals? Who’s the audience? What’s the cadence?

6. How will you re-think your routine as you drive this key initiative? What are the key meetings you will drive to ensure progress and the success of your product/initiative?

7. What are the meetings that you will stop attending, or send a delegate to?

Jacqueline Porter · Answer

I don't usually have metrics to validate the vision, because usually the execution plan and product adoption will tell the story of if it resonates with the market. Interviews and qualitative data are nice inputs to the product vision and help validate if the word choice is appropriate.

Some examples of qualitative data:

1. Interviews with ideal users of products

2. Survey on word choice and usage associations

3. Prototype responses with vision statements

Bhaskar Krishnan · Answer

* Data & Metrics are at the heart of every product, be it Consumer, Enterprise or Platform. A metrics tree or hierarchy is critical and should follow the Execute -> Features -> Roadmap -> Strategy -> Vision structure highlighted in another question
 * The metrics dashboard should track the metrics across these different parts of the Product Strategy Stack. Each level of metrics is relevant for a different stakeholder or leadership layer in the firm. The metrics around Company Vision & Mission matter for the Exeuctive Leadership team, the metrics around the Company & Product Strategy matter for the Senior Leaders in the firm and the metrics around Product launches, feautres & roadmaps matter for the Product teams 
 * The metrics above would also be tracked in different cadences and frequencies. The product-related metrics would be tracked daily and others would be at weekly, monthly or quarterly frequencies

Related Ask Me Anything Sessions

GitLab Director of Product Management, Jacqueline Porter on Product Vision

Atlassian Product Leader, Enterprise Agility, Samantha Ugulavaon Product Vision

Meta (Facebook) Product Leadership, Bhaskar Krishnanon Product Vision

Related Questions