Two-step Product Vision
activities for vision & alignment
By the end of these vision and alignment workshops, you'll have a clear and actionable plan for achieving your bold vision. You'll leave with a renewed sense of purpose and shared understanding with your teams, stakeholders, and customers.
An activity to define, clarify, and align. Why try the Two-step Product Vision
Are you looking for a way to inspire stakeholders, team members, and leaders about the value of your project or product?
Activity Objective
Craft a product vision that effectively communicates the significance and impact of your product. This way, even those unfamiliar with it can quickly comprehend why it matters, and together, you can achieve success.
Framework Credit
Microsoft’s Two-step Product Framework
Templates
Number of Players
1-5 (for larger groups, break people into smaller groups)
Activity Duration
30-90 minutes
Instructions
Microsoft provides a simple framework for creating a vision that defines the target user or customer, the problem they’re trying to solve, and the desired outcome.
Step 1. Describe your users and the impact you hope to make.
For… [TARGET USER]
Who needs… [USER NEED]
The… [PRODUCT/SERVICE NAME]
Will provide… [KEY BENEFIT]
Step 2. Describe how your product compares to the competition.
Unlike… [COMPETITIVE ALTERNATIVE]
Our product will… [YOUR PRODUCT’S NORTH STAR]
Check out our blog for reflection questions for teams.
Agenda Example
Welcome and introduction (5 minutes)
Describe your users and the impact you hope to make. (10 minutes)
Describe how your product compares to the competition. (10 minutes)
Wrap-up and closing (5 minutes)
Check out our blog for planning meetings and workshops.
Script & Talk Track
Hello everyone, and welcome to this activity. Today, we will use the two-step product framework to define and communicate our product vision. The two-step product framework is a simple but effective tool that helps us describe our target users, their needs, our product’s key benefit, and how our product compares to the competition.
The two-step product framework consists of two sentences: one describing our users and the impact we hope to make and one explaining how our product compares to the competition. The first sentence follows this format:
For… [target user]
Who needs… [user need]
The… [product/service name]
Will provide… [key benefit]
The second sentence follows this format:
Unlike… [competitive alternative] Our product will… [your product’s north star]
The key to using the two-step product framework is clear, concise, and specific. Using this framework, we can create a compelling product vision that captures our product’s value proposition and differentiates it from other solutions.
To do this activity, we will need a template of the two-step product framework and a pen or marker. You can use the template that I have provided for you, or you can download it from the website link that I have shared with you.
Are you ready to start? Let’s begin by filling in the first sentence of the template with the information about our target users, their needs, our product name, and our key benefit—for example, Microsoft Surface’s product vision statement. “For the business user who needs to be productive in the office and on the go, the Surface is a convertible tablet that is easy to carry and gives you total computing productivity no matter where you are. Unlike laptops, the Surface serves on-the-go needs without having to take an extra device.”.