Introduction
Are you building a wall or a cathedral?
Sometimes companies find themselves in turmoil, they have a team working on a product and they don't know why. It doesn't feel like it's contributing the companies wider strategy, it isn't generating profits or it just seems to be floating without a rudder.
What a product like this is typically suffering from is a lack of vision. In Simon Sinek's Start With Why people are described to be far more motivated if they feel like they are contributing to a greater cause. An "envisionment" or a "visiontype" are artifacts that contribute to the evangelism of a product strategy.
Ideate like crazy
I won't lie, this is my favourite part. I try to sit back and let the team rip. Don't let ideas be limited to features. Try workshops where you consider some of the following:
- product principles
- future target customer
- ways of working
- customer outcomes
- product features
To generate a broad set of ideas ask the team to ideate individually first and storm together after. For the team, this segment can be engaging and inspiring, most ideas can be accepted into the next stage.
Translate your ideas into a narrative
Now it is time to curate a narrative. The narrative is the backbone of making an envisionment an effective tool. People remember a plot, connect with the protagonist and be captivated by the undulations of a good story.
An environment is often a frankenstien of ideas all threaded together using a User Story Map.
If your team has landed on a singular concept that overrides everything else, then brainstorm the narrative around it, otherwise link each idea in a single narrative flow which you will use to tell the story of the product.
Split your actors like a Service Blueprint
Adapt a typical User Story Map to borrow from Service Blueprints by using the swim lanes to show above-the-line and below-the-line interactions.
Arrange and re-arrange
The beauty of a User Story Map is the ease of re-ordering elements. When your arranging things some things will have to go before others (think showering before getting dressed) but other things can be negotiated. Use the User Story Map for the basis of those negotiations.
Add a priority order
Use the vertical ordering to agree on a priority order. Not everything needs to be shouted about. While the tool doesn't rank order every item, if there are items competing in the same scene of your narrative this can provide a simple representation of their rank.
The journey before your product
Don't just dive into your product, set the scene. Include moments leading up to your product. By doing this you'll build your character's backstory and allow your audience to empathise with them.