Purpose
Produce a short, memorable product vision statement for a specific feature area that ties a real user benefit to a concrete business opportunity — plus the supporting narrative and guiding principles a squad needs to rally around it. Solves the "vague, forgettable vision doc" problem by forcing clarity on who, why, and what changes.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Write a product vision statement for a squad, feature area, or initiative
- Kick off or facilitate a vision-setting session and need a starting draft
- Rewrite an existing vision that's too vague, too feature-focused, or uninspiring
- Align a squad around a shared "north star" before roadmap planning
- Connect a feature's user value to its business case in one framing
- Prepare a vision to present to leadership or stakeholders for buy-in
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Feature area / product scope: The specific area this vision covers (not the whole company)
- Target user: Who this serves — role, segment, or persona
- Core user problem: The pain or unmet need being addressed
- Desired user outcome: What the user can do or feel once this succeeds
- Business opportunity: The metric, market, or strategic goal this unlocks (revenue, retention, expansion, defensibility)
- Time horizon: How far out this vision looks (e.g., 12 months, 3 years)
- Constraints or non-goals: What this vision explicitly does not cover
If time horizon or non-goals are missing, default to a 2–3 year horizon and note the assumption.
Instructions
Step 1: Clarify the Vision Ingredients
Extract and sharpen the four load-bearing elements before writing anything:
- User: Name the specific person, not "users" — the more concrete, the more inspiring
- Change: The shift from current state to future state (from X to Y)
- Benefit: The human payoff — what the user gains, avoids, or feels
- Business tie: Why this future is worth building — the opportunity it opens If any element is fuzzy, resolve it with a reasonable inference and flag the assumption. A vision built on a vague user or benefit will read as generic.
Step 2: Draft the Primary Vision Statement
Write one statement, 1–3 sentences, that satisfies all of these:
- Aspirational but specific: Describes a future worth reaching, not a feature list
- User-first: Leads with the person and their changed reality, not the technology
- Business-connected: Makes the opportunity legible without sounding like a KPI
- Durable: Would still hold true if the current implementation changed
- Memorable: A squad member could paraphrase it accurately a week later Avoid solution language ("a dashboard that…"), hype words, and internal jargon.
Step 3: Generate 3 Alternate Framings
Produce three distinct alternatives so the squad has real options to react to:
- Framing A — Outcome-led: Opens with the transformed user reality
- Framing B — Tension-led: Opens with the problem/status quo, then the resolved future
- Framing C — Category-led: Frames the ambition in terms of what the product becomes or redefines Each alternate must stand alone as a usable statement — not a minor rewording of the primary.
Step 4: Write the Supporting Narrative
A 100–150 word paragraph that expands the primary vision:
- Opens with the user and their current friction
- Describes the changed future concretely
- Names the business opportunity this future unlocks
- Ends on why now — what makes this the right moment This is the "read-aloud" version for a kickoff deck or doc.
Step 5: Define 4–6 Guiding Principles
Translate the vision into decision-making guardrails the squad can apply to real tradeoffs. Each principle is:
- A short imperative statement (e.g., "Favor the returning user over the first-time novelty")
- Paired with one sentence on how it should shape a real decision Principles should be opinionated enough to rule some options out — not universally agreeable platitudes.
Step 6: Anti-Pattern Check
List 2–3 ways this vision could be misread or misused (e.g., interpreted as a feature spec, scoped too broadly, mistaken for a roadmap) with a one-line correction for each.
Output Format
- Structure: Primary statement highlighted first, then alternates, narrative, principles, and anti-patterns in labeled sections
- Length: 500–750 words total
- Format: Structured document — statements as callouts, principles as a labeled list, narrative as prose
- Sections: Primary Vision Statement → 3 Alternate Framings → Supporting Narrative → Guiding Principles → Anti-Pattern Check
- Tone: Confident and inspiring but grounded — reads like a senior PM who respects the squad's intelligence, not marketing copy
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] The primary statement is 1–3 sentences and names a specific user, not "users"
- [ ] User benefit AND business opportunity are both present in the primary statement
- [ ] All 3 alternate framings are genuinely distinct (different lead-in), not reworded versions
- [ ] The statement contains no solution/feature language and no hype words
- [ ] 4–6 guiding principles are present, each opinionated enough to exclude some option
- [ ] The supporting narrative ends with a "why now" and stays within 100–150 words
Notes
- The most common failure is a vision that describes a feature ("a smarter inbox") instead of a changed reality ("every message gets the attention it deserves without the user managing it"). Keep pulling the statement up a level.
- If the feature area is too broad, the vision will be generic — nudge toward the narrowest scope the squad actually owns.
- A good test: if the vision would read identically for a competitor's product, it isn't specific enough yet.
- Use the alternate framings as facilitation fuel — presenting three real options generates better squad discussion than defending a single draft.
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills