# Product Vision Prompt
Create a concise product vision that aligns stakeholders on direction before
requirements, design, and delivery work begin.
Storage Location
    
Store at: docs/helix/00-discover/product-vision.md
Purpose
    
A north star document that makes the product's direction transferable. Its
unique job is to answer four questions before any PRD exists: who is this for,
what alternative do they use today, what future state are we trying to create,
and how will we know the direction is working?
Every downstream artifact — PRD, specs, designs, tests — traces back to this
document. If the vision is vague, everything built on it drifts.
Reference Anchors
    
Use these references as grounding, not as extra sections to copy:

docs/resources/product-vision-board.md captures target group, needs, product direction, and business goals. HELIX uses the same strategic ingredients but keeps detailed business justification in the Business Case.
docs/resources/geoffrey-moore-positioning.md forces the vision to name the target customer, need, category, benefit, and primary alternative.
docs/resources/atlassian-vision-creation.md frames vision as the shared picture of the future that aligns stakeholders before strategy and execution.

Template Adherence
    
The template is the contract. The 8 sections in template.md cover what a
vision should say. Do not add new H2 sections. Do not rename or reorder
existing ones. The body should land within ~1.5× the template's line count
(template is ~70 lines, so target ≤ 105).
If you have content that doesn't fit one of the 8 sections, see "Stay in your
lane" below — it almost certainly belongs in a different artifact type.
Stay in Your Lane
    
Product vision is for direction. If you find yourself writing about:

  

      

          
This content
          
Belongs in
      
  
  

      

          
Methodology, activities, authority order
          
.ddx/plugins/helix/workflows/README.md, activities glossary
      
      

          
Market sizing, revenue model, investment rationale
          
00-discover/business-case.md
      
      

          
Competitor analysis or feature-by-feature comparison
          
00-discover/competitive-analysis.md
      
      

          
Principles or judgment lenses
          
01-frame/principles.md
      
      

          
Risks (likelihood × impact)
          
01-frame/risk-register.md (master), PRD risks (PRD-scoped)
      
      

          
Non-goals, "what we won't build"
          
01-frame/prd.md
      
      

          
Per-feature requirements
          
01-frame/features/FEAT-*.md
      
      

          
UI interaction details (clicks, screens)
          
feature spec or user story
      
      

          
Architecture or technology choices
          
02-design/
      
      

          
Release-scoped success metrics
          
01-frame/prd.md (vision keeps strategic, long-horizon outcomes only)
      
      

          
Definitional schemas for metrics
          
06-iterate/metric-definition.md
      
  

Key Principles
    

Be concise — keep the mission to 1-2 sentences.
Be specific — name target customers, name competitors, state measurable
outcomes. Placeholders and hedging ("various users", "significant impact")
are not acceptable.
Be compelling — connect the vision to real customer pain and a concrete
end state.
Be honest — if you can't fill a section with substance, that's a signal
the thinking isn't done yet. Flag it rather than filling with platitudes.

Section-by-Section Guidance
    
Mission Statement
    
Write it so someone outside the team understands what you do in one breath.
Test: could you say this in a single tweet?
Positioning (Moore's Template)
    
Fill in every blank with a real noun. "For [target] who [need]" must name a
specific customer segment and a specific pain — not a category. "Unlike
[alternative]" must name an actual product or approach the customer uses today.
If you can't name the alternative, you don't understand the market yet.
Vision
    
Describe the desired end state, not a timeline. What changes for users? What
changes in the market? Avoid "we will be the leading…" — describe what the
world looks like, not your position in it.
User Experience
    
Walk through a concrete session. Use present tense. Name the actions the user
takes and what the system does in response. This should read like a usage
scenario, not marketing copy.
Target Market
    
"Who" must be specific enough to find these people. "Software teams" is too
broad. "Teams of 3-15 engineers using AI coding agents daily who ship
weekly" is specific enough.
Key Value Propositions
    
Each row must pass the "so what?" test. The customer benefit column should
describe what changes for the customer, not restate the capability.
Success Definition
    
Every metric must be measurable with a tool or process you can name. "User
satisfaction" is not measurable. "NPS > 40 from monthly survey" is.
These are strategic, long-horizon outcomes — what success looks like over
12–24 months. Release-scoped metrics belong in the PRD; feature-scoped metrics
in feature specs; metric schemas in metric-definition. Aim for 3–5 strategic
indicators, not a comprehensive metric catalog.
Why Now
    
Ground this in an observable change — a technology shift, a market event, a
regulatory change, a behavioral trend. "AI is getting better" is too vague.
"Coding agents can now implement bounded tasks reliably but teams lack a
supervisory layer" is grounded.
Quality Checklist
    
After drafting, verify every item. If any blocking check fails, revise before
committing.
Blocking
    

 H2 section list exactly matches the template (no added, removed, or renamed sections)
 Body is ≤ 1.5× the template's line count (currently ≤ 105 lines)
 Positioning names a specific customer segment (not a category)
 Positioning names a specific competitor or alternative (not "existing solutions")
 Target market is specific enough to identify real people
 Every success metric has a numeric target or measurable outcome
 User experience section describes a concrete scenario (not abstract benefits)

Warning
    

 Mission fits in a tweet (under 280 characters)
 Vision describes an end state, not a timeline or market position
 Why Now cites an observable change, not a general trend
 Value propositions pass the "so what?" test
 No section contains only placeholder text
 No sentence's main predicate is not <noun> without a positive predicate in the same sentence

---
ddx:
  id: product-vision
---
Product Vision
Mission Statement
    
[One to two sentences: What we do + for whom + why it matters]
Positioning
    
For [target customer] who [need or problem],
[product name] is a [category] that [key benefit].
Unlike [current alternative], [product name] [primary differentiator].
Vision
    
[What does the world look like when this product succeeds? Describe the desired end state — not when it happens, but what changes for users and the market.]
North Star: [Single sentence describing ultimate success state]
User Experience
    
[Describe what a typical session looks like when this product works as intended. Walk through a concrete scenario from the user's perspective — what do they do, what happens, how does it feel?]
Target Market
    

  

      

          
Attribute
          
Description
      
  
  

      

          
Who
          
[Specific customer type]
      
      

          
Pain
          
[Primary pain point]
      
      

          
Current Solution
          
[What they use today]
      
      

          
Why They Switch
          
[What makes the status quo untenable]
      
  

Key Value Propositions
    

  

      

          
Value Proposition
          
Customer Benefit
      
  
  

      

          
[Core capability]
          
[Why it matters to customer]
      
      

          
[Core capability]
          
[Why it matters to customer]
      
  

Success Definition
    

  

      

          
Metric
          
Target
      
  
  

      

          
Primary KPI
          
[Specific measurable outcome]
      
      

          
[Supporting metric]
          
[Specific measurable outcome]
      
  

Why Now
    
[One paragraph: What has changed — in the market, technology, or user behavior — that makes this the right time to build this? Why would waiting be costly?]
Review Checklist
    
Use this checklist when reviewing a product vision artifact:

 Mission statement is specific — names the user, the problem, and the approach
 Positioning statement differentiates from the current alternative
 Vision describes a desired end state, not a feature list
 North star is a single measurable sentence
 User experience section describes a concrete scenario, not abstract benefits
 Target market identifies specific pain points and switching triggers
 Value propositions map to customer benefits, not internal capabilities
 Success metrics are measurable and time-bound
 Why Now section names a specific change, not a vague opportunity
 Business case details, competitor matrices, requirements, and technical choices are left to their own artifacts
 No implementation details (technology choices, architecture) — those belong in design