V2MOM

What is V2MOM?

V2MOM stands for Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures. It’s a strategic framework designed to streamline the process of product planning by breaking it down into five distinct yet interconnected components that, when combined, provide a comprehensive plan for achieving organizational goals.

It’s a new, alternative approach to goal-setting, in a similar vein to Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). V2MOM helps you to establish a shared product vision, align your teams around that vision, and track their progress toward achieving it. V2MOM is made up of the following elements:

• Vision: This defines the ambitious, long-term target for your product. It should be a clear and inspiring statement that outlines the ideal future state of the product.
• Values: These are the guiding principles that shape your product decisions. They represent the core beliefs that you’ll use to evaluate features, prioritize tasks, and navigate tough choices.
• Methods: Here, you detail the specific initiatives and strategies that will be used to achieve the vision. This section translates the big-picture goals into actionable steps.
• Obstacles: It’s crucial to identify potential roadblocks and challenges that might arise during the product development process. Proactive consideration of these hurdles allows teams to develop contingency plans and mitigate risks.
• Measures: Finally, V2MOM establishes the key metrics that will be used to track progress towards the vision. These metrics should be quantifiable and directly tied to the goals outlined in the vision statement.

What is the origin of V2MOM?

V2MOM was created by Marc Benioff, the co-founder and co-CEO of Salesforce. Benioff has spoken about his frustration with the lack of a clear vision and communication process during his time at Oracle.

He wanted a framework to ensure everyone at Salesforce, especially as the company grew, was aligned on goals and understood the path forward. V2MOM emerged as his solution, and it’s credited as a key factor in Salesforce’s success.

What are the components of V2MOM?

Let’s take a deeper look into each of V2MOM’s core components, exploring how they work together to help you achieve your product vision:

Vision: Charting the course

Your vision serves as your company’s ultimate ambition – it should be a bold, long-term goal that captures the essence of what success looks like in the future. Imagine it as a beacon on a hilltop, guiding the entire company toward a shared destination.

A clear vision acts as a powerful motivator. It paints a picture of the desired future state, fostering a sense of purpose and direction for everyone in the organization. Everyone feels more invested and inspired when they understand the bigger picture and how their work contributes to achieving a larger goal.

How to craft a compelling vision:

• Dream big: Don’t shy away from setting ambitious goals. What do you want to be known for in the long run? Is it revolutionizing your industry, becoming a global leader in sustainability, or creating a product that fundamentally changes people’s lives?
• Clarity is key: The vision statement should be concise, easy to understand, and readily communicated to anyone you work with. Jargon and overly complex language will only confuse people.
• Inspire action: The vision should aim to ignite a sense of excitement and commitment. It should be something that people can rally behind and feel passionate about achieving.

Values: Pillars of action

Values are the core principles that guide your organization’s behavior and decision-making. They are the foundation upon which you build your vision. Think of them as the guardrails that ensure everyone stays on track while pursuing those ambitious goals.

Strong values help to ensure consistency and alignment across the company. They define the “how” as much as the “what,” providing a framework for ethical decision-making and ensuring every action aligns with your overall strategy.

When everyone understands and adheres to the organization’s core values, it fosters a sense of trust, transparency, and accountability.

How to define your values:

• Identify core beliefs: What principles are most important to your business? Is it customer-centricity, innovation, a commitment to social responsibility?
• Prioritize and focus: Don’t overwhelm with an extensive list. Focus on a few key values that truly resonate with the essence of your company and what you want it to stand for.
• Live the values: Values are pointless if they’re just words plastered on a page somewhere on your company website. Integrate them into your day-to-day, your decision-making processes, and performance evaluations.

Methods: Translating vision into action

Methods are the specific initiatives and strategies that translate the vision into actionable steps. This is the “how” of achieving the desired future state. Imagine them as the building blocks that will be used to construct the magnificent edifice envisioned in the vision statement.

Methods are how you make your ambition real. They provide a plan with clear direction on the key activities and initiatives that will drive progress towards the vision. Without well-defined methods, even the most inspiring vision will remain a dream.

How to develop effective methods:

• Focus on clarity: Articulate methods in a way that helps everyone to understand their role and how their actions contribute to the bigger picture. Being ambiguous will breed confusion and inefficiency.
• Be specific: Don’t leave any room for misinterpretation. Outline concrete actions with clear ownership and objectives.
• Align with vision and values: Your chosen methods should demonstrably contribute to achieving the vision, but they also need to stick to the core values you’ve established. There shouldn’t be a disconnect between the “what,” the “how,” and the “why.”

Obstacles: Anticipating challenges

Recognizing potential roadblocks and hurdles upfront is a unique strength of V2MOM compared to other frameworks. Being proactive helps you develop contingency plans and mitigate risks before they arise.

By anticipating obstacles, V2MOM helps you prevent them from derailing progress and ensures the organization stays focused on achieving its vision. A proactive approach minimizes surprises and allows teams to adapt and overcome challenges more effectively.

How to identify and address obstacles:

• Brainstorm potential challenges: Encourage open discussion to identify anything that could impede progress. This could involve anything from resource limitations and competitor actions to unforeseen market shifts or technological disruptions.
• Develop mitigation strategies: Don’t just identify obstacles; plan how to overcome them. Develop contingency plans and assign ownership for managing potential risks. 
• Regularly revisit and adapt: As circumstances evolve, revisit your identified obstacles and mitigation strategies. Remain flexible and adjust your approach as needed to ensure continued progress.

Measures: Tracking progress and success

Measures are the quantifiable metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that track your progress towards the vision. They provide a clear picture of how well everyone is performing against your stated goals.

Think of them as the instrument panel in a car, providing real-time data on how close you are to your destination and if any adjustments are needed.

Effective measures promote accountability and continuous improvement. They provide data-driven insights into whether your chosen methods are actually leading to the desired outcomes. 

By tracking progress, you can identify areas for improvement, refine your strategies, and ensure you’re staying on track toward achieving your vision.

Defining effective measures:

• Align with vision: Measures should directly connect to the goals outlined in the vision statement. Track metrics that truly reflect progress towards the desired future state.
• Actionable insights: Don’t just collect data – use it! Analyze the results to gain actionable insights that can inform adjustments to methods and strategies as needed.
• Regular monitoring: Establish a regular cadence for monitoring and evaluating progress. Don’t wait until the end of the cycle to course-correct if necessary.

Why is V2MOM Important for Product Managers?

V2MOM isn’t your grandpa’s product strategy tool. It’s designed for the fast-paced world of product development today, helping you steer your product clear of obstacles and set it on a path to success.

Enhanced clarity and prioritization

V2MOM gives you a clear vision of what you want your product to be in the long run. Think of it as a giant neon sign telling everyone where you’re headed. This lets you prioritize like a boss, focusing on what gets you closer to that vision and ditching anything that distracts you.

Alignment across teams

V2MOM helps you get everyone in the business on the same page. With shared values and methods, everyone understands what you’re building and why. No more crossed wires or feeling like you’re working in silos.

Proactive obstacle management

V2MOM lets you anticipate bumps in the road. By identifying potential obstacles upfront, you can be a problem-solving ninja and have a plan B ready before anything throws your product development off course.

Measurable success

V2MOM gives you clear metrics to track your progress. These metrics tell you if you’re on track to hit your goals or if it’s time to adjust your course. User engagement skyrocketing? Fantastic! Revenue lagging? Time to tweak your strategy.

The bottom line? V2MOM can be a secret weapon for your product strategy. It’s flexible, keeps you on track, and helps you build products that solve your users’ problems.

What are common challenges with V2MOM and how can you overcome them?

V2MOM is awesome for product managers – it gets everyone on the same page and helps us build software that rocks. But like any good tool, it can be tricky to use perfectly. Here are some common roadblocks you might hit with V2MOM, along with tips to help you steer clear:

Aiming too high

Sometimes, we can get a little too excited and write a vision statement that’s more like science fiction than software development. It sounds inspiring, but if it’s not clear how to get there, your team will be lost.

Solution: Keep your vision ambitious, but make sure it’s also realistic. Break it down into smaller goals – like stepping stones – that you can achieve over time. This will keep your team motivated and focused.

Values on paper, not in practice

V2MOM talks about core values, but if those values just sit on a dusty document somewhere on your company intranet, they’re not going to do much good. The problem? People might say they agree with the values, but their actions might tell a different story.

Solution: Get everyone involved in defining the values from the start. This makes them feel like they have a stake in the game and are more likely to live by them. Don’t stop there – regularly talk about the values and how they apply to your daily work.

Methods that are too vague

V2MOM talks about methods, but if they’re vague and unclear, your team won’t know what to do. It’s like showing up to a coding session without any instructions!

Solution: Use the SMART criteria to write your methods. This means making them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Everyone on the team should know exactly what they need to do and by when.

Underestimating the obstacles

It’s all well and good feeling like you’re ready for anything. But sometimes you can get so focused on the shiny new features you’re building that you miss some of the roadblocks that might slow you down. Next thing you know, you hit a huge bug and your whole approach is thrown out of whack.

Solution: Before you dive into development, take some time to thoroughly brainstorm the potential challenges. Get input from different people on your team – Engineers, Designers, even Marketing folks. The more perspectives you have, the better prepared you’ll be.

Measuring the wrong thing, the wrong way

Picking the wrong things to measure, or forgetting to track them at all, is a recipe for disaster. How will you know if you’re on the right track if you don’t have any data?

Solution: Make sure your measures are directly tied to your vision and goals. Pick things you can actually count, and track them regularly. Don’t just focus on what’s happening right now – also look at long-term trends to see if you’re on the path to success.

V2MOM can be a game-changer, but watch out for these challenges. By keeping these tips in mind, you can use V2MOM to its full potential and build something that will keep your customers coming back for more.

Tips for implementing V2MOM

V2MOM sounds great on paper, but how do you actually put it into action for your team?

Here are some tips for each section of the framework to help you get everyone on board and moving in the same direction:

Vision

• Define it clearly: Establish a clear, inspirational yet achievable vision that motivates and provides direction.
• Communicate it broadly: Share the vision with all organizational levels to ensure universal understanding and buy-in.
• Involve lots of stakeholders: Gather diverse perspectives by involving various stakeholders in the crafting of the vision.
• Link to real outcomes: Connect the vision to tangible, realistic outcomes that can be achieved.
• Review regularly: Periodically revisit the vision to ensure it remains relevant as the organization evolves.

Values

• Select your values collaboratively: Involve people from across all departments and levels in defining your values to ensure they resonate company-wide.
• Embed them in your culture: Make these values a part of everyday business processes and decision-making.
• Live the values: Encourage senior leaders to exemplify the values, setting an example for everyone in the organization.
• Prioritize the values: Ranking your values can help people understand the importance of each value and its precedence when making decisions.
• Seek regular feedback: Continuously collect feedback on how values are being perceived and practiced within the organization.

Methods

• Assign ownership: Clearly assign responsibilities for each method to ensure accountability.
• Clarify the steps: Further break down methods into smaller tasks for ease of execution.
• Be flexible: Allow teams some leeway to adapt methods as necessary, fostering innovation and problem-solving.
• Provide enough resources: Ensure methods are supported with adequate resources, be it time, budget, or personnel.

Obstacles

• Develop contingency plans: Prepare strategies and resources to address anticipated challenges.
• Scenario planning: Employ scenario planning to anticipate future obstacles based on different forecasts and situations.
• Consider your current culture: Account for cultural and structural challenges within the organization.
• Celebrate overcoming obstacles: Recognize and celebrate when you and your team overcome significant challenges.

Measures

• Track them constantly: Continuously monitor your chosen metrics to assess progress and make necessary adjustments.
• Regularly update them: Keep the metrics updated to reflect the evolving business goals.
• Educate everyone on the metrics: Ensure everyone understands what each metric means and how it relates to their work.
• Remember Goodhart’s Law: When defining metrics remember that “when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Ensure that your KPIs don’t become the sole focus, leading to behaviors that game the system instead of working towards the vision.

Who is responsible for V2MOM?

The success of V2MOM in Product Management hinges on a shared responsibility model. Here’s a breakdown of how different roles contribute to a well-oiled V2MOM machine:

Executive Leadership (CEOs, CTOs)

These leaders act as the visionary architects of the product’s future. They craft a compelling vision statement that outlines the long-term goals and ambitions for the software. Critically, they ensure this vision aligns with the overarching strategic direction of the company.

Their commitment to V2MOM goes beyond setting the initial direction. By actively participating throughout the process – from initial brainstorming sessions to reviewing progress – they set a strong example for the rest of the organization. This active involvement reinforces the importance of V2MOM and fosters a culture of strategic alignment.

Product Managers & Department Heads

These individuals act as the critical bridge between the big-picture vision and the hands-on execution. They take the foundational elements – the vision and core values – and translate them into actionable methods for their respective teams.

This involves breaking down the vision into achievable milestones and outlining specific initiatives, tasks, and projects that propel the development process forward. Product managers and department heads also play a vital role in anticipating potential roadblocks.

By facilitating brainstorming sessions and risk assessments, they can proactively identify challenges and develop mitigation strategies to minimize disruptions.

Finally, they are responsible for monitoring progress through key performance indicators (KPIs) defined within the V2MOM framework. These metrics provide valuable insights into how effectively the methods are translating to results and whether adjustments might be necessary.

Individual Developers & Designers

The people who code, design, and build the software are the ones who make V2MOM work in the day-to-day. Their understanding and buy-in are essential for its success.

Regular communication and team meetings ensure everyone is aligned with the goals and understands how their specific technical or design tasks contribute to the bigger picture.

They’re also the first line of defense when encountering obstacles. Their real-world experience and insights into practical challenges faced during development are great for identifying and mitigating risks before they derail progress.

These insights can be channeled upwards to inform any adjustments to your methods or resources.

V2MOM Champions

Some companies find it helpful to establish V2MOM champions – strategic planning masterminds who act as cheerleaders and facilitators for the V2MOM process. They ensure the framework is implemented smoothly across different departments, fostering communication and alignment between teams.

Ideally, these champions are well-respected individuals with a deep understanding of both the strategic goals and the operational realities of the software development process. They should be empowered with the authority and resources needed to effectively drive V2MOM adoption.

How can ProdPad help with V2MOM?

V2MOM is a great framework, but without the right tools, it can get messy. Enter ProdPad: your one-stop shop for taking V2MOM from a dusty plan to a live-action strategy.

Here’s how ProdPad tackles each step of V2MOM, making product management a breeze:

• Craft a vision everyone can get behind: ProdPad’s AI Product Coach can give constructive feedback on your vision statement drafts based on Product Management best practice, and the knowledge it already has about your product.
• Align on values in action, not just words: Transparency and collaboration are the cornerstones of strong product teams, and that’s exactly what ProdPad fosters. When information flows freely, everyone can make decisions that are in line with your core values. ProdPad keeps everyone connected and informed, ensuring your values aren’t just a list on a page but a guiding light for everything you do.
• Map the steps to success: V2MOM is all about turning that grand vision into actionable steps. ProdPad’s roadmap and task management features are your secret weapons here. Break down your vision into clear, achievable milestones and tasks. This keeps everyone organized and focused, ensuring you allocate resources effectively to make your vision a reality.
• Spot roadblocks before you hit them: Anticipation is key to avoiding surprises. ProdPad’s customer feedback and idea management features are like early warning systems. Capture valuable insights from customers, developers, and other stakeholders. Analyze this intel to identify potential issues before they derail your progress.
• Measure what matters and make adjustments: Track progress against your KPIs and identify areas where adjustments might be necessary to hit those strategic targets. Set up custom metrics to focus on what truly matters – product performance, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. 

By using ProdPad to implement V2MOM, you can transform your Product Management strategy from good to great. ProdPad keeps everything organized, transparent, and adaptable, ensuring your team stays focused on achieving long-term success.