Question
What goes into a product mission statement?
Answer
I agree 75% with Jake Holman.
A positioning statement is exactly that, and is the more practical importance of the two. In lean startup terms, it is your basic PMF hypothesis. It is a very practical, external-facing thing. Positioning, you can learn (eg. Al Ries classic book on the subject).
Jake's description of a mission statement actually fits a vision statement (you can remember it as "vision = visualization of end state/mystic visions"). And for that, I vastly prefer show over tell: mockups, use cases, visualization exercises, user personas etc. Abstract vision statements are really only of significant value for really large companies, not individual products, IMO.
A mission statement is more about abstract guiding philosophical values and design principles that serve as a doctrine for making decisions (for example, "never defeature the core product in a freemium stack" is one of mine). To remember this, think "mission as in missionary." Missionaries aren't usually about an end state so much as an endless journey that models certain doctrinal values, wherever they go and whatever specific project they are involved in. Jesuits might be building hospitals one year and teaching in a school another, but they are always on the same mission (I went to a Jesuit school, and though I am not religious myself, I do admire how they modeled the virtues/values they believed in).
Personal missions often carry over with people as they move between projects or companies. Visions are tied to the particular product or company. Spin-outs etc. might carry part of the DNA of an original company in the form of an inherited mission (otherwise known as a culture...)
Unlike positioning, missions/visions cannot really be learned from textbooks. You imbibe the former through apprenticeship or experience, and the latter is simply an inborn talent. You cannot really be taught how to be a "visionary." It's a predisposition, a natural tendency to see the world a certain way. INTPs and INTJs are often visionaries.
My mission/vision distinction is a bit of a semantic quibble, and people might argue with my separation of the two, swap them around, or laugh at both with Dilbertian disdain, but I believe the concepts are actually substantial ones, and that my mission/vision distinction is closest to the English meaning of the words. Either way, both concepts are very important.
It usually takes a few vision iterations, MVP prototypes etc. before you can abstract away enough from the evolutionary path to bubble out a mission. Takes a few examples before you have enough data points for a general doctrine.
For Google, "organize the world's information" is part of a vision statement. "Don't be evil" is part of a mission statement.
I might blog about this. Hmm. If I do, I'll post a link here later.
A positioning statement is exactly that, and is the more practical importance of the two. In lean startup terms, it is your basic PMF hypothesis. It is a very practical, external-facing thing. Positioning, you can learn (eg. Al Ries classic book on the subject).
Jake's description of a mission statement actually fits a vision statement (you can remember it as "vision = visualization of end state/mystic visions"). And for that, I vastly prefer show over tell: mockups, use cases, visualization exercises, user personas etc. Abstract vision statements are really only of significant value for really large companies, not individual products, IMO.
A mission statement is more about abstract guiding philosophical values and design principles that serve as a doctrine for making decisions (for example, "never defeature the core product in a freemium stack" is one of mine). To remember this, think "mission as in missionary." Missionaries aren't usually about an end state so much as an endless journey that models certain doctrinal values, wherever they go and whatever specific project they are involved in. Jesuits might be building hospitals one year and teaching in a school another, but they are always on the same mission (I went to a Jesuit school, and though I am not religious myself, I do admire how they modeled the virtues/values they believed in).
Personal missions often carry over with people as they move between projects or companies. Visions are tied to the particular product or company. Spin-outs etc. might carry part of the DNA of an original company in the form of an inherited mission (otherwise known as a culture...)
Unlike positioning, missions/visions cannot really be learned from textbooks. You imbibe the former through apprenticeship or experience, and the latter is simply an inborn talent. You cannot really be taught how to be a "visionary." It's a predisposition, a natural tendency to see the world a certain way. INTPs and INTJs are often visionaries.
My mission/vision distinction is a bit of a semantic quibble, and people might argue with my separation of the two, swap them around, or laugh at both with Dilbertian disdain, but I believe the concepts are actually substantial ones, and that my mission/vision distinction is closest to the English meaning of the words. Either way, both concepts are very important.
It usually takes a few vision iterations, MVP prototypes etc. before you can abstract away enough from the evolutionary path to bubble out a mission. Takes a few examples before you have enough data points for a general doctrine.
For Google, "organize the world's information" is part of a vision statement. "Don't be evil" is part of a mission statement.
I might blog about this. Hmm. If I do, I'll post a link here later.