Welcome to the Product Strategy & Vision Jargon Guide — your go-to resource for decoding the key terms and frameworks that shape great product leadership. From defining vision to aligning strategy, get clear, practical insights to lead with impact.
Vision-Market Alignment
Ensuring that your product vision matches a real, evolving need in the market.
Sign: Your long-term product goals resonate with actual user pain points and industry trends.
Product-Market Fit (PMF)
The point at which your product satisfies a strong market demand and is
gaining traction with its target audience.
Sign: Users are engaging heavily, and growth is happening organically.
Strategic Pillars
Core focus areas that support the product vision and guide prioritization.
Example: For a B2B SaaS platform, strategic pillars could be “Speed,” “Security,” and “Scalability.”
North Star Narrative
A compelling story that connects the product vision to user outcomes and company mission.
Sign: Teams stay aligned and motivated because they understand the bigger “why.”
Outcome-Driven Roadmap
Prioritizing initiatives based on desired business and user outcomes, not just features.
Example: Instead of “Add new onboarding flow,” use “Reduce drop-off in first session by 30%.”
Strategic Moat
A sustainable competitive advantage that protects your product from being easily replicated.
Sign: Your product wins not just on features but on ecosystem, network effects,
or data advantage.
Customer-Back Visioning
Crafting product vision by deeply understanding customer needs and working backward.
Sign: Every strategic decision starts with the customer’s long-term success in mind.
Blue Ocean Strategy
Creating uncontested market space by offering unique value, instead of competing head-to-head.
Example: Apple’s iPod — redefined music consumption rather than fighting for MP3 player market share.
Mission-Critical Use Case
The core user scenario your product must win to deliver true value and achieve adoption.
Sign: If this use case fails, retention and growth will be severely impacted.
Product-Led Growth (PLG)
A strategy where the product itself drives acquisition, conversion, and
expansion.
Example: Users experience value instantly—like Notion or Calendly—leading to organic growth.
Strategic Horizon Planning
A framework for balancing immediate improvements with long-term innovation by dividing product strategy into three time horizons.
Example: H1 = core enhancements, H2 = new segments, H3 = disruptive bets.
Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) Fit
Ensuring your product vision aligns with the key “job” the user is hiring your product to do.
Sign: Your product becomes the natural choice when that job arises.
The ProductBrain 