Our Journey to Create a Team Vision in Riskified
Recently, I started a new role as a team lead. Since then, I have participated in numerous management meetings, where discussions revolved around tasks, epics, quarterly objectives, and yearly goals.
But something was missing. Where were the discussions of goals spanning three, five, or even seven years? This ongoing question made me realize the critical need for a team vision.
In this post, I’ll discuss the core elements of a team vision, why it matters, when to create one, and insights from our vision-building process at Riskified.
What is a team vision?
A team vision defines the ideal future you want to create. It’s your North Star, guiding everything you do. It provides a shared understanding of the team’s purpose and goals. It helps team members know what they are working towards and why their contributions matter.
To gasp what the team vision is, I will use Lenny Rachitsky ‘s post about the strategy pyramid:
- Mission
A mission is a brief statement defining an organization’s purpose and what it aims to achieve.
Example: Tesla: “Accelerates the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” - Vision
A vision is a concise statement describing an organization’s future goals or aspirations. It articulates what the organization hopes to accomplish or become in the long term.
Example: Tesla: “Creates the most compelling car company of the 21st century.” - Strategy
Strategy refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a specific goal or objective. It involves determining the best approach to allocating resources, making decisions, and coordinating activities to achieve desired outcomes.
Example: Tesla: Builds a high-priced sports car → Uses that revenue to build an affordable car → Uses that revenue to build an even more affordable car → While doing so, it also provides zero-emission electric power. - Goals
Goals are specific targets set to be achieved within a defined period. They guide actions and decisions toward desired outcomes.
Example: “To increase monthly sales revenue by 10% within the next quarter.” - Roadmap
A roadmap is a plan that lays out the key steps and milestones needed to achieve a goal or vision within a specific timeframe.
Why do we need a team vision?
There are several reasons why having a team vision is essential.
- Motivation and Engagement
A compelling vision inspires team members by giving them something meaningful to strive for. When team members can see the impact of their work and understand how it aligns with the larger objectives, they are more motivated and engaged. - Alignment and Collaboration
A shared vision promotes alignment among team members, product managers, architects, and managers, ensuring everyone works towards common objectives. It encourages collaboration and cooperation, as everyone understands how their efforts contribute to the collective goal. - Focus and Prioritization
A clear vision helps product and engineering managers prioritize their activities and focus on what matters most. It provides a framework for decision-making, allowing teams to allocate resources and time effectively to achieve their objectives.
When do you need to build a team vision?
There are numerous instances where crafting a team vision can be advantageous.
- Formation of a new team
When a new team is established within an organization, it’s essential to define a vision early on to provide clarity and direction to team members from the outset. - Changes in team structure or purpose
If there are significant changes in the team’s domain, purpose, or objectives, revisiting or creating a new team vision can help realign members and clarify their roles in light of the changes. - Long-term planning
When the team has long-term goals or aspirations, developing a vision can help outline the desired future state and set a strategic direction for achieving those goals.
Our process
Our vision-building process involved over two days offsite. We decided to have an offsite meeting to focus solely on this task since many people were involved and we wanted to give it our full attention.
The Participants
When I was thinking about the process of creating a vision for my team, I faced uncertainty regarding what the process should look like and who should participate in it. Should it only involve managers, or should the team itself be included? Should it be a bottom-up or top-down approach?
In our scenario, we organized a joint offsite for two teams working in closely related domains. Participants included team managers, group leads, product representatives, and architects from both our teams and our client teams. Due to the blurred boundaries between our teams, we aimed to gain a clearer understanding of our clients’ true needs.
Day #1
Agenda:
1. Define a Mission (What are we trying to achieve? What is our purpose?)
2. Define a Vision (What does the world look like when we’ve achieved our mission?)
3. Summary of the day with external stakeholders from senior management
We started by explaining the concept strategy pyramid, including Tesla’s example. Next, we looked at Riskified’s vision and mission:
In order to understand our team’s mission and vision, we did a few exercises:
Exercise #1: “Where do you fit?”
During this activity, we sketched a circle, and each stakeholder positioned a sticky note symbolizing elements within our domain. The proximity to the center indicated the prominence of each item within our domain. Due to the blurred boundaries in our situation, this exercise wasn’t straightforward. Nevertheless, it aided us in achieving a more transparent comprehension of our boundaries.
Exercise #2: “What were we hired to do?”
In this activity, we depicted our domain as a black box, with each stakeholder adding sticky notes to show what comes in and goes out of the box. This exercise enhanced our understanding of how we fulfill our clients’ requirements.
Exercise # 3: “Why are we here?”
In this exercise, we examined the output of exercise number 2, attempting to determine “why we are here.” From this analysis, it became easier to define our mission and vision.
At the end of the day, we convened a meeting with external stakeholders from senior management to gather feedback on our mission and vision.
Day #2
Agenda:
1. Vision+Mission finalization (based on feedback)
2. Proposed architecture overview (by our chief architects)
3. Define strategy (plan to achieve our vision)
4. Summary of the day with external stakeholders from senior management
We started the second day by incorporating the feedback from external stakeholders to finalize our mission and vision. Our chief architects then presented a proposal outlining our architectural plans for the next 5–7 years, detailing where we aim to be. Next, we conducted another exercise to further define our vision.
Exercise #4: “Diamonds and Holes”
We used a mapping exercise where we represented our achievements as “Diamonds” and the obstacles holding us back as “Holes” (such as production support, bugs, etc). Each stakeholder contributed by placing sticky notes representing our diamonds and holes. We categorized our holes into three categories according to the objectives of the company:
1. “TTM” — “Time to Market.” It refers to the time it takes for a product to be developed, manufactured, and launched from the initial concept stage.
2. “TTV” — “Time to Value.” It refers to the duration it takes for a customer to derive measurable value from a product or service after its implementation or adoption.
3. ”KTLO” — “Keep the Lights On” refers to the ongoing maintenance needed to keep operations running smoothly without major changes.
This exercise helped us understand our value to the company and identify what was holding us back.
Utilizing the results of this exercise made it easier to define our vision. We divided it into milestones and goals using the same three categories.
At the end of the second day, just like in the first one, we held a meeting with external stakeholders from senior management to receive feedback on our strategy.
After the offsite
Presenting to the team
After the offsite concluded, we shared the outcomes with the teams. This step is crucial because it guarantees active team involvement in shaping the vision and constructing the roadmap.
Building a Roadmap
Creating a plan and structure is important, but it’s not enough. We needed a clear roadmap to actually make things happen.
After our offsite meeting, I compiled all the strategy and architecture points into a prioritized spreadsheet. This helped organize and visualize the roadmap by priority, making it easier to track progress. Then, with the team, product manager, architect, and group lead, we figured out which items to focus on first.
Before each quarterly planning session, I meet with the team and product manager to decide what we’ll tackle next.
The outcome of the offsite
The offsite helped us gain a clearer understanding of our domain boundaries, our clients’ needs, and the value of long-term solutions for our product. Additionally, it facilitated organizational changes to better align with business objectives.
Are you ready to start your journey to create your team’s vision?
Special thanks for Merav Dagai and Ran Geler my managers for helping me to make this happen and for Niv Trakhtenberg Boukobza for leading this process
