What is Project Vision Statement: In-Depth Guide (+Examples & Template)
Why is a clear project vision essential for success? The answer is quite simple – it gives your team direction, sets meaningful goals, and helps identify potential problems before they arise. While many companies have a solid understanding of who they are and where they’re headed, challenges often appear when it’s time to put that vision into words.
To help you avoid those pitfalls, here’s what you need to know about creating a strong project vision statement.
Key Takeaway
A project vision statement is a 1-2 sentence declaration of your project’s main purpose. It answers “What change do we want to create?”
Example: Deliver a cloud-based construction management platform that reduces project overruns by 30% for mid-sized contractors by Q4 2025.
Explore most popular examples → here.
What is a Project Vision Statement?
A project vision statement is a tool used to communicate project vision between teams and stakeholders. But let’s start from the bottom – you should first know what you are trying to write.
There are two different definitions at play here – project vision and project vision statement. The project vision is the overall grand idea of where the team or project is going. The project vision statement, on the other hand, is a tool for communicating this vision clearly and concisely.
So, to put it simply, a project vision statement is a written version of the project vision. It aims to guide, motivate, and inspire the people working on the project.
It is composed of only a few sentences and communicates the general feeling more than anything else. The vision statement does not guide how the team should act but instead relays the core values and the end goal. Based on this information, the team or individual team members can make decisions that best serve the project.
“A project vision answers why, the essential starting point for inspiring action.” – Robert B. Sowby PMTimes
Why it is Important to Have a Vision Statement
A vision statement is the main tool for determining the project’s direction and should not be underestimated. It helps your team members make the right decisions and motivates them to complete tasks necessary for the end goal.
And it inspires new actions or solutions to achieve the desired result.
Writing a project vision statement that includes all this is not easy and should be taken seriously. You can find various vision statement templates online. However, there is no one perfect fit for everyone. While there are no rules regarding this statement, specific guidelines are recommended.
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How to Write a Project Vision Statement: Step-by-Step Guide
Once you have defined and understood the project vision, it is time to write your project vision statement.
Unfortunately, it is not enough to write what makes sense to you. Instead, you must think about how to communicate the message to the team best. What words, language, and phrasing will they respond best to?
It is important to remember that the project vision statement is not a detailed project plan. Usually, the statements are just a few sentences long and aim to cover all or at least a few of the points above.
Here is an example project vision statement written down for a project in Teamhood. Writing it down makes it more visible to all team members and prevents it from being easily forgotten.
Now, let’s look at the following points to make sure you create something that inspires action.
Step 1: Make it Concise and Easy to Understand
Your project vision statement should be not only easy to understand but also easy to remember. The shorter and clearer you make it, the less grey area your team members can interpret in their way. Also, they are more likely to follow if they can easily place it.
Step 2: Specify, but Do Not Limit
Your vision statement should define the end goal and additional criteria to make the project successful. However, it should not be focused on one specific way to achieve this end goal. Instead, it should allow multiple paths to the desired result and encourage action from stakeholders and the team.
Step 3: Look into the Future
When writing a project vision statement, you should focus on what you aim to achieve in a specific time frame. Instead of focusing on what you want now, look 5, 10, 20 years ahead and set your goals on where you want to be. Thus driving your operation forward and aiming to reach specific results in a certain time frame.
Step 4: Make it Inspirational and Challenging
Your vision statement should be about something that the whole team is excited to achieve. At the same time, this goal should be a challenge that would be possible long-term and not in the near future. This way, your team is excited to work hard to achieve something that is possible along the way.
Step 5: Don’t be Too Specific
When writing your vision, leave some space for changes. It is impossible to know what will happen in the next five years, so keeping your goal vague means it won’t become inapplicable down the road.
Step 6: Write about Who You Are
The best vision statements are about who you are as a company or team and who you wish to become.
Collaborative Approach to Crafting a Project Vision Statement
Another thing to note is that while deciding on a project vision can be a solitary task, writing the project vision statement shouldn’t be. Involving the whole team or just a part of it in the process is a great idea. Thus, you should ensure everyone is involved, regardless of distance. It will help use words and phrases that connect with the team and make them feel part of the team and the end goal.
Free Vision Statement Playground
Use a place like the Teamhood project description view to gather ideas and improvements from your team. Then, summarize your vision statement together, writing just one sentence as a persuasive phrase. In time this may evolve and become the solitary sentence in your project vision statement.
Explore the interactive Teamhood Task list template firsthand!
Like what you see? Teamhood can help you collaborate on setting the project vision statement and executing the project to completion.
Project Vision Statement Examples
All of this sounds great, but are you still unsure what your project vision statement should look like?
Let’s first take a look at some statements from the largest companies in the world. These are vision statements for a whole company instead of just one project. However, they really showcase just how such statements can and should be written.
Detailed Vision Statements
Here, the vision statement consists of a longer explanation.
PepsiCo:
“Be the global leader in convenient foods and beverages by winning with purpose.“
“This reflects our ambition to win sustainably in the marketplace and accelerate our top-line growth whilst keeping our commitment to do good for the planet and our communities. It builds on decades of progress since PepsiCo was founded in 1965, while setting a firm foundation for a new era of growth and prosperity. To help us achieve this vision, we’ve defined a new set of aspirations: to become Faster, Stronger, and Better.” – PepsiCo
IBM:
“To be the world’s most successful and important information technology company. Successful in helping our customers apply technology to solve their problems. Successful in introducing this extraordinary technology to new customers. Important because we will continue to be the basic resource of much of what is invested in this industry.” – IBM
Concise Vision Statements
The following two statements are more concise and clear. They are comprised of a single sentence that reflects each company’s vision for the future and represents how little you need to write to understand your vision.
LinkedIn:
“Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.” – LinkedIn
Tesla:
“To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” – Tesla
Adidas
“To be the best sports brand in the world.” – Adidas
Uber
“To ignite opportunity by setting the world in motion.” – Uber
Apple
“To bring the best user experience to its customers through innovative hardware, software, and services.” – Apple
Project Vision Statement Templates
The Universal Template
Every strong project vision statement follows this formula:
[Action] a [Deliverable] that [Criteria]
Example:
Create (action) a furniture catalog (deliverable) that informs and attracts new clients (criteria).
Here are a couple more examples from Robert B. Sowby:
- “Take to market a copier that is small, inexpensive, and reliable enough for personal use on a secretary’s desk.”
- “Design an onboarding program that quickly transforms new employees into valuable long-term contributors.”
- “Prepare a prioritized list of low-cost engineering recommendations that guide the organization to more energy-efficient operations.”
The Power of Concise Vision Statements
Another great example Robert mentions in his article is from a company other than Boeing. It talks about the vision for the 777 program and the capabilities of their flagship airplane. The project vision statement reads like this:
“Denver to Honolulu on a hot day.” – Boeing 777
While this may mean very little to an outsider, for Boeing personnel, it is a great project vision statement that:
- Shows direction without interfering in execution.
- Outlines specific circumstances (duration, weather conditions).
- Gives the team everything they need to understand the end goal.
Crafting Your Vision Statement
To create a vision statement, you must develop something that speaks and resonates with your team. It could be:
- Simple: “Provide business X with a project management solution that meets the needs of an engineering team”
- Elaborate: Like the vision statement from PepsiCo
The most important thing is that a project vision statement is only as effective as it is understood and embraced by the project team.
Project Vision in Agile
A clear project vision statement is as important in Agile projects as in any other method. Therefore, it should be done no matter which side of the Kanban vs Scrum debate you are on.
The vision definition is written at the very beginning of the project and sets the tone for the whole operation. In Kanban, this statement is a collaboration with the whole team and the main stakeholders. In Scrum, the product owner and the stakeholders define the goals and, thus, the vision.
Writing a vision statement for an Agile team is exactly the same as for any other team. You have to consider the product goals, customers, and their needs and come up with a statement that guides your team toward the desired result.
One benefit of Agile, a visualized project management process centered around the task board, is the ability to always keep the project vision statement visible. Place it on your team’s task board as a task, or use Portfolio view to specify a project vision statement for each project in your portfolio.
If you want a visible project vision statement on your Kanban board, one way to do it is to write it as a task. In the example above, the project vision statement is written as a task on a Teamhood task board and blocked. So, even as the project continues, it remains in the same place as a visual reminder of what the team aims for.
The statement will be visible every time they open the task board and thus be more strongly enforced. Not to mention the various benefits such tools bring to your project management practices – task and project management, time tracking, workload management, and ensuring asynchronous communication.
Have You built Your Project Vision Statement?
What’s Next in Project Planning?
The project vision is the first step in building a successful project plan.
The next step is Project Charter. It is a summary of your project that you can share with potential stakeholders and team members. Project charter helps engage high-level decision-makers and move the decision process faster. This is essential in larger project-based companies, which manage project portfolios – prioritize, plan, and execute multiple projects at a time.
Looking for more project management resources? Check out:
– Project Manager vs Product Owner vs Product Manager
– Best Project Timeline Management Tools
Once the project is accepted, it is time to plan. The Gantt chart is the most common framework for project planning. However, combining Gantt and Kanban works great for Project tracking and team collaboration.
Visual work management for high performing teams
Execute your vision with Teamhood