The Art of Project Management

4.9. Visions should be visual

"A finger points to the moon. Do not confuse the finger for the moon."

—Zen parable

Visions earned their name for a reason: they are supposed to appeal to our capacity to imagine and visualize a specific kind of outcome. By looking at a picture, we absorb many levels of information all at once. For many complex concepts and ideas, pictures provide faster access and greater clarity to more people in less time than words. I've had dozens of conversations in my office with programmers or architects who are struggling to clarify points of an argument, only to end when one of us finally goes to the whiteboard, quickly sketches out the idea, and asks, "Do you mean like this?" Then usually we all laugh at how much time we wasted trying to explain object models or designs with our words or our hands, when a marker and whiteboard would have been much faster. I think American culture emphasizes verbal and mathematical skills over drawing and artistic skills, and most professional people's reflexes have been trained to go in that direction. I'm convinced that, to our detriment, we forget the power of images in expressing ideas.

The best vision documents I've seen included visual images. They provide rough drawings, mock-ups, or prototypes of what the final result might look like if the vision is followed. These were offered as suggestions and rough cuts, giving people just enough of an idea to help the goals in the vision crystallize in the readers' minds. ...