The importance of visualizing the end state

If you work in product design or have the opportunity to lead a group of people, one of the most important qualities you can possess is your ability to clearly visualize something called the “end state”.

What is an End State

The end state is a destination in the future, you are trying to lead your team to. You don’t need to have every detail clear in your head. In fact, knowing which small set of details matter vs. the majority that don’t is part of the process of visualizing the end state.

Why an End State matters

Having a clear end state is important because once you have it, you stop sweating the small stuff. So long as you are making forward progress you know that when you arrive, the positive outcome will eclipse whatever setbacks you have on a given day. You will become stoic. You will begin to view time differently, in terms of years, not days or weeks. Most importantly, you will feel an inner peace and if you are a leader, you will radiate that same sense of peace to those around you.

A common mistake

A common mistake I see in mid-level product designers is starting execution before they’ve fully visualized the end state. A more dangerous mistake I see in early product designers is believing they have visualized the end state when they have not.

How do you visualize an end state?

How do you go about visualizing an end state? The answer is: you don’t. Like many hard things, there’s isn’t a “how to” guide. If you come across one, you should be very skeptical. There are no shortcuts for this. Your ability to visualize the end state comes from years of compounded knowledge and experience thinking deeply about a domain.

However, there are signs that indicate you have more work to do. If you are a product leader, you will be asked to generate 20+ page word documents, PowerPoint presentations and speak to teams to inspire them. If you cannot do these things on-demand, with little prep, then it’s a good indication you have more thinking to do. If you can’t write as fast as you can think, you need to do more thinking. Writing, creating PowerPoints, delivering inspirational speaches are the activities you do after you have built your own personal conviction, not the process to get there.