---
name: vision-management
description: Create, maintain, and evolve a product vision. Use when initializing a vision, updating goals, aligning work with vision, or connecting learnings to vision refinement.
---

# Vision Management

How to create, maintain, and evolve a product vision for continuous improvement.

## Architecture

The vision system has two layers:

| Layer | Purpose | Location |
|-------|---------|----------|
| **vision.md** | North star philosophy (why, principles, non-goals) | File in repo root |
| **Milestones** | Goals with progress tracking | Gitea milestones |

- **vision.md** is stable - updated rarely when direction changes
- **Milestones** are actionable - created/closed as goals evolve
- **Issues** are assigned to milestones to track progress

## Vision Document Structure

The vision.md file should contain the stable "why" - not progress tracking:

```markdown
# Vision

## The Problem
What problem does this product solve? Who benefits?

## The Solution
How does this product solve the problem?

## Guiding Principles
Core beliefs that guide decisions.

## Non-Goals
What we're explicitly NOT doing.
```

Do NOT include goals, progress, or focus in vision.md - that's what milestones are for.

## Creating a Vision

When no vision exists:

1. **Identify the problem**: What pain point does this solve?
2. **Define the solution**: How does the product address it?
3. **Set guiding principles**: What beliefs guide decisions?
4. **Document non-goals**: What are you explicitly NOT doing?
5. **Create initial milestones**: 3-5 measurable goals

### Good Goals (Milestones)

- Specific and measurable
- Outcome-focused (not activity-focused)
- Have clear success criteria in the description

| Bad | Good |
|-----|------|
| "Improve performance" | "Page load under 2 seconds" |
| "Better UX" | "User can complete checkout in under 60 seconds" |
| "More features" | "Support 3 export formats (CSV, JSON, PDF)" |

## Managing Goals with Milestones

```bash
# List milestones with progress
tea milestones
tea milestones -f title,items_open,items_closed,state

# Create a new goal
tea milestones create --title "Automate repetitive workflows" \
  --description "Success: 80% of routine tasks handled by slash commands"

# View issues in a milestone
tea milestones issues "Automate repetitive workflows"

# Close a completed goal
tea milestones close "Automate repetitive workflows"
```

### Assigning Issues to Milestones

When creating issues, assign them to the relevant milestone:

```bash
tea issues create --title "Add /commit command" \
  --description "..." \
  --milestone "Automate repetitive workflows"
```

Progress is automatically tracked through open/closed issue counts.

## Aligning Issues with Vision

When creating or reviewing issues:

1. **Check goal alignment**: Does this issue support a milestone?
2. **Assign to milestone**: Link the issue to the relevant goal
3. **Prioritize by focus**: Issues in priority milestones get worked first
4. **Flag misalignment**: Issues without a milestone need justification

### Identifying Gaps

Compare milestones to current backlog:

- Which milestones have no issues?
- Which milestones have stalled (no recent progress)?
- Are there issues without a milestone?

## Connecting Retros to Vision

After a retrospective:

1. **Review learnings**: Any that affect the vision or goals?
2. **Milestone changes**: Should any goals be added, closed, or modified?
3. **Non-goal additions**: Did we learn something to add to vision.md?
4. **Progress check**: Did completed work close any milestones?

### Retro-to-Vision Questions

- "Did this work reveal a new goal we should add as a milestone?"
- "Did we learn something that should become a non-goal in vision.md?"
- "Should we close or modify any milestones based on what we learned?"
- "Are any milestones ready to close?"

## Continuous Improvement Loop

```
Vision → Milestones → Issues → Work → Retro → (Vision/Milestones updated)
```

1. **Vision** defines why and principles (stable)
2. **Milestones** define measurable goals
3. **Issues** are work items toward those goals
4. **Work** implements the issues
5. **Retros** capture learnings
6. **Updates** refine vision and create/close milestones

The vision is stable. The milestones evolve as you learn and achieve goals.