Legend has it that Salesforce was created on a piece of paper, or more precisely, the outline of the Salesforce strategy was written on an old envelope. Salesforce was made real only because Marc Benioff decided to write down his elusive vision for the success of his future company using a V2MOM technique, which he himself created.
To me, the name of this technique relates to the name of Spider-Man’s scariest adversary, Venom, which may be a reason why I liked it right away. While Venom himself was a complex and, at times, terrifying character, V2MOM is quite the opposite. The method was developed to create strategies for organizations, but it can just as well be used in everyday life.
Many companies realize how important defining a strategy is only when they get into trouble. Organizational, tactical, or strategic problems can be avoided by ensuring that a strategy is always up to date and keeps up with the modern world. The need to define a strategy applies not only to big companies but also to ordinary people who want to achieve their goals in life. In this article, we are going to create our personal V2MOM to realize how useful this technique is.
V2MOM stands for the following components:
Vision – your desired achievement
Values – guiding principles or what is important to you
Methods – actions and tasks for fulfilling the vision
Obstacles – challenges on your path to your vision
Measures – metrics for assessing goal fulfillment
Easy? Sure it is! Marc Benioff knows exactly what he does. After all, he created a technology giant using this method. However, we need to come back to earth to pursue our individual visions. Of course, if you succeed in creating a technology giant after reading this article, let me know about it, as I will gladly accept a commission. 🙂
Let’s take a real-life example and define a goal to achieve. Suppose I want to learn a foreign language; how do I make a V2MOM technique useful?
1. Vision – what do I want to achieve?
- I want to speak Spanish.
2. Values – which rules and principles do I need to follow to achieve my goal?
- Perseverance (to put it mildly, as I’m as stubborn as a mule),
- Diligence (seriously, who wants to learn an additional language?),
- Openness (Poles have their own, beautiful language, but if you want to see Roberto in Barcelona, it is better to be able to buy a ticket),
- Ambition (who wouldn’t want to show off by knowing what “por supuesto, hablo español!” means?),
- Consistency (small steps bring great results, as one of the men’s newspapers states).
3. Methods – what actions and tasks do I need to complete to fulfill the vision?
I can do the following:
- Use a Spanish learning app.
- Sign up for Spanish lessons.
- Watch films and tv series in Spanish.
- Read Spanish books and magazines.
- Speak to yourself in Spanish (don’t give me these strange looks in the elevator, I’m only practicing).
- Repeat vocabulary.
- Repeat grammar.
- Go on trips to Spain.
- Go traveling around Spain.
- Enroll for a Spanish course in Spain.
4. Obstacles – what are the problems on my way to fulfilling my vision?
- Lack of time.
- Lack of money (lessons, trips, books – their prices drive me crazy).
- Difficulty with finding the right school or teacher (a good one is hard to find).
- Laziness (can you be hardworking and lazy at the same time? Don’t ask me; I just have it this way. 🙂
- No vacation (to take trips, of course).
- Fear (going somewhere and speaking a foreign language is challenging, after all. Why bother if you can safely relax on the couch?).
- Discouragement (it’s good to prepare because this feeling always occurs at a higher level of sophistication).
5. Measures – how can I measure whether my vision/goal has been fulfilled?
- I can use basic phrases during my trip to Spain.
- While talking to Spanish people, I can understand what
- they are saying to me.
- While talking to Spanish people, I can explain what I mean.
- I can understand a TV series in Spanish.
- I can understand a longer text in Spanish.
- I can pass the DELE B2 certificate.
And there you have it!
Now, I have my vision of what I want to achieve and the elements that will help me pursue it. (what needs to be done and how to do it is an entirely different issue, which this article does not cover). However, I can hear you saying: “Hey, Mr. Analyst! We are a serious company with serious things on our minds and cash must add up. Is it possible to apply V2MOM to our organization?”
Claro que si!
Every organization should have a clear vision and strategy for the upcoming years. A strategy is like a lighthouse that guides sailors to calm waters even during the biggest storm. So how to apply V2MOM to an organization?
In the same way as in the example of learning a foreign language. Let me present a legendary envelope created by Marc Benioff when working on Salesforce
In this case, we are dealing with setting up a new company. However, we can just as well talk about the strategy of an existing one, a new product, or even a new functionality.
Is V2MOM the answer to all your problems? No, it isn’t. Instead, developing a strategy and its implementation can be a great start.
What is missing in V2MOM?
- It is only an overview of any strategy.
- A vision is only briefly defined.
- Values are important but sometimes difficult to apply.
- Methods specify WHAT to do, but not HOW to do it.
- Problems emphasize what the obstacles are but now how to overcome them.
- Metrics can often be too general, so it is important to define them accurately.
- It is only partially true that methods help overcome problems.
All of the above doesn’t mean that we can’t handle the fulfillment of our vision. Quite the opposite. This method shows a systemic view of how many things stand in the way of achieving our goal, and this allows us to get prepared to do it step by step.
V2MOM can be used in the following documents:
- Business analysis plan
- Business justification
- Project/product vision sheet
- Implementation plan
- Any other document regarding the development or establishment of the organization
A legend is just a legend, and whether Salesforce was founded on V2MOM or not will remain only a mystery and an interesting anecdote to spread. Nevertheless, it is an extremely interesting technique that can be used both at work and in everyday life.
¡Mucha suerte, amigos! Nos vemos en España 🙂
Author
- System-Business Analyst
-
System-Business Analyst. A graduate of Electrical Engineering as well as Electrical Power Engineering at the Lublin University of Technology, and postgraduate studies “Analityk Biznesowy – profesjonalista na styku IT i Biznesu” (“Business Analyst – a professional at the interface between IT and Business”) at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics.
He is certified with the ECBA, Salesforce: Admin, Business Analyst, UX Designer, Strategy Designer, Service Cloud Consultant, App Builder ; AgileBA Foundation, IREB CPRE Foundation, Facilitation Foundation, Change Management Foundation, ABC Scrum Master, AgilePM Foundation, and PRINCE2 Foundation.
