Five steps to creating your vision statement

Before embarking on a data project or establishing a new data strategy, we encourage our clients to write a vision statement. One concise statement accepted by all stakeholders is key to a project’s success and helps ensure the full team (both internally and any agencies or contractors) are working together towards a shared goal.

In many cases, we will sit down with our clients to draft something which we can all work from. Very often it becomes a guiding light for that project, keeping everyone on track from data stewards to managers and everyone in between.

If you’re not sure where to start, this short article will help you draft your statement and make sure its fit for purpose…

What is a vision statement?

A project vision statement is a short, clear description of the desired future state a project aims to achieve. It explains why the project exists, what success looks like, and who it benefits, in a way that guides decision-making and aligns all of your key stakeholders.

Why do I need one?

1. It provides clear direction
   The vision defines what success looks like, helping everyone understand the end goal. When decisions arise, the team can ask:
   “Does this support the vision?”
2. It aligns stakeholders
   Different stakeholders often have different expectations. A vision statement creates a shared understanding, reducing confusion, conflict, and scope creep.
3. It guides decision-making
   When priorities compete, the vision acts as a filter for features, timelines and trade-offs—especially when scope, budget, or resources are constrained.
4. It motivates and inspires the team
   People work better when they understand why their work matters. A strong vision connects day-to-day tasks to a meaningful outcome.
5. It prevents scope creep
   A clear vision helps you recognise when new requests don’t align with the original intent, making it easier to say no—or renegotiate thoughtfully.
6. It improves communication
   The vision provides a simple, consistent message you can share with executives, clients, and team members without getting into technical details.
7. It supports long-term success
   Even if plans or team members change, the vision remains stable, helping the project adapt without losing its core purpose.

How do I draft one?

1. Start with why your project exists

To help us create the perfect vision statement, let’s work through an imaginary statement for the Imaginary Institute of Medical Research who are looking to create a metadata catalogue. Try to kick off with the unifying aim of the project and the why behind that aim;

The Imaginary Institute of Medical Research (IIMR) wants to implement and populate a metadata catalogue to clean up and document 250 datasets to enable research teams to analyse this data more easily.

2. Include what success looks like

Include the main goals of the project. Stick to one or two overarching goals rather than listing every milestone.

Vision Statement – Draft Two

The Imaginary Institute of Medical Research (IIMR) wants to implement and populate a metadata catalogue to clean up and document 250 datasets to enable research teams to analyse this data more easily. The IIMR want their teams to be able to discover, understand, and responsibly use their data, cutting down on staff time spent carrying out administrative data tasks and ultimately improving patient outcomes.

We want to focus on the desired outcomes, not individual tasks. For the IIMR for example, to ‘clean up and document 250 datasets’ is a task rather than an outcome, so should be removed from the statement.

Vision Statement – Draft Three

The Imaginary Institute of Medical Research (IIMR) wants to implement a metadata catalogue to enable healthcare teams across their organisation to safely access medical data. The IIMR want their teams to be able to discover, understand, and responsibly use their data, cutting down on staff time spent carrying out administrative data tasks and ultimately improving patient outcomes.

The statement needs to be easily digestible, so avoid being unnecessarily verbose – capture the essence rather than every detail. For the IIRM, the edited statement could look more like:

Vision Statement - Draft Four

The Imaginary Institute of Medical Research (IIMR) wants to create a metadata catalogue that enables healthcare teams to easily discover, understand, and responsibly use data to improve patient care, saving time and resources.

Use emotive language and make key benefits (e.g. cost savings) clear and quantifiable to help inspire others and add clarity to your success metrics:

Vision Statement - Draft Five

We want to create a trusted metadata catalogue that enables healthcare teams to easily discover, understand, and responsibly use data to improve patient care, cutting down the time to process data requests by >50%.

Finally, once you have followed the five steps, take a quick sense check.

• Do all your key stakeholders support this vision? It’s paramount to make sure all key team members are aligned before any project kicks off

• Does the statement align with your organisation’s strategy?

• Does it support your wider organisational goals?

If you’d like help creating a vision statement for your data strategy or project, please do get in touch – we’ll take you through these steps for free, ensuring your project gets off to a strong start.