Bringing everyone together around one clear vision.
During Knock’s rapid expansion in 2021, teams were moving fast but without a shared product vision to guide their efforts. I defined a clear, companywide vision that aligned teams, sharpened priorities, and ensured we were solving the customer problems with the greatest impact.
Overview
Knock’s rapid growth exposed a fundamental gap: teams were operating in silos without a shared product vision. Priorities competed, efforts diverged, and the company lacked a clear, unified direction. I led the effort to define a companywide product vision that realigned the company, renewed focus, and centered the organization around the customer problems that mattered most.
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Author & Art Direction: Allie McKinley
Research: Amanda Stender
Illustrations: Lisa Troutman
Book Design: Donna Yan
Challenge
As Knock scaled quickly, the lack of a unified vision created friction across the organization. Teams pursued disconnected initiatives, roadmaps weren’t grounded in shared priorities, and the customer experience was starting to became inconsistent. Without a north star, we were burning time on work that wasn’t moving the business forward.
To fix this, I created a product vision the entire organization could understand and rally around.
The product vision I defined was adopted by 100% of the C-Suite and served as the primary strategic narrative for future fundraising rounds.
What I did
Traditional strategy documents collect dust. To make our vision stick, I took a different approach.
I began by partnering with research to understand our customers’ motivations, fears, and decision drivers. From this work, I wrote a long-form narrative that mapped the future-state journey for both of our core user types.
To make the vision memorable and widely adoptable, I collaborated with an illustrator to translate the story into a visual, comic-style vision book. This format made the narrative approachable and became a powerful alignment tool across the company.
I then worked across the company to roll out the vision. I shared it at All Hands, distributed physical copies, and embedded it into new-hire onboarding so alignment began on day one. The vision became a shared reference point that guided roadmap, prioritization, and decision-making.
Results of my work
Companywide Alignment
My unified vision work brought focus to every team and roadmap. Teams aligned, priorities became clear, and everyone knew what mattered most. This reduced unnecessary churn and duplicative work.
Stronger, Faster Decision Making
The vision eliminated ambiguity and gave teams a shared reference for evaluating ideas and making trade-offs.
Improved Customer Empathy
The narrative grounded the org in real user motivations, enabling better product decisions and more consistent customer experiences.
Strategic Focus
The vision became the foundation for Knock’s product strategy and was used in planning, prioritization, and leadership discussions.
The Story
This vision book was a true collaboration—research, storytelling, and design coming together to create something meaningful. Working with a researcher, illustrator, and designer, we turned customer insights into a visual narrative that helped teams connect with our users on a deeper level. We decided to have fun with the format, bringing it to life in a bold, comic book style that made the experience feel dynamic and memorable.
Flip through the book below to see for yourself.
You can also check out the long-format vision I wrote that was the foundation for the final vision book.
Knock vision book