V2MOM: Salesforce's Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, Measures

By Brian Tr · Updated Oct 11, 2026

V2MOM is a one-page alignment framework created by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. The letters stand for Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures. A team answers five questions in order, ranks its answers, and ends up with a short plan everyone can read, challenge, and track.

This guide covers where the method came from, what each element means, how to write one, and a template you can copy. You'll also find a comparison with OKRs, OGSM, Hoshin Kanri, the balanced scorecard, and strategy maps, plus examples by business function.

What is a V2MOM?

A V2MOM is a short written plan that connects where you want to go (vision) to what you'll do about it (methods) and how you'll know it worked (measures). Two of the five parts are unusual for a planning tool: values, which force you to say what matters when choices conflict, and obstacles, which force you to name what could stop you before it does.

Benioff describes it in his own Salesforce blog post on strategic alignment as a management process he developed. He says it's simple to understand and apply, and calls it "the glue that binds us together." The same post says every department and every employee at Salesforce drafts one each year, so the plan runs from the top of the company to the bottom.

The important word is ranked. Values are ranked. Methods are ranked. Obstacles are ordered by how critical they are. A V2MOM that lists everything equally isn't doing its job.

Where V2MOM came from

According to Benioff's post, he proposed in the first few weeks of Salesforce that the cofounders each write a V2MOM. He sketched the first one on an American Express envelope. Cofounder Parker Harris kept it, framed it, and handed it back to Benioff on the day Salesforce went public. Benioff says that early document became the company's business plan.

That origin explains the shape of the method. It was built for a young company where a handful of people had to agree quickly on direction, so it fits on a page and asks plain questions. Salesforce kept using it as the company grew, and Benioff says it works both as a startup's business plan and as an annual goal-setting tool for a public company.

The five elements

Benioff frames each element as a question. These are his questions, paraphrased from the same post.

Vision

Benioff's advice is blunt: if you aren't "crystal clear on where you want to go," good luck getting there. A vision here isn't a slogan. It's a specific outcome for a defined period, such as the year ahead. If you want the longer-horizon version, see mission vs vision statement.

Values

Values explain what matters about the goal. Ranking them is the point. When two good things collide, such as speed and quality, the ranked list tells people which one wins. Without ranking, values become wall posters.

Methods

Methods are the actions you'll take. Salesforce's guidance is to rank them by priority, and Benioff notes that different team members can lead different methods. This is where a V2MOM turns from a statement of intent into a work plan.

Obstacles

Most planning tools skip this step. A V2MOM asks what's in the way, which of those obstacles matter most, and how you'll resolve them. Writing obstacles down makes risks discussable early, when fixing them is cheap.

Measures

Measures answer "how do we know we have it?" Benioff argues for data and metrics rather than a gut call. Each measure should connect to a method or to the vision itself, so you can see which actions are working.

V2MOM vs OKRs, OGSM, Hoshin Kanri, balanced scorecard, and strategy map

These frameworks overlap, but they start from different questions. This table compares them at a high level.

Think of V2MOM as the lightest of the group. It doesn't prescribe a scoring method, a fixed review cadence, or a diagram format. That's a strength when you need alignment fast, and a limit when you need rigorous target-setting. Many teams pair it with OKRs: the V2MOM sets direction and priorities, and the OKRs handle quarterly numbers.

How to write a V2MOM, step by step

Start with a blank page and a time limit. A first draft shouldn't take a week.

Step 1: Write the vision

Finish this sentence: "By the end of this period, we will have..." Aim for one to three sentences. Test it by asking whether two people could disagree about whether you achieved it. If they could, sharpen it.

Step 2: List and rank your values

Write down the principles that should guide decisions while you pursue the vision. Keep the list short, then put them in order. Ask for each pair: "If these conflicted, which would we choose?" Five or fewer is easier to remember than ten.

Step 3: Brainstorm methods, then rank them

List every action that could move you toward the vision. Then cut and order. Rank by impact on the vision, not by what's easiest. Benioff's guidance is that each question can have more than one answer, and that the answers should be prioritized.

Give each method an owner and a rough time frame. A method without an owner is a wish.

Step 4: Name the obstacles

For each method, ask what could block it. Typical answers include missing budget, unclear ownership, competing priorities, skill gaps, and slow approvals. Rank the obstacles by how critical they are, then write how you'll deal with the top ones. Often the answer is an additional method, which is a good sign the document is working.

Step 5: Define the measures

Pick numbers that show whether the methods are working. Each measure needs a baseline, a target, and a source of data. If a measure can only be judged by opinion, rewrite it until it can be counted.

Step 6: Review, cascade, and update

Share the draft with the people it affects and edit based on their pushback. Then cascade it: each department and individual writes a V2MOM that supports the one above it. Benioff describes the document as living and breathing, updated through the year, which makes it a natural agenda for regular manager and team conversations about priorities. Check your strategic objectives at each level so the lower V2MOMs actually trace back to the top one.

Step 7: Publish it

Benioff says every V2MOM at Salesforce is published on the company's internal social network, so any employee can read any other employee's, and an internal app lets people track progress on each item. You don't need special software. A shared document or wiki page that everyone can open gets you most of the benefit. Visibility is what turns the page into a coordination tool, because people can see where their work connects to someone else's.

V2MOM template you can copy

Paste this into a document or spreadsheet. Rank rows from most to least important.

Keep it to one page. If it grows beyond that, you probably have two V2MOMs, one for each team.

Examples by business function

These examples are illustrative. They show the shape of a good entry, not real company plans.

Sales team

• Vision: Become the first-choice vendor for mid-market logistics companies in our region this year.
• Values (ranked): 1. Customer fit over deal size. 2. Forecast honesty. 3. Speed to first meeting.
• Methods (ranked): 1. Rebuild the ideal customer profile with closed-won data. 2. Add a discovery checklist to every qualified opportunity. 3. Launch a referral program with top customers.
• Obstacles: Inconsistent CRM data, long procurement cycles, rep turnover in the first six months.
• Measures: Qualified pipeline created, win rate by segment, average sales cycle length.

Marketing team

• Vision: Make organic search our largest source of qualified leads by year end.
• Values (ranked): 1. Useful over clever. 2. Evidence over opinion. 3. Consistent publishing.
• Methods (ranked): 1. Publish a complete topic cluster for each core product use case. 2. Refresh the top twenty existing pages. 3. Build a link-earning plan around original data.
• Obstacles: Limited writer capacity, slow design turnaround, unclear attribution.
• Measures: Organic leads, share of leads from organic, ranking for priority keywords.

Customer success team

• Vision: Cut preventable churn in the first year of the customer relationship.
• Values (ranked): 1. Proactive over reactive. 2. Honest advice. 3. Documented playbooks.
• Methods (ranked): 1. Define a 90-day onboarding path with clear milestones. 2. Create health scoring from product usage. 3. Run quarterly business reviews with top accounts.
• Obstacles: Usage data lives in separate systems, uneven account loads, late renewal notifications.
• Measures: Gross retention, onboarding completion rate, time to first value.

HR team

• Vision: Hire and keep the people the growth plan needs, without raising time-to-fill.
• Values (ranked): 1. Fair process. 2. Candidate experience. 3. Manager accountability.
• Methods (ranked): 1. Standardize interview scorecards. 2. Train hiring managers on structured interviews. 3. Run stay interviews for critical roles.
• Obstacles: Hiring managers short on time, inconsistent job descriptions, thin employer brand in new markets.
• Measures: Time to fill, offer acceptance rate, first-year attrition.

Personal V2MOM

Benioff's post says every employee drafts one, so an individual version is part of the original practice. Someone preparing for a promotion might write a vision about leading a team within eighteen months, values like learning and reliability, methods covering skill-building and stretch projects, obstacles such as limited visibility with senior leaders, and measures like project outcomes and feedback scores.

V2MOM do's and don'ts

Do

• Do rank everything. Ranking is where trade-offs get made. If everything is a priority, nothing is.
• Do keep it to one page. Brevity makes it readable and memorable.
• Do write obstacles honestly. A V2MOM with no obstacles hasn't been thought through.
• Do make measures countable. Numbers with baselines and targets beat adjectives.
• Do share it widely. Visible plans get challenged and improved.
• Do revisit it. Update it when facts change, and use it in regular check-ins.

Don't

• Don't write vague visions. "Be the best" can't be measured or argued with.
• Don't list values nobody would give up. "Integrity" and "excellence" don't help when choices are hard. Choose values that cost you something.
• Don't confuse methods with measures. "Launch a webinar series" is a method. "Webinar-sourced pipeline" is a measure.
• Don't cascade by copying. A team's V2MOM should support the company's, not repeat it.
• Don't treat it as a once-a-year document. If it's filed after January, it's a form, not a plan.
• Don't use it to replace detailed project plans. It sets direction and priorities. Execution detail belongs elsewhere, as covered in strategy execution.

Key Facts

• Creator: Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO, in a management process he describes as his own.
• Acronym: Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, Measures.
• Origin story: First sketched on an American Express envelope in Salesforce's first weeks, later framed by cofounder Parker Harris and given back to Benioff on IPO day.
• Cadence at Salesforce: Every department and employee drafts one each year, updated through the year.
• Visibility: Published on Salesforce's internal social network, with an app to track progress.
• What sets it apart: Ranked values and a dedicated obstacles step.
• Source: Benioff, "Create Strategic Company Alignment With a V2MOM," Salesforce blog.

Next steps

Pick one team and write a draft in under an hour. Share it, collect objections, and rank again. Then ask each direct report to write one that supports it. If you also run quarterly OKRs, read the OKR framework guide and decide which tool owns direction and which owns the numbers.