Outcomes Over Output

Overview

This book explores how focusing on outcomes (changes in human behavior that drive business results) rather than outputs (features shipped) leads to more successful products, services, and organizational transformations. It’s for product managers, designers, executives, and anyone involved in creating and delivering value in a business setting. It’s particularly relevant in today’s rapidly changing business environment where agility and adaptation are crucial for survival. The book advocates for a customer-centric, data-driven, and experimental approach to product development and organizational change. I explain why traditional project management methodologies, centered on output and features, often fail to deliver meaningful value, and I contrast this with a more effective, outcomes-focused approach. I delve into the problems with traditional roadmaps and advocate for outcome-based roadmaps focused on themes and questions rather than fixed features and dates. I also share several case studies, including the story of HBR.org’s shift to outcomes and its impact on their team’s effectiveness and stakeholder satisfaction. I introduce the concept of “Magic Questions”—a simple but powerful framework for identifying valuable outcomes, along with tools like customer journey mapping and leading vs. lagging indicators. I provide practical advice on how to manage teams with outcomes, track progress, set expectations for stakeholders, and foster a culture of experimentation and continuous learning. I also extend the idea of outcomes beyond product development to organizational transformation, suggesting that by treating colleagues as customers and applying outcome-focused thinking, leaders can more effectively drive change within their organizations. I advocate for an iterative and experimental approach to transformation, emphasizing the importance of trust, collaboration, and continuous learning in the process. The book offers a practical guide to a more customer-centric, agile, and outcome-focused way of working, enabling teams and organizations to better navigate uncertainty, deliver value, and adapt to change.

Book Outline

1. What Are Outcomes?

Focusing on outcomes—changes in user behavior—rather than outputs—features shipped—is crucial for business success. Traditional project goals, like “done” for a bridge, don’t apply neatly to software. Features can be technically perfect but deliver no value, or even create unintended problems. Instead of endless feature lists, focus on the customer behaviors that drive desired results.

Key concept: Outcome: A change in human behavior that drives business results.

2. Using Outcomes

Executive leadership focuses on high-level metrics (revenue, costs, market share). Teams need more concrete, smaller targets—outcomes. Ask what customer behaviors correlate with these high-level goals, then find the most efficient way to deliver those behaviors.

Key concept: Early and continuous delivery of value should be the highest priority. Value is a slippery concept though, so define it by focusing on outcomes.

3. Outcomes-Based Planning

Traditional roadmaps listing features are often inaccurate and frustrating. Outcome-based roadmaps, focused on themes, questions, and outcomes, better navigate uncertainty. Use the Magic Questions to uncover valuable outcomes and focus on the customer journey: mapping customer activities and behaviors to drive business goals.

Key concept: Magic Questions: 1. What user/customer behaviors drive business results? 2. How can we get more of those behaviors? 3. How do we know we’re right?

4. Organizing for Outcomes

Most organizations are structured around making stuff (outputs), not achieving outcomes. This hinders collaboration on broader business goals. Teams focused on customer-centric outcomes can more effectively coordinate, iterate, and deliver value, even with limited scope or resources.

Key concept: Organize around outcomes, not outputs. Aligning teams to shared outcomes enhances collaboration and breaks down silos.

5. Outcomes for Transformation

Outcomes aren’t just for products and services; they’re powerful tools for internal transformation. Treat your colleagues as customers, focus on their behavior changes, and experiment with different approaches to drive adoption of new strategies, technologies, or ways of working.

Key concept: Apply outcome-based thinking to internal teams and organizational transformation. Your colleagues are your customers.

Essential Questions

1. What is an outcome, and why is focusing on outcomes more effective than focusing on outputs?

This question delves into the core premise of the book, emphasizing the importance of outcomes as drivers of business results. The book argues that instead of solely focusing on outputs (features shipped), teams and organizations should prioritize outcomes – the changes in human behavior that lead to desired business results. By focusing on outcomes, teams gain clarity on what they’re working towards and can more easily measure the impact of their work. The author illustrates this concept with examples of how features can be technically perfect but fail to deliver value if they don’t drive the intended behavioral changes. The shift towards outcomes also fosters a more customer-centric approach, encouraging teams to understand and address the underlying customer needs and motivations driving desired behaviors. This shift is not simply a change in terminology but a fundamental change in mindset that impacts the entire product development and organizational transformation process.

2. How should outcomes be defined, and why is measurability important?

This question emphasizes the actionable and measurable nature of outcomes. The book stresses that outcomes must be defined as observable and measurable changes in human behavior. This allows teams to track progress, run experiments, and assess the impact of their work. Unlike vague goals, well-defined outcomes provide clear targets and facilitate more effective planning and execution. By framing outcomes in terms of user behaviors, teams can also foster a more user-centric approach, prioritizing the needs and motivations of their users. The author provides several examples and practical tips for identifying, defining, and measuring outcomes effectively. The emphasis on measurability makes outcomes a powerful management tool, allowing leaders to align teams, track progress, and make more data-driven decisions.

3. How can outcome-based planning help organizations navigate uncertainty and adapt to change?

This question explores the book’s approach to navigating uncertainty in product development and organizational transformation. The author argues that relying on traditional, output-based roadmaps is often ineffective due to the inherent uncertainty in complex systems. Instead, the book advocates for outcome-based roadmaps that focus on themes, questions, and hypotheses. This approach allows teams to experiment, learn, and adapt their way forward, even when the path is not initially clear. The “Magic Questions” framework, coupled with customer journey mapping, provides a structured approach to uncovering valuable outcomes and designing effective experiments. This focus on experimentation and learning aligns with agile methodologies, enabling teams to iteratively refine their understanding of customer needs and deliver value more quickly.

4. How can organizations structure themselves around outcomes, and what are the benefits of doing so?

This question highlights the impact of outcome-focused thinking on organizational structure and team dynamics. The book observes that most organizations are structured around creating outputs, which can create silos and hinder collaboration. Shifting to an outcome-focused organization, as illustrated by the HBR.org case study, breaks down these silos and aligns teams around shared goals. When teams are responsible for achieving specific outcomes, they are empowered to find the most effective solutions and collaborate more effectively across functions. This shift also leads to better prioritization, as teams focus on the work that will have the greatest impact on the desired outcomes. The book offers practical advice for managers on how to implement this organizational shift and manage teams with outcomes, emphasizing the importance of trust, transparency, and continuous feedback.

5. How can the principles of outcome-driven thinking be applied to organizational transformation?

This question expands the application of outcomes beyond product development to internal teams and organizational change. The book argues that the same principles of outcome-driven thinking can be applied to drive transformation within organizations. By treating colleagues as “customers” and focusing on their behaviors, leaders can design more effective change programs. The book emphasizes the importance of understanding the motivations and needs of internal stakeholders, just as one would with external customers. This customer-centric approach, combined with an experimental mindset, enables organizations to test and iterate on their transformation initiatives, adapting their approach based on feedback and data. This approach creates a more agile and adaptable organization, better equipped to navigate change and achieve its strategic goals.

Key Takeaways

1. Focus on outcomes, not outputs.

Outputs are tangible deliverables (features, reports, code), while outcomes are the changes in human behavior that those outputs are intended to create. For example, launching a new feature is an output; users adopting that feature and changing their behavior is the outcome. Focusing on outcomes ensures that teams are working on things that deliver value to the customer and drive meaningful results for the business. This customer-centric approach prioritizes behavior change that leads to business value rather than becoming fixated on deliverables that may or may not have the intended impact.

Practical Application:

An AI product team tasked with improving user engagement could define “users scheduling tasks using natural language” as a key outcome rather than simply delivering a natural language processing feature. By focusing on this outcome, the team can experiment with different design and development approaches to encourage this behavior, ultimately achieving the higher-level impact of increased user engagement.

2. Use the “Magic Questions” to identify valuable outcomes.

Seiden’s “Magic Questions” are a powerful tool for uncovering valuable outcomes. They encourage teams to think critically about the customer behaviors that drive business results and design experiments to test their assumptions. The questions promote a customer-centric approach and help teams prioritize work that is most likely to deliver value. They also facilitate a culture of learning and experimentation, enabling teams to adapt their approach based on data and feedback. By repeatedly asking these questions, teams can stay focused on the desired outcomes and avoid getting lost in feature development for its own sake.

Practical Application:

A product manager working on a recommendation engine for an e-commerce platform could use the “Magic Questions” to define outcomes. 1. What user behaviors drive increased purchases (e.g., clicking on recommendations, adding recommended items to cart)? 2. How can we encourage these behaviors (e.g., better personalization, improved product displays)? 3. How do we know we’re right (A/B testing different algorithms, tracking click-through rates)? This approach ensures the team focuses on creating value rather than simply building features.

3. Visualize the customer journey to uncover valuable outcomes.

Customer journey maps visualize customer interactions with a product or service, revealing crucial behavioral patterns that indicate valuable outcomes. By mapping the customer journey, teams can identify areas for improvement and prioritize interventions that drive the desired outcomes. This visualization helps shift the focus from internal processes to the external customer experience. It also facilitates a shared understanding of the customer journey among team members, fostering collaboration and alignment around customer-centric outcomes.

Practical Application:

An AI team developing a chatbot for customer service could create a customer journey map, outlining the steps customers take when interacting with the bot. By analyzing customer behavior at each step, the team can identify pain points and opportunities for improvement. For instance, they might discover that customers often abandon the chat when they have to wait too long for a response, leading to the outcome of “decreased customer satisfaction.” This insight could then inform the development of features to improve response time and personalization, driving the desired outcome of “increased customer satisfaction.”

4. Measure outcomes to track progress and demonstrate value.

Outcomes must be measurable so you can track progress, learn from experiments, and adapt your approach. This data-driven approach allows teams to demonstrate the value of their work and justify continued investment in their initiatives. It also creates a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. By regularly measuring outcomes, teams can identify areas for improvement, test new ideas, and demonstrate the impact of their work on the overall business goals.

Practical Application:

An engineering team could track the outcome of “increased code reviews completed per week” by measuring the actual number of code reviews conducted. They can then experiment with different strategies, like introducing automated code review tools or changing team processes, and measure the impact of these experiments on the outcome. This allows them to iterate and find the most effective way to improve code quality while demonstrating value to stakeholders.

5. Apply outcome-driven thinking to organizational transformation.

Organizational transformation is about changing human behavior within the organization. Applying an outcome-focused approach means defining the desired behavioral changes and measuring the progress towards those changes. This customer-centric approach, even with internal teams, fosters a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement. By treating colleagues like customers, leaders can gain a better understanding of their needs and motivations, design more effective change programs, and measure their impact on the desired outcomes.

Practical Application:

A company aiming to improve its onboarding process could treat new employees as customers and identify desired outcomes like “increased new hire productivity within the first month.” They could then experiment with different onboarding strategies, like personalized training programs or mentorship initiatives, and measure their impact on the defined outcome. This customer-centric approach, even with internal teams, fosters a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement.

Suggested Deep Dive

Chapter: Outcomes-Based Planning

This chapter presents practical methodologies, including customer journey mapping and the Magic Questions framework, which are immediately applicable for product teams and have broader implications for AI product development. It clarifies how outcomes can be used to structure roadmaps and plan projects effectively, aligning team efforts with business goals.

Memorable Quotes

What Are Outcomes?. 9

An outcome is a change in human behavior that drives business results.

Early Value Delivery. 13

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of value.

The Magic Questions. 23

What are the user and customer behaviors that drive business results?

Roadmap to Nowhere. 32

Roadmaps fail when they present a picture of the future that is at odds with what we know about the future.

Your Colleagues Are Your Customers. 55

Your colleagues are your customers.

Comparative Analysis

While “Outcomes Over Output” shares similarities with other agile and lean product development books like “Lean Startup” by Eric Ries, “Inspired” by Marty Cagan, and “Escaping the Build Trap” by Melissa Perri, it offers a unique focus on the practical application of outcome-driven thinking. Unlike “Lean Startup,” which emphasizes validated learning through rapid experimentation for startups, this book provides a framework for applying outcome-driven thinking within larger, established organizations as well. It shares the focus on customer-centricity with Cagan’s “Inspired,” but offers more concrete guidance on identifying and measuring outcomes. Compared to Perri’s “Escaping the Build Trap,” Seiden’s book dives deeper into the mechanics of organizational transformation to an outcome-focused approach, offering practical tips for managing stakeholders and fostering team collaboration. A key distinction is the “Magic Questions” framework and the application of customer journey mapping, which provides a more structured approach to outcome discovery than found in many other books. Additionally, “Outcomes Over Output” extends the application of outcomes beyond product development to organizational transformation, providing a valuable perspective for leaders seeking to drive change within their organizations.

Reflection

“Outcomes Over Output” provides a timely and relevant framework for navigating the complexities of modern product development and organizational transformation. In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, where agility and adaptability are essential for survival, the book’s emphasis on customer-centricity, experimentation, and continuous learning is particularly valuable. However, the book’s focus on outcomes could be perceived as overly simplistic by some. While outcomes are crucial, they shouldn’t completely overshadow the importance of outputs. Features still matter, and a balance must be struck between delivering value through outcomes and ensuring the quality and functionality of the outputs that enable those outcomes. Additionally, the book’s emphasis on customer journey mapping and experimentation may not be equally applicable to all industries or contexts. Despite these potential limitations, “Outcomes Over Output” offers a valuable contribution to the field of product development and organizational transformation, providing a practical and actionable framework for creating customer-centric, outcome-focused organizations. The book’s emphasis on continuous learning and adaptation makes it particularly relevant for today’s dynamic business environment.

Flashcards

What is an outcome?

A change in human behavior that drives business results.

What are outputs, and what is a potential issue with focusing on them?

Features, deliverables, or outputs; things that teams make. These don’t always translate into value.

What are the “Magic Questions” for identifying valuable outcomes?

What customer/user behaviors drive business results? 2. How can we encourage more of these behaviors? 3. How will we know we are right?

What is a customer journey map, and how is it used in outcome-based planning?

A visual representation of the steps a customer takes when interacting with a product or service, useful for identifying key customer behaviors.

What is a logic model, and how does it relate to outcome-based planning?

It describes the logical chain of resources, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impact, often used in the social impact sector but valuable in business contexts as well.

What is a hypothesis in the context of outcome-based work, and why is it important?

A testable statement about the relationship between a proposed change and a desired outcome, used to validate assumptions and reduce uncertainty.

What does MVP stand for, and how does Seiden define it?

An experiment. The smallest thing you can do or make to learn if your hypothesis is correct.

What is the difference between leading and lagging indicators, and which should be prioritized when managing with outcomes?

Lagging indicators measure past performance (like customer churn), while leading indicators predict future success (like trial sign-ups). Focus on leading indicators, which are often customer behaviors.

What is impact in the context of outcome-based planning?

High-level aspirational goals that reflect the overall success of the business or organization, such as increased revenue or market share. Outcomes should link to impacts, but teams should focus on the specific outcomes they can control.