Outcome-Based Product Planning
Back when software was boxed and sold in brick and mortar stores, the product was stable. It was clear what the box promised to and has to deliver. Therefore, working with a roadmap of outputs towards shipping such a box made sense. Every output was planned for and teams shipped their product on time. But even then, shipping on time wasn’t the reason why we, the product people, loved our product.
Now and then, we love it when our creations solve real problems. With software that doesn’t come in a box but continues to evolve at all times, monthly, weekly, hourly it becomes significantly easier for us to create something that does just that - solve a real problem. But to get there, we need a different way of planning. We need outcome based product planning.
Product becomes the variable
In his talk at the 2023 Product at Heart conference, the author of the award winning books Lean UX and Sense & Respond Jeff Gothelf showed us how to shift our focus from asking "What are we going to build" to "What will people be doing differently if we succeed". In other words, he talked about moving from feature to outcome based product planning.
In feature based product planning, we work with a fixed scope towards a set timeline that sets what product to expect at which point in time without knowing the impact on the users of such a product. In outcome based product planning we start with the change in the user’s behavior as a set goal. Therefore, the product becomes the variable that depends on what we learn will impact user’s behavior so that real problems get solved.
Rally stakeholders behind outcomes
The widely popular Objective-and-Key-Result (OKR) framework helps to plan for outcomes. Here, outcomes are what we set as key results on a quarterly basis. Such key results contribute to a long-term goal - the objective.
Talking about features and putting them on a roadmap can be useful too though. For each outcome, create a list of associated features-to-consider. We consider these features as options that might be built if we discover they are the right fit to get us the desired outcome. See it as an internal marketing tool for your plans to rally stakeholders behind outcomes.
5 Habits to make outcome planning work
In order to focus on outcomes rather than features, Jeff outlines that Product Leaders as well as Product Managers need to adhere to certain habits.
Product Leaders need to
Define and clarify the strategy, so it is clear what behavior change to target.
Set guardrails & scope to help teams focus their work.
Make key decisions, because results of experiments rarely are definitive.
Remove obstacles to make it easier to do the discovery work.
And of course, do whatever it takes to facilitate team success.
If Product Leaders should behave in that way, what if someone comes to them to ask what the teams are working on and they don’t know the answer because they are not the ones defining the output?
This is where the responsibility falls on the Product Managers to ensure their bosses know the answer to such questions which is required if they want to plan and work outcome based.
Product Managers need to
Provide radical transparency, because if people don’t know what you are working on, they will be terrified of this new way of working.
Overcommunicate and not just once. On a weekly basis, share 3 things you did that week, what you learned and the decisions you made.
Support every decision with data, because it builds the experimentation and learning mindset into the process.
Reinforce key results as the goal in every story about the product, because it keeps people focused on the outcome.
Check in after every short cycle to keep everyone informed and confident about what’s going on.
Outcome-based product planning is the source of agility. It's objective and evidence based decision making. It helps us to stop lying to ourselves and our bosses. And most importantly, it ensures we are always meeting the needs of our customers.