Focus on output
How focusing on the output can help reach the outcome
How focusing on the output can help reach the outcome
Key Takeaways
The outcome is our north star deriving what we want to achieve. There is no direct action we can take to affect it.
Through hypotheses, we develop outputs that may help reach the desired outcome.
Focusing on the output quality, scale, and performance increases the chance of reaching the outcome.
Overview
Today, It is widespread for Product Managers to focus on outcomes (as opposed to outputs). An outcome can be KPI-related, such as “increase the CTR by 5%”, while the output might be “Put only one primary CTA on each page.”
I see it differently. Once the Product Manager has identified the desired outcome, she should focus on the output. Focusing on the output can yield high-quality results and contribute to the desired outcome.
What Does It Mean To Focus On Output?
Output is an action we take toward our goal. It can be any deliverable, like a plan, a feature, or a project. When focusing on output, I see three main areas to address.
Quality
In quality, I refer to the output behaving as it should. It relates to functional requirements, edge cases, and different flows and interactions. An excellent quality forecasts correctly how the output will be used and optimize the experience.
Scale
Scale is the ability of the output to support its expected growth. For example, if our output is a report that can keep up to 100 records, while our customers tend to have 2000 records, it doesn’t support the required scale.
Performance
Performance addresses the efficiency of the output (speed, throughput, capacity, etc.). It is worth mentioning the value of perceived performance vs. actual performance.
Example
Background
As a product team in a visual collaboration tool (such as Miro, Mural, etc.), we focus on the user experience designers segment. This segment uses the tool for sketches, brainstorming on the user journey, and design use cases.
The Outcome
We noticed a low retention rate with the segment, resulting in churn after two months of use. The desired outcome is to extend the life span of the segment.
Analysis
Since we can’t directly affect the user’s retention, we can develop ideas for an output that might help us reach the outcome. As we hypothesize and talk to customers about why we see a low retention rate, we come up with the following insights –
While brainstorming may start with a visual collaboration tool, most work is later done in a proper design platform (such as Figma).
Designers work with a team and other roles, such as engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders. These users are not the primary users of our platform and usually don’t have access to it.
For consistent artifacts, each team has unique design guidelines embedded into its products (such as color schema, layouts, and shapes). Maintaining such procedures for multiple platforms takes a lot of work.
From our analysis, the chosen segment completes its tasks with other tools, and the missing integration between the different systems makes it hard for them to keep using our product.
Output
As an MVP, we chose to add a new Figma integration. With the new integrations, teams can now build visual aids in our product and sync them with Figma, as well as syncing Figma design system into our product.
But remember I said we should focus on the output? Let’s see what it means.
Quality
We can see how users react to our new product by conducting usability tests. The integration setup could go wrong, or specific legacy Figma shapes must be appropriately migrated.
As there is no second to the first impression, we must ensure our user can complete what he intends to do.
Scale
A naive solution will work for one Figma project, maybe two. We will assume the average user creates a handful of visual boards and syncs them with Figma. But what about an enterprise account that creates hundreds of diagrams and manages a thousand projects in Figma? Will our system work on this scale?
It’s OK to make assumptions and cut on the MVP, but when the time comes — our product must support the scale of our users.
Performance
In usability testing and alpha release, one of our goals is to ensure the performance is perceived as fast enough. When integrating tools, users become skeptical and expect something to break. Moreover, they will ditch the process if it doesn’t happen fast.
I’m one of those “rage clickers” who expect immediate responses and indications of what’s happening. Did we consider the internet speed of our users? The device we will invest in the new product? All of these affect the user experience.
Summary
We should focus on making the best output to derive a meaningful outcome. In many cases, the outcome isn’t reached because of a wrong hypothesis but a low-quality output.
We start the product discovery process with outcomes and KPIs in mind, but we also need to get our hands dirty and execute the perfect output.
While building the right things isn’t the same as making things right, both are important and complement each other.