Unlocking the Power of Outcomes: A Guide to Achievable Success
In the world of product management, one phrase reigns supreme: “outcomes.” It’s the holy grail of success, the ultimate goal that drives decision-making and prioritization. But what exactly is an outcome, and how can you harness its power to achieve remarkable results?
The Three Faces of Outcomes
Outcomes come in three distinct flavors: business, product, and user. Each serves a unique purpose, and understanding their differences is crucial to creating a winning strategy.
Business Outcomes: The Big Picture
Business outcomes are the highest-level objectives that define a company’s overall success. They’re the reasons why you launch new products and services. Examples include growing revenue, reducing costs, and increasing brand engagement. These outcomes determine how successful you are as a business.
Product Outcomes: The Product’s Purpose
Product outcomes focus on the goals you have for current products or services. They might include improving feature adoption, increasing 30-day retention, or growing average merchandise value. These outcomes measure the success of your product.
User Outcomes: The User’s Gain
User outcomes center around the value users derive from using your product. Benefits might include reducing time-to-value, improving user satisfaction, or increasing the value users get from the product. In this case, success is measured by the outcomes of your users.
Crafting Achievable Outcomes
Defining the right outcomes is essential to guiding your decision-making and prioritization process. To create achievable outcomes, follow these steps:
- Deconstruct Business Outcomes: Break down business outcomes into their constituent parts to understand what factors influence the desired outcome.
- Prioritize Product Outcomes: Identify potential product outcomes and choose which ones to prioritize based on their impact on the business outcome.
- Identify and Prioritize User Outcomes: Determine what needs to happen on the user side to achieve the desired product outcome, and prioritize accordingly.
- Map Opportunity Solution Trees: Develop a plan of action to improve user satisfaction by understanding the problems users face, the opportunities they present, and possible solutions.
By following these steps, you’ll be able to create achievable outcomes that drive high-impact roadmaps and ultimately lead to remarkable success.
The Interconnected Web of Outcomes
Business, product, and user outcomes are intricately linked. Understanding their relationships helps you better comprehend what you do, why you do it, and how everything connects. By grasping the different types of outcomes, you’ll be able to build truly impactful product roadmaps that drive meaningful action.