As a software product manager, you want to create value for your users and your business. But how do you know if you are achieving your goals and delivering the right features? The answer lies in the difference between product outcomes and product outputs.
Product outcomes are the changes in user behavior, satisfaction, or business performance that result from using your product. They are the ultimate reason why you build and improve your product. For example, product outcomes could be increased retention, engagement, loyalty, revenue, or customer satisfaction.
Product outputs are the tangible deliverables or features that you produce as part of your product development process. They are the means to achieve your product outcomes, but not the end in themselves. For example, product outputs could be new functionalities, user interfaces, bug fixes, or integrations.
Focusing on product outcomes rather than outputs can help you align your product vision, strategy, and roadmap with users' needs and business objectives. This can also help to avoid common pitfalls, such as building features that no one uses or values, wasting time on low-impact tasks, chasing vanity metrics, and losing sight of the problem you are trying to solve. Measuring and optimizing product outcomes can validate assumptions, learn from experiments, and iterate on solutions. Additionally, it can effectively communicate value propositions and success stories to stakeholders and customers.
To define and measure product outcomes, you need to start with a clear understanding of your target users, their problems, and their desired outcomes. You can use various techniques, such as user research, personas, jobs to be done, or value proposition canvas, to identify and prioritize the most important user outcomes for your product.
Next, you need to translate your user outcomes into measurable and actionable metrics that reflect the changes in user behavior, satisfaction, or business performance that you want to achieve. You can use frameworks, such as OKRs, SMART goals, or North Star Metric, to define and track your product outcome metrics.
Finally, you need to collect and analyze data from various sources, such as user feedback, analytics, surveys, or experiments, to measure and evaluate your product outcome metrics. You can use tools, such as dashboards, reports, or scorecards, to visualize and communicate your product outcome metrics.
To align product outputs with product outcomes, you need to ensure that every feature or deliverable that you produce is driven by a specific user outcome and supported by a valid hypothesis. You can use methods, such as user stories, impact mapping, or lean canvas, to link your product outputs with your product outcomes.
You also need to test and validate your product outputs before and after launching them to your users. You can use approaches, such as MVPs, prototypes, or A/B testing, to experiment with your product outputs and measure their impact on your product outcomes.
Additionally, you need to prioritize and optimize your product outputs based on their expected and actual contribution to your product outcomes. You can use frameworks, such as RICE, KANO, or MoSCoW, to prioritize and optimize your product outputs.
To improve your product outcomes, you need to adopt a continuous learning and improvement mindset. You need to constantly monitor and analyze your product outcome metrics and identify the gaps, opportunities, and challenges that affect your product performance. You also need to solicit and incorporate user feedback and insights into your product decisions and iterations.
Moreover, you need to experiment and innovate with your product outputs and explore new ways to create value for your users and your business. You need to embrace failure and learn from your mistakes and successes. You also need to celebrate and share your product outcome achievements and learnings with your team and your stakeholders.