From Outputs to Outcomes: Breaking Free from Feature?Factory

In one company I worked with, the roadmap took a dramatic turn when management decided to prioritize Gen-AI without validating a single use case with customers. This shift aimed to catch up with the latest trend and outpace competitors but lacked any customer feedback or alignment with user needs.

It felt as if we were throwing as many AI knives at the wall as possible, just to see which would stick.

Another company struggled with unstable core services?—?exactly where users were actively converting. Yet, instead of allocating resources to stabilize these flows, management kept engineers busy building new features that ultimately saw minimal adoption.

In both cases, as a design team, we found ourselves constantly creating designs for these new features, leading to growing technical and UX debt.

Problems

Obsession with Output Over?Outcomes

Management focused almost exclusively on speed and volume, measuring success by feature velocity and burn-down rates.

Deliver at All?Costs

Research and design teams were pressured to work faster to constantly keep up with new requests, compromising quality and user experience.

Why

Need for Differentiation

Organizations want to stand out by launching unique features, regardless of market need.

Fear of Falling?Behind

Companies fear losing to competitors and rush to release new features to close perceived gaps, even at the cost of stability.

Trend Chasing

Pursuing tech trends and beating competitors over it, like Gen-AI, becomes a priority, even if those trends aren’t fully aligned with user needs.

Working in these environments, we applied some strategies to shift focus back to user-centered design

Step 1: Establish Design Processes and Boundaries

When I joined Yassir, I asked about what was working well and uncovered some recurring challenges.

Product Managers Problems

• Lack of visibility into designers’ capacity and availability for new tasks.
• Confusion over who to approach for design requests.
• Perceived low ownership by designers on projects.

Product Designers Problems

• Overwhelmed with tasks and lack of realistic deadlines.
• Frequent task disruptions, as each product manager expected their work to be prioritized.

What We Implemented

• Developed clear criteria for new design tasks, setting up a structured backlog and sprint process.
• Communicated the team’s capacity openly with stakeholders to manage expectations effectively.
• Organized a system for prioritizing tasks, swapping urgent requests with lower-priority tasks when needed.
• Pushed back on unrealistic timelines to protect team bandwidth and uphold quality.

Takeaway

These process changes resolved the alignment issues that were previously mistaken for a resource problem. Introducing a unified process brought clarity and balance, leading to smoother collaboration across teams and improved project ownership for designers.

Step 2: Identify and Build on Bright?Spots

In a previous role, we gathered customer feedback through multiple channels, including NPS, Intercom messages, and App Store reviews. To turn this feedback into actionable insights, we set up a bi-weekly meeting to discuss and analyze it, identifying high-impact areas for improvement.

Over time, we developed a clear picture of solutions that would add real value to the user experience. However, these ideas often didn’t make it onto the company roadmap due to capacity limitations. To advocate for these changes, we began building business cases around our findings, quantifying the potential impact and showing the business the value these solutions could bring.

After months of persistence and showcasing the value of our insights, we successfully secured 25% of the monthly roadmap allocation for these user-centered initiatives.

Takeaway

Building on top of what already works is crucial for driving meaningful impact and can help shift the culture towards a more user-centered approach, rather than starting from scratch each time.

Step 3: Advocate for Outcome-Driven Design

• Followed up on previously released features, especially in core user flows, and consistently asked product managers for performance insights.
• Relied on qualitative guerrilla research to gain insights into user behavior quickly and effectively.
• Before starting a new design, I always asked: How will we measure the success of this design? What makes it valuable and usable for the end user?
• Made UX advocates across departments?—?such as managers who support user-centered practices.
• Shared findings regularly with the broader team to promote a culture of continuous learning and user focus.

Final Thoughts

Reflecting on these experiences, one thing stands out: successful product teams embrace adaptability and maintain a commitment to user needs above all else.

Rather than rushing to build the next big feature, take a moment to prioritize your team’s bandwidth, listen to real user feedback, and build on what’s already working.

Shifting to an outcome-driven approach won’t happen overnight, but each small step?—?from clearer processes to regular user check-ins?—?can make a world of difference. So start with one change, and let that be the first step toward a more user-centered culture.