(2018-05-08) Cutler Beyond Outcomes Over Outputs

John Cutler: Beyond “Outcomes Over Outputs”. I often meet with teams/individuals that are eager to be more “outcome oriented”).

“Outcomes vs. Outputs” has become a rallying call for consultants, individuals, and teams alike. What’s not to like, right?

many organizations lack the ability to link anything non-sales related to impacts and/or larger strategic bets, let alone to empower front-line teams to deliver outcomes

Additionally, there is zero awareness on the part of teams — or most staff, even — about the higher level assumptions and “bets” driving more prescriptive near-term goals and how it all “fits together” (Triple Loop Product Management)

Here’s another take on a “bet graph” from Henrik Kniberg’s Spotify Rhythm talk:... This type of coherence is rare when focusing on near-term outcomes only.

When I ask front-line folks — product teams especially — about their OKRs, I invariably hear something like: These are all well and good, but I don’t know how this all fits into the bigger picture

Without the underlying coherent story — spanning multiple time horizons — the OKRs are just a process hoop, and without “closing the loop” there is no learning (Strategic Context)

Really, it’s the CONTEXT that matters, as Spotify noticed when they shifted away from OKRs on the individual level: We noticed that we were putting energy into a process that wasn’t adding value. So we decided to ditch it and focus on context and priorities instead.

it takes a ton more than intent, and you will always have a spectrum of nested bets of varying time horizons, levels of certainty, levels of prescriptiveness, and “up-for-debate”-dness.

It’s my belief now that the “outcomes over outputs” refrain is more of a proxy discussion for a couple deeper discussions around incentives, pull vs. push management, coherence, psychological safety, transparency, building trust and autonomy as a team, strategy, and focus.