Think About Outcomes
SCRUM & LEAN UX | Episode 9
What are the changes in customer behaviour that indicate your team has solved a real problem for them?
Lean UX Principle: Outcomes, not output
“Features and services are outputs. The goal they are meant to achieve are outcomes.” — Lean UX, by Gothelf & Seiden
Features achieve something, but because the feature is “Done”, doesn’t mean it achieved its purpose. Unfortunately, that’s often how product teams behave. The feature is an assumption. An outcome is a measurable change in customer/user behaviour.
Defining measurable outcomes can be tricky. I asked a company owner how they are monitoring customer engagement and happiness. I asked what customer behaviour is evidence the customer is satisfied. He replied: “If they pay their bills on time”. I laughed, but he wasn’t joking.
Another example:
A Product Owner (PO) thinks it would be a good indicator if the time someone spends on the site increases. This PO assumes that the longer a visitor spends on the platform, the more connected they are.
A different Product Owner argued a shorter time on site is a good indicator. Visitors find what they are looking for faster. Search functionality, navigation or site performance might have improved.
