Why outcomes matter more than outputs in OKRs

Hey folks,

I hope you had a great end of the year. I’m gearing up for a busy new year, and I’m excited to share some of it with you all here. 

As we dive into 2025, I still see many teams celebrating the launch of new features without focusing on outcomes as a measure of success. 

In this newsletter, I return to a familiar topic: why the shift from outputs to outcomes is crucial for effective OKRs, and how this change transforms both how teams work and what they achieve. I'll share practical ways to make this transition and explain why measuring behavior change, though harder than counting features, leads to better results.

Plus, I'm excited to announce a special webinar with Josh and Jim Kalbach where we'll explore how OKRs and Jobs to be Done work together as complementary frameworks. Whether you're new to these approaches or looking to enhance your current practice, you'll learn how to combine them for maximum impact.

Let's dig in.

- Jeff

P.S. We’ve got one more international Sense & Respond Learning workshop this month in Bangalore. These hand-on workshops about Lean UX and Product Discovery will offer practical insights to drive innovation and deliver value to your customers.

Article: Why outcomes matter more than outputs in OKRs

It’s easy to celebrate releasing products on time and under budget. But delivering an app or launching a feature isn't the same as delivering value to customers.

I see this disconnect frequently when I ask teams how they measure success. They often point to things they've released, aka the outputs. The mobile app that launched. The new dashboard that went live. The marketing campaign that rolled out.

While outputs can be tangible and easy to measure, they don’t tell us if we’re actually helping our customers or moving the business forward. Success depends on how customers respond to what we produce—the behaviors they exhibit and the actions they take. These behavior changes are what we call outcomes.

This fundamental misunderstanding causes many organizations to waste time or resources working on the wrong things. They might maintain products customers don't use, provide support for features that don't matter, and stick to roadmaps even when data suggests they should change course.

However, the shift from outputs to outcomes is at the heart of effective OKRs. 

Instead of saying, "We'll build a mobile app in the next six months," correct OKRs focus on the customer behaviors you want to influence. Your objective might be, "Make our service the easiest-to-use photo editing app this year." But the key results shouldn't be about building the app; they should measure how customer behavior changes once you deliver the app.

Organizations often fall into the output (and not the outcome) trap because focusing on things you've released (like new feature drops) feels easier than measuring behavioral change. It's simpler to report "We launched two new features" than "We saw a 12% increase in customer retention." But those behavior changes are the only real measure of whether you've delivered value.

To shift toward outcomes, start by changing the core question you ask at the beginning of any initiative. Rather than "What will we build?" ask "What will people be doing differently if we succeed?" This simple change focuses the team on behavior from the outset.

Define success in terms of customer behaviors you want to target. Ask yourself this: Who does what by how much? This forces you to think beyond shipping features and focus on creating meaningful change.

Making this transition requires investment. You need to deeply understand your customers to identify which behaviors matter most. And you need the skills to figure out what combination of code, design and/or content will actually drive those behavior changes.

The path to better results starts with recognizing that just releasing things isn't succeeding. Real success comes from changing customer behavior in ways that move your business forward.

Ready to take your OKR mastery to the next level? 

Josh and I recently launched our new OKR training video ($119) for folks interested in elevating their OKR skills. In this practical guide based on our new book, you’ll learn how to create customer-centric objectives and key results that will help boost your team’s alignment and drive real results. 

PLUS: Completion of the training video comes with OKR Practitioner certification from our friends at OKRMentors. 

Don’t miss out—now’s the perfect time to unlock the power and potential of OKRs.

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