Skip to main content

Output vs Outcome

Last post 01:51 pm July 25, 2019 by Karolina Ciecierska
11 replies
08:36 pm June 6, 2018

Hello everyone, 

 

There are many articles which talks about output vs outcome for a self organised team. 

I would like to understand the same through some real time examples if possible in order to get relatable understanding . 

 

Thank you

Anu 


10:08 pm June 6, 2018

In your other post you identified the following KPIs:

1. Team velocity

2. Rolled over / carry over user stories 

3. Burndown / Burnup 

4. Improvement Item - Kaizen 

5. Release Cycle time 

6. DRE: Defect removal Efficiency

These are output-based. An outcome-based assessment might be:

- whether the Sprint Goal was met

- whether an hypothesis was validated

- whether an investment was recouped

- whether customer retention improved

etc.


07:24 am June 7, 2018

In French, the translation for output and outcome is the same (= résultat) :-(

I understand output = "raw numbers (velocity...)" and outcome = "impact (business value...)"

 


04:24 pm June 7, 2018

ah I think I am able to differentiate in my head now :) 

thank you 

Anu


04:54 pm June 7, 2018

ok, I got a question - not sure if fits here but let me ask away

How do we asses the outcome for individual teams if there are lets say 10 teams working on one product. 

Here, the sprint backlog items for each team comes from one single Product backlog.

 


05:29 pm June 7, 2018

How do we asses the outcome for individual teams if there are lets say 10 teams working on one product.

Why would you want to?


06:32 pm June 7, 2018

As i understand outcome directly relates to collective effort by individual team

please do correct me if am going wrong here. 


08:53 pm June 7, 2018

Outcomes relate directly to business value. For example if a Sprint Goal is met then that outcome would be just as valuable irrespective of how teams self-organized to achieve it.


10:03 am June 8, 2018

We used to have some of the outcome based assessment points (highlighted by Ian) covered in a review from our client at the end of a release which would finally say how many points we scored out of 7

My question is if it is a good idea to have outcome based feedback more frequently or there should be no such feedback from the stakeholders to the scrum team and this point is best left to the product owner who is anyways working to maximize the value of the work done and hence maximizing the outcome


10:26 am June 8, 2018

Output: team velocity during sprint was 300% the average from previous 10 sprints.

Outcome: stakeholders were delighted, and the development team all handed in their resignations.


02:02 pm June 8, 2018

My question is if it is a good idea to have outcome based feedback more frequently or there should be no such feedback from the stakeholders to the scrum team and this point is best left to the product owner who is anyways working to maximize the value of the work done and hence maximizing the outcome

Note that the Scrum Guide says the following in regards to the Sprint Review, which is held every Sprint:

Review of how the marketplace or potential use of the product might have changed what is the most valuable thing to do next


09:18 am July 25, 2019

I like this movie :) It explains the difference very well:)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbzVjVdQUx8

 

 


By posting on our forums you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.

Please note that the first and last name from your Scrum.org member profile will be displayed next to any topic or comment you post on the forums. For privacy concerns, we cannot allow you to post email addresses. All user-submitted content on our Forums may be subject to deletion if it is found to be in violation of our Terms of Use. Scrum.org does not endorse user-submitted content or the content of links to any third-party websites.

Terms of Use

Scrum.org may, at its discretion, remove any post that it deems unsuitable for these forums. Unsuitable post content includes, but is not limited to, Scrum.org Professional-level assessment questions and answers, profanity, insults, racism or sexually explicit content. Using our forum as a platform for the marketing and solicitation of products or services is also prohibited. Forum members who post content deemed unsuitable by Scrum.org may have their access revoked at any time, without warning. Scrum.org may, but is not obliged to, monitor submissions.