Outcomes vs Outputs: How Outcome Driven Development Planning Changes Everything
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As freelancers, developers and project managers working on a project, it’s easy to get blinded by outcomes. Tasks on a project are often defined by the specific thing that we expect to build or present to the client or customer. But what if our assumptions are wrong? Or the scope changes along the way? What if there was an easier way to produce a desirable, user-friendly end-product without specifically defining what that end-product is? (Spoiler: There is!) This talk will discuss how to shift your focus from outputs to outcomes and how that little mental shift, changes everything. Really!
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Outcomes vs Outputs: How Outcome Driven Development Planning Changes Everything
- 1. How Outcome Driven Development Planning Changes Everything OUTCOMES vs. OUTPUTS Chris Reynolds
- 2. How Outcome Driven Development Planning Changes Everything Chris Reynolds OUTCOMES vs. OUTPUTS
- 3. AGILE 101 FIXED SCOPE PROJECTS ➡ Hard deadline ➡ Defined feature set before the project begins ➡ Change orders ➡ Scope creep ➡ Unknown outcomes
- 4. AGILE 101 AGILE PROJECTS ➡ Moving deadline/continuous development ➡ Time & materials ➡ Flexible feature delivery ➡ Descoping to meet deadlines ➡ Unknown outcomes
- 5. ESTIMATION FIXED SCOPE PROJECTS ➡ Time-based (1 hour, 12 hours, 3 days) ➡ Developer shortcuts
- 6. ESTIMATION AGILE PROJECTS ➡ Complexity-based (Fibonacci, t- shirt sizes, planning poker) ➡ Embrace the unknown
- 7. DEVELOPMENT PLANNING CREATING TICKETS Feature-based ➡ What do you want it to do? ➡ How does it work? ➡ How urgent?
- 8. DEVELOPMENT PLANNING CREATING TICKETS Bugs ➡ What’s broken? ➡ What needs to be fixed?
- 9. DEVELOPMENT PLANNING OUTPUT-BASED ➡ Add an image gallery block to posts ➡ Create a case study post type for sharing work ➡ Load more button is broken ➡ Site search does not work ➡ Email alert issues ➡ Social media feed needs to be
- 10. DEVELOPMENT PLANNING OUTCOME-BASED ➡ Posts have the ability to add image galleries ➡ Encourage sharing work on the site through case studies ➡ Load more button should load more posts on the archive page ➡ Site search should show relevant results
- 11. OUTCOMES VS OUTPUTS Car safety features ➡ Accident injury prevention Outcome ➡ Seatbelts ➡ Airbags ➡ Child car seats Output Image Src Vectors by Vecteezy
- 12. BUT WHY? ➡ Accept the unknowns ➡ We don’t know the best implementation ➡ Focus on the need ➡ Refrain from locking into a specific implementation
- 13. BUT HOW? ➡ Ticket titles! ➡ Ticket descriptions! ➡ Don’t propose solutions in ticket creation and refining ➡ Clear requirements, clear acceptance criteria ➡ Context about needs ➡ Keep the descriptions up-to-date
- 14. LONGER-TERM PLANNING TIME HORIZONS vs. TIMELINES Near TermCurrent Future Focus on objectives and outcomes over specific features
- 15. ABOUT ME Chris Reynolds Senior Engineer @ Human Made https://chrisreynolds.io jazzs3quence http://s3q.us/outcomes
Editor's Notes
- Agile 101 Fixed scope projets Hard deadline Defined feature set before the project begins Change orders Scope creep Unknown outcomes
- Agile projects Moving deadline/continuous development Time and materials Flexible feature delivery Descoping to meet deadlines Unknown outcomes
- Estimation Fixed scope projects Time-based (1 hour, 12 hours, 3 days) Developer shortcuts
- Agile projects Complexity-based (Fibonacci, t-shirt sizes, planning poker) Embrace the unknown and be honest with what we don’t know
- Development planning Creating tickets Feature-based What do you want it to do? How does it work? How urgent?
- Bugs What’s broken? What needs to be fixed?
- Output-based Add an image gallery block to posts Create a case study post type for sharing work Load more button is broken Site search does not work Email alert issues Social media feed needs to be accessible
- Outcome-based Posts have the ability to add image galleries Encourage sharing work on the site through case studies Load more button should load more posts on the archive page Site search should show relevant results Email alert issues — Epic, Needs discovery Social media feeds needs to be accessible — Epic, needs discovery
- Outcomes vs. outputs Car safety features Output Seatbelts Airbags Child car seats Outcome Accident injury prevention Over time, outputs may change, but the outcome remains the same as technologies or needs change and evolve
- But why? What difference does outcome based development planning make over output? Accept the unknowns Software development is about building things for the first time We don’t know the best implementation Focus on the need Refrain from locking into a specific implementation This can lead to developing for something other than what might be the best solution for a problem
- But how? Ticket titles! Framing the title of a ticket with an outcome-based solution helps to frame the conversation Ticket description Don’t propose solutions in the ticket creation and refining process Focus instead on what the outcome is, let the development team figure out the output Clear requirements, clear acceptance criteria Again, AC needs to be outcome-based, not output based Context in the ticket about why and what the needs are This helps development target the actual need, based on stated conclusions rather than developer assumptions Keep the description up-to-date It’s less mental overhead if all the relevant information and context is in the description rather than forcing developers to read the entire thread
- Longer term planning Stop planning on timelines Use time horizons, instead Current Near Term Future Focus on outcomes and objectives over specific features Even if features might be part of the conversation, steer discussion toward desired outcomes
- Questions?