Lean UX, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3. Driving Vision with Outcomes

If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong.

—Dr. Richard Feynman

Traditionally, software projects are framed by requirements and deliverables. Teams are given requirements and are expected to produce deliverables that describe how the features that satisfy those requirements will look, behave, and perform. In many cases, the strategic context for those requirements is not communicated, is missing, or is simply not considered. Lean UX radically shifts the way we frame our work by introducing back the strategic context for our feature and design choices and, more important, how we—the entire team, not just the design department—define success. Our goal is not to create a deliverable or a feature: it’s to positively affect customer behavior or change in the world—to create an outcome.

Why focus on outcomes instead of features? It’s because we’ve learned that it’s hard—and in many cases impossible—to predict whether the features we design and build will create both the strategic as well as tactical value we want to create. Will this button encourage people to purchase? Will this feature create more engagement? Will people use this feature in ways we didn’t predict? Will we successfully shift the way people interact with our service? So, rather than focus on the feature, it’s better to focus on the value we’re trying to create, and keep testing solutions until we find one that delivers the value—the outcome—that we desire.

This reframing requires ...