How Can Teams Strengthen the Connection Between Input, Output, and Outcome?

Teams should deliver products to users as soon and as frequently as possible, gather feedback, and improve product value iteratively. This reduces the risk of building products that users don’t want.

An expanded impact map helps teams proactively consider the relationships between these measures, making them easier to validate later.

Metaphor

Betting on inputs, outputs, and outcomes without feedback is like buying a lottery ticket and planning your retirement around it. It feels like a plan, but until the numbers are drawn, it’s nothing more than hopeful conjecture.

Delivering quickly and iteratively is how teams “check the numbers” early, validating whether their bets are sound before doubling down on the wrong ticket.

Works Consulted

In addition to any sources cited above, the following works informed my thinking:(1)

1.
Tien KD. Input, Output and Outcome [Internet]. scrum.org; 2019 [cited 2025 Aug 26]. Available from: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/input-output-and-outcome