There are moments when we recall projects that led to wasting time and money, delayed feature releases, and dissatisfied customers. One memory stands out from over a decade ago when I collaborated with co-workers to brainstorm ideas for a new shopping app that leadership was eager to launch. When we shipped the new shiny product to market, we learned we built the wrong thing late in the game!

So, what was the problem’s root cause? A disorganised product backlog? Usability issues? Ineffective marketing? While these may have been factors, they were symptoms of an output-focused mindset. In hindsight, we should have focused on customer outcomes instead of working on a specific tangible output.

The lesson learned is that focusing solely on tangible outputs risks building the wrong things. Instead, we should laser-beam our focus on customer outcomes to avoid wasting time, money, and resources.