Three Outcome Types

User outcomes, customer outcomes, and technical outcomes are three different bets. Neglect any one of them long enough and the other two stop paying off.

Not all outcomes look the same. The Logic Model recognizes three, common types, each measuring a different kind of change. An outcome is always measured by a problem worth solving or an opportunity worth seizing. That said, we typically encounter three common types of outcomes: those focused on users, those focused on customers, buyers or partners, and those focused on system behaviors. Balancing across all three prevents the adverse systemic effects of over-indexing on any single type.

User Outcomes

Who does what by how much and by when and why?

User outcomes align solving customer problems with user behavior. They’re measured by a user behavioral change.

Example: “New users complete onboarding 50% faster by Q1.”

Patterns:

• Directly observable user behavior changes
• Grounded in user research and data
• Clear connection to user problems and goals
• Testable through experimentation

Anti-patterns:

• Vanity metrics without behavior change
• Spurious correlations to impact
• Lacking measurement or data access
• Confusing our interests with user interests

Customer Outcomes

Customer does not equal user. In B2B and B2B2C scenarios, companies buy and users use; the person signing the contract and the person clicking the buttons are often different people. Customer outcomes directly influence desired impact (ARR, expansion) and prove the product delivers on its value proposition.

Example: “Hotel partners increase their booking volume by 30% by Q2.”

Patterns:

• Tied to the customer’s business objectives (their ROI, efficiency, compliance)
• Measured through customer success relationship management, metrics, and health scores

Anti-patterns:

• Conflating user satisfaction with customer value delivered
• Focusing only on usage metrics without impact
• Ignoring the buyer’s success criteria
• Assuming customer outcomes at time of purchase

Technical Outcomes

Technical outcomes reduce the cost of change, from large (architectural) to small (PR). They often clear a path for user or customer outcomes by increasing developer productivity and reducing toil.

Example: “Improve system uptime from 99.5% to 99.95% across Q1 & Q2.”

Patterns:

• Enables future user and customer outcomes
• Addresses technical debt strategically
• Improves and balances speed and quality
• Measurable through engineering metrics

Anti-patterns:

• Disconnected from business or user value
• Indefinite timelines
• Over-indexing on technical craft
• Kicking the can down the road

Resources

• Product Logic Model — the parent framework
• Balancing Impacts — why pursuing only one outcome type creates systemic problems
• Outcomes Over Outputs — what makes something an outcome vs. an output
• Leading and Lagging Indicators — how outcomes are measured