Everyone Thinks They’re Managing by Outcomes. Here’s How to Actually Do it.

Teresa Torres argues that most managers claim to manage by outcomes but in practice still manage by outputs, dictating features, projects, and fixed roadmaps. The root cause she identifies is a trust problem: managers micromanage outputs because they doubt teams can reach outcomes, while teams stop communicating progress, which deepens the mistrust. She proposes breaking this cycle by teaching teams to show their thinking (via opportunity solution trees) and teaching managers to give feedback on that thinking rather than on conclusions. The approach replaces 'red balloon vs. blue balloon' opinion-trading with structured questions about the opportunity space, solution generation, and experiment design. It matters because it gives leaders a concrete way to shift from controlling work to governing outcomes.

01Key takeaways

• Distinguish outputs (fixed features and dated roadmaps) from outcomes (measurable business results the team owns).
• Ask teams to show their thinking via an opportunity solution tree rather than reacting to their conclusions.
• Negotiate the target outcome together at the start, balancing business needs against what the team believes is achievable.
• Test each opportunity: is there more than one way to address it? If not, it is probably a solution in disguise.
• Generate 15-20 solutions for the target opportunity to move past obvious, 'me too' ideas.
• When giving feedback, ask questions and check the logic behind decisions instead of stating personal preferences.

02Key sections

Outputs vs. outcomes

Outputs are fixed deliverables such as features, projects, and dated roadmaps, while outcomes are measurable business results the team owns. Torres notes that OKRs help teams refine metrics without changing the objective.

Why managers slip back into outputs

A trust gap drives managers to micromanage and teams to hide progress, creating a vicious cycle. Breaking it requires teaching teams to communicate progress and managers to give better feedback.

Negotiating the outcome

The leader brings business priorities and the team brings customer and technical insight, and together they agree on a realistic target. If the gap is too large, options include more resources or bigger experimental risks.

Feedback on the opportunity space

Leaders should probe whether opportunities are deep, real, customer-framed, distinct, and well structured, and catch solutions disguised as opportunities. They should also check whether the team can justify its chosen target.

Ideation, experiments, and the scurvy problem

Teams should generate many solutions (15-20) for one target opportunity, test their riskiest assumptions, and avoid drifting from the goal through a chain of small compromises.

03From the post

“Last month, I spoke at the Business of Software (BoS) conference in Boston. BoS has been on my short list for a very long time and it did not disappoint. Mark Littlewood, the organizer of the event, does a fantastic job and it shows up in every little detail of”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.