Outcome

An outcome is a short- or medium-term change that follows outputs, such as a change in behaviour, use, capability or a business condition. Unlike an output, it describes what changed for relevant stakeholders or within the system, not what was produced. An observed outcome is not automatically proof that one intervention caused it.

Use the term when goals, product decisions or investments should be managed through a desired and observable change rather than completed activity.

Teams may label a released feature, completed workshop or closed project as an outcome. It is equally misleading to attribute every concurrent change to one intervention without a baseline, comparison or credible theory of change.