Outputs Are Not Outcomes

Bill Walsh, a legendary NHL coach, writes in The Score Takes Care of Itself that if you focus on doing good work and being a high functioning organization or team, the trophies will come. The game score and the trophies (outcomes) are trailing indicators of doing good work.

Doing the work is an output – going to meetings, writing code, reviewing code, responding on Slack – getting things done is an outcome – shipping features, moving metrics, making money.

You can write the best code of your life and none of it matters if it's for a feature users don't like.