How to Run an Outcome or North Star Workshop | John's Tips 2024W19
Use this simple guide to run your own workshop to gather and agree on outcomes for a project or feature, as well as north stars for your team.
How can my team become more outcome focused?
Does my company have a north star to aim at?
Well, it may sound simple, but you as a team need to agree on your outcomes or north stars!
If you find yourself asking the above question, it means either you were not involved in the process, or the company isn’t doing a good enough job explaining what they are to new joiners.
What are north stars and outcomes when it comes to product management?
North Star: A North Star is the guiding vision or overarching goal that aligns and motivates all project activities. It is the ‘fixed point in the sky’ that helps every team member stay focused on the ultimate objective, ensuring that all efforts and decisions are directed toward the most critical and impactful end results. Think of it as the destination in your project's journey—the point you are all striving to reach.
Outcomes: Outcomes are specific, measurable achievements that a project aims to accomplish. They are not simply a list of tasks to be completed; instead, they represent the tangible impact these tasks have on our customers and our business. Outcomes should directly support the company's strategic goals and provide clear direction for what success looks like.
I’m currently going through this process for my team at the moment, trying to move the team in a more outcome focused direction for projects, and overall we want a mission to follow, which means we need north stars, or goals as a team.
Most companies will have pillars or goals at a high level, the things that you need to gauge your future work against, to get buy in. If your company doesn’t, well maybe they should use this guide to create them!
Here’s how you do it - and one warning - it can’t be async. You need to set up 30-45 mins with the folk on your team to make sure everyone is included in the decision. If you have key players that are not part of the meeting, you run the risk of making them feel like they had no say in the direction of the team, which will be detrimental to the team in the long run and is something that I try to avoid at all costs.
Firstly, prepare for the session (before the meeting)
Set up a board just like this (I prefer Miro). You should copy the rest of the steps onto the board like I have done on the top right, so people can keep track and won’t ask too many questions throughout. You can also add the north star/outcome descriptions as well for more context.
1. Setup (5 minutes)
Explain the purpose of the session and the concept of outcomes or north stars. These can also be found in the notes section.
Share the criteria for what makes a strong outcome (can talk through the company goals or pillars here, which should be on the board) Ideally, they should aligned with the company goals, be measurable, customer-centric, etc.
2. Brainstorming (5 minutes)
Each team member writes down their proposed outcomes or north stars on their provided sticky notes in the Miro board. This is limited to 1-3 suggestions per person to maintain focus.
Encourage brevity and clarity: phrases should be concise yet descriptive.
3. Presentation (5 minutes)
Each team member takes turns to quickly present their suggested outcomes (about 30 seconds each).
As team members present, they should place their sticky notes in a designated area on the Miro board for all to see.
4. Grouping and Refinement (5 minutes)
Together, look for duplicates or similar outcomes and group them.
Refine and merge outcomes where possible to reduce the number of final options to vote on.
5. Dot Voting (5 minutes)
Each team member uses their dots to vote on the outcomes they feel are most important.
Team members should place their dots on the sticky notes they believe should be the project's north stars.
6. Discussion and Selection (5 minutes)
Identify the sticky notes with the most dots as these represent the group’s priorities.
Have a brief discussion to ensure there’s a shared understanding and buy-in for the top-voted outcomes.
Confirm these as the project's north stars.
And thats it! You should now have some outcomes or north stars, that have been agreed upon by the team, and that are linked to the companies objectives.
This here is a very high level session, and some companies prefer to spend more time at this in off-sites or on all day workshops, but for me and my team in our scenario where people are unfamiliar with these procedures, getting them to commit hours to something they have no idea about, and no basis in what benefits it can bring can be a tough ask.
I have some other Product Operations content here if you found this useful.
For my past tips check out my past posts on Substack or check out the hashtag #JohnsTipOfTheWeek on LinkedIn.