I’ve recently been hearing about input and output goals as people are setting goals for 2024. So decided to have a look into what they are and what should you consider when setting them?

Output goals

Output goals are defined by a desired result. I want to get abs, I want to reduce cost by X%, etc.

Input goals

Input goals are defined by inputs. These are actionable things. Work out X times, release X features, etc.

Thoughts

Some people may champion for input goals over output goals. You see this often by the famous SMART goals acronym. But without the true objective in mind, people will often optimise the goal to completion losing sight of the true objective. Simply releasing features is meaningless if they don’t help customers or adoption.

Which one is really better?

I think both are important and necessary. I think input and output goals are at the end of the day on the same scale. These goals are all set at different levels of ambiguity. More ambiguity enables people to try and experiment more to reach the true objective at the end. But more ambiguity is also harder to handle.

Explicit Tasks -> Input Goals -> Ouput Goals -> Ambigous Objectives

e.g
Write this code -> X Feature -> Increase Retention -> Make customers happy

So how can you set great goals?

You should try to reduce as much ambiguity as possible. This means that you need to set goals that are as input goals as possible without losing sight of the true objective. A great way of thinking about this is that in unambiguous domains (where its clear on how to reach the goal) you should set input goals, and in ambiguous domains set output goals.

An example of an unambiguous domain is losing weight. Its studied extensively and its well known how humans can do this. So set explicit input goals here. For example: run X times.

An example of an ambiguous domain would be reaching product market fit. It’s unclear really what you need to build or how you’ll get there. So you should set an output goal that is a proxy for that. For example: hitting X in monthly recurring revenue.

Hope this helps!