Body of Knowledge · Glossary
Outcome versus output
Framing work as the change wanted in the world instead of the thing to be built. Outcomes define success and leave the path open; outputs do neither. The test is to ask, of any item in a plan, why it is there.
Where the standard develops it
- SV-1Engineering strategyTranslating business goals into technical direction, and writing it down.
Related terms
- Bottom-up roadmap
- A department "strategy" assembled from team wish lists, with no connecting thesis.
- Connecting thesis
- The statement of why these teams do these things, tying several teams' work to a few department-level outcomes.
- Engineering strategy
- The written translation of business goals into technical direction.
- Structure follows strategy
- Changes in strategy require changes in structure, and structures that outlive the strategy that produced them become the obstacle to the next one.
Cite this definition
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Outcome versus output. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, GLO.outcome-versus-output). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/glossary/outcome-versus-output