"Some folks, myself included at certain points, swung way too far on the outcomes train and forgot that output is an indicator of that. If you're not shipping things to market quickly enough, then it just doesn't matter that much."
Teams talk about goals endlessly but forget to measure execution speed
Outcomes without output = wishful thinking, not strategy
The more tries you have at something, the likelier you are to get it right
Output velocity is the actual predictor of outcome success
The Framework
Nikita's Approach to Successful Teams
Roles & Responsibilities: Clarity on day one. Who owns what? What are the expectations?
Collaboration Cadence: Regular sync points with clear decision frameworks, not endless meetings
Cross-functional Alignment: Product, design, engineering all rowing in the same direction
Context Over Control: Give teams context, not directives
12-18mo
time horizon for wedding projects
5+ years
Nikita at Trello
The patternSuccessful teams all have explicit role clarity. The difference between high-performing and struggling teams is almost always: does everyone know what they're accountable for?
The Output Playbook
How to Diagnose & Fix Velocity
Ask "What did you deliver?" Not what are you planning, what were you thinking about. Just: what shipped?
Then ask deeper: "What made it to production? How long did it take? What was the cycle time?"
Look at the ratio: How much time on optimizations vs. big bets? If simple things take quarters, velocity is broken
Check decision velocity: How long from "we need to do X" to actually deciding to do it?
Where velocity breaks
For PMs: Decision-making takes too long. We spend weeks defining what to build.
For Engineers: Tickets aren't broken into small pieces. Unclear requirements from PM make it hard to execute.
Nikita's approach to conversations
Don't lecture or shame. Just ask questions. "What did you ship this sprint?" Let the data speak. Most teams will see the gap themselves.
The Tension
Output vs Outcomes in Practice
Goals matter, but speed matters more
You learn by shipping, not by planning perfectly
Competition doesn't care about your strategy doc
PM's job: drive urgency without creating chaos
Nikita's mantra"Product managers need to drive urgency. Mostly reminding people often about what we're shipping and how fast we're getting ideas to market."
Contrarian
The Product Manager Myths Nikita Challenges
✗We need perfect clarity before buildingINSTEAD →✓ Ship a simple version, get feedback, iterate. The market teaches you faster than meetings.
✗Outcomes are what matter; output is just activityINSTEAD →✓ Output velocity IS a lead indicator of outcomes. No shipping = no learning = no outcomes.
✗We don't have real competition, we're uniqueINSTEAD →✓ Someone is shipping better and faster than you. Urgency isn't optional; it's survival.
✗Complex products need complex planningINSTEAD →✓ Even complex bets ship faster with small, clear, broken-down tasks. Complexity is no excuse for slowness.