Skip to content

Outcome Stereotype

Categorizations of outcomes based on their nature or purpose, such as Goals, Objectives, KPIs, and Success Criteria

What Is an Outcome Stereotype?

An Outcome Stereotype is a way to categorize an Outcome based on its nature or purpose. While all outcomes represent the "why" behind business requirements, stereotypes provide additional semantic meaning to help organize and communicate outcomes more effectively.

If you want to call an outcome a "Goal", "Objective", or "Definition of Done", that's just a stereotype of Outcome.

Why Use Stereotypes?

Different stakeholders in your organization may be familiar with different terminology for outcomes:

  • Executive leadership may think in terms of Goals and Objectives
  • Product teams may use Success Criteria and Definitions of Done
  • Business analysts may focus on KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
  • Agile teams may work with Key Results from OKR frameworks

Outcome Stereotypes allow everyone to use their familiar terminology while maintaining a consistent underlying model.

One Concept, Many Names

The Use Case Tree Method uses "Outcome" as the base concept. Stereotypes are simply labels that make outcomes recognizable in your organization's language without changing the fundamental concept.

Benefits

Outcome Stereotypes serve several important purposes:

  1. Communication — Different stakeholders can use terminology they understand (e.g., "Goals" vs "Objectives" vs "KPIs"). Stereotypes help bridge these communication gaps.

  2. Organization — Stereotypes help categorize and organize outcomes in a hierarchy or structure that makes sense for your organization.

  3. Clarity — Stereotypes can clarify the level of abstraction or specificity intended for an outcome.

  4. Alignment — Stereotypes help align with existing frameworks and methodologies (e.g., OKRs, KPIs, Agile acceptance criteria).

Measuring Different Stereotypes

Different outcome stereotypes may be measured and tracked in different ways:

  • Goals — Long-term, strategic, often qualitative
  • Objectives — Time-bound, specific, quantifiable
  • KPIs — Ongoing measurements, tracked over time
  • Success Criteria — Binary pass/fail for specific deliverables
  • Key Results — Quantifiable milestones toward goals
  • Definition of Done — Checklist of completion criteria

Understanding which stereotype applies helps stakeholders know how to evaluate and measure success.

Overview

The Use Case Tree Method recognizes several common outcome stereotypes. While organizations can adapt these to their needs, these patterns are widely used across industries.

Goal

A high-level, strategic outcome that provides direction and purpose. Goals are typically broad and aspirational, guiding the overall direction of business initiatives.

Characteristics:

  • Strategic and long-term
  • Broad in scope
  • May be qualitative
  • Provides overall direction

Example:

"Become the leading provider of sustainable enterprise solutions in our market."

When to use:

  • Defining strategic direction
  • Setting long-term vision
  • Aligning organizational priorities
  • Communicating with executive leadership

Objective

A specific, measurable outcome that is more focused than a goal. Objectives are concrete and time-bound, making progress toward goals tangible and actionable.

Characteristics:

  • Specific and concrete
  • Time-bound
  • Measurable
  • Action-oriented

Example:

"Increase market share in the enterprise segment by 15% within 12 months."

When to use:

  • Breaking down strategic goals
  • Setting quarterly or annual targets
  • Aligning with OKR frameworks
  • Defining measurable milestones

Key Result

A quantifiable outcome that supports a goal or objective. Key Results are the measurable indicators that show whether you're achieving your objectives (often used in OKR frameworks).

Characteristics:

  • Quantifiable and measurable
  • Supports a higher-level objective
  • Time-bound
  • Verifiable

Example:

"Achieve 10,000 active enterprise customers by Q4."

When to use:

  • Implementing OKR (Objectives and Key Results) frameworks
  • Defining measurable progress indicators
  • Tracking milestone achievement
  • Aligning team efforts

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

A measurable outcome used to evaluate the success of an organization, project, or activity in meeting objectives. KPIs are ongoing measurements that track performance over time.

Characteristics:

  • Continuous measurement
  • Tracks performance over time
  • Quantifiable
  • Tied to strategic objectives

Example:

"Maintain customer satisfaction score above 4.5/5.0."

When to use:

  • Monitoring ongoing performance
  • Dashboard and reporting
  • Tracking business health metrics
  • Executive scorecards

Success Criteria

Measurable conditions that indicate success for a particular initiative, project, or use case. Success criteria define what "done" looks like.

Characteristics:

  • Specific to an initiative
  • Clear pass/fail conditions
  • Measurable
  • Defines completion

Example:

"System processes 10,000 transactions per second with 99.9% uptime."

When to use:

  • Defining project success
  • Setting acceptance criteria
  • Evaluating use case completion
  • Quality assurance benchmarks

Definition of Done

A completion criterion for a Use Case or Story. The Definition of Done specifies when a use case or story is considered complete and ready for acceptance.

Characteristics:

  • Checklist-oriented
  • Binary (done or not done)
  • Specific to a deliverable
  • Team-agreed criteria

Example:

"User can complete checkout in under 3 clicks, payment is processed, and confirmation email is sent within 30 seconds."

When to use:

  • Agile story completion
  • Sprint planning
  • Acceptance testing
  • Quality gates

Best Practices

1. Choose stereotypes that resonate

Use terminology that your organization and stakeholders already understand and use.

  • If your organization uses OKRs, use "Objective" and "Key Result"
  • If you have a KPI-driven culture, emphasize "KPI" stereotypes
  • If you're Agile-focused, use "Definition of Done" and "Success Criteria"

Don't force unfamiliar terminology on stakeholders.

2. Don't over-categorize

Not every outcome needs a stereotype. Use them when they add clarity, not complexity.

Good:

"Improve customer satisfaction" (Goal) "Reduce churn by 10%" (Objective)

Over-categorized:

"Improve customer satisfaction" (Strategic Goal, Level 1, Long-term, Qualitative)

Keep it simple and meaningful.

3. Maintain consistency

If you use a stereotype like "Goal" for strategic outcomes, use it consistently across your documentation.

  • Document your stereotypes and their meanings
  • Provide examples for each stereotype
  • Train teams on when to use which stereotype
  • Review outcomes for consistent stereotype usage

4. Focus on the outcome, not the label

The stereotype is less important than clearly expressing the desired result.

Better to have:

A clear outcome without a stereotype than a vague outcome with a fancy label

5. Allow evolution

Your understanding of outcome stereotypes may evolve as your organization's needs change.

  • Start simple with 3-4 core stereotypes
  • Add more as patterns emerge
  • Refine definitions based on usage
  • Retire stereotypes that aren't adding value

6. Align with existing frameworks

If your organization already uses frameworks like OKRs, Balanced Scorecards, or Agile methodologies, align your outcome stereotypes with those frameworks.

  • OKR users: Use "Objective" and "Key Result"
  • Balanced Scorecard users: Use "Goal", "Objective", "KPI"
  • Agile teams: Use "Definition of Done", "Success Criteria"
  • Project managers: Use "Success Criteria", "Milestone"

7. Document with examples

For each stereotype you use, provide:

  • Definition — What does this stereotype mean?
  • When to use — What scenarios call for this stereotype?
  • Examples — Real examples from your organization
  • Measurement — How should outcomes with this stereotype be measured?

8. Avoid stereotype proliferation

More is not better. Too many stereotypes create confusion.

Good: 4-6 well-defined stereotypes

Bad: 20+ overlapping, confusing stereotypes

Keep your stereotype palette focused and meaningful.

Relationship to Use Cases

Use Cases are linked to Outcomes through their desired results. Different outcome stereotypes may be appropriate at different levels:

  • Goals may guide entire programs or product lines
  • Objectives may drive specific use case implementations
  • Success Criteria and Definitions of Done may define use case completion
  • KPIs may measure ongoing performance of operational use cases

Hierarchy Example

Strategic Use Case: Customer Experience Transformation
└── Goal: "Become industry leader in customer satisfaction"
    └── Use Case: Customer 360 View
        ├── Objective: "Provide complete customer view to all agents"
        ├── Key Result: "90% of agents use Customer 360 daily"
        └── KPI: "Customer satisfaction score > 4.5/5.0"
            └── Story: Implement customer search
                └── Definition of Done: "Agent can search by any customer attribute"

Relationship to Stories

Stories deliver outcomes through specific scenarios. The outcome stereotype helps clarify what success looks like for the story:

  • Definition of Done — When is this story complete?
  • Success Criteria — How do we measure story success?
  • Key Results — What measurable impact should this story have?

Stories always include an outcome in their structure: "As a [persona], I want to [action], so that [outcome]." The stereotype clarifies the nature of that outcome.

Relationship to Use Case Stereotypes

Use Case Stereotypes categorize the "what" (capabilities, domains, components), while Outcome Stereotypes categorize the "why" (goals, KPIs, success criteria).

These work together:

  • A "Business Capability Area" (Use Case Stereotype) might have "Goals" and "Objectives" (Outcome Stereotypes) associated with it
  • A "Data Domain" (Use Case Stereotype) might be measured by "KPIs" (Outcome Stereotype)
  • An "Application" (Use Case Stereotype) might have "Success Criteria" and "Definitions of Done" (Outcome Stereotypes)

Ontology (minimal facts we can state today)

We're not (yet) prescribing a full OWL ontology here. But we can state a small set of facts that people can reliably use to build their own ontology / schema / graph model around an Outcome Stereotype.

Technical Model

An Outcome Stereotype is a classification applied to an Outcome:

Required facts

  • Outcome must reference zero or one Outcome Stereotype
  • Outcome Stereotype has a name (e.g., "Goal", "Objective", "KPI")
  • Outcome Stereotype optionally has a description explaining when and how to use it

Cardinality

  • An Outcome can have 0..1 Outcome Stereotype (optional)
  • If no stereotype is specified, the outcome is simply an "Outcome"
  • An Outcome Stereotype can be applied to many Outcomes

Stereotype Definition

Organizations typically define their standard set of Outcome Stereotypes centrally and make them available for use across all use cases:

outcome-stereotypes:
  - name: "Goal"
    description: "High-level strategic outcome"
    level: "strategic"

  - name: "Objective"
    description: "Specific, measurable outcome"
    level: "tactical"

  - name: "Key Result"
    description: "Quantifiable indicator of objective achievement"
    level: "tactical"

  - name: "KPI"
    description: "Ongoing performance measurement"
    level: "operational"

  - name: "Success Criteria"
    description: "Conditions that indicate success"
    level: "project"

  - name: "Definition of Done"
    description: "Completion criteria for deliverables"
    level: "story"

Fundamental Principle

Outcome is the Base Concept

All of these stereotypes are fundamentally Outcomes. They all represent the "why" behind business requirements—the desired results, benefits, or states we want to achieve.

The method uses "Outcome" as the base concept, with stereotypes providing additional semantic meaning only when needed. This approach:

  • Simplifies the core model
  • Reduces unnecessary complexity
  • Allows flexibility in adopting existing organizational terminology
  • Maintains focus on the essential purpose: expressing desired results

See Also

Author: Jacobus Geluk