The subtle differences between focusing on your process or focusing on your output, from the Planning Lab.
Both have their merits and I don’t believe it would be prudent to focus on one to the detriment of the other, despite my natural inclination to focus on the output first and then reverse engineer your successes to come up with a viable and repeatable process. Too many people seem to be selling a process which has no redeemable successes or reason for being – other than being pulled out of a hat by the author.
To me, the most important thing is to focus on output.
For three reasons.
1) it is usually what people measure
2) If the output is to be high quality, the process *has* to be slick…
3) People resent criticism of their processes…..tell them what you expect of the end result and let them figure out the best ways to get there. Be there to advise on improvements and smarter processes but don’t dictate them.