Value = achieving a desired outcome
The foundational principle of CS Science, and why most CS programs measure the wrong thing.
April 10, 2026 · Chris Basil
Value is not feature adoption. It is not login frequency. It is not QBR attendance.
Value = achieving a desired outcome from your product.
The only thing that matters is whether the customer accomplished the business result they bought your product to achieve. Segmentation, journey design, delivery, playbooks — all of it should stem from a customer’s desired outcome as the north star.
Why this reframes everything
Every CS team I’ve worked with has measured something. Most have measured the wrong thing. Logins, license utilization, and support ticket volume are proxies for value. They tell you whether someone is showing up, not whether they’re winning.
When companies operationalize outcomes across their GTM motion — when they frame segmentation, journeys, and playbooks around what customers actually want to accomplish — the data shows a 20+ point NRR improvement. That’s the consequence of building a system around the thing that matters.
Personas, not demographics
An outcome for a CFO is different from an outcome for a project manager, even at the same customer. Persona-level outcome framing is the difference between a generic “customer health” view and a conversation that feels like it was built for the person in front of you.
Activity metrics are a proxy. Outcome metrics are the proof.
What to do Monday
- Write the outcome statement for each ICP segment in one sentence.
- Map your top five metrics against it. Which are proxies? Which are proof?
- If you can’t name the outcome, start there — before you touch the tech stack.