# Outcome Definition

> Define or audit the concrete app outcome before breaking work into features. Use when starting a product, clarifying an existing project, turning a vague idea into a buildable target, or checking whether proposed features serve the real user outcome.

- Skill: `harsh817/outcome-definition` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add harsh817/outcome-definition`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/harsh817/outcome-definition/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Security
- Author: harsh817 (https://skillmd.com/u/harsh817)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/harsh817/outcome-definition

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# Outcome Definition

## Definition

Convert the app idea into a concrete result a user can recognize. The outcome is not a feature list; it is the useful change the app creates. Keep it narrow enough that later features can be small, testable, and aligned.

## Questions To Ask

- What user-visible result should exist when the app works?
- Who benefits when this result happens?
- What pain, delay, risk, or confusion disappears?
- What would prove the outcome happened?
- What is explicitly not part of this outcome?

## Existing Project Comparison

- Find README, product docs, tickets, tests, routes, and UI labels that imply the current outcome.
- Compare those facts with the requested outcome.
- Flag features that look useful but do not support the outcome.
- Mark unknowns as `TBD` instead of hiding them in broad wording.

## Suggestive Plan

1. Write one outcome sentence.
2. Add measurable success signals.
3. Add non-goals.
4. List assumptions and questions.
5. Use the outcome as the filter for every later feature.

## Example

- Weak: "Build a task app."
- Strong: "Help freelance designers turn client requests into prioritized, scheduled work without losing follow-up details."

## Vocabulary

- Outcome: the useful state the app creates for a user.
- Success signal: evidence the outcome happened.
- Non-goal: work intentionally excluded.
- Complexity filter: a question that rejects features that add surface area without serving the outcome.

## Expected Outcome

Produce a concise outcome statement, success signals, non-goals, assumptions, and open questions that guide the rest of feature discovery.