Connecting Goals to Impacts and Outcomes: Harnessing Structured Conversations for Customer-Driven Value Delivery by Claude Hanhart and Rachel Collins offers practical techniques to help Agile and product teams turn goals into measurable outcomes.
Product teams everywhere share a familiar frustration. Goals are set. OKRs are approved. Roadmaps look aligned. Yet months later, features ship that customers rarely use, stakeholders question the results, and teams struggle to explain what success actually meant.
According to Connecting Goals to Impacts and Outcomes, the problem is not execution, it is conversation.
Published by Structured Conversations Press, this new business title introduces Structured Conversations as the alignment layer Agile has been missing. Rather than focusing on new processes or tools, the book addresses how teams talk about goals, assumptions, and decisions, and how those conversations determine whether real customer and business value is delivered.
Organized across four parts and 24 chapters, the book uses a single running example—a restaurant app team—to walk readers through the complete journey from strategic goals to delivered outcomes. Aimed at product leaders, Agile coaches, delivery teams, and organizations navigating transformation, the book presents a practical toolkit that connects strategy to day-to-day work through clear language and visual thinking. Readers learn how to eliminate ambiguity, validate assumptions early, and align cross-functional teams around outcomes that matter to customers.
The book provides step-by-step techniques teams can apply immediately, including how to:
- Write outcome-focused goals using clear VERB + NOUN language
- Connect customer needs to business impact through Empathy Mapping, Customer Journey Mapping, and Impact Mapping
- Align roadmaps and delivery plans with OKRs that drive accountability and learning
- Test assumptions early with Hypothesis-Driven Development and Example Mapping
- Facilitate cross-functional conversations where disagreements become productive
- Turn vague requirements into user stories teams interpret consistently
Each chapter includes real examples and “Try This Right Now” exercises, making the approaches modular and practical for real-world environments across startups, financial services, and large-scale Agile transformations.
The book arrives at a pivotal moment for the Agile profession. AI can now write user stories, generate roadmaps, and optimize backlogs in seconds—leading organizations to question the value of coaching roles. But AI is a multiplier: it multiplies clarity when clarity exists, and multiplies confusion when confusion exists. Research shows that AI systems perform dramatically better when fed structured information—exactly what Structured Conversations produces.
“In the AI age, the ability to structure human conversation isn’t just a soft skill,” says Hanhart. “It’s infrastructure.”
The authors also propose a forward-looking vision for the Agile profession: the rise of the Conversation Architect—a practitioner who deliberately designs structured, outcome-oriented conversations that connect strategy, product decisions, and delivery work. As organizations grow more complex and AI accelerates the pace of delivery, the ability to guide these conversations becomes a critical capability for the next decade of product and Agile leadership.
About the Authors
Claude Hanhart is a Product Strategist and Agile Coach with over a decade of leadership experience driving product strategies and Agile transformations. His work integrates business objectives, customer experience, and innovation, supported by tools such as OKRs, Generative AI, and Behavior-Driven Development. Based in New Jersey, Claude brings an interdisciplinary perspective shaped by academic backgrounds in archaeology, languages, and geography, as well as international collaboration.
Rachel Collins is a seasoned business strategy professional known for turning complex challenges into clear, actionable solutions. Her work combines data-driven analysis with a human-centric approach, helping organizations align goals and translate action into measurable outcomes. Rachel lives in North Carolina and brings a practical, results-focused lens to strategy and transformation work.
More information visit: https://structured-conversations.com/
Connecting Goals to Impacts and Outcomes is available for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Connecting-Goals-Impacts-Outcomes-Customer-Driven-ebook/dp/B0GKCSP21V
Book Details
Title: Connecting Goals to Impacts and Outcomes: Harnessing Structured Conversations for Customer-Driven Value Delivery Authors: Claude Hanhart & Rachel Collins Publisher: Structured Conversations Press Publication Date: January 26, 2026 ISBN: 979-8218921880 Genre: Business / Strategy / Product Management / Agile
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