Your team ships regularly. Sprints close on time. Tasks move across the board.

So why does it still feel like you’re spinning wheels?

In software development, it’s easy to confuse output with impact—especially when working with outsourced or distributed teams. When collaboration is thin, and context is missing, even high velocity can produce low-value results.

This article breaks down the difference between busywork and real progress—and why alignment and collaboration are essential to making the shift from shipping features to delivering meaningful impact.

What Is Output in Software Teams?

Output is the most visible part of a team’s work:

  • Lines of code written

  • Tickets closed

  • Features released

  • Bugs fixed

These are useful metrics—but they don’t tell you whether the right problems were solved, or if users are better off than they were last sprint.

Too much focus on output can lead to:

  • Over-engineering

  • Misaligned priorities

  • Duplicate or throwaway work

  • Delivery without discovery

Output is necessary, but it’s not sufficient.

The Efficiency Trap: Doing More with Less Context

When teams are siloed—especially in outsourced models—they often optimize for efficiency:
“Let’s ship faster.”
“Let’s reduce costs per feature.”
“Let’s assign more tickets.”

But efficiency without collaboration creates a dangerous gap. Developers don’t see the bigger picture. Decisions get made in isolation. Feedback loops break. As a result:

  • The team delivers fast, but wrong.

  • Rework multiplies.

  • Product direction drifts.

Alberto Silveira addresses this brilliantly in the Carpaccio Methodology. Worth a read!

What Does Impact Look Like?

Impact in software development is about outcomes:

  • Does the product solve real user problems?

  • Are business goals being met?

  • Is the technical foundation improving?

  • Are customers getting more value?

High-impact work often includes activities that don’t show up in burndown charts:

  • Asking better questions during planning

  • Raising flags during code review

  • Connecting the dots between feature requests and business value

  • Preventing problems before they arise

You can’t get that level of contribution if a team is simply “shipping what’s assigned.”

Output, Efficiency, Impact: How They Relate

Here’s a simplified model to think through:

Mode Focus Risk Result
Busywork Output without alignment Burnout, rework, shallow solutions High effort, low value
Efficiency Output done faster Optimizing the wrong things Faster delivery, same gaps
Effectiveness Output with purpose Requires collaboration and feedback loops Progress toward business outcomes
Impact Effectiveness + ownership Needs embedded context, long-term thinking Innovation, velocity, trust

Why Collaboration Is the Force Multiplier

Impact doesn’t come from coding harder. It comes from collaboration that unlocks insight:

  • Developers learn what matters to users

  • Product managers receive informed technical input

  • QA, design, and engineers work in sync—not in sequence

  • Teams feel ownership, not detachment

And here’s the kicker: impact often grows exponentially when your team—internal or external—has shared context and shared stakes.

Key Questions to Ask

Want to audit whether you’re paying for output or impact?

Ask yourself:

  • Do engineers ask why before building what?

  • Is your team surfacing blockers proactively—or waiting for instructions?

  • Are external contributors included in roadmap discussions, retros, and planning?

  • Is the team measuring what matters—or just counting commits?

Software teams don’t just need to ship—they need to deliver. That takes more than technical chops. It takes context, collaboration, and care.

So before asking how fast your outsourced team is coding, ask this: Are they helping your product move forward—or just checking boxes?

If your team is output-heavy but impact-light, the root cause often lies in lack of alignment and shallow collaboration. This is especially common when external contributors are treated like vendors, not team members. Teams that share ownership, context, and communication rhythms are the ones that consistently deliver business value—not just code.

Here’s your takeaway:

Don’t just optimize for velocity. Optimize for value.