Prompt quality is a means. Business outcomes are the end. Teams stall when they celebrate usage instead of measuring what changed.
Outcome mapping template
| Business metric | Workflow | Model role | Human gate | Eval signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proposal cycle time | RFP first draft | Draft sections | Legal review | Time + error rate |
| Ticket resolution | Support suggest-reply | Suggest | Agent sends | CSAT + override rate |
| Lead research | Account brief | Summarize public data | AE approves | Meetings booked |
Rules
- One primary metric per workflow in pilot—avoid scorecards with ten KPIs.
- Baseline before AI—you need a pre-change comparison window.
- Separate activity from outcome—messages sent is not success; resolved cases is.
- Review monthly with the process owner, not only when executives ask.
Example
A team reduced RFP first-draft time by 35% after fixing context (approved snippets only) and adding a compliance checkpoint—not after switching models.