Outcome-driven collaboration framework
Stop Managing Tasks. Start Delivering Outcomes.
C2O transforms cross-functional collaboration by mapping contributions to strategic outcomes, reducing decision bottlenecks by 37% while building true accountability
Teams using C2O report 25–55% faster delivery, 40% fewer escalations, and 37% reduction in expert bottlenecks.
Why C2O?
A new category: outcome-driven collaboration
Teams move fast but decide slowly. Traditional RACI matrices fail in today's AI-augmented, innovation-driven enterprise. They create silos, decision paralysis, and the notorious "not my job" mentality. With 95% of AI initiatives failing to deliver ROI and a 3:1 change management cost ratio, organizations need a fundamentally different approach. C2O shifts focus from task assignment to outcome contribution, transforming internal service groups from gatekeepers into partners and distributing AI's cognitive load across entire teams rather than creating expert bottlenecks.
Unlike RACI, MOCHA, or decision matrices, C2O uses lifecycle phases and verb-based roles to describe how work really gets done—designed for AI-heavy, cross-functional initiatives where traditional responsibility charts break down.
Traditional RACI
- •Static role assignments
- •Focus on accountability
- •One-time documentation
- •Single "A" bottleneck
C2O Framework
- Dynamic lifecycle phases
- Focus on outcomes
- Living contribution maps
- Distributed Drive/Enable roles
Why AI needs a new collaboration model
AI can boost routine work dramatically, but many teams see a 19% productivity decline for senior experts when they become bottlenecks for verifying prompts, outputs, and model behavior.
C2O distributes that hidden work across Drive, Contribute, and Enable roles so AI initiatives stop slowing down the people you rely on most.
Key insight
19%
measured productivity decline for senior experts when AI verification work piles up on a few people.
Core Principles of C2O
Built on four foundational pillars that drive successful collaboration
Outcome-Focused
Start with the end in mind. Every contribution aligns with clear, measurable outcomes.
Collaborative
Recognize that success comes from collective contributions, not siloed responsibilities.
Adaptive
Flexible framework that evolves with your team's needs and project dynamics.
Actionable
Clear pathways from contribution to outcome with practical implementation steps.
How C2O Works
C2O maps contributions across five lifecycle phases, using verb-based roles that describe how work actually gets done—not just who's accountable.
Five Lifecycle Phases
Discover
Decide
Build
Run
Adopt
Five Contribution Verbs
Drive
Owns outcome end-to-end
Contribute
Delivers key work products
Enable
Provides prerequisite capability
Advise
Offers expert guidance
Inform
Needs visibility on progress
Video Coming Soon
An explainer video walking through the C2O framework is in production.
Preview the script & storyboardFrom Inputs to Outcomes
Define Outcomes
Start with measurable outcomes, signals, and constraints for each initiative.
Map Contributions
Assign Drive, Contribute, Enable, Advise, Inform across each lifecycle phase.
Set Decision Protocols
Make decision rights, escalation paths, and cadences explicit.
Track & Adapt
Measure value, reliability, and adoption—then adapt contributions as you learn.
See C2O in real scenarios
Start from a concrete situation like platform enablement, reliability recovery, or product onboarding, and use C2O to connect contributions, decision rights, and metrics for the leaders who own those outcomes.
Use case
Internal Platform Enablement
Use C2O to move teams onto paved paths without becoming the bottleneck: clearer SLO policy, healthier on-call, and faster adoption of shared CI/CD and observability.
Best for: Platform Lead / Head of Platform
Signature signal
96% Error-budget policy compliance
Use case
Reliability Recovery After Incidents
Use C2O to recover from incident spikes and error-budget burn by turning ad-hoc incident decisions into explicit guardrails, thresholds, and escalation rules across the lifecycle.
Best for: Ops / Reliability Lead
Signature signal
22% → 7% Error-budget burn brought back into policy
Use case
Product Growth: B2B Onboarding
Use C2O to cut time-to-first-value and raise activation by aligning product, design, eng, and success around one onboarding outcome and shared decision rules.
Best for: Head of Product / Growth Lead
Signature signal
6d → 2.7d Time-to-first-value (median)
Start with a 3-step plan
Answer three quick questions to get a tailored path: Outcome Definition, Contribution Mapping, and one lifecycle playbook, plus signals to watch.
Start Here
Answer three quick questions to get a focused 3-step plan.
Your 3-step plan
Complete the three questions above to generate your personalized 3-step plan with templates and playbooks.
Why Teams Choose C2O
Teams using C2O report fewer escalations, reduced expert bottlenecks, and materially faster time to value on complex initiatives.
From Providers to Partners
C2O turns internal service teams (data, security, finance, legal) into true Enable partners with explicit ownership of prerequisites across the lifecycle.
Governance Without Drag
C2O complements your existing RACI and decision frameworks: RACI keeps accountability clear; C2O accelerates collaboration and decisions across phases.
AI as First-Class Contributor
C2O makes it explicit where AI acts as a contributor or enabler, where humans supervise, and how you avoid expert verification bottlenecks.
Plays Nicely with Your Stack
C2O sits alongside OKRs, RACI, MOCHA, DACI, and RAPID—not to replace them—as the collaboration OS that connects strategy to day-to-day work.
Win Together, Not Just Assign
C2O reframes governance around contribution to outcomes and collective ownership, rather than just individual accountability.
Outcome Visibility for Leaders
Executives and sponsors see contribution maps and signals at a glance—no more status theater or hunting through decks.
Proven Impact
Organizations using C2O report faster decisions, higher engagement, and clearer accountability.
Impact metric
Faster delivery
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Fewer escalations
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Less bottlenecks
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Policy compliance
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Open full metrics & case studyExplore the Knowledge Base FAQ
The C2O Knowledge Base is free. You can explore public FAQs and sample articles without signing in. To unlock full deep-dives, templates, and downloads, you'll need a free account—no paywall, no subscription.
Learn the C2O basics
Read a concise overview of why C2O exists, how it differs from RACI, and when to use it.
Open "What is C2O?"Browse the Knowledge Base
Explore foundations, lifecycle deep-dives, patterns, and case studies in the C2O KB.
Open Knowledge BaseGet worksheets & templates
Download outcome worksheets, contribution canvases, decision templates, and more.
Open resources libraryFrom the community
What practitioners are saying
“C2O gave us a shared language for cross-functional work. Instead of debating who owns what, we now discuss how each team contributes to the outcome.”
Sarah C.
VP of Product · Enterprise SaaS
Quotes are from early adopters and pilot participants. Names abbreviated for privacy. Results vary by organization.
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