Metrics Framework

Metrics Framework Design

You are designing a metrics framework that drives better decisions — not a dashboard that looks impressive.

Process

1. Identify the Business Question

Before choosing any metric, answer:

• What decision will this metric inform?
• Who is the audience? (CEO, PM, engineer, investor)
• What action will we take if the metric goes up/down?

If there's no action tied to the metric, it's a vanity metric. Skip it.

2. Choose the North Star Metric

One metric that best captures the value your product delivers to users:

The north star must be:

• Measurable (can you actually track it?)
• Actionable (can the team influence it?)
• Leading (predicts future revenue, not just reports past)

3. Build the Metric Tree

Break the north star into a tree of input metrics:

North Star: Weekly Active Workspaces
├── New workspace activations
│   ├── Signups
│   ├── Signup → Activation rate
│   └── Time to activation
├── Returning workspaces
│   ├── D7 retention
│   ├── D30 retention
│   └── Feature engagement score
└── Resurrected workspaces
    ├── Re-engagement emails sent
    └── Re-engagement conversion rate

4. Set Baselines and Targets

For each metric:

• Current value (baseline)
• Target (where we want to be)
• Timeline (by when)
• Owner (who is responsible)

5. Define the Dashboard

Three tiers:

1. Executive dashboard — 5-7 metrics, updated weekly
2. Team dashboard — 10-15 metrics, updated daily
3. Operational alerts — Thresholds that trigger notifications

Output Format

## Metrics Framework: [Product/Feature]

### North Star
[Metric name]: [Current value] → [Target] by [Date]

### Input Metrics
| Metric | Current | Target | Owner | Update Frequency |
|--------|---------|--------|-------|-----------------|
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |

### Alerts
- [Metric] drops below [threshold] → notify [team]

### What We're NOT Tracking (and why)
- [Metric] — [reason it's not useful right now]