---
name: Metrics & KPIs
description: Measure what drives the business.
---
# Metrics & KPIs

A metric is only useful if it drives decisions. Dashboards full of numbers nobody acts on are noise. Pick the few that connect product behavior to business outcome.

## Hierarchy
- **North Star.** The one metric that captures the core value users receive (e.g. "weekly active creators"). Everyone aligns to it.
- **Input metrics.** The leading indicators you can actually move ("completion rate of onboarding"). These are what the team influences.
- **Guardrail metrics.** Things you must not break while moving the others (latency, error rate, retention). Growth that hurts these isn't growth.

## Avoid
- Vanity metrics (sign-ups, page views) that go up regardless of product quality.
- Averages that hide distribution. A mean retention of 40% can hide two segments at 10% and 70%.