Who This Helps
This is for product managers who feel like they’re drowning in data but starving for answers. You have a dozen possible experiments, but only time for one. You need a way to turn product questions into measurable decisions—fast.
Mini Case
Meet Maya. She’s a PM at a SaaS company. Her team tracks 20 metrics, but she can’t figure out which experiment to run next. She’s stuck in debate land. Then she builds a weekly scoreboard (from the Metrics & Dashboards Basics course) with three supporting metrics: activation rate, weekly active users, and churn rate. She sets a target: increase activation by 12% in 7 days. Now she runs one experiment—a simplified onboarding flow. It works. Activation jumps 14%. She focuses effort on the highest-impact move and stops guessing.
Do This Now (5 Steps)
- Pick your North Star metric. Choose one primary metric that matters most to your product right now. Write it down. Keep it simple.
- Define three supporting metrics. These are the levers that move your North Star. For example, if your North Star is revenue, supporting metrics could be trial sign-ups, conversion rate, and average deal size.
- Set realistic targets. For each supporting metric, pick a number you can hit in one week. Make it specific—like “increase trial sign-ups by 10%.”
- Build a weekly scoreboard. List your North Star and three supporting metrics. Check them every Monday. If a metric is below target, that’s your experiment priority.
- Run one experiment per week. Pick the metric that’s farthest from its target. Design one small test. Measure the result after 7 days. If it works, keep it. If not, try something else.
Avoid These Traps
- Tracking too many metrics. If you have more than five, you’re not focused. Cut down to one North Star and three supporting metrics.
- Setting vague targets. “Improve engagement” is not a target. “Increase weekly active users by 8%” is.
- Running multiple experiments at once. You won’t know what worked. One experiment per week keeps it clean.
- Ignoring guardrails. If your experiment hurts another metric (like churn), stop and rethink.
- Waiting for perfect data. You don’t need a full analytics setup. Start with what you have today.
Your Win by Friday
By the end of this week, you’ll have a clear weekly scoreboard with one North Star metric, three supporting metrics, and realistic targets. You’ll know exactly which experiment to run next. No more debates. No more guessing. Just one focused move that moves the needle. And hey, you might even free up Friday afternoon for something fun.