Who This Helps
You're a Junior Analyst who wants to stop guessing which experiment to run next. You want to ship clean analysis with clear recommendations—not a pile of charts. The Metrics & Dashboards Basics program is your shortcut.
Mini Case
Meet Maya. She's a Junior Analyst at a small SaaS company. Her team tracks 20 numbers every week. Maya's job: pick the next experiment. She used to go with the loudest request from the sales team. Then she learned to use a North Star Metric. She found that a 12% drop in activation rate was hiding behind a shiny 5% revenue bump. She killed the revenue experiment and focused on activation. Result: 7 days later, activation recovered and revenue grew 3%.
Do This Now (5 Steps)
- Pick your North Star Metric. Open your dashboard. Find the one number that matters most. If you don't have one, define it today.
- List your supporting metrics. Write down 3 metrics that feed your North Star. Example: sign-ups, activation rate, weekly active users.
- Set a target for each. Use last month's average. Then add a realistic stretch goal. Maya set a 10% target for activation rate.
- Score every experiment idea. For each idea, ask: "How much will this move my North Star?" Use a simple 1-3 scale. 1 = low impact, 3 = high impact.
- Pick the highest score. Run that experiment first. Ignore the rest until this one is done.
Avoid These Traps
- Chasing shiny numbers. A big revenue number can hide a bigger problem. Always check supporting metrics.
- Too many metrics. If you track 20 numbers, you track none. Stick to 4-5 max.
- No target. Without a target, you can't tell if you're winning or losing.
- Skipping the score. Gut feel is fine for lunch. For experiments, use a score.
- Running two experiments at once. You won't know which one worked. Run one, measure, then run the next.
- Forgetting to check the dashboard weekly. Set a calendar reminder. Every Friday, 30 minutes.
- Ignoring guardrails. If your experiment hurts another metric, stop. Maya's revenue experiment was hurting activation.
- Not writing a recommendation. Ship a one-paragraph summary: what you tested, what happened, what to do next.
Your Win by Friday
By Friday, you'll have one clear experiment to run. You'll know exactly why it's the highest-impact move. Your team will see clean analysis with a clear recommendation. And you'll feel like a pro—because you are.
And hey, if you can do this in 30 minutes, you've earned a coffee break. Seriously.