Who This Helps
This is for product managers who feel buried in dashboards but still can't decide what to test next. You track 20 numbers, but none of them tell you which experiment to run on Monday morning.
If that sounds familiar, the Metrics & Dashboards Basics course is built for you. It helps you turn product questions into measurable decisions without the noise.
Mini Case
Meet Maya. She manages a SaaS product with a 12% weekly churn rate. Her team has three experiment ideas: improve onboarding, add a referral program, or fix a slow page. Each one sounds good, but she only has capacity for one this sprint.
Maya used the Weekly Scoreboard mission from Metrics & Dashboards Basics. She defined her North Star metric as "weekly active teams" and set a target of 5% growth. Then she mapped three supporting metrics: activation rate, feature adoption, and churn. The scoreboard showed that churn was the biggest drag. So she prioritized the churn experiment.
Result? Churn dropped from 12% to 9% in 7 days. That's a 25% improvement from one focused move.
Do This Now (5 Steps)
- Pick one North Star metric. Not three. Not five. One number that tells you if your product is healthy. For Maya, it was weekly active teams.
- List three supporting metrics. These are the levers that move your North Star. Activation, feature adoption, and churn are good examples.
- Set a realistic target for each. Don't guess. Use last month's average and add 10%. If you don't have data, start with a 5% improvement goal.
- Build a weekly scoreboard. Write your North Star at the top. Put the three supporting metrics below. Add a column for this week's number and last week's number. That's it.
- Ask one question every Monday: Which metric is furthest from its target? That's your experiment for the week.
Avoid These Traps
- Tracking too many metrics. If you have 20 numbers, you have none. Stick to four total: one North Star and three supporting.
- Changing metrics every week. Pick your North Star and keep it for at least 90 days. Consistency beats cleverness.
- Ignoring the scoreboard. If you build it but don't look at it, you're back to guessing. Set a 15-minute Monday ritual.
- Falling in love with an experiment. The scoreboard tells you what to test next. Trust the data, not your gut.
Your Win by Friday
By Friday, you'll have a one-page scoreboard with your North Star metric, three supporting metrics, and targets. You'll know exactly which experiment to run next week. No more debate. No more analysis paralysis. Just a clear, measurable decision.
And hey, you might even free up an hour to grab coffee with your team. That's a win too.