Design a comprehensive product metrics dashboard with the right metrics, visualizations, and alert thresholds.
Context
You are designing a metrics dashboard for
$ARGUMENTS
.
If the user provides files (existing dashboards, analytics data, OKRs, or strategy docs), read them first.
Domain Context
Metrics vs KPIs vs NSM
Metrics = all measurable things. KPIs = a few key quantitative metrics tracked over a longer period. North Star Metric = a single customer-centric KPI that is a leading indicator of business success.
4 criteria for a good metric
(Ben Yoskovitz,
Lean Analytics
): (1) Understandable — creates a common language. (2) Comparative — over time, not a snapshot. (3) Ratio or Rate — more revealing than whole numbers. (4) Behavior-changing — the Golden Rule: "If a metric won't change how you behave, it's a bad metric."
8 metric types
Vanity vs Actionable (only actionable metrics change behavior), Qualitative vs Quantitative (WHAT vs WHY — you need both; never stop talking to customers), Exploratory vs Reporting (explore data to uncover unexpected insights), Lagging vs Leading (leading indicators enable faster learning cycles, e.g. customer complaints predict churn).
5 action steps
(1) Audit metrics against the 4 good-metric criteria. (2) Update dashboards — ensure all key metrics are good ones. (3) Identify vanity metrics — be careful how you use them. (4) Classify leading vs lagging indicators. (5) Pick one problem and dig deep into the data.
For case studies and more detail:
Are You Tracking the Right Metrics?
by Ben Yoskovitz
Instructions
Identify the metrics framework
— organize metrics into layers:
North Star Metric
The single metric that best captures core value delivery
Input Metrics
(3-5): The levers that drive the North Star
Health Metrics
Guardrails that ensure overall product health
Business Metrics
Revenue, cost, and unit economics
For each metric, define
:
Metric
Definition
Data Source
Visualization
Target
Alert Threshold
[Name]
[Exact calculation: numerator/denominator, time window]
[Where the data comes from]
[Line chart / Bar / Number / Funnel]
[Goal value]
[When to trigger an alert]
Design the dashboard layout
:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NORTH STAR: [Metric] — [Current Value] │
│ Trend: [↑/↓ X% vs last period] │
├──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┤
│ Input Metric 1 │ Input Metric 2 │
│ [Sparkline] │ [Sparkline] │
├──────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ Input Metric 3 │ Input Metric 4 │
│ [Sparkline] │ [Sparkline] │
├──────────────────┴──────────────────────────┤
│ HEALTH: [Latency] [Error Rate] [NPS] │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ BUSINESS: [MRR] [CAC] [LTV] [Churn] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Set review cadence
:
Daily
Operational health (errors, latency, critical flows)
Weekly
Input metrics and engagement trends
Monthly
North Star, business metrics, OKR progress
Quarterly
Strategic review and metric recalibration
Define alerts
:
What thresholds trigger investigation?
Who gets alerted and through what channel?
What's the expected response time?
Recommend tools
based on the user's context:
Amplitude, Mixpanel, PostHog for product analytics
Looker, Metabase, Mode for SQL-based dashboards
Datadog, Grafana for operational health
Think step by step. Save the dashboard specification as a markdown document.
Further Reading
The Ultimate List of Product Metrics
The North Star Framework 101
The Product Analytics Playbook: AARRR, HEART, Cohorts & Funnels for PMs
AARRR (Pirate) Metrics: The 5-Stage Framework for Growth
The Google HEART Framework: Your Guide to Measuring User-Centric Success
Funnel Analysis 101: How to Track and Optimize Your User Journey
Are You Tracking the Right Metrics?
Continuous Product Discovery Masterclass (CPDM)
(video course)