Author: Rachel Goulding
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of joining a panel in Manchester to discuss something deceptively simple yet profoundly impactful: Metrics That Matter. The energy in the room made it clear — product leaders everywhere are wrestling with the same challenge: How do we know we’re building the right thing, delivering value, and making the right trade-offs along the way?
Here’s a synthesis of what I shared, what I learned, and how we can all apply intentional measurement across the product lifecycle, from strategy to iteration to impact.
Growth led teams don’t just ship features. they ship outcomes. The real differentiator? Intentionality. Avoiding “vanity metrics” or “activity theatre.” What we really want are metrics that:
Too often, measurement is an afterthought. The teams that win are those that measure before they build and revisit those metrics after launch, not just during it.
One of the most powerful enablers of effective product work is clarity from the top. When business leaders take the time to articulate what truly matters right now — the outcomes that will move the business forward — it gives product teams the direction they need to deliver with purpose.
That’s where a strong Objective and Key Results (OKRs) framework earns its place. When done well, OKRs don’t just cascade top-down; they create a shared contract between leadership and teams. Clear, focused Objectives from business owners allow empowered teams to define Key Results and product metrics that directly support those outcomes.
To bring those goals to life at the product level, teams can define a North Star Metric (NSM) — a leading indicator that captures the core value the product is responsible for delivering. Supporting KPIs (like usage, conversion, or deflection rates) then give teams actionable levers to influence that NSM.
Example: An Organic Farmer’s Digital Ambition
Business Objective:
Increase revenue by expanding direct-to-consumer sales of veg boxes.
Key Result:
Sell 25% more veg boxes via online orders over the next 3 months.
To translate this into product strategy, the team defines a North Star Metric (NSM) — a metric that reflects the core value the product delivers to both the user and the business.
North Star Metric:
Number of completed veg box orders placed through the website.
Why this NSM? Because it captures exactly what the product is meant to achieve: converting visitors into paying customers who receive fresh produce at their doorstep.
From there, the product team can identify supporting KPIs to drive that North Star:
Each of these can be improved through specific product work — like simplifying the checkout experience, improving delivery slot visibility, or making it easier to customise your box.
Crucially, these metrics aren’t just “interesting” — they’re strategically relevant. They provide leading indicators that the team can act on week by week, while the NSM shows whether the work is genuinely moving the needle on the Key Result.
When this alignment exists — from business goals to product metrics — teams don’t just feel empowered, they feel connected. And that’s when Product becomes a true growth lever, not just a delivery function.
In this structure, the NSM connects product activity to business value, while supporting metrics provide early signals and insight. The result is a cascade — from business goal to product strategy to team-level execution — that creates alignment, focus, and confidence.
Product work evolves, so should your metrics. Here’s a framework to match measurement to lifecycle stage. You may not agree with the metric tools suggested here but I recommend having a framework and including the tools you want your teams to apply or experiment with. You can evolve your framework over time but it’s certainly better to have one and improve it, than to keep working without one!
This allows your team to create a data led mindset and will allow you to pivot the work and ideas without losing sight of the OKRs.
| Stage | Metric Tool | Why it Matters |
| Discovery | Benefit Canvas | Align on value early: Who’s it for? What’s the impact? |
| Prioritisation | RICE Scoring | Objective trade-offs based on reach and impact. Try to define Standard scoring units that are appropriate for our business i.e. what is ‘reach’ in the context of your business? What does ‘impact’ mean in the context of your quarterly Key Result or NSM? |
| Prototyping | HEART Framework | User response before code is written. However you choose to do it. Learning before building drastically reduces the cost of failure. |
| Go-to-Market | AARRR (Pirate Metrics) | Funnel clarity: Are we ready to scale? |
| Delivery | DORA Metrics | High-velocity, high-trust engineering – How can you bake in team performance alongside product performance? |
| Launch & Learn | A/B Testing | Prove what works with statistical rigour |
| Post-Launch Growth | Product Health Scorecards | Guide investment: Conversion, retention, NPS, engagement – what is most relevant here in the context of your business? |
One thing the panel unanimously agreed on was this: when it comes to measurement, start with one. Just one.
It sounds simple, even obvious but in practice, many teams skip this step entirely or get lost in a sea of competing dashboards, KPIs, and frameworks. The result? Confusion, over-analysis, or worse — progress without purpose.
So the advice to “start with one” is good. But it leads to a tougher question: How do you know which one?
That brings us back to something I’ve found consistently useful throughout my product career: the North Star Metric (NSM) the one metric that reflects the core value your product delivers to customers and the business.
In any product environment, you can measure countless things — but the most effective teams focus on the one metric that truly matters.
This single, high-leverage metric captures the core value your product delivers to customers and ties it directly to business outcomes. It becomes a compass for product decisions, trade-offs, and progress.
Let’s bring this to life with our Organic Farm scenario
Example: The Organic Farm
Imagine the organic farm that wants to grow its direct-to-consumer business by increasing online veg box sales.
They started with a clear OKR:
business objective: Increase revenue by expanding direct-to-consumer sales.
Key Result: Sell 25% more veg boxes via online orders over the next 3 months.
To translate this into product focus, the team defines a North Star Metric — one that reflects customer value delivered and business value captured:
NSM: Number of completed online veg box orders
This single metric is gold. It tells you a customer has found the product, seen the value, completed a purchase, and committed to receive a box of fresh produce at home.
Supporting Metrics That Influence It:
With the NSM defined, the team can identify actionable metrics to steer progress:
These don’t compete for attention — they support the North Star. If the NSM is the destination, these are your signposts and speedometers along the way.
How to Identify Your NSM:
Ask two simple questions:
If you can answer both, you’re on your way to a strong, actionable NSM.
A good North Star Metric is not:
Instead, it’s a customer-driven behaviour that signals sustainable value creation.
Why It Works:
Focusing on one high-impact metric gives teams:
Done right, your North Star Metric becomes more than a dashboard number, it becomes your team’s shared purpose in action.
If you’ve ever been a product manager, you’ll know this feeling well… your inbox is full of feature requests. Stakeholders have ideas. Customers have pain points. Sales, ops, marketing — everyone has something they need built now.
In this sea of competing demands, one of the hardest but most important things a product manager must do is articulate the value behind an idea. Not just to justify decisions, but to create shared clarity — so the whole team can prioritise transparently and deliver work that matters.
That’s where the Benefit Canvas comes in.
It’s a simple but powerful tool that forces you to pause before jumping into delivery and ask:
This structure helps shift the conversation from “what do we want to build?” to “what value are we trying to unlock — and how will we know if we did?”
Let’s bring this to life with our ongoing organic farm example.
Context: User research shows that returning customers often abandon their baskets when reordering, due to the friction of finding and rebuilding their previous veg box.
A proposed solution: Add a “Reorder My Last Box” button on the homepage for logged-in users.
Impact Estimate
Here’s how the team might size the opportunity using some light, hypothetical data:
| Metric | Value |
| Weekly website visitors | 5,000 |
| % of visitors who are returning users | 20% (i.e. 1,000 users) |
| Basket abandonment rate (returning users) | 30% (i.e. 300 users not completing) |
| Estimated uptake of “Reorder” button | 50% of those 300 = 150 extra orders/week |
| Average order value | £25 |
| Estimated weekly revenue gain | 150 x £25 = £3,750 |
| Quarterly revenue impact | ~£45,000 (assuming steady weekly gain) |
Now, let’s bring this into the Benefit Canvas format:
| Benefit Canvas Element | Example (One-Click Reorder Button) |
| What is it? | A homepage button that lets returning customers reorder their previous box in one click. |
| Who is it for? | Returning customers who want a quicker and simpler reorder experience. |
| What’s the measurable value? | ~£45,000 basket revenue (assuming steady weekly gain) – show calculation from above. |
| How will we measure it? | – Weekly click-throughs on the button- Uplift in completed orders from returning users- Decrease in abandonment rate |
| Is it about revenue, cost, or risk? | Revenue — additional ~£3.7K/week from increased conversions. |
Why This Matters
This isn’t about precision forecasting. It’s about directional confidence — using what you already know to validate whether an idea is worth building now, later, or not at all.
With a canvas like this, you can:
One of the recurring themes in our panel discussion was the value of leading indicators. Most of us agreed — they’re practical, visible, and, critically, they’re within the product team’s sphere of influence.
Leading indicators are things like:
They give us early signals. We can measure them in near real time. We can tweak flows, release experiments, fix bugs — and see the direct impact within days or weeks. It’s no surprise that product teams love them. They help us feel in control.
But here’s where I take a slightly more cautious — and I’d argue, responsible — view.
If teams focus solely on leading indicators, they risk becoming disconnected from the actual business outcomes. And that’s dangerous.
Because if we’re not confident that our work is ultimately improving the things that matter — cost-to-serve, revenue, retention, operational efficiency — then we risk becoming busy, but not valuable. And if you’re not adding value, you’re at risk of becoming a liability.
This is where lagging indicators come in:
OKRs
Lagging indicators are slower. Harder to move. Often influenced by multiple variables outside the product team’s control. But they’re what the business cares about — and rightly so.
So when people ask, “Do you prefer leading or lagging indicators?” — my answer remains: Yes. You need both.
One without the other is incomplete. You wouldn’t drive across the country staring only at your speedometer. But you also wouldn’t get far staring only at the map.
The real power comes from connecting the two — building a line of sight from your sprint-level metrics to your company’s strategic goals. That’s where confidence grows. That’s where product becomes a trusted driver of value, not just a feature factory.
Product doesn’t own value in a vacuum. To have confidence in your OKRs, NSM and Product Opportunities:
Champion transparency and honesty. Make assumptions visible and ask for help or clarity from those around you who maybe closer to commercial values or marketing opportunities. Share the product metrics and behaviours – start conversations.
As mentioned above we are not looking for perfect forecasts or accurate numbers, we are seeking directional confidence and alignment between product goals and business outcomes.
When stakeholders help define what matters — and why — it creates shared ownership and better outcomes.
Measurement isn’t about spreadsheets or dashboards. It’s about clarity.
I’ve seen how the right metrics can unlock trust, momentum, and business impact. But only if we use them with intention.
If you’re a product leader trying to drive real outcomes — start with the metrics that matter.
