north-star-metric
North Star Metric (NSM) Expert
Overview
A North Star Metric (NSM) is the single number that best represents the value your product delivers to its customers. Sean Ellis popularized the framing; Amplitude codified the playbook; Lean Analytics calls a related concept the "One Metric That Matters" (OMTM). The NSM is one number, not a dashboard. Its job is to align the entire team -- engineering, marketing, sales, support -- on a shared definition of "we won this quarter."
This skill produces a complete NSM specification: the NSM itself, 3-5 input metrics the team can directly influence, the leading indicators that move days or weeks before the inputs, the anti-metrics (things that must NOT move in the wrong direction), and counter-metrics that guard against gaming. The Python tool (metric_tree_builder.py) emits the spec as JSON, Markdown, or a Mermaid tree diagram for a README or Confluence page.
This is the first artifact a team should produce after defining strategy and before writing OKRs. Once the NSM is set, OKRs map directly to moving the input metrics, and roadmaps justify themselves by which input metric they target.
Core Capabilities
- NSM selection — score candidates against the five tests (customer value, strategic alignment, leading, single number, movable) and the five Amplitude archetypes.
- Metric-tree decomposition — break the NSM into 3-5 input metrics with an explicit formula (multiplicative / additive / funnel / ratio).
- Leading indicators — assign 2-3 per input that move before the input does (the daily/weekly dashboard).
- Guardrails — anti-metrics (protect the customer) and counter-metrics (protect the business), each with explicit thresholds.
- Rendering — Mermaid tree, JSON dashboard config, or Markdown via the Python tool.